Romans 12:16-18 Love is Without Hypocrisy
Building Bridges Not Walls
+ Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. +
There were once two brothers who lived on adjoining farms. After nearly four decades of farming side by side, sharing machinery, and trading labor and goods as needed without a hitch, their long-time collaboration fell apart. It all began with a small misunderstanding and it grew into a major difference. Finally it exploded into an exchange of bitter words followed by weeks of silence.
One morning there was a knock on the older brother’s door. He opened it to find a man with a carpenter's toolbox. "I'm looking for a few days work" he said. "Perhaps you would have a few small jobs here and there. Could I help you?" "Yes," said the older brother. "I do have a job for you. Look across the creek at that farm. That's my neighbor, in fact, it's my younger brother. Last week there was a meadow between us and he took his bulldozer to the river levee and now there is a creek between us. Well, he may have done this to spite me, but I'll do him one better. See that pile of lumber stacked out by the barn? I want you to build me a fence - an eight-foot high fence - so I won't need to see his place anymore. It’ll take the starch out of him anyways." The carpenter said, "I think I understand the situation. Show me the nails and the post-hole digger and I'll be able to do a job that you will like."
The older brother had to go to town for supplies, so he helped the carpenter get the materials ready and then he was off for the day. The carpenter worked hard all that day measuring, sawing, nailing. About sunset when the farmer returned, the carpenter had just finished his job. The farmer's eyes opened wide, his jaw dropped. There was no fence there at all. It was a bridge... a bridge stretching from one side of the creek to the other! As nice a bridge as you could build, with sturdy handrails and everything - and the neighbor, his younger brother, was coming across, his hand outstretched.
"Brother, you are the better man to build this bridge after all I've said and done." The two brothers stood at each end of the bridge, and then they met in the middle, taking each other's hand. They turned to see the carpenter hoist his toolbox on his shoulder. "No, wait! Stay a few days. I've a lot of other projects for you," said the older brother. "I'd love to stay on," the carpenter said, "but, I have many more bridges to build."1
Paul writes “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.”2
Living in harmony, that is to say having that same mindset toward one another doesn’t mean that, as Christians, we must all think exactly the same way about everything. On certain matters, certainly – we agree on our common confession of faith in God, and our belief of who Jesus is and what He has done for us. On all other matters, we will hold different opinions, and that is good. It would be an understatement to believe we could all somehow agree on everything. Would that even be a good thing, for us all to think alike? Doesn’t having different perspectives make us both more interesting and stronger in our diversity? Where we must have harmony, Paul says, is the single goal of our community united in mercy, compassion, and charity.
This type of living in harmony is certainly counter-cultural. Society tends to reward those who are self-sufficient in his own life, neither relying on anyone or aiding the week or needy. Paul warns us against such a self-made estimate of our own abilities and goals. We must look instead to the wisdom of Proverbs 3:4: “And be preoccupied with excellent things before [the] Lord and people.”3 First Corinthians 8:21 expands this to include our neighbor: “For we are preoccupied with excellent things not only before [the] Lord but also before the people.”
God gives us a built-in knowledge of right and wrong, but our sinful condition corrupts us into suppressing it and even ignoring it when it suits our image of self-reliance. We become good at digging the creek, never thinking of building the bridge. For us, it is indeed far more natural to burn the bridge. Fresh wounds become old scars, and old behaviors become such ingrained habits we might not even remember what started us on the course of digging the creek.
Paul talks of living in peace – both within our Christian community and the community at large, whenever it is possible, as far as it depends on us. We are to make every effort to live in peaceful harmony, which is not necessarily the same as getting our way. In such compromise is blessing, as Jesus tells us “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”4 Not only are we blessed to be a peacemaker but God expects it. Jesus commands it: “Be at peace with one another.”5
For us, it is easier to be at peace and live in harmony with those outside the Christian community. Our modern culture respects honoring others beliefs. We say “live and let live” while holding firmly to our Christian values. Isn’t where we find our biggest challenge attempting to be at peace with our fellow Christians? If we truly do those things which Paul calls “excellent”6 within our church and the greater Christian community - if we are truly living the Gospel - won’t we display a light shining in the darkness to the unbelieving world? Is that not the mission of the Church? Jesus says “If you abide in my Word, you are truly my disciples.”7 and “In this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”8
Christian love is entirely without hypocrisy. It has no borders. Walls cannot contain it. If true Christian love flows from God, because God is love, how could it be contained? It is only our sinful inclinations that build walls. The only obstacle to real, objective love is our own stubborn selves.
Thanks be to God that He doesn’t leave it up to us to rattle about like pieces on one of those old toy vibrating football games, where the outcome is left fully to chance. In order to take to heart Paul’s warning not to rely on our own measurement of self-importance is the work of a certain carpenter that built a bridge. Not the mysterious handyman in our illustration this morning, but the God-man Jesus Christ, who built a bridge across the gulf that separated us from God, drawing us back into harmony and peace with God.
The only reliable source of our self-worth comes from God’s merciful perspective of us, which is seen through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for us. Looking through that lens, God sees us as valuable indeed! With Christ as our savior, we can identify ourselves with Him. We can follow His example and build our own bridges to cross the creeks we’ve so sinfully dug for ourselves between friends and family, fellow Christians and the world at large. Jesus was counter-cultural in His time on Earth, repaying evil with love. We, through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, can cast aside our sinful human selfishness to be a reflection of Christ – to show God’s love to all. Jesus, friend to tax collectors and sinners, shows us what divine mercy looks like.
Divine mercy and the Christian life is choosing that which appears foolish and weak to the eyes of the world. It is spreading the message that this world is not all there is. There is something greater - a love that closes rifts, and heals wounds. That love originates from the One who shows us love in action. Jesus Christ shows us what it means to “pay back no one evil for evil, but being preoccupied with excellent things before all people.” Because He built the bridge between us and God, forgiving us for all our sins, we can build bridges of our own and share our new life with the world. Doesn’t knowing we are forgiven, that God values us so highly, make us want to ask “Where are the tools? Let’s get to work!”
+ In the Name of Jesus, Amen. +
May the peace which surpasses all human understanding keep
your hearts and your minds focused on Christ Jesus.
+ Amen +
κήρυξον τὸν λόγον
1This illustration is very old, and has been told many different ways. No one is quite sure who wrote is originally.
2Romans 12:16–18 (ESV).
3Septuagint translation.
4Matthew 5:9.
5Mark 9:50.
6Romans 12:17.
7John 8:31.
8John 13:35.