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Sermon Growth Guide October 24, 2021 Belong – Move Closer Romans 12:14–21 Key Verse: Romans 12:21 “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Big Idea: Move toward the brokenness around you with the redemptive love of Jesus.

Foundations

Understanding God’s Word

Pastor Tim reminds us how easy it is to hate from afar, but how hard it is to hate up close. God calls us to not allow sin to lead us into isolation, but rather move toward the brokenness around us with the redemptive love of Jesus.

As a group, read through today’s passage and then have each person articulate which imperative is most difficult for them right now. Dig into the Scripture and into one another’s hearts.

We are the up-close-people-of-God. Even while we were dead in our sin, God sent His son to bring us close. Like a parent moving toward a child in a relationally difficult moment (to say the least), so God moves toward us when we didn’t want it, weren’t looking for it.

Applying God’s Word

This week Pastor Tim shares these words by Eugene Peterson to encourage us and commission us: “God has given us one another so that we may have a shared life. None of us can live the abundant life as hermits. Nor can we live to the glory of God if we carefully pick whom we’re willing to associate with. All who live are God’s creation and parts of the body of Christ. We’re members of one another. We exist in a family, together, not alone.” Throughout this series we have been challenged to cultivate a life that is willing to be vulnerable. We are called to share in each other’s joys and be present and attentive and empathetic in one another’s sorrows. Enter your time together this week by asking God to guide and guard your time around the Word.

This week we are called to move toward the brokenness around us with the redemptive love of Jesus. Where do you, individually and collectively, most need God’s help to live a Kingdom life according to Romans 12:14–21?

Witnessing God’s Word Perhaps reflecting on Romans 12, Martin Luther King Jr. writes, “Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” We are called to walk as ambassadors of the reconciliation of God (2 Corinthians 5:16–21). When you forgive, you display the Kingdom of God. When you show mercy, you display the Kingdom of God. Pray for one another, that together we will reflect the Good News to those around us, that as we live lives of moving close to our neighbors with the reconciliation of Jesus they will see the Father, glorify Him, and, by faith, be saved.

ALONE IS NO GOOD. JESUS INVITES YOU TO BELONG.

BELONG • Romans 12:14–21 • Tim McConnell • October 24, 2021

People can be mean on social media. Thanks, Captain Obvious. Earlier in the series I pointed out that not everything posted on Facebook represents an accurate portrayal of how life is going. Thanks again, Captain Obvious. We know this stuff, but we don’t seem to act any differently. It is easy to be mean on social media. It is easy to fire off a nasty email, join a hot message thread or text. Why? There is an old saying, “It’s hard to hate up close.” You say things online and over email you would never in a hundred years say face to face. God made us that way. When we are together, we see the humanity in each other. We see the dignity in each other. We see the image of God in one another. Distance causes dehumanization. Proximity increases rehumanization. You can’t stereotype a person you actually know. You can’t

scapegoat a people group when you are in their circle. You can’t hate up close. Move Closer. That’s what we want to learn today. Move Closer. I wish I could say I’m talking about physical distance! I’m not. There’s still some COVID out there! But in our hearts, Move Closer. Since August we have been talking about Belong. Alone is no good. Jesus invites you to belong. This month we have looked at Romans 12 verse by verse. How does being the church together address loneliness and increase belonging. It starts with all of us laying down our lives as living sacrifice. This is how the church responds to that first movement, when we realize we are Alone. “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” (Romans 12:1). That’s not singular; it is plural. Pastor Michael then examined how the church guides us to Risk Being Known. Church is the place we give ourselves to one another and become part of the body. “So in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others” (Romans 12:5). Can we be Open to God in the church? That’s the third step in this four-step dance we’ve been learning. Of course, we can. Pastor Greg showed us last week that when God moves into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, we find, and we share, authentic love. “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves” (Romans 12:9–10). Well,

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BELONG • Romans 12:14–21 • Tim McConnell • October 24, 2021

today it’s on me to finish Romans 12 and see how it calls us as a church to be Open to Others. The last bit of Romans 12 calls us to move closer, to move even closer to one another in this body, the church. Move closer, even to those with whom you have friction, move closer even to those who make things hard for you, move closer to those with whom it is a challenge to have peace, to those who make you thirst for revenge and retaliation; move closer! It’s hard to hate up close. “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse” (Romans 12:14). Okay, who does that sound like? How about this: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:43–44).

Jesus, in His most famous speech, the Sermon on the Mount. Love your enemies. Don’t return evil for evil, that just doubles the evil. Don’t return hate for hate, that just doubles the hate. Darkness can’t drive out darkness—it takes light to do that. Bless. That means forgive. Nothing isolates and separates like unforgiveness. A chip on your shoulder toward anyone becomes a vehicle for isolation from everyone as your heart grows bitter, as you lose trust, as you put up barriers of self-protection. You wind up alone, because of what that person did to do you— that thing you have not forgiven. Bless. Forgive. Over the centuries, readers of this passage have gotten confused because by now you forget that Paul is addressing this to a group, to the church as a group, and you start

to take it as individual teaching for individual Christians, and as I’m working this out as an individual, is this how I’m supposed to act inside the church or outside the church? By then we are so far off the mark that even trained commentators say this is just a loose and unconnected list. No, it’s not. This teaching is to a group; and that group is the church, and that church is made up of sinners saved by grace— that’s what church is! Forgiveness will still be needed inside the church as well as outside the church. Love your enemies. Bless those who persecute. Outside the church, that means things like praying for mean teachers and professors who make fun of your faith, leaders who make faithfulness to the Scriptures difficult. It means praying for hostile and violent oppressors.

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BELONG • Romans 12:14–21 • Tim McConnell • October 24, 2021

Imagine the power, the witness, if a Taliban leader in Afghanistan came to Christ right now, if a Haitian kidnapper came to Christ right now! Pray for that. But it isn’t just outside the church. Love your enemies, bless those who persecute you, inside the church! Move closer. “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn” (Romans 12:15). Why does it take a funeral to bring a family together? Why does it take a crisis to bring us together? Why does it take a national disaster to bring a people together? We were never closer as a nation than the day after 9/11. In December 2012 we were all Sandy Hook parents. In April 2013 we were all Boston Strong. We mourn with those who mourn; it is easy to see our common humanity. What about joy? Some say it’s

harder to share joy than grief. There is something in us that resists both. At the beginning of the series I mentioned a book by a sociologist named Brené Brown titled Braving the Wilderness. Here is what she says, “These examples of collective joy and pain are sacred experiences… We need these moments with strangers as reminders that despite how much we might dislike someone on Facebook or even in person, we are still inextricably connected… The problem is that we don’t show up for enough of these experiences. We clearly need them. But it’s vulnerable to lean into that kind of shared joy and pain. We armor up. We shove our hands into our pockets during the concert or we roll our eyes at the dance or put our headphones on rather than get to know somebody on the train… But the more

we’re willing to seek out moments of collective joy and show up for experiences of collective pain—for real, in person, not online—the more difficult it becomes to deny our human connection, even with people we may disagree with.” “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn” (Romans 12:15). “Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited” (Romans 12:16). Pride and ego dissolve community on contact. There is no room for conceit in true belonging. It is hard to hate up close, but it is hard to get up close when your head is too big to fit through the door! Then we get into revenge and retaliation. “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do

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BELONG • Romans 12:14–21 • Tim McConnell • October 24, 2021

what is right in the eyes of everyone” (Romans 12:17). Do you know what is right in the eyes of everyone? The fruit of the Spirit. We will get into three of them next month. The fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22–23). Wherever you go, these things are legal, legalized. But don’t give in to the temptation to retaliate or take revenge. “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 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” (Romans 12:18–19). Glenn Hoit, whose service we held on Friday, would say to his kids, “Kindness matters.

When you are given a choice, choose to be kind.” We usurp God’s rightful place as Judge when we attempt to exact revenge. Did Jesus retaliate? Did Jesus exact revenge from us when we wronged Him?

an evildoer will feel when their victim is found to be kindhearted and true. “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21). Move closer, in church and out of church.

Then I have to say something about this weird verse! It’s a quote from Proverbs. “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’” (Romans 12:20). It sounds really great until that last line. Oh yeah, that’s the kind of human I want to be. I want to feed my hungry enemy, I want to give that guy some lemonade, so I can empty out my barbecue over their head! Wait, what? Heap burning coals? The burning coals are a metaphor, the pain is the searing conscience and the shame and contrition

Move closer in church. Eugene Peterson summarized this passage in this way, “God has given us one another so that we may have a shared life. None of us can live the abundant life as hermits. Nor can we live to the glory of God if we carefully pick whom we’re willing to associate with. All who live are God’s creation and parts of the body of Christ. We’re members of one another. We exist in a family, together, not alone.” He goes on to talk about what that means to our checkbooks. That’s something we need to talk about this week as we prepare for Commitment Sunday. Belonging to a

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BELONG • Romans 12:14–21 • Tim McConnell • October 24, 2021

church body as a member means more than giving a little here or there. It means commitment. “It’s the offering of our total economic selves to the glory and service of God… Income and earning capacity is God’s gift to us, too—and must be part of offering our lives.” We don’t just tip Jesus from the extra off the top in this kind of belonging. We move closer. We open up and trust more. We know that our whole lives are offering and living sacrifice. All of my heart. All of my mind. All of my time, my energy, my resources. It all belongs to Jesus. Commitment to the work of the church is both emblematic and instrumental in making that idea come true in my heart. Anyway, move closer in church. Move closer in the world. I was reminded this week of the Peace Prayer of St. Francis of

Assisi. “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.”

within me, and through me, and graciously including me. Jesus is the one who moved closer. Jesus is the one who loved His enemies. Even as He hung on the cross, dying for our sins, He made His appeal, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). When you can’t move closer, when you are tempted to retaliate, turn to Jesus. Jesus is inside of you, His Holy Spirit is within you, and Jesus is always, always moving closer.

How can it be done? How can I move closer in church? How can I move closer in the world? How can I be more Open to Others on new footing, my identity resting in Christ? That prayer from Francis, that will rock you. I can’t fulfill a single line! But Jesus can. Jesus can do it

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