Romans 12:11-15

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. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.

(1) A faithful Christian disciple works or toils diligently or zealously or urgently in service and avoids lagging behind in spiritual laziness; the Body of Christ is on the move, and so all its parts better be moving! There is a song by Casting Crowns, “If we are the Body…” The idea here should be to avoid lukewarm-ness, as in Revelation 3:15. Be on fire for God! However, not everyone manifests spiritual zeal in the same way. One the one hand, there can be people with very obvious outward zeal for the Lord. They may have a zeal for truth, love, or some particular cause that is being threatened in their day and time (ROCK). On the other hand, zeal can often be manifested in quiet determination, in a person who remains faithful to the end of a particular calling. He does not draw attention to himself and isn’t trying to make a name for himself. Both types of people are serving the Lord with zeal.

(2) A faithful Christian is joyful, or rejoices, in hope because the outcome is certain. This should re-direct us to Romans 5:1-11. Not every experience we have will manifest its goodness in this life, but we rejoice in hope because we know that God is working all situations to His good and perfect end.

(3) A faithful Christian perseveres patiently in suffering and affliction because God is working through that experience to sanctify. Likewise, Romans 5:1-11 comes to mind. This is not merely the kind of perseverance that hangs on by the “skin of your teeth.” This kind of perseverance that Paul is talking about is the kind that refers to “more than conquerors.” It’s not that we barely get through a given trial; it’s that we maintained faithful and zealous Christian service in and throughout the given trial.

(4) A faithful Christian prays faithfully, even continually, because he knows that God uses prayer to work in the world. It is impossible to be a faithful Christian without devotion to prayer. We all need this more!

(5) A faithful Christian gives generously. Paul’s teaching here reminds me of Acts 4:32-35, when the believers shared everything with one another. Christians should give generously to fellow Christians in need within the congregation. There is a connection between fellowship and sharing in the local church. Fellowship is actually shared life (koinonia). Paul is calling on Christians to tangibly share with one another, especially those who are in need.

(6) A faithful Christian shares humbly and hospitably, especially with Christians outside the local congregation. This was especially important in Paul’s day, as many Christian congregations were being persecuted in such a way that they had to be broken apart to flee for their lives. They might seek refuge in other towns where Christian fellowships were thriving. The word Paul uses for “hospitality” here intends the phrase, “kindness to strangers.” See Genesis 18:1-6, 1 Timothy 3:2, 5:10, Titus 1:7-8, Hebrews 13:2, 1 Peter 4:9, and 3 John 5-8.

Again here, we should not simply go through this list and ask ourselves how we could improve; instead we should pray, “Lord, cultivate this quality in me.” Turn it into a prayer. Here are some character qualities God wants us to display; pray that He would work them in you. Do you do that already? It’s like the prayer of Augustine: “Lord, you command us to have self-control. I am sure that none of us could have self-control unless You work it in us. Command what You will and grant what You command.”

Paul also says that we should bless those who persecute us, which is the opposite of what our sin nature would have us do. See Luke 6:27-36 and Matthew 5:43-48. Paul commands it twice in v14, because he knows that it’s a hard thing to do. Notice that Paul handled persecution in different ways, depending on how he thought it would best serve the community. On occasion, he allowed himself to be persecuted and persevered in service zealously in and through that persecution. Other times, he sought to avoid persecution through legal protection. Both ways, he served the Kingdom of God. No matter how we might handle persecution, we mustn’t harden our hearts towards those persecuting us.

Lastly in this section, we should rejoice and mourn with those who rejoice and mourn, because, though we are many parts, we are all one body. See 1 Corinthians 12:25-26. Christians should not be insensitive to the state of other Christians’ hearts. Sometimes it is more difficult to rejoice with a person than to weep with a person, because of our pride or envy. Perhaps you and your spouse had trouble conceiving, and you found other Christian couples with the same problem. You could mourn with those who mourn. But then one couple from your group gets the good news that they will be parents. Now it’s hard to rejoice with those who rejoice, because you’re still mourning and perhaps envious of their blessings. Do you have other examples of that circumstance?