Probably one of the most popular songs ever is Imagine by John Lennon. You certainly wouldn’t want to build your theology out of it, as it denies heaven and hell and wishes for the evil of religion to be vaporized. The song goes on to express high-minded, utopian dreams of people all living in the oneness of harmony and love. “A brotherhood of man … Imagine all the people sharing all the world. You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope some day you’ll join us, and the world will be as one.”

Nice sentiments. But it is a dream. And it would be better to bring heaven back into the equation for this to ever be a reality.

But imagine if God’s people, God’s family of faith – the church – were to live and function in a way that exemplified the love and character of Christ. Imagine that; what would that look like?

Perhaps it would look like a lot of people practicing Paul’s admonitions to the Romans in our passage today in 12:9-21.

There is something in this list of short and quick exhortations to prick the conscience of every one of us. We might read along and be able to check off three, four or five consecutive items as practices we employ to live out our Christian lives. But it doesn’t take long for us to hit one that reminds us of a current or recent failure in our experience.

As I read this passage and look back now at four decades of church leadership service, I will say that the first people who come to mind as the most effective and beloved members I have known are those who could be largely described by this list. Some of these individuals were, to be fully honest, not necessarily the brightest and most gifted people by the world’s standards (or even those of the Christian community). But the genuine and sincere love that burned through them for God and for other people resulted in them occupying greater seats of service than those whose gifts appeared obvious. And I’m convinced these simple servants of the Lord will inhabit the biggest mansions in heaven!

We could take a great deal of time in expanding each of the items listed in these verses and how they might look in application within the Christian community. But for our purposes, let me boil it down to one common denominator: those who would best exemplify the deeds and characteristics Paul pictures here are those who most have a heart for other people that is bigger than their need to satisfy themselves.

Long before a Christian churchman gets to questions like “Are my needs being met in this church?” or “Am I being fed by the teaching?” should be questions like: “Am I able to use my gifts here to serve other people?” or “Have I been able to give here to people in need and display hospitality?” or “What can I do to increase unity by loving those who are sometimes unlovely?”

We all need to be less annoyed by other people in the family of faith. Even when they have said or done something to deserve a smack down or cold shoulder, the entire church would be better off by rather finding a way to kindly reach out and serve that person. Jesus did that for us – “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Imagine us all acting like Christ. Then the church would be as one.

12:9 – Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.[c] Do not be conceited.

17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

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

The great, old one-liner about Romans 12:1 is that the problem with living sacrifices is that they keep crawling off the altar. In totally modern terms we might say that such a sacrifice has ADHD – Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder!

If you were with us at church this past week, you’ll recall that the kids sang a great “Romans 12:1+2” song for the musical. And they were awesome in their performance! But some of the rehearsals … oh my!  I was working with the acting kids, and they would run from side to side on the stage, making up new lines and being, well, wild boys in particular. One of the calm girls would just look at me kinda wide-eyed with amazement at these antics and just shake her head as if to say, “I’m sorry you’re having to deal with this!”

I would guess that God has the same feeling with many of us, much of the time. We are called to sacrificial service within whatever capacities and gifts that we have. But then when it gets a bit difficult and painful to carry out that service for the Lord, like the ADHD sacrifice we’re off the altar and running around aimlessly.

Have you noticed that serving God can sometimes be painful? That is because it involves the totality of oneself. There’s no such thing as being a partial sacrifice. But total commitment is the way to go in life that will yield the greatest of success and satisfaction.

The easiest and most natural way to live life is to conform to the pattern of this world. This involves a great deal of going along to get along, with a strong dose of serving self and personal needs and interests. We fit into this mold quite easily with little contortion or thoughtful discipline.

Paul rather says that the believer should be transformed with a renewed way of thinking. The word for this is the one from which we get “metamorphosis.”  So it speaks of being changed from the inside-out. The result will be that such a process confirms God’s will for life – the best way of living well.

Verses 3-8 describe the primary function of living well, that of understanding God’s unique personal gifting and then deploying it faithfully to serve others.

Everyone should be humble in service because though each has gifts to use, none has anything close to having them all. Some gifts may be more dramatic and evident than others, but all are needed in order that together there may be mutual benefit.

It does not matter how incredibly talented a quarterback is if his offensive line does not protect him long enough to find an open receiver for a pass. It is difficult to throw a football with a 300-pound defensive lineman hanging on your arm. And the fastest running back will gain few yards without blockers who successfully keep defenders from dropping the ball carrier before he gets across the line of scrimmage.

Just as it is the team effort of each player performing his unique function successfully, so in the church family there is the need for all of the gifts to function for mutual benefit. Some are more public than others, but the more outward gifts cannot find a platform for successful execution without others performing their role with all-out energy.

So be faithful to use whatever gifts God has given you for the benefit of others. True inner satisfaction comes from serving others, and along the way of living sacrificially, we find that our deficits and needs are met by others who sacrificially gave of themselves as well. So stay on that altar … don’t be crawling off.

12:1 – Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

12:3 – For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. 4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

In this our third of three days of looking at chapters 9-11 of Romans, we see of Israel’s future as a nation. Their disobedience and disbelief was grievous. As stated in the previous two chapters, they were God’s chosen and special people who had not received God’s truth and plan. Therefore through the rejection of Christ, a larger plan of God for the expanse of the Gospel to Gentile peoples was accomplished.

But did this mean that all Israelites were now lost … that God had forgotten and totally rejected his people? Well certainly not. As Paul argues immediately in the first verse, he himself as a Jew from the tribe of Benjamin had come to faith by God’s divine call and personal intervention. It was not God rejecting; it was a matter of the chosen people rejecting God.

Paul turns quickly to another Old Testament account, that of Elijah and the prophets of Baal. It is one of my favorite OT stories. Here is Elijah, feeling sorry for himself, believing that he was just about the only one remaining who was faithful to God … “and those bad boys are trying to kill me now!” he wails. And God answers him by essentially saying, “Shut up with your whining, I’ve got 7,000 others who are yet faithful, pull up your socks and get to work because I have an assignment for you.”

Though as a whole the nation of Israel had rejected Christ and the gospel message, there remained even in the early church more than a few who knew and followed the truth. The gospel was good for Jews and Gentiles, though the church age would be a time where the gospel would particularly spread ultimately around the world to every tribe and nationality, as it has for the past 2,000 years.

The argument of the rest of the chapter is rather complicated, again accompanied by a bevy of Old Testament quotations. The primary issue is to communicate that God has not forgotten or permanently rejected the nation of Israel. The Gentiles who were the majority people receiving this letter should remember that it is they who were grafted into the “tree” of God’s family as spiritual descendants of Abraham. But a day will yet come (after Christ’s return) where there will be a national turning back to God of the Jewish people.

Again, for our devotional purposes and in an effort to keep us today out of the deep theological weeds, there is an interpretation of passages such as this one (along with others that speak of the nation of Israel) as saying that the church is “spiritual Israel” … that the promised given literally to the nation of Israel in the Old Testament are being spiritually fulfilled in the church. Though it is true that we are all one people of God in terms of our salvation being based in the work of Christ, God still has a literal future for the nation of Israel where his promises to them will be literally fulfilled.

Along with the overarching emphases within these complicated chapters that God is sovereign and has a sovereignly-designed plan that will come to fruition, we see the great grace and mercy of God. He does not forget his promises and his word. And we may fully bank on that! As time goes by, God’s master plan is being fulfilled toward a glorious end. This truth leads Paul to a doxological praise in the final four verses. And in our lives it leads us to confidence and trust in worship of the One who faithfully is working in all things and all times and all places … including in our lives. Amen!

11:1 – I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”? 4 And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5 So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 6 And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

7 What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened, 8 as it is written: “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that could not see and ears that could not hear, to this very day.”

9 And David says: “May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them. 10 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.”

Ingrafted Branches

11 Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. 12 But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!

13 I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry 14 in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. 15 For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 16 If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.

17 If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, 18 do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” 20 Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.

22 Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. 23 And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!

All Israel Will Be Saved

25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, 26 and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.

27 And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”

28 As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, 29 for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. 30 Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. 32 For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.

Doxology

33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments,     and his paths beyond tracing out!

34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”

35 “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?”

36 For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.