Lesson 28 – Romans Chapter 12:13-21
In our previous verses in chapter 12 we talked about being part of the body of Christ and that we are all given different gifts to serve within the church and expand the Kingdom of God. We also covered love, hope, patience, hating evil, clinging to good, and to always be praying.
We will close out chapter 12 with some more jewels of wisdom from the apostle Paul.
Rom. 12:13
“Distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.”
Distributing to the needs of the saints…
Simply said, when God’s people are in need, be ready to help them.
Gal. 6:10
“Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.”
Whether we’re helping God’s people or just helping all people groups, it involves love, as we talked about in our last lesson. This is love’s realistic expectation… love cares… love makes the Christian as to who he really is. Love should be what defines the Christian.
The NASB uses the word “contributing,” it says, contributing to the needs of the saints.
This comes from the Greek word (koy-no-neh’-o) which means to share in, or to share with. You’re probably more familiar with the noun usage of this word which is “koinonia.” It is often translated as fellowship or communion. We see this in the early church, where they had the spirit of sharing with everyone.
Acts 2:42
“And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.”
Paul speaks about sharing in…
I Tim. 6:17-18
“Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share,” (NASB)
I believe the last part of what Paul just said in Timothy captures the intent of Romans 12:13, Distributing to the needs of the saints, “to be generous and ready to share.” It’s God’s love in us that fuels our generous actions.
Given to hospitality, or practicing hospitality… means “the love of strangers.” Isn’t it nice how love keeps popping up?
Hospitality was a big deal in the days of the early church, it was the practice of entertaining strangers graciously in their homes.
Heb. 13:2
“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.”
At the time this was written, there were a lot of people on the streets. Some of these were believers feeling the pressures of persecution, even being driven out of their homes. Others may have been circuit preachers moving from town to town, needing a place to stay.
To be sure, showing hospitality to strangers was and is woven into the fabric of life in the Middle East.
The word hospitality appears only a few times in the Scriptures, but in this cultural setting, one wouldn’t bother mentioning something that was assumed. Because in that time and place, hospitality was “regarded as a right by the traveler, to whom it never occurs to thank his host as if it was a favor. It is granted as a duty by the host, who himself may very soon be dependent on someone else’s hospitality.” Furthermore, the traveler is made the literal master of the house during his stay, quite different from current western culture.
Even today, a traditional greeting to the guests among Bedouin tribes of the middle-east is; “You are among your family.”
Matt. 25:35
“For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in;”
Hospitality says; “This house is simply a gift from my Lord: I use it however and whenever He desires.” Showing hospitality is a godly thing to do, do it as the Holy Spirit leads you.
Rom. 12:14
“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.”
Bless; the act of declaring, or wishing, God’s favor and goodness upon others.
Bless those who persecute you…
Right now you might be thinking, “Wait a minute, we were just told to hate evil, aren’t those who persecute us evil?” This is a difficult passage which seems to be contrary to our human nature. When we are attacked, our natural response is to strike back with equal or even greater retaliation. To put us on the right path here, we need only to look at Jesus’ words and His example.
Luke 6:27-31
“But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back. And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.”
Jesus is referring to the same kind of “love” Paul was talking about in verse 9, agape love, the un-hypocritical, from the heart kind of love. Dare I say, this is where the real rubber meets the road. This is our Lord and Master instructing us as to how we should conduct ourselves in the real world. Whoever said Christianity was easy? Jesus goes on…
Luke 6:32-36
“But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.”
When we read these words from Jesus it should hit us right in the heart. If we show love to only those people we like, Jesus says “what good is that?” and He’s right (of course), people in the world do that every day. When the world looks at us, it needs to see that there is a genuine difference between Christians and the world. And no, it’s not easy, is it? But we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Phil. 4:13).
So, when we’re attacked, when we’re persecuted, we need to take loving action, not retribution. This is how God is. God, Luke says, loves even the bad people. He loves the ungrateful and the wicked.
Jonah 4:2b
“I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people.” (NLT)
Matt. 5:45 (Amplified Bible)
“So that you may [show yourselves to] be the children of your Father who is in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on those who are evil and on those who are good, and makes the rain fall on the righteous [those who are morally upright] and the unrighteous [the unrepentant, those who oppose Him].”
Therefore, we should be like God. We should also love bad people. If we love people who are wicked and ungrateful, we will be acting like God and that is a good thing.
Remember, Jesus taught in this text about the character of the citizens of His kingdom. We should expect that our character be much different from the character seen in the world. There are many good reasons why more should be expected from Christians than others:
• They claim to have something that others do not have; they claim to be renewed, repentant, and redeemed by Jesus Christ.
• They do in fact have something that others do not have; they are renewed, repentant, and redeemed by Jesus Christ.
• They have a power that others do not have; they can do all things through Christ who strengthens them.
• They have the Spirit of God dwelling within them.
• They have a better future than others do.
To truly bless those who persecute us is to treat them as if they were our friends.
Bless and do not curse… if we are loving our enemy, we will not be cursing them. This may sound like an impossible thing to do, but with God’s help we can do the things He asks us to do.
Rom. 12:15
“Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.”
In this, we’re merely matching moods with those around us.
Rejoice with those who rejoice…
That’s kind of an easy command for us compared to the other verses we’ve looked at. It’s easy as long as envy and jealousy don’t creep in on us. When someone near you is blessed, rejoice with them.
I Cor. 12:25-26
“This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.” (NLT)
The flip-side of this is not so easy, weep with those who weep.
Job 30:25
“Have I not wept for him who was in trouble? Has not my soul grieved for the poor?”
Heb. 13:3
“Remember the prisoners as if chained with them – those who are mistreated – since you yourselves are in the body also.”
There are numerous things that can take place in a person’s life that can cause weeping… obviously the death of a loved one comes to mind right away. Another big one is divorce, or betrayal of a spouse. Or, how about when someone loses a job or falls into finical ruin. There are so many things that can happen where there is great sadness or weeping.
Paul doesn’t say, “Preach to those who are weeping.” No, he says “weep with those who are weeping.” For those who are weeping, we don’t have to preach at them or speak something profound to them. We just need to weep with them, knowing that God has them and is watching over them.
Luke 19:41
“Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it,”
Here we have Jesus weeping over Jerusalem.
• Does anyone know why our Lord was weeping?
Jesus saw the condition of the hearts of the Jewish leadership and felt compassion for them. The people were not living according to God’s will and were headed for destruction. Jesus wept for them because He loved them and didn’t want to see them perish.
When we weep with those who weep, we’re showing compassion, and showing the love of God that is in us. Yes, this is the same love that we are to show our enemies.
Rom. 12:16
“Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.”
“Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!” (NLT)
As Christians, we should be able to all get along with each other, but too many times this just doesn’t happen. As far as you’re concerned, do your best to work side by side with the body of Christ. And, remember, nobody likes a know-it-all.
Rom. 12:17
“Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men.”
“Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable.” (NLT)
Evil is a very real thing, it’s the reason horrible things happen in the world. It would be very easy to highlight all the evil that is taking place in our world today. I think if I did that, I would just depress you or make you angry.
When we feel the effects of evil it can indeed make us angry and cause us to lash out… we do this in our flesh.
And Paul says, “Don’t do it, Never pay back evil with more evil.” It brings to mind the old saying, “two wrongs don’t make a right.” We need to be willing to do what is right. Whenever we can, we are to live peaceably with everyone. We’re not only to bless those who persecute us and not curse them, but we certainly are never to go past a verbal threat to an act of revenge… Jesus would never do that. As Christians, we are to live at a higher level than the rest of the world and return good for evil.
Have regard for good things in the sight of all men…
John MacArthur; “A right attitude toward enemies involves respect of what is right in the sight of all men. If we genuinely respect others, including our enemies, we will have a “built-in” protection against angrily repaying them evil for evil and will be predisposed to doing what is right toward them,”
Rom. 12:18
“If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.”
If it is within your control, live peaceably with all men. Paul limits this command because he knew that sometimes peace with others is not always possible. Whether between nations or with individuals, peace is always a two-way street. Real peace can never be one-sided. Individually, we can only control ourselves… keep in mind Jesus said we are to love our enemies. If we do this, we are doing our part to make peace.
When we follow Jesus’ command to love our enemies, no matter how impossible that may seem to you and me, Jesus will honor our efforts. In all of our relationships, God wants us to love. Whether a conflict is with our marriage partner, our children or parents, our friends and fellow church members, a devious business opponent, a spiteful neighbor, a political foe, or a social antagonist – our attitude should be one of prayerful love. It’s not always the easiest thing to do.
Phil. 4:13
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
God never asks us to do something and just leave us to our own strengths, He’s on our side and wants to see us do well.
One last thought on this, perhaps the one thing preventing peace with someone else is a lack of forgiveness on our part… be the first one to forgive.
Rom. 12:19
“Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath or (Leave that to the righteous anger of God); for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.”
Avenging ourselves is purely of our flesh, and in our walk with Christ, there is simply no room for it.
Here’s a few comments from some worldly people on revenge…
“In moments of pain, we seek revenge.”
“Revenge may be wicked, but it’s natural.”
“In the end, greed makes the world go round. Although, revenge isn’t very far behind either.”
“Christian ethics demand that you should not take revenge. The paradox is, naturally, that Christians worship a God who is the greatest avenger of them all…Defy him and you burn in eternal hell, an act of revenge which is completely out of proportion to the crime.” — Jo Nesbø
“An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.” — Mahatma Gandhi
While Gandhi makes a good point, when we engage in revenge, we are saying in a way, “God, I don’t trust you enough to leave this in your hands, I will handle this myself.”
If someone has wronged us, no matter how serious or harmful we feel it is, we are never to take matters into our own hands, we never have the right to deliver punishment to anyone… this is God’s job.
Paul is quoting Deut. 32:25 when he writes; “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord.
There is a time coming when everything will be paid back in full, every evil, every crime, and every injustice, absolutely nothing will slip past God… He knows all and He has seen all.
When we turn over all of our injustices to God, I believe a great weight is lifted off our shoulders and we can have the thought, “I don’t have to worry about this anymore, God’s got this for me.”
Matt. 11:28-30
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Taking vengeance into our own hands can be quite laborious. Jesus is saying, we can give it Him, and I think once you do that, you will feel His rest He promises settle into your soul and spirit.
Rom. 12:20
Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.”
Here, Paul gives instructions on how to have vengeance on our enemies, he says, “feed them and give them something to drink.” This goes back to loving our enemies as Jesus taught us. Heaping hot coals on the head of our enemy comes from Proverbs 25:21-22
“If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; for so you will heap coals of fire on his head, and the Lord will reward you.”
Maybe this is where we get the saying; “killing them with kindness.” The concept of heaping hot coals is often misinterpreted. Initially, this sounds like a terrible thing to do, but this strange command is in the context of giving bread to our enemies when they are hungry and water to our enemies when they are thirsty.
Pastors and other Bible teachers have noticed this connection, and many have gone to great lengths trying to explain how it would be a good thing to light your enemy’s head on fire.
One pastor even said, “when we were kind to our enemies, but they refused to repent and become a Christian, this would only increase their suffering in hell.”
This is not good theology!
As it turns out, heaping coals on someone’s head is not figurative at all and it’s definitely not talking about hell or anything negative. To the contrary, the statement about heaping burning coals on the heads of our enemies is parallel to the statements about blessing our enemies with food and water. When this Proverb was written, people heated their homes and cooked with fire. Sometimes, a person’s fire would go out during the night and before they could cook their breakfast, they had to go to a neighbor’s house to get a coal so they could re-light their fire.
So, Proverbs 25:22 teaches us, that if the fire of your enemy goes out, and they come asking for a coal to relight their fire, instead of turning them away or giving just one coal, we should be generous to them. How? We should keep one coal for ourself, and give all the rest of the burning coals to our enemy. That’s going the extra mile as Jesus teaches us.
In context for today, because we don’t cook with coal anymore, we could do something like pick a neighbor you don’t particularly like or care for and clear their sidewalk the next time it snows.
It’s not easy to be kind or generous to a person you don’t like, but if we take one step in this direction, I believe the Holy Spirit will help us on this path. God would never ask us to do something He wouldn’t do Himself.
Remember… before we were saved we were considered God’s enemy.
Rom. 5:8
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Jesus went more than the extra mile for us when He sacrificed Himself for us.
To close out chapter 12, Paul continues with the same subject;
Rom. 12:21
“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Perhaps in dealing with your enemy, you might find that your enemy is into some evil things… don’t get pulled in by trying to be kind to your enemy.
I Cor. 10:12 “If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall.” (NLT)
The warning for us is… Do not be overcome by evil, it has two meanings and applications for us.
First, we must not allow the evil done to us by other people to overcome and overwhelm us.
Second, and even more important, we must not allow ourselves to be overcome by our own evil responses. Our own evil is substantially more damaging to us than is the evil done to us by other people.
In each case, it is the evil itself that must be overcome, and that can be accomplished only with good. When good men do nothing, they are no longer good. Many people have the idea that good is simply the absence of doing that which is wrong. Not so! Listen, a person is good not just because he doesn’t do anything evil, but because he is actively working for that which is good. It’s not enough to know God’s word and His precepts, but we must allow the word to move us into godly actions.
Paul has given us a lot of advice in these last few verses. I think one of the big take-aways for us is, for us to always do our very best to show the love of God to everyone around us… good or bad.