WWUTT 202 Show Honor to All?

Titus 3 says that before we came to Christ we were hated by others and hating one another, but in Christ we have been reconciled to God and to God's people.

As the people of God we are not going to behave like the people of this world when we understand the text. You are listening to When We Understand The Text, an online

Bible ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty. Find videos and more at our website www .wwtt

.com. Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky. Romans chapter 12 today, beginning in verse 17, and we'll go to the end of the chapter.

We'll spend the next three days finishing up Romans 12. Well, today, tomorrow, and Thursday, and then next week get into chapter 13.

All right, that's the goal. So here we go, starting in verse 17. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.

If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God. For it is written,

Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him.

If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

So here's how we're going to break this down over the next several days. Each day we'll look at a different point, and here's our three points.

First of all, to do what is honorable in the sight of all. Second point will be to live peaceably with all.

And then the final point will be to show good to all. So verse 17 is our emphasis today.

Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.

Now remember in this particular section that we're looking at, Romans 12 verses 14 through 21, we're talking about how the church interacts with a world that is going to be hostile toward the church, because we are not part of this world.

We are part of a kingdom that is not of this world. We are already citizens of that kingdom, all who are in Christ Jesus.

So we have brought a little piece of the kingdom here to earth. We represent that kingdom. Our minds and our hearts are supposed to be heavenward with Christ.

That is our home. That is our desire to be there, to not be clinging to anything that is in this world, but rather to desire the things that are beyond this world.

As we read in Colossians chapter 3, If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

So the world is going to look at us as strangers. They are going to look at us like we're intruders and invaders, and our message is not going to be friendly to the world.

So the world will... You're talking about a world that is experiencing enmity with God.

They hate God. And so likewise, they hate God's people. So there's going to be this constant antagonism, this struggle between the citizens of the kingdom and the people of this world.

And so the world will come against us and we will be persecuted for the faith that we have. In fact, the way that Paul says it to Timothy is that those who desire to live a life of godliness in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

And Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, something that we looked at last week, but blessed are you who suffer for righteousness' sake, for they hated the prophets who were before you.

You're talking about suffering just for the sake of righteousness. You haven't even spoken the name of Christ or shared the gospel yet.

But just because you would be pursuing righteousness in Christ or desiring to live a life of godliness in Christ Jesus, the world will hate us just for that, just for taking a biblical principled stance on something.

We will be hated for that. There's no way to soften this message, okay? There's no way to live as a citizen of the kingdom of God and try to present yourself in a way that is going to be palatable to the world, that is going to be acceptable to the world.

They hate the things of God. So as we have a worldview that is centered around Christ Jesus, as we have a foundation that is built upon the scriptures, every single issue that we take a biblical principled stance upon will be hated by the world.

And so they will come against us. We will be reviled for the opinions and the positions that we have.

We will be hated for the message that we share. We will be loathed for the

God that we claim service to, who is our salvation. And so when the world comes against us for these things, not if, but when, when people in this world, some worse than others, okay, of course, your unsaved family members are not just going to hate you because you walk in the door.

They're going to hug you and say, hey, love you, haven't seen you in such a long time. But in their hearts, there is still a division between you and them because in their hearts, they are against God.

So they're also against God's people. There are people in this world who are, they'll be nice about it.

They're going to put on a good face, but there's something about us that just doesn't fit with the way things are going in this world.

And so there will be those that are more extreme than others that we will face persecution from and reviling and hate.

And so when those kinds of things happen, when we experience that kind of animosity in the world, we are to bless those who persecute us, bless and do not curse them.

As we read in verse 14, we can't respond the same way that they are going to react to us.

Rather, we need to do this very lovingly. We need to be gentle. Looking at something that Peter said in 1

Peter 2 19, where Peter says, for this is a gracious thing when mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.

For what credit is it if when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure.

But if when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.

Understand that it is a gracious gift of God to suffer for his sake.

We don't often consider the suffering and persecution that way. It's something that we fear. And granted, nobody wants to go through that.

It's understandable to have a stress about having to endure or face those kinds of things. Absolutely.

But when we realize that the grace of God is upon us, even that we would be considered worthy of the name to go through suffering for his sake, then we are able to rejoice in God for having to experience such a thing.

For to this you have been called, Peter goes on, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example.

So that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.

When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

By his wounds, you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and the overseer of your souls.

So as we come back to this here again in Romans 12, as it says to repay no one evil for evil, if they respond to us in an evil way, we can't retaliate in that same way, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.

As Peter also said right before that section that I read there in 1 Peter 2, he said to honor everyone, that's 1

Peter 2 .17, honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the emperor.

Honor the emperor tends to be the part of that verse that we emphasize the most, but don't miss it. He said, honor everyone, showing honor to everybody.

What does that mean to show honor? Now, when I went through this with my congregation, I printed off seven definitions of honor to give us a better idea of what it means to do what is honorable in the sight of all.

So here's some definitions of honor. Number one, it's honesty, fairness, or integrity in one's beliefs and actions.

Basically, you're a man of good character. You say you're gonna do something and you do it. And so people identify that about you and they say that you're a person who is honorable, a man or a woman of honor.

Here's the second definition, a source of credit or distinction. For example, you would be an honor to someone else.

You're an honor to your church. You're an honor to somebody's family. When they think of you, they even think of your family in good standing as in good nature because of the honorable credit that you have given to them.

All right, here's a third definition, high respect as for worth, merit, or rank.

For example, you are held in honor. Your rank or your position or your title in a job that you might have or serving in the military or in the police force or in the fire department or something like that, your rank may have a certain title of honor that goes with it.

Here's the fourth definition, such respect manifested. So somebody is paying honor to you or you are showing honor to the dead.

For example, those who laid their lives down for the freedoms that we enjoy here in this country, giving them honor or they have a day of honor,

Memorial Day, which we recognized a week ago. Okay, number five, high public esteem, fame, or glory.

Okay, you have a certain prestige or a certain name that goes before you and people just think of you as being a person of honor because you're a person of fame.

Okay, number six, and this is the definition that I think fits best with the

Christian faith. The privilege of being associated with or receiving a favor from a respected person, group, organization, et cetera.

See, we get to call ourselves Christians and that is an honor because it is the name of the

God that we worship that we bear, we wear his name. And so because we are followers of Christ, we can call ourselves

Christian. And the honor that we have is not something that we own or we possess or we earned, but rather God gave it to us.

We have this honor because it was given to us by God. Now then let me expand this out even more because we read in Ephesians 3 .15

that from the father, every family in heaven and on earth is named.

Not just every family of God, but every living thing, whether you're talking about spiritual creatures or the natural creatures that live on this earth, every family in heaven and on earth is named from God the father.

And so, because we know that, because every single human being has been made in the image of God, to a certain extent, wear his name.

Not everybody wears the name of Christ, but everyone has the name of the father because we have all been made in the image of God.

Because we know that, that encourages us, drives us as Christians all the more to show honor to all, knowing that they have been made in the image of God.

This is why we would say to a person that they are dying and perishing in their sins unless they repent and follow

Christ who has forgiven us of sins and gives us right standing before God the father.

Because all of us, every single person in this world, even those of us who are in Christ, because before we came to Christ, we were all like this.

Every single one of us has taken the image of God and we've desecrated it. We've exalted ourselves.

We took the very breath that God gave us and we blasphemed him exalting our own glory instead.

And God is gonna pour his wrath out on all of that unrighteousness, on those who have exalted themselves over God.

We love a person so much and show them honor to a degree in knowing that they bear the image of God. We don't want them to perish and suffer under the wrath of God.

So we would extend to them as citizens of the kingdom of God, bringing the message of that kingdom to them by saying, repent of your sins for against such sins, the wrath of God is coming and Jesus Christ has forgiven these sins that in him, you might become a citizen of the kingdom of God and you will be with that winning kingdom when

God ushers in that peaceful kingdom, removing all who are evil and establishing the kingdom of Christ forever.

So we love and show honor to everybody to such a degree that we would bring that message. They are image bearers of God.

They even have the name that has been given to them by God, though they have not yet worn the name of Christ, who is the king of that eternal kingdom.

So may we bring that message to the world that they may know to repent of their sins and believe in Christ.

As we do that, we don't do it by reviling, by shouting, by being angry, by beating people over the head with our pithy signs, but rather we are to do what is honorable in the sight of all, repaying no one evil for evil, but showing honor to everyone.

This is one of the marks of the true Christian. This is how we show that we are not of this world, but we are citizens of the kingdom.

We don't act like the rest of the world. You know, like I said, our message, our behavior is not going to be acceptable to the world, and we should not try to make it that way.

Our focus needs to be on the instructions that have been given to us in the word of Christ. And of course, as Peter pointed out, our example is

Christ himself. He's who we look to. So we're not focused on how can we make this the most palatable to the world?

How can we be the most acceptable to the world? Because we've already been given the instruction at the start of this chapter, do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

And then you will be able to see and test God's good, pleasing, and perfect will.

We are conforming our mind and thoughts to God and his will, and not to the pattern of this world.

So the world's not going to, the worldliness of the world is not going to accept the heavenliness of the kingdom that we are a part of.

So we do not look to them, to the world, to find out the best way that we can interact with the world. Rather, we follow the instructions that are given to us in scripture on how we behave as citizens of the kingdom of God.

And God, I pray that you work this in our minds and hearts all the more as we have applied these scriptures to our ears today.

May it also be written on our hearts that we might behave as citizens of your eternal kingdom, continue to grow us in this understanding of the holiness of God, that we might as image bearers of God also be bearers of the holiness that you have called us to live in following the example of Christ.

Give us boldness and courage in the gospel, for as we've read at the start of this letter, I am not ashamed of the gospel for in it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

In the name of Christ we pray, amen. For more about our ministry, visit us online at www .utt