18.35 If It Is Possible

(upbeat music) - Welcome to the Faith element podcast for the August 30, 2026 session, focusing on Romans chapter 12 versus one through two and nine through 21. If it is possible, I'm David Cassidy. - I'm Nikki Harderman. I'm Jalen Peabody Smith. - I'm David Adams. - And I'm Daniel Glaze. - Is it possible, we're all here? - Yay. Yay. - Welcome back, Jay. Welcome back, Daniel. - Thank you. - Thank you. - Yes, we have missed having you with us and are so glad to see your face as well. I can see your face as our listeners can't, but we can hear your voices. - We're glad to be back, thank you. - Yeah. Well, we are in the heat of summer, aren't we? Feeling the heat of literally and otherwise, we have a really interesting passage today, and you know, often our lead-in questions have something to do clearly with the passage, but we're gonna be a little more literal with it today because the passage we're looking at is loaded with one liners. I mean, it's just chock full of them. So the question is, if you had one line from this text today to cross stitch onto a pillow or maybe put on a bumper sticker, which line would you choose? And why? - One line from this, or just like in general. - Well, yeah, though we do, like one line in general. - Okay, all right, one line in general. (laughing) - Okay, good. 'Cause I'd tell you what my family would say. (laughing) I'd say my, you know, my one liner would be, I look like I'm listening. (laughing) - I'm looking right at you, like I'm listening. And man, I am on another planet. - You look like you're listening. - Yeah, that's a great question. - What did I just say? And I say, that is a strange way to begin a conversation. (laughing) So, yeah, so maybe I'm on another planet is the other one line. I don't know, big one. So, my one liner would be, life be life enough. - Explain. - It's really something the kids say. But it's this idea that, you know, life is unpredictable and things just happen. You just gotta go with it. - It do be life on all the time. - Mm-hmm. - Oh, okay. Are you doing the passage, Siller? You could do it from the passage, or you could do it from the passage. From the passage that don't claim to be wiser than you are. And just in general, I still like play those lines, be kind to everyone else is having a hard day or something of that effect. (laughing) - I guess it's not very clever, but it would probably be something like more both and less either or, and an either or would be in quotes. And the idea is that most experiences, most people are both and not either or, it's kind of a philosophy I have. And if I pay attention to them and not try to make people either or. - That's your interest in the ampersand. - That's right. (laughing) - That's right. - I have a tattoo of it. Also, I had this before CBF used it. I'm just, I need to say that. - All right, they borrowed it from you. - Totally. - Totally. - Yes. (laughing) Well, I was gonna say, you know, from the text, I would choose that phrase, vengeance is mine. But no, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I, from the text actually like, hold fast to what is good. It's simple, but has a lot of meat on the bone, so to speak. Outside of the text, I don't know. I would probably say something silly, like it's never too early for pumpkin spice. - Yeah. - That's a good one. - It's true. - I mean, it's a bad one, but it's a good one. (laughing) - Oh, well, one-liners can be fun. And sometimes, a bit of wisdom in there. And again, we have a passage today that is chock full of them and Daniel. I'm gonna let you get us rolling in it. - All right. So there's a particular kind of person that loves to give advice. You know the type. Maybe you're married. Maybe you married one. Maybe you are one. Now I say that with love and with full awareness that I preach for a living, which is a profession built almost entirely on telling other people how to live. We have a name for it in my business. We call it exhortation. Everybody else just calls it being told what to do. I bring this up because today's text, Romans 12, "On its surface is a list of what to do." And not just any list. It's Paul at his most rapid fire, most breathless. Most, make sure you write this down. He's like that teacher at the blackboard who says, "Did you get all that? "It'll be on the test before erasing the entire board." Let love be genuine. Hate what is evil. Hold fast to what is good. Let love one another with mutual affection. Outdo one another and showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent and spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient and suffering, persevere in prayer. And Paul is only getting started. If you tried to cross stitch all of Romans 12 onto a throw pillow, you would need a pillow the size of a mattress. And even then you'd have to leave off bless those who persecute you because nobody wants that on a pillow. It's not exactly live laugh, love. It's more like live laugh, love your enemies, which comes to think of it, which come to think of it doesn't move as much merchandise as the church gift shop. But here's the danger with this passage. We can hear it as a checklist. 16 action items from the Almighty and Paul as the project manager. That's how a lot of us were trained to hear scripture as instruction, as obligation, as one more thing to feel behind on. And if that's all Romans 12 is, then this is a rough lesson to study because as far as I can tell, none of us are really outdoing one another in showing honor. But that's not actually where Paul starts. It only looks that way if you start with chapter 12. See, Paul has spent 11 chapters laying the foundation before he ever gets here. 11 chapters on sin and grace and law and faith and the unbelievable mercy of God toward those of us who did nothing to earn it. And then only then in chapter 12, verse one, does he say this? Therefore, given everything I just told you about who God is and what God has done, therefore here is what a life shaped by that mercy starts to look like. That word, therefore, is doing a lot of heavy lifting in this passage. And if you miss it, well, you'll misread everything that follows. This isn't a ladder we climb to earn God's love. It's with description of what already loved people start to look like once the good news begins to sink in. Genuine love, mutual affection, patience and suffering, blessing your enemies instead of cursing them. These aren't hoops we jumped through. They are symptoms of life, the visible evidence of a heart that has been rearranged by grace. And I find that oddly freeing because I don't know about you, but I am not naturally gifted at blessing people who persecute me. My first instinct is to run toward a well worded email, CC to the right people. Per our previous conversation and all that. Paul, however, does not leave us a loophole. Bless those who persecute you, he writes. And then, in case we were hoping he'd soften in the next breath, bless those and do not curse. Yes, he says it twice. In terms of scriptural significance, that indicates he really means it. And in my pastoral experience, that means he knew we'd try to talk ourselves out of it. What strikes me most reading this list slowly instead of skimming it is how communal it is. Almost nothing here happens alone. You cannot outdo one another and showing honor by yourself. You cannot weep with those who weep without someone actually weeping next to you. Even live peaceably with all assumes there are, in fact, other people around being difficult as people generally are. As nice as they are, this is not a spirituality of the silent retreat. This is a spirituality of the potluck. The hospital waiting room. The difficult conversation you have to have, and then still show up to church with that person. on Sunday. So as we talk about this text today, I think we need to begin with the therefore. And then we listen for the mercy underneath these instructions. And then because Paul was a realist as much as he was in a possible, listen for the honesty in verse 18, tucked in like a pastoral footnote, if it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. If it is possible, Paul knew it wouldn't always be. He gives us the command and the escape patch in the same breath, which might be the most pastoral thing he says in the entire passage. And that's a little background on our text for today. Hey, I want to thank you for that clarification about where you said this isn't a ladder we climb to earn God's love. It's a description of what already love people start to look like once the good news begins to sink in. That was really helpful for me. I mean, I think in many ways I have looked at this scripture as a checklist. But when you put it that way, it makes perfect sense. When we know that we are loved, it is a lot easier to love on other people. And we don't know that we're loved as hard to give others what we feel that we don't have also really like the emphasis you put on that nice term is as much as it's possible. You know, because yeah, you're going with that where we tend to judge people based on hey, how well did you know, you're living up to that. How are you doing it? But there are quite a few of us who can never let ourselves off the hook. You know, that oh, this is a standard that we have to live up to. And we can't do that. And we know we can't. So it makes it easy to give up and not try. Or it makes it easy for us to really look at ourselves and say, Oh, I don't measure up and I'm a bad person because I don't. My faith just isn't good. I'm not good at this whole belief and faith thing. And maybe it isn't for me or whatever because I just can't do this. And we're not pushing people to that edge. People shouldn't push themselves to that edge. And I think Paul giving us that out as you're describing it really helps us step away from that personally when it comes up to us. Yeah, it's not an impossibly high standard. It's a, I mean, it's sort of like what I preached to my church every Sunday, do the best you can and leave the rest up to God. Yeah. That's a great one, Liner. There you go. I also say there's, it's suddenly in here, but it's in here or that same verse 18 really reads, if it's possible, so far as it depends on you, live peacefully with all implicit. And this is the idea that our accountability to God is just our accountability to God. We can't be responsible for what other people might do with it. There it is. Can't we can only be responsible for what we do and how we respond to what happens to us. And quite often we don't look at that very well either. Well, I was joking earlier when I said that I would choose the phrase vengeance as mine. But it is in the text. And I think it's notable that it's there to say to us that is exactly what we are not to assume is that vengeance is ours. Instead, we are to love our enemies and feed them. And if they are thirsty, give them something to drink. It's our posture toward others is not the same as God. God is the one. If there's vengeance to be brought that will bring it. It is not for us. And I think that's really hard to hear as a person living in 2026 because we're just surrounded with a culture that wants, you know, to get even. And it's just kind of built into our world. But this text calls us to be different than that to say there's there are certain things that are gods and there are some things that are ours. I don't think it tells us never to be angry either. I love that that vise line in their leading room for the wrath of God. I mean, you can have a little bit of wrath, but leave room for God to have some. How much room does God need? Okay, I'm still stuck on this. I'm going all the way back to what J referenced that this is more of a description of what loved people looked like, which is how Daniel put that it made me think of the 10 Commandments because the 10 Commandments, I think the word is the type of literature to Dick Law. I think if I am remembering correctly, I'm like 95% sure that's the right word. And so it's really more like it would be translated that these 10 Commandments show what my people look like. Not my people will do this to prove that they are mine. He's saying it's saying that the ones who do this are my people. And that's a very different way of looking. I think that comes into conversation with our works versus faith conversation. And where does all of that come together? What are we? Do we have to prove who we are by what we do? How do we know if we're trying to prove or if it's just coming out of who we are because we are one of God's children? I think that it is a good conversation to have to reflect on what is motivating faith for us. So your call back to the 10 Commandments is really interesting. And I'm seeing the parallel with this passage now. And even though Exodus 20, that version doesn't have the therefore, it's almost implied for me because that passage starts out, you know, Paul builds this case over 11 chapters. But the Exodus 20, we often start with just the 10 Commandments rather than the, I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of slavery parentheses. Therefore, you don't need to have other gods before me. You don't need to steal. You don't need to do all of these other things because you're my people. This is how, this is the life we have together. This is the kind of people that you are. You live differently. And so to this Romans passage, because this is who we are, we bless those who persecute us. We don't repay evil for evil. We seek good. It's sort of a, we live by a different rulebook than other people do. I, I'm really glad you brought that up. I'm, that's a, that's going to be working on me because I'm going to try to preach this in a couple of weeks. And I'm actually going to split it into two sections. And so that, that may be, that may be a great, great insight. I want to chase down. I'll give you credit, though. Okay. So here, this is another thing that I thought of. All right. So if you all seen the movie, Moana, the first one. Yeah. Okay. So at the end of that movie, you've got the fire monster. And the song that is sung to the fire monster is you've forgotten who you are. And when Moana gives the heart back to, to feedie, which we find out in that process that the big monster was, what they were trying to find all along, she remembered who she was and became an island again. So, you know, it's Disney. But I have, I've always, I think that when we do not behave, or when our life does not show the fruits of what's said here in this passage for us today, or even the Ten Commandments, it's because we have forgotten who we are and that we have forgotten who's we are. And I think that's a, that is a way of trying to find our way back to who we are that is full of grace and not judgment. And I think that's helpful. You know, Paul, sometimes it was clear that he knew some Greek philosophy. Right. And the Greeks would often, especially Aristotle, would sometimes look at the world and talk about, say, how, you know, how do we know what a, a good tomato is? How do we know what a good, a good puppy is? How do we know what a good flower is like? What we, and we could talk about these things, right? We could say, well, you know, a tomato, especially a ripe one is going to be red and it's going to be, have a nice firmness to it, but not be mushy yet. You know, you could talk about it, right? We know what those qualities are of something that's a good tomato or the qualities of a good, you know, beautiful flower, bright colors and, you know, it's got all the petals, it's got, we can do that. And I guess I read this passage too. And I hear hints of that in the sense, you know, reminding us that when we are living as a good Christian, we are exhibiting certain qualities. You know, they're just naturally there, just like a tomato's naturally going to turn red when it's ripe. And you can look at those qualities and know what a thing is. So I've kind of mangled that. I don't know, Paul sometimes dabbles into those areas of Greek philosophy. And to me, this has some echoes of that in it. Well, I also get the feeling that this is Paul doing a thing here. He has that thing short. Paul has known for. And that is these lists, you know, you can Galatians, you look at Philippians. You've got spots where he can just come in and drop one of these lists. You don't feel like it's actually Paul talking to you unless he's hit you with one of these. And aside from just the medic critique of that, this whole epistle to Romans was one of those things that established who he was to a crowd, who he's trying to oppress. You know, he heard some bad things about him and he thought, well, this is that same hothead. He was yellow at people in Galatians and talking about people castrating themselves and all kinds of stuff. And I mean, I don't know if, you know, he's a calm enough individual or even rational. So it's to Daniel's earlier point, it's something he can come and say, okay, now that I've made my case here, this is what the faith I'm trying to call you to looks like. And I think it was important for Paul to get this in. And also, I would say if you really want to know some of the things that Paul was doing is he's making shapes of this, all the one line is he was dropping. I think you need to check out the other books and kind of stretch them all together. You'll find they're very consistent. And I find some comfort in that knowing that there is a consistent picture of just what a person who is dealing with grace and its implications on their life, you know, should be like, you know, how one might actually do it. Well, I for one, I enjoy this sort of passage. It, I like how positive it is because so many times we are, we seem to be presented with a faith that is negative, don't do this, don't do that. And yet here, we're just loaded up with all kinds of good things to do. You know, let our love be genuine and hold fast to what is good, not lag and zeal, rejoice and hope, persevere and prayer, bless those that persecute you, rejoice with those who rejoice. And on, I mean, it's, this is a positive picture of what it like, looks like to follow Christ and I think it's a fine vision for us to embrace. And yeah, if we want to stitch some of these on some pillows, I think that's okay too. And remind ourselves that often the things that help us to grow in faith are as simple as the things that Paul has listed for us here. I mean, we take them to heart this week as we live together. Thank you all for this good conversation. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Learn more about our Faith Element Bible Study curriculum at faithelement.net. Faith Element is a service of Faith Lab.