1. What are you known for? When your name comes up, what are some things that people say about you? Are those things positive or negative?
Following an examination of spiritual gifts, Paul writes about the characteristics that should be cultivated and lived out in all believers. He begins with the foundation of all the rest of the attributes by saying in Romans 12:9, “Let love be genuine.” This is the basis for the rest of the chapter. All the actions that follow are built upon love being genuine. Without real love, the rest of the list is impossible to fulfill.
A couple of years ago around Christmas, my brother saw an ad for a North Face jacket that his now fiancée had been wanting. Instead of the $150 it usually retailed for, this site was supposedly selling it for about $15. My brother knew it was sketchy but decided to take the risk. About a month later, the package showed up from the sketchy website. It was way too small to be a jacket, and when he opened it up, it only contained a pair of cheap socks. He was scammed. The ad looked good, but it ended up being too good to be true. I am not sure how businesses get away with things like this, but my brother learned a valuable lesson that day: do not believe everything you see on the internet. There are people out there whose intentions are dishonest.
2. When was a time that you got scammed? How did it make you feel?
3. When have you experienced genuine love from someone? How did it make you feel?
Read Romans 12:9-13.
Paul lists a handful of virtues here: love, hating evil, clinging to good, brotherly love, honor, zeal, fervency in spirit, service, joy, patience, prayerful dependence, generosity, and hospitality. Each of these is built on love, but also on what Paul said earlier in Romans 12:3, “I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly that he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.”
When I was in college, I needed this reminder constantly. God made it clear that I was full of myself and cared little for those around me. I took this verse, printed out multiple copies of it in a large, bold font, and plastered them around my dorm room. I had it taped on the wall next to my bed and another copy on the back door or the door to our room so I would see it every time I left the room. In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis gave a picture of a humble Christian, “Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call ‘humble’ nowadays: he will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who is always telling you that, of course, he is nobody. Probably all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him. If you do dislike him it will be because you feel a little envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all.” He continues, “If anyone would like to acquire humility, I can, I think, tell him the first step. The first step is to realize that one is proud. And a biggish step, too. At least, nothing whatever can be done before it. If you think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed.”
4. What does it take to view yourself correctly? How does someone know that they think of themselves more highly than they ought to?
5. Who comes to mind when you think of humble people in your life? What makes them humble?
Each of these virtues is demonstrated to us by the living example that God the Father sent for us; His name is Jesus.
6. How do we see Jesus expressing love throughout Scripture? How do we see Jesus’ patience? How do we see His prayerful dependence or patience in tribulation?
7. How can a Christian follow Jesus’ example in these traits?
Paul does not give these words to Christians because he wants believers to be nice people for the sake of it. Rather, these virtues are such a big deal because we are to be conformed into the image of Christ. This process is theologically called sanctification. The New Hampshire Baptist Confession defines sanctification in Article X, “We believe that Sanctification is the process by which, according to the will of God, we are made partakers of his holiness; that it is a progressive work; that it is begun in regeneration; and that it is carried on in the hearts of believers by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, the Sealer and Comforter, in the continual use of the appointed means - especially the Word of God, self-examination, self-denial, watchfulness, and prayer.”
8. What stands out to you about that definition of sanctification? How have you been sanctified since your moment of conversion?
Sanctification of the Christian begins in the quiet moments with the Lord in His Word and prayer. God chisels away at the sinful parts of us in the stillness of time with Him. However, the process does not end there. Sanctification is lived out in the community, in our relationships, workplaces, schools, and family. Read Romans 12:14-21.
There is much that can be said about this section, and I encourage you to take it phrase by phrase on your own this week and examine yourself before the Lord. Ask Him, as the Psalmist did in Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!”