Romans 12:11-14 — Keith Price

Sometimes you See the words on the screen. We love and adore you we bow down before you Jesus we crown you with praise and yet somehow you don't feel worthy to sing that because. Sometimes we can blow it can't we and we're not sure whether we should sing it.

You know some years ago John Wesley white who was a Canadian evangelist Shared this story. Billy Graham was in Australia preaching and Of course the crowds had gathered and thousands had come to one of the rallies and of course the excitement was building.

They went through the earlier part of the service and Everything went well, you know everybody is waiting for Billy to show up and and so on pray and speak. But then just at the time when Billy was due to come Cliff Barrows got up and said well now I'm terribly sorry to have to tell you that that Billy Graham is Not feeling very well at all and we've flown dr. John Wesley white across from From North America, and he's arrived here, and he's going to be speaking instead of Billy Graham.

Well, you could hear you could sense the terrible terrible disappointment all over the car all over the group and. Well John Wesley white got up he looked at them, and he just kept quiet for about 10 seconds, and then he said If you feel bad.

Imagine what I feel like. I want you to think about that for a moment if you feel bad. Imagine what I feel like. Well to be quite honest with you. I didn't feel like preaching this morning because this morning I spoke unkindly to somebody.

And it grieved the spirit of God. I know and it grieved my spirit and although I went and asked forgiveness. Somehow it takes a little while to get back on focus and Although I know that the Lord has forgiven me and hopefully will teach me more lessons from that.

It was hard to sing this because I said Lord. Do I love and adore you when I say things like that? But you know God is in the business of forgiveness. And he can put things right with us. And I would always find it extremely hard to sit in a congregation when I feel like that because I wouldn't want to listen.

But will you imagine what you feel like like that imagine what I feel like when I speak and I've done that right because we do blow it and I do blow it and. And anyway, I trust that the Lord will this morning give us grace.

Know that in our hearts. We intend to do the right thing, but we're very human. So would you pray again this morning? You've already done that but let's pray pray quietly. You pray for me, and I'll pray for you in case you're like that okay?

Lord we're stunned that you use imperfect human beings. You could have dispatched legions of angels to do this work Lord. But maybe they wouldn't have related with us. We wouldn't have identified with them because They were not among the fallen ones, but your chosen servants right now.

But Lord you've given us bodies of flesh. You've given us a freedom of will. And Lord we sometimes blow it, but we want to thank you that not only can you forgive. But you can still pick any one of us up now, and you can use us as.

We put things right with you. Thank you so much Lord for hearing us. And thank you for this wonderful song that Stan has led us in. Lord we do love and adore you you know the depth of our hearts. And we do bow down before you Lord.

We want to crown you with praise Lord. Not just the fruit of our lips, but the fruit of our lives and I pray that you will just cause each one of us to think about the way that we sometimes grieve you and The way that you so lovingly time and time and time again forgive.

Romans 12 and the Sermon’s Four Themes

We love you we adore you we crown you with praise. Amen. Well, we're trying to make our way through Romans chapter 12 we're sort of not doing very well. Are we we're trying to get there but we've been doing two or three verses at a time and If you'll just turn there a moment I'll show you where we're going to cover today, and I'm going to give you a sheet of paper in a moment in which.

This is not giving it to you. Expecting that I'm not going to get through it, so that's what I would have said. That's not the reason I believe we're going to get through this. It's just that the last section tomorrow is easier to cover a longer section because they're not such short snappy.

Statements you see there are some of them, but not all of them are like that. But what are we going to do today as we've done the first two verses? Sunday we did three four and five on Monday on looking at ourselves as we really are.

Then we saw on Tuesday six seven and eight. Didn't we on them on? Giftedness and how God gives us all different gifts, and how we cultivate those. Then we saw last night because we didn't have a session yesterday morning the first part of the next paragraph.

We saw verses 9 and 10 on those qualities and expressions of love now. We want to start from verse 11 today. And I'm going to take 11 12 and 13 if we have time I may venture into 14. But and then at least it will leave a little less for tomorrow, but if we don't that's fine.

We'll be able to work that out now what I've done. Is I've just sort of Written out each one of those little sections the first section. Sunday consecration. Monday humility. Tuesday giftedness last night.

Love today is one verse for most of these next one. So I'm gonna have to cover a few every time. So we've run that off. And I wonder if you two fellows would be willing to give half that if you walk down that aisle with the top pile there brother.

And if you'd walk down the other aisle Andy then. Then at least if you get one between two people if you're together if you can just share one that would be good because we just Got 75 and isn't quite enough to go around there.

All right, and then at least you can have that don't be staring at it all the time. But keep it so that you know at least what the themes are in every verse. I don't know about you. But I find if somebody will sum up a whole paragraph with one sentence that tremendously help in fact.

Condensing a Sermon to Its Central Message

That's the way I prepare particularly when I'm preaching through the Psalms. I'll read through the Psalms and I'll get a paragraph and say now What does this say in one sentence and I finish up with four paragraphs four sentences?

Then I say now can I put all these four sentences into one sentence and so I'll squeeze them into one sentence with two or Three semicolon semicolons and so on you know and then what happens is I say now that's too long a sentence.

Can I have no semicolons and and then I boil it down to one sentence, then I said it's still too long. Can I boil it down to a phrase and I'll boil it down to a phrase and I say oh. It's really hurting now because I'm giving up those words.

I love but I'll eventually boil it down to one word. That's the way I prepare and frankly as people tell you when if you learn about preaching. And they say well if you can't say what you're going to say when somebody rushes into the church and says you're starting to preach.

But the church is burning down you've got five seconds to say it if you can't say it in five seconds. You're not going to say it in 45 minutes. So as a result I try to boil down those single words on the left are those.

Simple little things just boil down to one word and what I put on the right is just a way in which we need to Apply it in our lives all right now today. We're going to probably look at. Probably going to look at.

Servanthood: Serving the Lord with Zeal

Verse a rather yes verse 11 servanthood. Verse 12 endurance. Verse 13 generosity. And if we've got time to get on to verse 14 kindness. I Would rather not deal with kindness today. It'll be easier for me to deal with it tomorrow, but maybe it's good that I do deal with it today.

See sometimes we have to do what is right? And as I've told you before and I know one or two of you written down in your Bibles because I say it often. Don't ditch in the darkness what you learned in the light.

So maybe that would be good anyway. But I know you'll be understanding and praying for me as my spirit is not. What perhaps I would have liked it to have been to get into this. But I know the word is still true.

When you don't feel like going to the Bible my friends a good time to go to it is right then. That's the time that will uplift you. Remind you of its truths and cause you again to put whatever you need to put right with the Lord.

So let's read from verse 11. Never be lacking in zeal. But keep your spiritual fervor serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope patient in affliction faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need.

Practice hospitality. Let me read the next verse. Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse. So let's look at the first one which is servanthood. This theme in verse 11 is about servanthood.

And in fact you'll notice that the word serving comes in the last phrase there serving the Lord. Now you'll say but we've already dealt with that. We've talked about giftedness in verse 6 and 7 and 8 and surely it's the gifts that God give you that you serve with.

Interesting that's true. But it's a different word for serving here and the kind of servant that This speaks of is a different kind of a person. Maybe it's the same one with both these qualities. In verse 7 when we saw about the gifts if your gift is serving let that people let them serve.

That word is the regular word for a servant. It's the word that's translated sometimes not only serving but ministering. So that if someone's a minister a state. You think well you must look up to them or on a pedestal, but wait a minute you look up to a servant.

Well you should because Jesus was the servant of servants. But all the word minister means is servant and both of those words Minister or servant whether you've got the King James or other versions all are a translation of the word in the language of the New Testament from which we get our word deacon and A deacon is one who serves not necessarily always sweeping the floor.

Not necessarily always being in charge of all the accounts, but a whole range of serving, but a servant. It's a very broad word. And in fact although again, I wouldn't build a doctrine on it. You know really some people think that those two words that make up that word deacon is really con us.

Really they come from two words that mean they are through and the other word the second word comes from the word for the dust. That you go through the dust, but frankly I'm not sure that that's you know sometimes we have a nice little way of looking at a word and some of the people that Tell us the background of words love to tell these marvelous stories and boy I love to pick them up and say wow if that really were the case I'd like to tell that but somehow I wonder whether we've not picked the most exciting Description of the background of a word in any case this word just means somebody who is willing To do anything and to serve a general word for a servant.

But when it comes to our word serving here in verse 11 serving the Lord the word they're serving the noun for that that kind of a servant is Doulas you've heard of a doulas and a doulas means not just a servant.

But a slave and the difference between a servant New testament wise and a slave new testament wise isn't that the gentry and the aristocracy are on the upstairs of the house? And the servants are in the downstairs of the house and the poor slaves are in the dungeon.

Just waiting to be let out to do something for the servants. No the difference between a servant and a slave is basically because a slave can be somebody who's in charge of an entire estate. That's quite a high position, but he could still be a slave and the difference is that when it comes to a slave the slave is Absolutely committed to doing Everything that his master may want and whatever his master's will is he will do it.

And he will try to understand what his master's will is and do that and he will never do anything else for as a servant. And sometimes I know I think there's a best way to do this. But the slave will say I want to do what your will is no wonder.

It says you're serving slaving for the Lord so this first thing on servanthood. It says never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor serving the Lord. So three statements there an actual fact what they say literally translated is this in zeal.

Don't be slow or lagging or lacking in spirit. Seething boiling serving the Lord. Now so let's think first of all you'll notice that they sort of rise up in Spiritual intensity and they gradually become more and more internalized so on the outside never be lacking in zeal.

I can do all kinds of things with your hands and your legs now all kinds of zeal and Incidentally that would zeal is the identical word to diligent in the verse 8 if it's leadership let him govern. Diligently it's with diligence.

It's the same word zeal and diligence. Well, you can do that on the outside and get all kinds of good work going and run around here and jump up there. And but then you get to the next one. Keep your spiritual fervor.

That's in spirit. With fervor or seething that means now you're going down from the outside into the inside of the person in spirit and. Then the next one says serving the Lord so now you really got in a spiritual sense.

You know who you're serving so it's getting deeper and deeper and more intense spiritually, but never be lacking in zeal. Isn't that easy to say? Easy to say never be lacking in zeal after what I just told you about what I said this morning unkindly.

I Felt somewhat lacking in zeal after that. Because why should I why should the Lord bother to use me? You know in any case you know I've blown it. So you ever feel like it when you blow it you just eat your zeal like the balloons gone down.

You never see one of these helium balloons after 21 days. You know I had him when I had this hip replacement. Oh my grandchildren bought these helium balloons oddly enough. They did they stayed fairly plump.

For a couple of weeks and then gradually they get the wrinkles of old age in them. You know and there they gradually they stay there, but Amazingly they still kept kept up. I couldn't believe it, but anyway, but gradually they're lacking.

That's what it's like isn't as we get older oftentimes. We lack in zeal what frankly is zeal important I mean is it zeal. I mean aren't we all made differently. I mean You know one thing I've been realizing in the several months prior to my hip replacement a few weeks ago was That I was beginning to try to fathom and I never worked it out probably so you're gonna have to help me on this.

I was beginning to try to work out what the difference was between tiredness and laziness. Now think about that will you how would you differentiate between tiredness and laziness who's got a good answer here?

You want to think about it all right? I walk up this step by the time I get down the other aisle you'll have thought of something. Never got tired. Do you well? You know you were never lazy. You just tired.

The idea is that you ever get you're never lazy. You just know you're not you've got too many children to be lazy all right.

Tiredness comes on from something that has happened to you where laziness is self-inflicted.

All right, how can I tell whether? When I'm lacking in zeal. Whether I'm really tired because I didn't have enough sleep last night or because frankly I think I didn't have enough sleep, and I'm persuading myself.

I didn't have enough sleep or in actual fact. I did. How can I tell the difference?

Well you I guess then you have to start examining yourself and see where this motive motivation comes from. How would you do that? Well the scripture can help you out in that case and so that's what our look to the Lord.

And he'll give you the answer.

Can you think of a good one? It's always hard when people put me on the spot like that. I can't think of a good scripture. Are you like that? Yes, I am. Okay, we move on to someone else got a good scripture.

This is Mercer. Where are you. You had a? Shout out here, so tiredness you feel is a physical thing whereas laziness of more of an emotional. Spiritual or unspiritual thing. Did you have some who had their hand up then would it be will?

Will the will difference between tiredness and laziness.

Explain that will. Who what's his last name?

I would you explain that a little more. Will to not be tired will to not be lazy.

So all right, so I've got to get up in the morning if I feel tired if I don't feel like getting up.

I say I didn't feel like running this morning at 6, but my brother Expected me to be there, so I willed myself.

Okay, you know I can't help thinking of said low Baxter on this some of you heard me share about what said said low Baxter in fact I shared on this and Stonecroft. I think it was what was it here was it Stonecroft?

I shared and I shared this you know I've said low Baxter dr. Said love action he has this wonderful way of describing things like this. He says that you know we need to we need to think in terms of the difference between our our Emotions and our will and let's for instance say all right now.

I'm gonna get up now from here on I'm gonna get up at 6 o 'clock in the morning not to go this or that or something else. But I'm gonna actually gonna have a time with the Lord at 6 o 'clock. I'm gonna be very spiritual.

So you say fine. I'll set the place and so on so you're in bed next morning and oh. No, it doesn't do that. You know goes beep beep beep beep whatever it is anyway. It goes off, and you can't wonder who would phone you at that time of the morning.

What is this noise that's going on you know you don't understand it? Oh, dear, and then you half come true. You say oh my word Curtains open. I can't even see anything must still be dark. I mean oh my and you see in bed with you there are your emotions.

And you will the three of you are all in bed. And as soon as you wake up Emotion says oh, you don't feel like getting up this morning. Do you you thought it was gonna be okay didn't you but it's not it's not you don't feel like so don't bother to get Up, but the other side of you is your will and your will says, but wait a minute.

You said you were gonna get up, so you'd better get up right now. But wait a minute emotion says he didn't know it was gonna be as dark as this he didn't know I was gonna be as tired As this but will sit well your will says it doesn't matter how tired you are you will to get up and you got to get up.

So of course you've got this committee of three and you're the chairman so you've got the deciding vote. And so you say well, I'm sorry emotions. But my will is right so I'll pull the covers over you you stay in bed.

But will and I are going over here. We're gonna have a little time with the Lord so willing you come over here. And you have a little time with the Lord now. You don't enjoy it. I mean, how can you enjoy it when your emotions are in bed, but you do it because it is right now because it feels, right?

So then what happens is the next morning comes along same thing happens again. You know it goes. Oh. All this oh, I'm really tired this morning after all. I mean we went for that long drive down the coast yesterday.

We all went in to buy our shoes from the factory outlets, and oh it was time wandering around it. Oh, oh, you don't want to get up this morning. No you're right. You're right emotions. That's I'm glad you said over.

Wait a minute will says wait a minute. This is the same as yesterday. Don't listen to that fellow. You said you're gonna get up and have a time with the Lord well. You know what's gonna happen in the end you can tuck him in again pull the blankets over him come over here.

You and we'll have another time of the Lord, but you still don't enjoy it for the simple reason that your feelings are in bed. So this is getting ridiculous so the third morning when the beep beep goes off.

You immediately put your left hand out and slap it across emotions mouth and he's not gonna say anything and Then when you've got it across his mouth you put your other arm over and grab the lobe of his ear and you pull Emotions out of bed drag him out and wills running behind you and you pull him all the way over here.

And you sit him down on a chair. And you sit well down on a chair and you sit down on a chair for the three. They have a quiet time. Emotions immediately turns his chair around and faces outwards. You have your quiet time.

You're not too sure whether you enjoyed it or not. But you go back to bed. Next morning wake up. Emotion. Hey, well, where's emotions got emotions is gone. Voice over here fellows like the three little pigs.

I came an hour earlier this morning because yesterday. Although I pretended not to listen to you. I really was enjoying what you did and Frankly, you go over there and you have a fabulous time. You've done what is right because it is right and it ultimately therefore feels right.

But if you'd acted only on your emotions, then you wouldn't have gone there in the first place. So what did you do? Thanks for giving the opportunity to tell that Sidlow Baxter story. But what you did was you decided this morning?

I'm gonna get up because I told my brother I get up. Yes. Your will was in charge. So is he right that the difference between tiredness and laziness is only well I mean when I'm absolutely tired and God knows I need more sleep.

Should I then put my will into practice and say too bad you're tired my body you're gonna have to work hard today. And that's tough luck. Is that is that is that always the case? Is it always willing?

Oh, listen, we've got somebody Steve who disagrees over here. He should be right because he's only been married. Oh, sorry I'm not gonna tell you anything. He's got to be right. He's a radio announcer and I shouldn't be holding this.

Well, no, I I'd say that that there are times when Your will should be put on the back seat because There was times and I would be fervently in prayer and I'd stay up till 3 o 'clock in the morning just praying and worshiping Jesus and having a great time, but I had to be at work early in the morning and I Would not have the strength to go on the air the physical strength and I think the Lord wants us to make wise choices, too and So that's that.

That's why I think that sometimes will has to take a backseat.

Made a wise choice the last few days. Did you I hope you did last Saturday? All right. I wouldn't tell you anybody this. Well, anyway, well, thank you. Now. Let me ask you then. How can we what would you do now?

Some practical thing that you will do now if you want to make sure you don't gradually Deteriorate into a person that thinks he's always tired when really it's deteriorated into laziness. What will you do?

Is there somebody that can do something for you or what is it? You mentioned about the text of scripture can help you mentioned about put your will in charge and you've mentioned about you know. Be sensible about the decisions you make beforehand.

Yes.

He's normally the talkative one. Is he I? Think you should look back at what you've done. If you the feeling of tired or the feeling of laziness can be the same. But if you look back and you've done nothing, then you're lazy.

If you look back and you've done a lot Then you're probably tired.

So if I look back at 6 in the morning and I look back to the last four hours and find that I've done nothing. Except sleep. I'm lazy. Oh 24-hour, okay. All right. Now. All I want to do is to just throw this out to see if I can get people.

I mean, we've got to think of this. We've only got one life to live only what's done for Christ will last and boy I want to use that life to the full but my good brother here from the Marines wants to say something.

Now and the Marines are talking. So listen.

Well in in laziness you make excuses. You always make excuses for everything. You Have to have a want to do something. If you don't have that want you'll always make excuses.

So it's again with the word for want is there. Will want or will so you have to have a will to do something. So really we're coming back to what he said now two of you against the other two if two agree.

I mean, that's that's the end of the story, isn't it? So you at least you got so I want you to think about that for a moment anyway. And but boy goodness me, we're really gonna reach 21 today. So so here we have it.

Then this is something about not be lacking in zeal. But secondly keep your spiritual fervor. That means in spirit. Seething that's exactly what it says. There are three words in the text in spirit. Kind of space although they didn't have punctuation on that.

Boiling seething at boiling point in flame now then. If that's in spirit. Isn't that being unfair because not all of us are bubbly types I mean. You know, you often wonder about the bubbly types whether you can trust them.

But the quiet types I know like my wife. Then they are very reliable people usually and at least that's so I'm a bubbly type. So I'm not sure why you're coming here. But anyway, here we are now. What would you say in spirit?

Boiling or with fervor is it right to say that everybody has to be fervent in spirit. Can a very quiet reserved? Englishman. Be fervent in spirit now tell me about that. Anybody. Is your partner quiet and you know, they're fervent or.

I think that some of the most fervent people are the quiet ones. It's down below the surface.

I don't know. Don't say anymore. You said a lot right there. Hold the rest of it. Will you. I think the most quiet people the quiet people are most fervent in spirit. It's deep down inside. So are we saying that fervency in spirit is nothing to do with?

But it's to do with something. How does the fervency in spirit show itself then? Hold on there. How does the quiet the fervency in spirit show itself if it's a very quiet person tell me. Ah, you wanted to get one back on her, right?

Yeah, it's endurance endurance. Wait a minute. That's our next subject. I think you've hit it right on it. In fact, this is why that may follow don't you think that the Apostle Paul may well have had that in mind?

The fervency in spirit serve in the Lord then he says now. How can you be fervent when there's all kinds of trials and he's coming on next to how to endure in that? So you you've read now you read ahead.

That's what it was. Okay. All right. Well, that's that's a little fervent in spirit and don't forget. It's nothing to do with your personality type. It's not at all. And I you know. Probably the person I will just lap up and listen to John Stott.

John Stott and dr Martin Lloyd-jones written ministry more affected my early ministry than any other people. They're both Britishers. I'm sorry about that, but that's where I lived you see but they affected me very much.

But John Stott is a very kind of a more of a lecturer type of person doesn't get so excited like a fiery Kelt would get you know, but he keeps rather quiet and only at the end does he does he apply it but you know.

Oh by a hang on to every word. Don't please think that the ones that find it easy to roll their words off their lips are necessarily the ones that are fervent in spirit. No, that may be fervent in tongue or something, but it may seething in tongue wrong way sometimes.

But not necessarily in spirit what about then serving the Lord, you know this word serving the Lord the third expression in verse 11 actual fact. Do you know that some anybody have in there a different translation?

That's got anything to do with opportunity or time. If you've got instead of serving the Lord something to do with time or opportunity, would you stick your hand up? Oh, I've wiped it out of most of them.

I see but a lot of the early translations differed over whether this was making the most of every opportunity or Serving the Lord, do you know why? Do you know how difficult it is? I mean you may wonder why translations differ in the Bible.

This is an example for instance in the first nine centuries of the church when they would write out the scriptures. The language the Greek language was all every letter was capital letters. So for instance now we know like here it says in our versions.

As when does it say but keep your spiritual fervor or in spirit? Seething the word spirit in our translations would have a small s. But sometimes when it refers to the Holy Spirit, it will have a capital s and you know that that's often the difference.

But that's purely an interpretive little thing. That's not in the text for the simple reason. They didn't know which was capitals because every letter was capital like Alibaba on the 40th. He's every house had a cross on it, you know, so here it is.

All were capital letters, but not only that they didn't put any space between the words. I Taught myself a little of that language. I don't know a lot of it. But what I taught myself I taught myself from an old the oldest complete copy of the New Testament that we have in In existence what they call the Codex Sinaiticus stated about 325 AD and frankly It was all in capital letter Greek and all the letters were joined together as soon as you've got the end of a word still Network carried on you don't want to waste space when you got that precious material that you're writing on not only that you don't want To waste space or time.

But so what you do is you also cut out all the punctuation. So you don't get hyphens you don't get commas you don't get question marks or an explanation mark. Then you say now wait a minute. We're gonna cut out all the vowels after all if the Hebrews could cut out all their vowels and put in these little vowel points.

Oh, why can't we so they started writing all this language with no vowels. So what happened is you came across obviously a word. It was meant to be on its own and it said KRS or the equivalent in English of KRS and Of course most of the time that happened then people knew that this was the word for Lord Kurios but KRS was also the short form of Kairos, which is one of the words for a special time of opportunity.

So when that KRS they say is it the Lord or is it time? So here that's why some of your versions have time or opportunity. I want you to know that don't don't feel that you've got to say oh, it's not right or anything.

No, this is what we call textual trying to find the pure text and we keep on going back and trying to find the best lines and the best ways in Which it was copied and and so on and so, you know, it's gonna take a little while as I say.

It's very hard to get that into good English. Actually, we're not in doubt of more than 50 words of the New Testament. So Westcott and Hort said not in doubt of more than 50 words and not one of those words affects any major doctrine of Christianity.

So I want you to know that's good. But I want you to be awake to that and to realize it can be serving not serving time. I could translate it, but it's not the regular word for time. It's not serving it means serving every opportunity, but I don't think that means I think it's what it says here serving the Lord.

But we must take every opportunity to serve the Lord to taking every opportunity. Dr. Oswald Sanders. And his wonderful little book a spiritual clinic has and he was a dear man of God went to be with the Lord.

I guess in seven or eight years ago I've had opportunities of ministering at conferences with him just alongside us that as the Canadian token the sidekick, you know thrown in with the great Dr. Oswald Sanders or the three Oswald's, you know, I was will Smith the People's Church Oswald Chambers and Oswald Sanders.

And so but he am in his wonderful little book a spiritual clinic, which you should sell your shirt to buy. It's a great little book. He's got one chapter called the right use or the strategic use of time and in it He says every one of us has 168 hours.

No more. No less most of us spend 56 hours sleeping depends on your age. Most of us spend 56 hours working or traveling to and from work. That's 112. Most of us spend about three hours a day on meals and devotions that 7 times 3 is 21.