Translation: 8.14Because as
many people as are led by the Spirit of God, these people are sons of God, 15because
you didn’t get the spirit of slavery again resulting in fear; instead, you got
the Spirit of Adoption, by Whom we cry out, “Abba! Father!” 16The
same Spirit testifies to our spirit that we are God’s children.
12.9Unhypocritical love: Be hating what’s
wicked, clinging to what’s good. 10With regard to brotherly-love, be
deeply loving to one another. With regard to honor/respect, be considering one
another more deserving. 11With regard to passion, don’t be lazy. Be on
fire in the Spirit. Be slaving for the Lord. 12Be rejoicing in hope.
Be enduring in suffering. Be dedicated to prayer. 13With regard to
the needs of the holy people, be sharing. Be pursuing hospitality. 14Bless
the people who are persecuting [you]. Bless and don’t curse. 15Cebrating
with the people who are celebrating; crying with the people who are crying. 16Be
thinking the same thing towards one another; don’t be thinking proud things,
rather be accommodating to the lowly people. Don’t become clever to yourselves.
17Don’t be repaying anyone evil for evil. Be caring about good
things before all humans. 18And if it’s possible for you, be
maintaining peace with all human beings. 19Don’t be avenging
yourselves, loved ones, instead, give an opportunity for the anger, because it
really is written, “Vengeance is Mine! I will pay [them] back, the Lord says.” 20Instead,
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he’s thirsty, give him a drink, because
by doing this you will pile up coals of fire on his head!” 21Don’t
be getting conquered by evil, rather be conquering evil with good.
Interpretation
1.
Structure
a.
Rom. 8.14-16
i.
Who are God’s sons? Those who
are driven by the Spirit
1.
Because
a.
He’s not the Spirit of
Slavery
b.
He is the Spirit of
Adoption that drives us to call God our Daddy
2.
The Same Spirit tells us we
are God’s Children
b.
Rom. 12.9-21
i.
Topic: Unhypocritical Love
ii.
Bracket A: hate what’s
evil, cling to what’s good
1.
General call to love and
healthy relationship
2.
Specific call to leave
vengeance to God
iii.
Bracket A’: Don’t get
conquered by what’s evil, conquer what’s evil with what’s good
2.
Themes
a.
Love
b.
Good vs. Evil
c.
Justice/Vengeance
d.
One another/intra-church
relationships
e.
Humility
f.
Peace
g.
All people
3.
Doctrines
a.
We are a family thicker
than blood; All True Christians filled with the Holy Spirit are part of God’s
family, which makes them family to one another
b.
Love is a core Christian
commitment and virtue, first of all towards God and one another, but also
towards outsiders
c.
Revenge belongs to God, not
to humans
Applications
1.
Outline
a.
Why do we need the church,
because we’re family, the Holy Spirit is drawing us together (Rom. 8.14-16)
i.
How do I know if I’m part
of the Christian family? If you’re filled with the Holy Spirit you are part of
the family?
ii.
How do I know if I’m filled
with the Holy Spirit?
1.
Are you driven/lead by the
Holy Spirit
2.
Do you feel enslaved to
fear, or adopted?
3.
Do you call God your Daddy
by the Holy Spirit
4.
Does the Holy Spirit tell
you you’re part of the family?
iii.
The Holy Spirit is the
power behind our Christian life, but He is also the confidence we have to know
that we are God’s kids, we are a family. It is important to see that calling
God our Father and having the Holy Spirit tell us we are God’s children is not
just something that happens to you as an individual but to us as a family
iv.
The Holy Spirit makes us
family, the reason we need the church is because Holy Spirit is driving us to
be the Church. The Holy Spirit is pushing us to be the family that He has made
us! We need the church, because in the deepest parts of who we are, we are part
of the church, we are part of the family, we are connected to one another.
b.
Why do we need the church,
because we need to love and be loved (Rom. 12.10)
i.
Because of the Holy Spirit
we long to be who we are, and what that means is that we are united in love, we
should love each other deeply like family, because we are the most real family
we’ve ever had. God is telling us to love each other like family, because as
Rom. 8 has made clear, we are family. We need the church to be who we are.
Trying to be a Christian without the church is a twisted form of hypocrisy, or
even hypocritical love, because we say we love God, but we don’t love our
brothers and sisters, or we say that we love them, but never live like we love
them, we never show them true love, only surfacy, lite love.
ii.
This would be like a family
that says they love one another, who lives in the same area, who all know each
other, who have plenty of time to be together, all saying, “I love my dad, but I
don’t want to hang out with Him while all my brothers and sisters are around.
And I love my brothers and sisters I just don’t want to have anything to do
with them. I don’t want to talk to them, see them, spend time with, share with
them, eat with them, worship with them, help them, serve them, or even really
feel very loving towards them
1.
We’d be like, man, you’re
family has problems, it doesn’t look like you love each other, actually it
sounds like you hate each other
c.
What does it look like to
be a loving family adopted by God the Father redeemed through Jesus Christ and
filled with the Holy Spirit? It looks like Rom. 12.9-21
i.
Lots of love
ii.
Hating evil, holding on to
good; Not giving in to evil, but overpowering evil with good
iii.
Good healthy, humble,
compassionate, loving relationships
iv.
Not getting revenge,
letting God get revenge for you
v.
More specifically
1.
With regard to
honor/respect, be considering one another more deserving.
2.
11With regard to
passion, don’t be lazy.
3.
Be on fire in the Spirit.
4.
Be slaving for the Lord.
5.
12Be rejoicing
in hope.
6.
Be enduring in suffering.
7.
Be dedicated to prayer.
8.
13With regard to
the needs of the holy people, be sharing.
9.
Be pursuing hospitality.
10.
14Bless the
people who are persecuting [you]. Bless and don’t curse.
11.
15Cebrating with
the people who are celebrating;
12.
crying with the people who
are crying.
13.
16Be thinking
the same thing about one another; don’t be thinking proud things, rather be
associating with the lowly people. Don’t become clever to yourselves.
14.
17Don’t be
repaying anyone evil for evil. Be caring about good things before all humans. 18And
if it’s possible for you, be maintaining peace with all human beings.
15.
19Don’t be
avenging yourselves, loved ones, instead, give an opportunity for the anger,
because it really is written, “Vengeance is Mine! I will pay [them] back, the
Lord says.” 20Instead, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he’s
thirsty, give him a drink, because by doing this you will pile up coals of fire
on his head!”
2.
Questions
a.
Are you confident that you
are one of God’s children? Why? Do you have the proof Rom. 8.14-16 offers?
b.
Do you feel the Holy Spirit
pulling you towards being a part of the church?
c.
How hard is it to let God
get revenge for you?
d.
How important do you think
it is for us to love each other like family? What about visitors?
e.
Read Rom. 12.9-21. What things
are we strong at? Where are we weak? What do you think a random stranger
visiting would say?
Illustrations/Explanations
1.
The Holy Spirit is kind of like
a Spiritual electromagnet. Before He working in us and on us, we weren’t really
drawn to one another, but as soon as He was there, we became magnetically
pulled together, towards one another, and kept together by the Holy Spirit
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