From Me to You

You are listening to a message from Thrive Community Church, a church located in Southwest Florida. For more info, visit us at thrive-fl.org. So, we're going to be looking at Romans chapter 12, verses 9 through 12. And speaking about this shift and this idea of race, faith, and community, I think this passage just, there's too much in it. There's just way too much in it. But don't worry, I'm not, well, how can I go longer than I already do in these messages? So, but I've tried to hone it and kind of focus, so we're not going to cover everything this passage says. It's something, I think, for you to study and just kind of simmer in. Just let it kind of simmer in and let the Holy Spirit have His work. It's His full work in you through these words. So, let's read Romans chapter 12, verses 9 through 21. Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil. Hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal. Be fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope. Be patient in tribulation. Be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God. For it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For by doing so you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not overcome, be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Wow. Such appropriate words for today, for now, for any time really for the people of God. This is something that we, I think, need to aspire to live for. Now, many people believe in God in our world, and many people in the United States believe God loves them, and they trust in God, and yet their lives are still focused on themselves, and they're anxious and fearful, just like the rest of the population who doesn't have faith in God. Now, we know our faith should make a difference, a big difference. It should make us more humble, more courageous, more accepting of others, less anxious, more focused on others rather than just on ourselves. But just having beliefs up here, having them in our head, doesn't seem to change our thoughts or our actions or our attitudes or behaviors. Despite what you may believe, I still keep myself very me-focused. I'm still self-centered, you know. My faith is going on, and it's just all revolving around me yet, and that's the shift we're trying to talk about today. Now, honestly, I found throughout the New Testament, when I've studied the New Testament myself, when I've heard commentaries on the New Testament, you will not find this individual focus that we have in our society right now. Not at all. You just won't. Americans read their Bible very individualistically. They think, I can just read this, and this is speaking just to me, but it's really never just speaking to you. It's always speaking to you and the people of God together. You just won't find this individualized focus on the New Testament. And the problem starts with our English translations, because in English, we really cannot differentiate between the second-person pronoun singular, you, and the plural second-person pronoun, you. And so when I read a you in the Bible, I think it's all about me. When often, in the Bible, that you is about, well, in Southern, y'all, or all y'all, even better. Almost all of the you's in the New Testament, when Jesus is speaking, or when the New Testament writers are writing to churches, are all you all passages, not individual you do this, but you all together. For instance, the Sermon on the Mount is a great example of this. When Jesus spoke that sermon, Matthew 5, 6, and 7, and he says different words, he never says you individually are the light of the world. He says y'all all together are the light of the world. Or y'all are the salt of the earth. Or you all are to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. So the real intention of Jesus in that sermon is not to tell you about your individual ethics and what you might do, but how we as a community of followers of Jesus reflect a whole different ethic, a whole different way, a countercultural way of being in the world. It's about us together, not just me. It's about we, not me. So today we're going to look at this passage in Romans chapter 12, starting at verse 9, and it's really not about me, it's about we, and how the focus needs to focus on us together, the all y'all. Maybe we should have a southern translation of the Bible. It might come across be...