Greetings, brothers and sisters.
Oh, that’s a dead crowd. Good morning. I hope maybe you didn’t have your coffee. But we’ll hope the Lord will quicken us all. It is so precious to gather at His table, to remember Him, and now come to hear His word. Only He has the words of eternal life.
I’d like for you to turn with me to the second part of Romans 12. This begins in verse 9 and goes to the end, in verse 21. I’ll read those.
Let love be unfeigned.
Abhorring evil; cleaving to good.
As to brotherly love, kindly affection towards one another; as to honor, each taking the lead in paying it to the other; as to diligent zealousness, not slothful; in spirit fervent, serving the Lord; as regards hope, rejoicing; as regards tribulation, enduring; as regards prayer, persevering; distributing to the necessities of the saints; given to hospitality.
Bless them that persecute you; bless, and curse not.
Rejoice with those that rejoice; weep with those that weep.
Have the same respect one for another, not minding high things, but going along with the lowly. Be not wise in your own eyes.
Recompensing to no one evil for evil; providing things honest before all men.
If possible, as far as depends on you, living in peace with all men.
Not avenging yourselves, beloved, but give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance belongs to Me; I will recompense,” saith the Lord.
If therefore thine enemy should hunger, feed him; if he should thirst, give him drink; for so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head.
Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Lord, we are so grateful that we have Your word. We are so grateful today, as we remembered You, that everything is based upon Your precious word. Your words are life. Your words are spirit. Your words are sharper than a two-edged sword, able to go right into the piercing asunder of the bones and marrow.
And, Lord, we are so grateful that they can do such an efficient work. Your words, You said, will accomplish what You sent them forth to do. This morning, we are bowing in Your presence, that You would do that. May the Holy Spirit quicken us.
We confess that we have two deficiencies: one is speaking; the other is hearing. Unless You do something marvelous by Your Holy Spirit, nothing will be accomplished. We ask You to do this today for Your sake, for Your glory, for Your name, and for Your purpose to be fulfilled.
And Father, we ask all these things, as we were told, in the beloved name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Well, today we are finishing chapter 12. We started it last time, verses 1 through 8, probably one of the most familiar sections of all of Romans.
This is a turning point in the book. You know that; I’ve said it before. You know I’m going to say it again. This is when we come to the practical application of the word of God. It is very practical. It is no longer theoretical—not that it ever was—because everything we saw before was the mighty works of God in chapters 1 through 8, and everything we saw in chapters 9 through 11 were the wondrous works of God.
Based on this, we can do something marvelous: we can give ourselves. Because of the mercies of God, we can give ourselves as a living sacrifice. That’s very practical. You may think that’s theoretical; it’s not. That means daily, “I am willing, Lord, to lay my life down for Your service.” And you remind the Lord: only He can do His service.
So this is the beginning of knowing the will of God. I call this last section “the perfect will of God.” If we do not ever get to where we know the will of God and do the will of God, what was the purpose for all those preceding words? All those preceding words from chapters 1 through 11 were to bring us to this place of a practical expression of Christ and to end up in lives that are transformed and made into the image of God.
Now, in this section—Romans 12:9-21—the second part, this is specifically dealing with the will of God. What I have called it is the will of God: love expressed.
The will of God is to be expressed. This section deals with one thing, and that one thing is love expressed. It is God’s perfect will that, in the body of Christ, love would be expressed. It is God’s perfect will that, to the world, love would be expressed. It is God’s perfect will that, to your enemies, the love of God would be expressed.
That is what these thirteen verses deal with. The outline is:
So may the Lord help us. First of all, this matter of love expressed in the body is the largest part of those thirteen verses. Take that into account. Paul made an emphasis that the primary place where love is to be expressed is in the body of Christ.
Sure, it is to be expressed to all men. Absolutely, it is to be expressed even to our enemies. But the primary concern of the apostle Paul, and where he spent the majority of this time, was in this matter of love being expressed in the body of Christ.
Brothers and sisters, if that is not done, we have no testimony—the testimony of the Lord. The will of God, the perfect will of God, is that there would be a testimony expressed practically in our everyday lives in a people for His possession.
The Lord always wanted a vessel to express Who He is. When you go to the Old Testament, the whole Bible can be explained in this simple thought: the Lord is looking for a vessel to express Who He is.
The Old Testament record is that the God of Israel chose the children of Israel—this one nation and this one people—and through that one nation and that one people, His will was to be expressed. Now, when we come into our era, the New Testament era, it is the same thing. God is still looking for that people for a possession for Himself.
When He finds them, what He is after essentially and ultimately is the perfect will of God expressed through that people.
But when you come to this section in particular, you are dealing with a corporate reality. I know you’ve had to put up with my saying that I like to repeat, but I like to repeat it because I think it is important: if we only have an understanding of the individual Christian life, we miss out on what God is after.
I always say, without the individual Christian life, the Christian life is impossible. You have to have the life of the Lord. But I also say—and you’ve heard it again and again—that unless there is a corporate Christian life, unless you discover God’s perfect will in the body of Christ, the Christian life is incomplete.
The whole matter here deals with God’s love. The whole context is God’s love. Let me read verse 9 again:
Let love be unfeigned, abhorring evil, cleaving to good.
There can be no practical expression of God’s testimony without love. That is how strong that word is. That was the beginning; that was the impact the apostle Paul wanted to make upon those in Rome as he wrote this magnificent letter.
I like what Griffith Thomas says. I think it is so clear. He said, “One thing”—that is the way he described this section—“one theme, that of love, runs throughout, and it is another version of the great chapter on 1 Corinthians 13.”
The word here is important to understand, because if you do not understand the original word for love, you will begin to take all these exhortations as commands. You will soon discover in this exhaustive list that this is something you cannot do in yourself. At least I hope you do, because we never can depend on ourselves.
The word in the Greek is agape love. Now, most of you know that. Some of you may not, but the word is agape love. Agape love is divine love. Agape love is God’s love. It is unselfish love. It is sacrificial love. It is perfect love. It is complete love.
Do not think for a moment, brothers and sisters, that Paul has come now to this practical section and says to you, “You have to do this.” He is not. He is saying this love, this divine love, this agape love, has to be in you. If this agape love is in you, there will be a pure expression of the testimony of Jesus.
When you look at the body of Christ, you have to understand those three wonderful chapters in 1 Corinthians 12 through 14. Chapter 12 deals with the explanation of the body of Christ. We need to understand what the body of Christ is. It is the church. It is that vessel of expression. It is that vessel that will be His eternal companion, His bride.
Then, when we go to chapter 14—you notice I skipped a chapter, right?—we see the body of Christ expressed. That is all about how you function. What is it when you gather? You do everything to edification. You do everything in decency and order. Let everyone have a psalm, or hymn, or tongue. It is all about expression.
But look in between. There is a reason chapter 13 is in between. Chapter 13 is all about love. In those thirteen verses, I think eight times the word love is spoken of. Every time, if you look in your concordance, it is the Greek word agape love.
You were never expected to do this in your own strength and through your own love. The clear explanation is that if the body of Christ is going to go from being explained to being expressed, there needs to be one vital ingredient in between. That one vital ingredient is agape love.
It is the oil. I’ve said this before: it is the oil that makes that machine work, if you do not mind me using that crude reference. If that oil of agape love is not running in and through, you will never have the expression. That engine will seize up.
I remember our middle child, Justin. He came to me one day—I think I may have said this before, but you know when you get old, you do not remember things; you repeat things. He came to me and said, “Dad, I am so grateful for one thing you told me.” I thought this was going to be a father-and-son moment. I thought the heavens were going to open, and we would weep in each other’s arms.
He said, “Dad, you taught me always to change your oil.” I thought, “Oh, what a sad testimony.” But apparently, that is the one thing he remembers.
Yet the oil that keeps the machine working, that makes what is explained expressed, is only agape love. How we need to pray more for that kind of love to be manifest.
In John 13:34-35, the Lord says:
A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
By this shall all men know that ye are disciples of Mine, if ye have love one to another.
Do you think you can do that? Hardly. Yet He says, “As I have loved you.” Then He says the most remarkable thing: “By this”—note the emphasis—“shall all men know you are disciples of Mine.”
That one thing. How essential this single ingredient is to make the body of Christ function and be expressed.
When I was eighteen, I had to sign up for selective service, to be eligible for the draft. Back when I was young, you had to go and get a draft card. You could be drafted, and the Vietnam War was hot, I am telling you. I know people who went and never came back. Fifty thousand never came back.
They asked on the card, “What is your identifying mark?” I was eighteen. I said, “What do you mean, identifying mark?” They said, “Well, how are we going to know it is you?” I knew what they were saying: if I was dead in a foxhole, how were they going to know it was me?
I thought about it. I have this birthmark—I am not going to show you—on the small of my back. I said, “I have a birthmark on the small of my back.” I found my draft card last night in an old metal file, and sure enough, under that identifying characteristic, it said, “A small birthmark on the lower left of my back.”
But that is not the identifying mark that God is looking for. He said, “By this shall all men know you are disciples of Mine.”
Think of how 1 Corinthians 13 begins. Three times it says, in those first three verses, “If you have not love.” Pay attention to that. If you have not love—agape love—you are a clanging cymbal. You are nothing.
That is the key for us in the body of Christ, to make the expression clear and full. This is our distinguishing mark.
Notice in verse 9 that he talks about unfeigned love. Unfeigned. We do not use the word feigned much anymore. Is that an archaic word? The English professor here, I had to ask.
Feigned means simulated. You know, the one thing I dread about AI—and all of you computer people can rush me with one accord—we will not know what is simulated and what is real. We are never going to know.
I am not saying, “Let us stop AI.” Do not get upset with me. I think there are many wonderful things about it. But unfeigned love is not simulated love. It is not love that is hypocrisy. It is not love that is worked up. It is a divine expression of Christ through us—God’s love through us.
Again, I like something Griffith Thomas said, because I could not express it any clearer. He said, “Self-effort is unfruitful, but the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is the source of love, and the possession of life is proved by the practice of love.”
So this gets very practical. I remember dear old Brother Kong used to say to us—many of you will know this statement as soon as I say it—“Spirituality is practicality.” Isn’t that wonderful? True spiritual life is expressed. It is practical. It is seen. It is evident.
When you see that evidence, it is not evidence of who you are; it is evidence of Who He is. What a marvelous difference this is. This is the difference between unfeigned love and feigned love.
The Lord said in John 13:34, “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another.” I do not know what you think about that. I thought we were freed from the law. That is what Romans says. But He says, “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another.”
Here is the whole difference between the old covenant and the new covenant. In the old covenant, we were given a list of divine demands. They are absolutely important, but we were not given the power to do them. When it comes to the New Testament, the reason there can be a full expression of God’s life in the body of Christ is that we are now given the power to do that.
He never gives a command in the New Testament without making available divine power to do what you cannot do. Is that clear? I sometimes worry if it is clear. Oh, I think it is important.
It is about being in Christ. You remember when the Lord Jesus was with His disciples after He was raised and before He ascended, and He told them to go to the upper room and wait until they were endued with power from on high. He said something most remarkable:
Ye shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Brothers and sisters, because agape love is in us, we can be. We do not have to merely do. And you cannot do on your own.
My dear wife calls me Mr. TMI. I am sure it is painful for some of you when I explain things in that degree, but it is so important. Being is the secret of the Christian life.
When we are transformed and conformed to the image of the Lord, and when the Holy Spirit manifests the divine qualities that are only found in God, then we can live the Christian life—and only then. It is within this context that He said, “A new commandment I give to you.” The beauty of it is that He gives us the power.
I like what H. C. G. Moule said: “The emphasis is on being rather than doing, and on doing as a result and expression of being.” Did you get that? That is not just a tongue twister. That is the secret—the whole secret—of love expressed.
There is another kind of love mentioned. It is in verse 10:
As to brotherly love, kindly affection towards one another.
Brotherly love. Now that gets to be a harder part of this practical equation, right? We have to live with one another, and I want to tell you, some of you guys are not so easy to live with. I have heard that about me many times, so we are among good company.
The expression in the body of Christ is not only to be agape love; it is to be brotherly love. If you look up the Greek word in your concordance, it is not agape; it is Philadelphia.
Philadelphia—you remember in Revelation, in those letters to the seven churches—the church of Philadelphia was the church of brotherly love. If you read that, you will discover that the Lord had no rebuke for them, because what He was after was expressed in that assembly.
Brotherly love—how wonderful. It is a second essential element to build up the body of Christ. Without brotherly love, there is no practical testimony. It is a very practical love expressed among the brethren.
Griffith Thomas did not like the term “brotherly love.” He said it ought to be “brother-love.” Maybe that is clearer. We are going to love the brothers and sisters. We ought to love one another.
If we love one another with the love that comes from God, we will have a glowing testimony and practical expression of Who the Lord Jesus is.
In 1 John 4:20-21, it says:
If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, cannot love God Whom he hath not seen.
And this commandment have we from Him, that he who loveth God love his brother also.
This is so important. He did not just say it once. In 1 John 3:14, he said:
We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
There is the evidence. In the body of Christ, we need agape love, and we need Philadelphia love. That is how the expression of the body of Christ is real.
The third thing, when we look at this first point, is that there is comprehensive evidence that those things are in us. If they are in us, let me put it another way: there is comprehensive evidence. You do not have to guess.
Did you think all those fourteen commands that follow in verses 10 through 16 are laws? They are not laws. They are evidence of agape love. They are evidence of Philadelphia love.
Listen to them. I will read them again. I got kind of tired after reading these things. When I got to the second or third one, I thought, “Lord, I forgot to do that. Forgive me.” He is saying, “No, no, no, no, you do not understand. This is evidence. This is not a list for you to follow.”
As to brotherly love, kindly affection towards one another; as to honor, each taking the lead in paying it to the other; as to diligent zealousness, not slothful; in spirit fervent, serving the Lord; as regards hope, rejoicing; as regards tribulation, enduring; as regards prayer, persevering; distributing to the necessities of the saints; given to hospitality.
Bless them that persecute you; bless, and curse not. Rejoice with those that rejoice; weep with those that weep. Have the same respect one for another, not minding high things, but going along with the lowly. Be not wise in your own eyes.
Now, if I thought for a day that I was going to have to do all these things, I would outright faint. No question. But I want you to remember this one key: I think the apostle Paul is saying, “This is evidence. This is evidence of that love that is in you.”
If it were only duty, how wearying it would be. It would be not only wearying; it would be impossible. These are evidence of the life within that, through that transforming work, as we give ourselves as a living sacrifice, is exhaustless love that comes from the source of love—Christ in us.
That is the secret, as we are transformed from glory to glory by the Spirit: 2 Corinthians 3:18.
There is a vital phrase in these commands, if you want to look at them that way. I prefer not. It says in Romans 12:10, “one another.”
Oh, I am going to break the bad news to you: it ain’t all about you. I am sorry.
So many of us are saved, and we think, “Lord, what is my ministry? What is my gift? What is my talent? What do You want me to do?” I think the Lord is saying, “Slow down, slow down. You are getting the cart before the horse.”
I am thinking this vital phrase shows that our focus is wrong if it is just upon ourselves. You will never enter into the full expression of the body of Christ if your focus is just upon you. In the body of Christ, there is an essential focus that is not about us.
Now, you are included. Do not get me wrong. God did not ignore you. If you ever think God ignored you, read your Bible more. He certainly did not. But it is clear: “one another,” and then in verse 16, “one for another.”
“One another” is a phrase that the apostle Paul loved. Others use it in the Bible, but he understood that the key in the body of Christ is what our focus is upon. Is it all about you? One another is the secret.
I think ahead to Romans 13:8:
Owe no man anything, save to love one another: for he that loveth his neighbor hath fulfilled the law.
In my reading that followed my consideration of these things, and the development of the outline and burden, I read something H. A. Ironside said. I do not know how many of you are familiar with H. A. Ironside, but he said, “This is not natural.” I like that old Ironside. But it is possible to the man that walks in the Spirit.
The second vital phrase is very similar. It is in Romans 12:10: “to the other.”
When the Lord Jesus came, it says in Hebrews, “I come to do Thy will, O God.” His focus was not upon Himself. That is the evidence of this life. His focus was upon others.
I was a young believer, just finding my way. The Lord put up with a lot. One day I received—or perhaps bought—a book. I cannot even remember; it has been on my shelf so long. I often refer to it. It talks about the danger of self-love. Brownback, I think the man’s name was.
He described the whole of the Christian life as other-oriented living. I think that is lacking in the body of Christ, do not you?
When Christ came, His whole focus was other-oriented living. When He was in that dark night in Gethsemane—there could not have been a darker night—when those sweat drops of blood were coming out and He was in the battle of eternity, He said:
Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass away from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt.
There is other-oriented living. It changed my life. I have never forgotten it, and I hope I never will forget it. This is the practical expression of love. This is the perfect will of God.
Well, let us go to the next section. They all get shorter as we go on: love expressed toward all men.
You may have had the thought, from reading this, that love is to be expressed in the body of Christ only, but you would be wrong. God’s will is that this agape love would be expressed to all men.
Oh, I think of John 3:16. You cannot go anywhere without thinking of it:
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have eternal life.
An expression of divine love unlike anything that has ever been in the world. Do you think it was just God who expressed that love? Do you think it was the apostle Paul, perhaps because he is talking about it here? Brothers and sisters, I am telling you, this love is to be expressed to all men through the body of Christ and through you as an individual.
It is the will of God that divine love be expressed toward all men. I often think of the second part of Romans 5:5, where it says that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us.
It is true that this is about our justification, but it is also true that it is to be about expression. In other words, the love of God was shed abroad in our hearts, and all of us who believe were swept up into that divine net of His agape love. But it is also true that we are to be part of that net of divine agape love going out to all men.
You cannot escape it when you read these verses. It is to be shed abroad for us and for the world. How marvelous that is.
If you look at verse 17, it says:
Recompensing to no one evil for evil; providing things honest before all men.
The phrase “before all men” is important. Paul said we have a testimony—not just to be the Lord’s chosen, expressing Who He is to the body of Christ—but we have a responsibility, as His redeemed ones, to express agape love to all men.
God’s will is that there would be a living expression to all men. John 16:33 says:
These things have I spoken unto you, that in Me ye may have peace. In the world ye have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
We live in an adversarial world. This world is not our home. I have a psychological defect, I do not mind confessing: I want everybody to like me. I do not know where I developed that. I wish God would take it away.
When Linda and I go visit New York—New York is not a very hospitable place; sorry if you are from New York—I would say to people, “Hello, how are you doing?” She would say, “Do not do that. Do not do that. What are you going to do if they answer you?” I said, “I do not know. I just like people. I want people to like one another.”
We live in an adversarial world full of tribulation. It would be natural to avenge ourselves. Yet God wants us to love this world. I think it is most important.
Verse 17 says, “Recompensing to no one evil for evil.” This is, to me, a most important thing the Lord is after. One said—and I read this, and I like it so much—“Put away every expectation of getting even.”
Did you hear me? Would you like to repeat it to me? Put away the expectation of ever getting even.
That is the love that is the expression of love to all men. They may treat us awfully. They may not like you. I have heard people say, “I do not like you.” I said, “Really?”
Brothers and sisters, how this love needs to be expressed before all men.
I remember when Jerry and I were together, as early as fifty-three years ago or so. Boy, that is a long time ago. Jerry, you are getting old.
We read The Normal Christian Life, and it changed our lives. Brother Nee tells a story in there about love toward all men that I think is so remarkable. He talks about brothers in the Lord who were working rice paddies on the side of a mountain.
Every day, in the heat of the day, they had to water and irrigate their rice paddies on the side of the hill. There were two rascals, adjacent farmers, who lived below them and had rice paddies lower down the hill. Those men would dig an irrigation ditch during the night, and all the water that the brothers put into their fields would run down and water the lower fields, while the brothers’ own fields were not watered.
It went on for seven days. After seven days, these brothers, who really were the Lord’s, went to another brother. He said, “You have not gone far enough.” They thought, “We are out there in the heat of the day watering our fields. We have not gone far enough?” He said, “You should first water their fields, and then water your fields.”
Whoa. I think that is a little extreme, do not you? I think most of us would. But those brothers took that to heart. They went in the heat of the day, watered those two lower fields, and then watered their own field.
When those neighbors realized what was being done, they said, “We have never seen anything like this. If this is Christianity, I want to know about this.”
They had never seen such a love expressed toward all men. How remarkable. That is what is needed toward the world.
“Providing things honest before all men.” When they see ones who are honest, they touch God’s love. The world does not expect honesty. The world is not honest. But sometimes they see it in brothers and sisters, and they say, “Boy, that is different. That is an expression of something I have never experienced.”
I believe that is the expression of divine love toward all men.
Then it says something I think ought to be comforting to us. It does not always work out the way we think. It says in verse 18:
If possible, as far as depends on you, be at peace with all men.
You cannot always do it. Notice the phrase, “if possible.” Those are two very important words. It ain’t always possible. But you do what you do in the Lord, and you leave it with Him. That is the secret of the expression of divine love toward all men.
Let me read you another verse, Romans 12:19:
Not avenging yourselves, beloved, but give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance belongs unto Me; I will recompense,” saith the Lord.
I think this is quite a strong thing. We have an idiom that says, “Revenge is sweet.” That should never be uttered by a Christian. The Lord said, “Vengeance is Mine. I will repay.”
Leave it in the heavenly court. When you have done everything you can, everything practical, and you are still the object of hatred, leave it in the Lord’s hands. He will recompense. “Vengeance is Mine,” saith the Lord.
In that way, it is fulfilled that we give place to wrath. It is not our wrath. Never take this in your own hands. It is divine wrath. Sooner or later, the accounts will be settled. It may be in eternity future, but they will be. Let that be your comfort, and still express the love of God toward all men.
The last point is love expressed toward your enemies. When I was reading and meditating on this, I said, “Okay, Lord, I get it: love expressed in the body of Christ. I get that one. I understand that. Love expressed to all men—yeah, I get that a little bit. It seems to be what the Bible is saying.”
But love expressed to your enemies? I think this goes too far. You know I am being silly, do not you? Because this is precisely the perfect will of God.
Not only is the love of God to be expressed in the body of Christ, not only is the love of God to be expressed to all men, but the love of God is to be expressed even to our enemies.
How wonderful this is. It says in verse 20:
If therefore thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head.
Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
I think of the Lord in the Sermon on the Mount. He said in Matthew 5:43-46:
Ye have heard that it was said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy:
but I say unto you, Love your enemies, and pray for them that persecute you;
that ye may be sons of your Father Who is in heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust.
Even to our enemies. I think this is abundantly clear, dear brothers and sisters. How the Lord needs to show us this otherworldly love that can love our enemies.
This is exactly what Christ did. When He hung upon that cross, upon that throne of suffering—abused, not recognizable, His visage marred more than any man—His first words were:
Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.
This is the evidence of Christ’s life. You think it is only God Who can do it, but then look at Stephen. You remember the first martyr. We have all been going through the book of Acts.
Here was this deacon, one of the Hellenistic Jews, taking care of the Hellenistic widows who had been ignored in body life. By the way, all seven who were chosen were Hellenistic Jews.
Stephen was so transformed into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. What is so beautiful that we see in Stephen’s life is that he went far beyond serving tables as a deacon. If you read Acts 7, he gave one of the most powerful messages ever given in the Bible—so comprehensive.
When the council of the Jews who were persecuting him looked at him, they saw his face as the face of an angel. Then they decided they would kill him. They rushed upon him and stoned him to death.
What did Stephen do?
Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.
Stephen—a deacon. Not an apostle. Not even an elder. A deacon. That is Christ’s life in us, being expressed through us: love expressed, the will of God.
Romans 12:20-21 says again:
For in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head.
Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
That phrase, “coals of fire,” is from Proverbs 25:21-22, if you are wondering. It tells us that when the life of Christ and the love of God are expressed through a transformed believer, God will take care of the rest.
I remember the story of Corrie ten Boom. You all know that, right? Corrie ten Boom was in Ravensbrück with her family during the Holocaust. She lived through great suffering. Her father was killed. Her sister Betsie was killed.
Then she made it out of that awful place. One day she went to Germany, and there was a church service. At the end of the service, a former Nazi guard from Ravensbrück, whom she recognized, had become a brother in the Lord. He reached out his hand and said, “Forgive me.”
He knew what he had done. She knew what he had done. Her thoughts went to Betsie, her dear sister. She said a prayer: “God, I cannot forgive this man.” This was her enemy—the worst enemy she ever had.
Then she said, “Help me.” Something came upon her that was not Sister Corrie ten Boom. It was the Holy Spirit.
She stuck out her hand. She said something came upon her like the electricity of God’s love, and it went through her. She reached out her hand, and she said to that enemy who had killed her family, “Brother, I forgive you.”
This is loving your enemies. This is so wonderful. May the Lord help us to really enter into the reality of this expression.
Verses 19 through 21 are very practical. They tell us what the perfect will of God is. This is divine love expressed through His children as they present themselves as living sacrifices and are transformed into the very image of the Lord Jesus.
There is evidence if this love is present among us. You will see love expressed in the body of Christ in a way so full that you could hardly imagine. You will see love expressed toward all men.
You will see love even expressed toward our enemies. This is saving love. This is the will of God. This is the good, this is acceptable, this is the perfect will of God.
Father, we come to You and gladly confess that we, as Your people, have not been that full expression that You want us to be. Forgive us.
Cleanse us with Your blood and fill us with Your own life, that we could do the impossible. It is impossible for us, but it is possible for You.
We pray that we will see this manifest in a people for Your own possession, and that You will have that testimony—the expression of that testimony—in us and in the world.
We ask this in the precious name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.