Join us as we unravel the intricate relationship between gospel, love, and legalism. Learn how Paul’s insights in Romans challenge traditional commandment-keeping, transitioning the focus towards love and faith-driven living. Hear stories of transformation, resilience through past reputations, and the incredible examples of preachers like John Wesley who practiced faith against the odds.
00:00:05 Living as Christians in Light of the Gospel
00:02:00 Distinguishing Between Natural Thoughts and Faith-Informed Minds
00:04:00 The Concept of Love in Romans Versus Legalism
So we are in this passage of Scripture which talks about how to live as Christians in the light of the gospel. Paul has beseeched us. He hasn’t commanded us. He’s appealed to us to present ourselves to God as a living sacrifice. not being conformed to the world, but transformed in the renewal of our mind. And we’ve explored how our mind is renewed. And I want to say a little bit about that, because you must make a distinction between how your mind naturally feels and thinks and how your mind is informed by faith. Now, you know that our minds, when they are without God or when we are not trusting in Him, they get depressed or they get excited over things that are trivial or they get angry or they get frustrated, they feel lonely and lots of other emotions, lustful and all the rest of it. So you might trouble yourself unnecessarily by saying, how am I going to transform that mind? Well, let me tell you, you’re not. That mind needs to be accounted dead. You don’t try to improve it. You don’t try to practice improvement by thinking straight and so on, because all kinds of thoughts will flip, flit into your mind at the oddest kinds. I remember a friend of mine years ago saying to me, you know, I have this strange feeling when I’m talking to somebody and he’s talking to me. I want to punch him in the face. I mean, that is an absurd kind of emotion or thought, isn’t it? But thoughts flash into our minds and we would never want to tell people what those thoughts are. Well, are you going to get super worried and anxious about all those thoughts? No, you’re going to say, Father, I thank you that those thoughts, that thought, that particular silly thought has no power over me because it is counted dead. My mind, my humanity is counted dead in Christ’s resurrection, Christ’s death. Now when you do that, you are lifting your heart in praise and recognizing that you have, by faith, a new mind. The new mind you have, by faith, is described here in chapters 12, 13, 14, and 15. Now, you and I have all heard about 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter, haven’t we? And it’s the famous love chapter. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become a sounding brass. or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains but have not love, I am nothing. Yes, this is the famous and extremely beautiful and wonderfully poetic expression of love. But did you know that the most complete love chapters are right here in the book of Romans? Romans 12, 13, 14, and 15. Paul is describing, or he is going to describe, what love is like and how love expresses itself. And I want you to notice something else. Paul doesn’t lay out commandments directly. He lays out love. And this is the difference between the gospel and legalism. Legalism would lay out commandments. It would call us back to the Ten Commandments and constantly urge us to keep them perfectly. But Paul doesn’t do that. Why doesn’t he do that? Because the response of a Christian, once he has heard the gospel, is not law-keeping. but love expressing. Love expressing. Now, I grant you that’s an enormous challenge because in our natural humanity we don’t love, do we? We’re quite selfish. We’re interested in number one. But as our faith keeps imposing itself upon our mind, we gradually develop a state of peace where we’re no longer condemned by the law and we’re no longer separated from God through His wrath and we’re no longer counted as sinners and no longer under the power of death. And so we have peace in our hearts, more peace. And what happens when you have more peace? You have more room for love. Because when you are under guilt, shame and fear and all the anxieties of the world, there’s no room for love. The only room we have is ourselves. And we’re anxious about how to preserve ourselves and how to survive. But Paul is talking about love here because we have received the mercy of God. Now notice something else. This Romans chapters 12, 13, and 14 and 15 are really Paul’s expression of the Sermon on the Mount. When you read the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, for instance, chapters 5 through 7, you recognize that Jesus is talking about love. Now that we have been forgiven ourselves, we have love for our enemy. We have no longer a need to worry. We learn how to not judge one another. And on and on Jesus goes, explaining how different it is once we know that we are in the kingdom of God by faith, alone, by his grace alone, we have a way of loving. And this is what Paul is doing. He’s following Jesus’ steps. And he’s saying, okay, let me do my best to express what love is like. And so, Paul has told us that we all have gifts, and we need to recognize that God has given us those gifts, and so we present ourselves to God and to our church and say, what can I do? How can I help? I have some gifts, and I want to express them as best I can. Now, let me say something here just as a side point, and that is the church may not always recognize your gifts. Other people may not recognize your gifts. But you, in faith in Jesus Christ, you do recognize your gifts, and you will find that Jesus will lead you to others who recognize your gift also. Some leaders of the church may say to you, well, we really can’t use you in that capacity because you’ve had a sinful life and it would give the church a rather bad name if we put you in the forefront. Well, that’s too bad, isn’t it? Because Paul also had a rather bad life when he was Saul, you remember, and he murdered and he threatened and he was full of fury and anger. You wouldn’t want to be around Paul. And when he was converted, the church leaders had a lot of doubts about him. But gradually, the Holy Spirit was able to reveal that God had converted Paul and that this was a true man of God, and gradually they accepted him. So it may be that when you start expressing your gift, some people may not approve because you’ve had a bad reputation. They don’t realize your conversion has brought a real change in you. so they’re a bit suspicious. That’s okay. Accept that, be humble, and go forward and let your gift be expressed whether they believe it or not. You know, John Wesley, the founder of the… Methodist church in the 18th century, the 1700s. He had been a minister in the Anglican church, the Church of England. But when he started preaching the gospel so avidly and truthfully, the church didn’t like it. And so they ousted him from the ministry. What do you think he did? Well, his brother, Charles Wesley, said, well, preach outside if they won’t let you preach inside. And John Wesley found that absolutely reprehensible because you wouldn’t preach outside of the church. You had to preach inside of it. That was the form in those days. But finally, Charles did convince John to do that. And most of John’s preaching… thereafter, was to thousands of people outside, in the cities, in the parks, and what have you. So you can let it rip wherever you want. There are some wonderful street preachers. By the way, I haven’t told you, maybe I have. Yes, I think I have in the past. You may not remember, though. But I preached in the streets in London, Speaker’s Corner, and in New York. just not far from the Twin Towers in the 70s, and I preached for four days per week for three to four years. I got crowds of 40 to 100 people every day. And it was a wonderful experience. I made sure that I didn’t look too crazy and quackish, so I put on my best suit and a collar and tie, and I would stand at the entrance to Battery Park. By the way, Battery Park was made from the foundation rubbish that they dug out 70 feet below to make the Twin Towers, you know. And so Battery Park is an extension of Manhattan. It’s not a normal piece of it. Anyway, there I stood, and the place was surrounded. I stood under the monument to the Pilgrim Fathers, and the audience—well, there wasn’t an audience when I started. One or two people were sitting on benches. eating their sandwiches that they brought for lunch, and I would say, good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Battery Park Lectures, and then I would start in on the Book of Romans. Well, they wondered who I was and what in the world I was doing. They pretended not to listen, but gradually 40 to 100 people gathered. And I remember one man just coming from across the road. He said to me, I’m the manager, the bank manager of that bank over there, and I just want you to know this is the best part of my day. Well, that was wonderful. And I’m just saying to you, you may have a gift that way. And you may say, well, I think I’d have the courage to preach on the corner. And you go ahead and you do it. You have to have a flag, by the way. I know that sounds weird. But if you don’t have an American flag, the police have the right to stop you from preaching. Anyway, these are things that you can do to express your gift before God. Be humble about it. Somebody else might be appointed instead of you. That’s okay. You just take your place in the lineup, and when your time comes, the Lord God will show you how to express that gift. So then, Paul shows us the ways of love, and he starts with this wonderful statement, Let love be without hypocrisy, abhor what is evil, cling to what is good. Now that’s completely contrary to human nature. So we find ourselves faced with these rather stirring and alarming things counsels here because it’s not how we act. It’s not how we think and behave and feel. because we’re still in our broken humanity, but we’re counted as if our humanity is dead. And therefore we say, Father, by faith, I’m going to love without hypocrisy. Now, granted, a lot of our life is pretense, but we go forward by faith and we find little by little that faith grows within, that love grows within us. Thank you for listening, everyone. Today, Colin Cook here and how it happens. You are listening to a broadcast that can be heard on your smartphone or other device. Simply download a free app, SoundCloud.com or Podbean.com and key in how it happens with Colin Cook when you get there. And I’m looking for five new partners who would commit themselves to donating $50 a month for a year. Would you be one of them? I need your help because this is a listener-supported radio and the funds are low. 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