Everyone Longs for Something Else
Everyone wants earth to look more like heaven. Even secular people who reject historic Christian beliefs long for the world to be fixed, long for an end to the pain and strife and sadness that hangs over the world like a dark shadow.
As I wrote this, one of my stepbrothers was lying in a hospital bed in Seattle in a coma that he never came out of. He was on the edge of eternity, about to meet his Maker. His forty-five years on the earth were filled with parties and pain, with drugs and dysfunction, with questions and confusion, with sorrow and sadness, with loneliness and longing. The shadow that hung over his life hangs over the world. We all sense it, see it, feel it, hate it, and don’t quite know what to do about it. But we do know that we want it to be gone. We all long for something else.
The World Is Not As It Should Be
This week, Mason Smith and I were talking about a book on sin we’ve both been reading called Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be, by Cornelius Plantinga. Plantinga talks about sin as the “Vandalizing of Shalom.” Shalom is the Hebrew word that means “universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight.” Plantinga says that shalom “is the way things ought to be.”[1]
Plantinga points out that everyone has an idea of how the world should be. He says, “Every one of us does possess the notion of a world in which things are as they ought to be…though we would stock this world and arrange its workings differently according to our various ideas of what the Bible calls ‘good,’ we would nonetheless agree on many of the broad outlines and main ingredients of a transformed world.”[2]
The Ingredients of a Transformed World
What ingredients do you think would be present in a transformed world? What would a world in which “things are as they ought to be” have in it?
I think the world we all long for is one that’s full of love, goodness, affection, honor, joy, hope, patience, generosity, hospitality, blessing, sympathy, harmony, humility, equality, peace, justice, and mercy. A world where evil is overcome with good. A world where love is the melody that everyone moves to.
This kind of world would be heaven on earth. This would be the kind of world where everything is as it ought to be. Everyone longs for this kind of world because God made us for this kind of world. God made us for shalom.
Where Can We See Heaven on Earth?
Is there anywhere we can look to see this kind of world now? Is there anywhere we can go where we can experience this kind of world today? Is there a place where we can taste the ingredients of a transformed world?
In his grace, God has given us a place to see and experience and taste the life of the next world. But it might not be the place you expect. Local churches are meant to be places where people can get a glimpse of what life in a new world will look like. They’re meant to be places where the life of the kingdom of God is made manifest on the earth. Local churches, author Jonathan Leeman says, are outposts and embassies for the kingdom of God on the earth. They’re the places where heaven meets the earth.
The Values and Virtues of the Kingdom of God Must Be Seen in the Local Church
Last week, in Acts chapter 2, we saw how the gospel saves us out of the world and brings us into a new community called the church. We saw how the first Christians were shaped by this new community. We saw what their life together looked like in broad terms, how they “devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (v. 42).
Today we’re going to look at a passage that further describes the life of a local church, a passage that’s going to get really specific and practical about how members of a local church reflect the values and virtues of the kingdom of God (Rom. 12:9-21). As I read the text, notice that many of the things we long for in a new world are called for in the local church.
This text is more than a list of dos and don’ts. It’s not just a list of rules or best-practices. It’s a picture of the way things are supposed to be. When the gospel creates people who live like this in community with other people, heaven comes down to the earth.
Genuine Love
There’s a main theme that holds all these commands together. It’s found in the first four words of verse 9, “Let love be genuine.” This is the heading for the entire section. Love is the preeminent virtue of the Christian life. God’s love toward us in Christ creates a love in us toward others. Paul says love is greater than faith and hope (1 Cor. 13:13) and lists it first among the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22).
Paul is after more than superficial and sentimental feeling. He says our love must “be genuine.” There must be no hypocrisy in our love. The temptation, then as now, is that we claim something that we don’t have. Our love is counterfeit love.
What is counterfeit love? Counterfeit love is words without action. John tells us that the way we know how to define true love is by looking at what Jesus did, not what he said. 1 John 3:16, “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us.” 1 John 4:10, “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” God’s love is real because it’s more than words. It was proven by actions that involved sacrifice.
Let me try to apply this to a few specific arenas of life. Husbands, you have the privilege of representing Christ in your marriage. Does your wife see your love, or just hear about it? Does she see movement and action and sacrifice and initiative and a willingness to do hard things for the good of the family? Prove your love to her through sacrificial action. Offer to stay with the kids so she can take some time to get out and do something that brings her joy. Prove that your love is not counterfeit by doing something for her that costs you something.
Wives, don’t believe the lie of the world that says that love is merely something you feel. Love does create feelings, but it creates so much more. Genuine love creates a willingness to stick it out no matter what. Intimacy grows in the soil of commitment, not the other way around. Don’t gauge the health of your marriage on how you feel about your husband on any particular day, but rather on how each of you are growing in selfless commitment to one another.
Singles, what are you doing to show sacrificial love to your friends, roommates, classmates, fellow church members? Is your love toward the people around you real or counterfeit?
Evil and Good Have Not Changed Since Yesteryear
Verse 9 goes on to say that we should “abhor what is evil” and “hold fast to what is good.” True love courageously names things what they are. It doesn’t seek to minimize or explain things away. It hates what God hates and holds onto what God loves.
“Hold fast” literally means “to glue.” It means that our attachment to the good is more than a casual approval. It means we embrace it and love it and stick to the good no matter what.
As our culture continues spiraling downward into progressive secularism, this will become harder and harder. But, as Aragorn says in The Lord of the Rings, “Good and ill have not changed since yesteryear; nor are they one thing among Elves and Dwarves and another among Men. It is a man’s part to discern them, as much in the Golden Wood as in his own house.”[3]
Churches will be tempted to use the world’s definitions of “evil” and “good,” rather than God’s. It’ll be tempting to say that two men or two women wanting to get married is “good.” It’ll be tempting to join the chorus of our culture and say that letting a child choose their gender is not “evil,” but loving. It’s up to us to apply the timeless truths of Scripture to our current situation, to discern what’s what, whether we’re in the “Golden Wood” of the world, or in our own house.
A Unique Kind of Love
Verse 10 says that our love for one another should be marked by “brotherly affection.” This way of describing love is an idea only found among Christians at that time. It appears that only Christians loved each other with a “brotherly love. Why? Because Christians saw themselves as a family. We see ourselves as related to and connected to one another just like members of a family. God is our Father and we’re brothers and sisters.
Members of a church are united in a way that people would normally see in a natural family. There’s supposed to be a warm and fervent and loyal and special affection among Christians. The world isn’t used to seeing that kind of affection among people who aren’t related to one another. What else but the grace of God could explain why a bunch of people who’re not related and who’re very different from one another have a special affection for each other?
This kind of affection is why we want to honor one another (v. 10b). We don’t jockey for first place and seek honor for ourselves. We want our family members to be honored.
Passion for Serving the Lord
Verse 11 tells us that we should be quick and eager and enthusiastic in our service for the Lord. Paul says, “Don’t be lazy in zeal.” In other words, be diligent about the things you need to be diligent about. Be eager to love, eager to serve, eager to share the gospel, eager to help those in need, eager to love your spouse, eager to do your work well.
We’re to also “be fervent in spirit.” There’s some debate about whether this is talking about our spirit or the Holy Spirit. It seems that Paul is saying, “Allow your spirit to be set on fire by the Holy Spirit.” As one commentator says, “If nothing burns, there can be no light.”[4] How will the world see the light of heaven in the church if we don’t burn with a zeal to see Jesus glorified in us? May the light of Christ and the dawn of the new world be seen in our church!
Joy, Patience, Persistence
Verse 12 says that joy, patience, and persistence should mark our lives. “Hope” isn’t the object of our joy. We aren’t happy because of hope. The object of our hope is Christ. The inevitable result of our hope in Christ is joy. Joyful hope marks our life together.
Patience in the midst of suffering also marks us, “Be patient in tribulation.” This patience isn’t a passive putting up with something until it ends, but an active and steadfast endurance. This is our posture toward every “tribulation,” or “affliction.” This is a word that refers to serious troubles, not minor setbacks. This is the word for a global pandemic, an economic slowdown, a marriage falling apart, a child walking away from the faith, a loved one dying.
Our posture during the hardest moments of our lives is patience. With God’s help, we keep walking even when our strength is gone. We keep loving even when it’s not returned. We keep working even though we’re so tired. We keep living even though we feel like dying. We keep going even though we don’t know where to go.
How do we do this? Look at the last phrase of verse 12, “Be constant in prayer.” Staying close to the Lord through persistent prayer is the only way to make it through the valleys. Psalm 34:15, 18, “The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry…The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” The Lord sees you, hears you, is close to you, protects you, and keeps you. He draws near to those who draw near to him.
The church of Jesus Christ is to be marked by joyful, hopeful, and persistent sufferers who patiently long for heaven to come down to the earth.
Generous Love
Verse 13 tells us that our love should be generous. We saw how this was lived out in the very first church in Acts 2. The early church was serious about helping the poor. We often look down upon the poor, even the poor in the church, rather than finding ways to help them. John Calvin says, “It generally happens that those who are more weighed down by poverty than others and stand in need of help are treated with greatest contempt.”[5]
The needy aren’t a lower class in the church. The church is only for poor people, so it should be the last place on earth where we rank each other based on what we have or don’t have.
One way to do this, Paul says in the next phrase, is to “seek to show hospitality.” Christians are those who’re willing to inconvenience themselves for the good of others. Sharing our home and our food and our time with each other is a primary way we display the glory of the life we’ll share together in the kingdom of God.
The Hardest Command
Verse 14 is perhaps the hardest directive in this passage. It’s not hard to understand. It’s hard to do. We’re supposed to actively seek the good of those who’re mean to us, those who threaten us, those who mock us. We’re to ask God to bless them too. Jesus said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Mt. 5:44). We’re supposed to love people we want to hate, bless people we want to curse, and pray for people we want to fight. Sinners find mercy in the kingdom of God, thus they must find it in the church too.
Christian Sympathy
Verse 15 commands Christian sympathy. “Sympathy” is “the act or capacity of entering into or sharing the feelings or interests of another.” Sympathy is hard because it requires us to “enter into” what someone else is feeling. Sympathy starts with empathy. “Empathy” is understanding someone else’s feelings without necessarily sharing them. Empathy is imagining how someone may feel without necessarily sharing those feelings. Empathy is putting yourself in someone else’s shoes. Sympathy is getting in their shoes and walking with them for a while.
Paul is calling Christians to feel what other Christians are feeling. This is hard because it means we have to actually get to know people. It’s hard because the pain of other people can often be overwhelming. It’s hard because we’re quick to envy those who’re happy, not rejoice with them. But Paul says that genuine love means entering into the experience of your brothers and sisters.
Christian Harmony and Humility
In verse 16, Paul commands harmony and humility. The church’s unity is only possible if the church is humble. Elevating ourselves and looking down on others will hinder harmony. As C. S. Lewis says, as long as we’re looking down on others, we’ll never see what’s above us.
In contrast, we’re called to be friends with the “lowly,” with those the world ignores. We’re called to “not be wise in our own sight,” to not be conceited. I love what Leon Morris says, “The person who is wise in his own eyes is rarely so in the eyes of other people.”[6] The wisest people are those who know they have no wisdom apart from God.
Relating to Those Outside the Church
The focus of verses 9-16 has primarily been on how Christians should relate to other Christians. Verses 17-21 primarily focus on how Christians should relate to those outside the church.
The primary idea of these verses is that revenge is not an option for Christians. Our natural tendency when someone wrongs us is to “get even.” But Paul says that we’re to “repay no one evil for evil” (v. 17). We don’t return insult for insult, blow for blow, theft for theft, hate for hate, sin for sin. Why? Because we’ve been changed by the gospel. We don’t give people what they deserve because God hasn’t given us what we deserve.
We do everything in our power to “keep the peace” (v. 18). But we don’t purchase peace at the price of our convictions. We don’t make peace with the world by compromising our convictions. Like Jesus, we stand on the truth even while the world curses us, and in so doing, we display the peace of another world.
And if we are maligned by the world, we never resort to revenge. Verse 19 gives us the theological reason why. God has assigned himself the task of avenging those who’ve been wronged. “Vengeance,” or “justice,” belongs to the Lord. He knows what’s right and what’s wrong better than any of us, and he knows who’s done what to who, so we leave it to him to settle all accounts.
Paul then pushes us to go a step further in verse 20. Instead of getting even with our enemies, we should have them over for dinner! This is obviously not always going to be possible or wise, but Paul’s point here is that kindness toward enemies may stimulate shame and repentance in them. Who knows how God may use our love toward people we hate?
We Can’t Do This, but Jesus Did
These verses give us a picture of the way things ought to be, a picture of life in the kingdom of God. The trouble is that we can’t do this stuff. Our love and zeal and joy and patience and prayer and generosity and hospitality and humility and harmony and mercy is often lacking. No matter how hard we try, the kind of life we long for often seems just beyond our reach.
We read portions of Scripture like this and think, “That sounds nice, but no one lives this way.” Well, there was one person who lived this way. There was a man from Galilee who loved his friends deeply, who hated evil and loved good, who was fervent in spirit and served the Lord, who rejoiced in hope and patient in tribulation and constant in prayer, who gave up his wealth and became poor so that we could become rich, who blessed those who persecuted him, who entered into the pain and misery of the world, walked in our shoes and felt what we feel, who was friends with the lowly and lived peaceably without compromising his convictions, who didn’t give people what they deserve but rather poured burning coals on the head of his enemies by pouring out his blood for them.
Jesus Christ lived the life that we could never live in order to show us the life that we can have with him and with each other in the kingdom of God. And, because we fail so miserably at being who we’re supposed to be, Jesus died on the cross to take away our sins. When we look to him in faith and turn away from our sins, our sin is removed and his righteousness is credited to our account.
The shadow that hangs over the world has been defeated by Jesus’ work and is starting to slowly lift away. Where can we see it starting to slowly lift? In the local church, where the gospel creates a new people who’re pursuing a new way of life, together in community. When this happens, heaven comes down to the earth and we get a glimpse of what life in a new world will look like, a glimpse of how things are supposed to be, a taste of the future here in the present.