Sermon Tone Analysis

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Romans 12:9-

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Romans 12:9

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Romans 12.

Romans 12.

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INTRO.

There is a lot being said in these 13 verses… and we will do our best to consider them all… but the section has two bookend passages… and one in the middle, that are essentially repeating the same idea.

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And basically… the idea in these three verses is this:

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SLIDE 6

Reject Evil.

Do Good.

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When we study our Bibles, there are a lot of things we need to look out for so we can make sure we are doing our best to interpret a passage as correctly as possible.

One of the things we keep an eye out for, is repetition.

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This passage undoubtedly, displays some repetition… and as a side note, I encourage you to plan on being part of the midweek study starting in October… for our very first topic of study will be: THINKING LIKE A STUDENT OF THE BIBLE.

And in that study, which may last more than one week… we will be discussing the principles that guide us, so that we are able to interpret the scriptures well.

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One of those principles… repetition… is prevalent here… Which means… we are intended to identify this idea as a major theme.

Paul didn’t need to say the same thing more than once.

It doesn’t make it any more true than the principles he only stated one time… However, there is a reason this continues to come into view.

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In this passage… we can consider two possibilities.

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ONE: Maybe, this is written 3 times in the midst of 13 verses, for no other reason than to state an emphatic reminder...

TWO: Maybe this message… “Reject Evil, Do Good”… is the major point, and all the other verses are examples of what it means to ‘reject evil, and do good’.

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personally, I think both of these possibilities are important factors to consider… which means… as I look at each point here in these 13 verses… I need to consider them in the context of ‘rejecting evil and doing good’…

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Also… this needs to stand as a constant reminder to me… for I am naturally inclined to respond to evil… with evil… that is: to give back, as it was given to me.

This is how we are wired.

This is a natural order of justice… which means… if we are not being fully aware of the Biblical standard, we will automatically be inclined at times, to chose evil over good..

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Therefore… we need, not only a reminder… but an emphatic reminder.

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I know this action feels right.

I know this action seems just.

I know this action promises to satisfy you… to balance things out… to bring vengeance… - BUT IT’S NOT GOOD… IT’S EVIL.

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This is why Israel was constantly told to “NOT FORGET” how they were delivered from Egypt.

They were even given a yearly meal, to prepare and consume in a specific way… to emphatically remind them… of how the angel of death ‘passed over’ their homes, and visited punishment only upon the Egyptians.

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Over and over again… - “DO NOT FORGET HOW GOD DELIVERED YOU FROM EGYPT” - Why so much repetition??? … because, after time, the miracles of the past have a way of losing their impact upon us.

We set our focus in the now.

We begin to think differently about God… about who He is and what He has done… - Not based on His faithfulness over the ages… but rather, based solely upon our emotional state in the present.

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The Bible is fully aware of our natural inclinations..

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Therefore, the Bible is gracious, to give us a little repetition… to give us those emphatic reminders.

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Which is why… when we are regularly in the Word… we are regularly being reminded… and it helps to keep us thinking rightly about God… and on the flip side of that coin… we easily see, how those who are rarely, if ever, in the Word… are not being reminded… and how, very quickly, their thinking about God begins to change.

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When our thinking about God changes… usually, the approach to the Bible is quite different… instead of letting it teach us and guide us… we go to it, merely to affirm our current state of thinking… We take words out of context, we string together unrelated teachings, we fabricate a conclusion… and we walk away feeling supported in our wrong belief..

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May it not be so for us…

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So, let’s jump into this passage… as those who are embracing this emphatic reminder… and, as those who are doing our best to think rightly about God…

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The passage begins with a call to genuine love.

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SLIDE 7

Let love be genuine.

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This statement helps to transition the previous topic… to the current.

- You remember how, in last week’s study, we are called to walk in our different gifts… according to the grace that is given to us… and in proportion to our faith… and the genuine marker the we are practicing these gifts as we should… is humility.. - That principle was laid out in verse 3...

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As is the case with Paul… when he talks about the Holy Spirit working in and through us… Love is given as a strong qualifier.

That is the entire point of ....

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and when Paul talks about the fruit of the Spirit in … He tells us, the THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IS LOVE… In the English, it looks like the fruit of the Spirit is a list of things.... love, joy, peace, patience and so on… But in the original grammar, the FRUIT is one thing… - LOVE… and those other things are the attributes of love.

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Love ties this together… For as the gifts listed in the previous verses are practiced in proportion to faith… they will not only exhibit humility… but they will also demonstrate love…

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And then… as we look at the verses to follow… many of these things would be confounding and impossible to do, if it were not for the reality of a genuine practice… of sincere, spiritual love.

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SLIDE 8

Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.

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Now, right off the bad, we see that genuine love does not mean an absence of hate.

This word… ‘to abhor’ literally means… to hate… hate what is evil.

It’s a strong word… with a strong emphasis… To consider something repugnant… to despise it… to hate it violently.

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This doesn’t mean… to hate people who do evil things… this doesn’t mean, that we should hate people groups who do evil things.

This doesn’t mean, that we can label any idea that we disagree with as being evil, and then hate those who hold to such beliefs.

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It’s easy, to draw a line… pick your side, embrace your belief system, and then hate everyone who is on the other side of that line.

In fact, this practice is more rampant now in American than it’s ever been in my life time.

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evil… is not a person.

It is not a race, a nationality… it is not, any people group.

Evil is that thing that fills the void in the absence of good.

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A Christian Philosopher named J.P. Moreland says, “Evil is a lack of goodness.

It is goodness spoiled.”

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Apologist Greg Koukl says… “Human freedom was used in such a way as to diminish goodness in the world., and that lack of goodness, is what we call evil.”

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Evil isn’t what or who the person is… it is instead, sometimes… the thing that the person does.

Simply stated, - Evil is something that causes harm to others.

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Where as… love seeks the best… love builds up… love edifies… - Evil is selfish… it tears down… it brings loss… it causes pain.

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And unfortunately… evil is something that can easily be taken a hold of… and practiced… by any one of us if we are not cautious.

Hateful and calloused words… unfounded accusations… slander… deceit… - Those words that slip out… words that lack love and grace… words that are sharp, harsh, and damaging.

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When we think about hating evil… we automatically look elsewhere.

But I think the greatest challenge, is to hate the evil that may potentially pop up from within ourselves.

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Jesus explained this in ..

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SLIDE 9

Mark 7:20

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If you’re looking for the evil to hate… you don’t have to turn on CNN or Fox News… Simply look within… -And if by chance… anything from this list is revealing itself within us… and we are not hating it… THEN WE ARE IN A DIRE… SPIRITUAL SITUATION.

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God wants you know what it’s like to be a believer who is shaped by grace… that’s what Paul spoke about in vss 1-2.

God wants you to walk in the gifts he’s given you… not in pride, but in humility… because of the grace which has been revealed to you.

That’s what Paul spoke about in verses 3-8..

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Now, as you grow in your faith… God wants you, the transformed person, with the renewed mind… and the genuine love… to see the fruit… the reality… the change within...

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So that… when pride raises it’s head… when foolishness wants to speak… when sexual immorality is a temptation… instead of embracing it… instead of being resigned to it… instead of being apathetic and willing...

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We would see God’s transformational work in our hearts… because we are beginning to develop a disgust… a hatred… for the evil that wants to sprout up from within.

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I love this next part… HOLD FAST TO WHAT IS GOOD.

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This word for ‘hold fast’ is a carpentry term.

If they were to glue two pieces together… they were making those two pieces, ‘hold fast’.

If they cut out a mortise and join it to another board… making the two as one… they would say that the two pieces were ‘holding fast’.

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It means to… ‘join to’ and ‘become part of’.

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The scriptures are calling us… to join to, and become part of… that which is good.

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We now get some examples of this.

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SLIDE 10

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Rom.

9:

Since Paul is writing to a church, and he is using the term ‘one another’… and because this word ‘brotherly affection’ is a family term… we see here, that this is something that should be happening within Christian fellowship.

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The interesting thing about family… is that.. you don’t really get to chose who you are related to. - I didn’t chose my brother, and he didn’t chose me.

We both happened to be born from the same parents, and thus, we were stuck together.

We have had seasons where we didn’t really like each other, and seasons where we did…

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And strangely, after all these years, we still talk regularly, we still have a friendship, we still have a respect for each other… even though we don’t believe the same things or agree with each other on much.

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I didn’t get to pick him…