Romans 12 Clemency, Charismata, Character III

Romans 12 is largely controlled by the first two verses, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." I called this Clemency or the mercy of God. Next I looked at our reasonable worship through Charismata or the gifts. Today, the renewed mind and its impact on our character.

Romans 12:9-21 Character or Christian Virtues

9 Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;
11 Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;
12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
13 Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.
14 Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.
15 Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.
16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.
17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.
18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

In 9-21 he mentions several virtues that Christians are to have. Once again, this is terse and concise. They already know about all these virtues, so he simply states how they should live them. Here is a literal translation of this passage. There no verbs until v 19, so we have to supply words or phrases to make a full thought in English (Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good etc.). I like the energy of the literal translation. I have kept the articles (the love, the evil etc) to highlight his emphasis:

9        the love, sincere
          the evil, abhorring
          in the good, cleaving to
10      in the love of brethren, loving one another
          in the honor, preferring one another
11       in the earnestness, not lazy
          in the spirit, fervent
          in the Lord, serving
12      in the hope, rejoicing
          in the tribulation, enduring
          in the prayer, persevering
13      in the needs of the saints, participating
          the hospitality pursuing
14      bless those persecuting you
          bless, and curse not
15      rejoicing with those who rejoice
          and weeping with those who weep
16      have the same mind to one another
          not minding the high
          but associating with the low
          don’t be wise by yourselves 
17      to no one evil for evil giving
          think to do good before all men

18      if possible, from yourselves, with all men 
          be at peace

19      not avenging yourselves, beloved

          but rather give place unto wrath: 

          for it is written, Vengeance is mine; 

         I will repay, saith the Lord.

21      do not be overcome by the evil

          but overcome by the good, the evil
 

I don’t really know what to add to this except, Amen. Let’s be doers of the word, and not hearers only.

Romans 12 Clemency, Charismata, Character II

Romans 12:3-3 Charismata or Gifts

3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

not to think more highly than he ought to think – we are not to have an inflated view of ourselves, but have a proper estimate

dealt to every man the measure of faith – this is interesting, it seems to be synonymous with charismata or gifts

5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.

4 For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:

Same metaphor as in 1 Corinthians 12, one body, many members; many gifts, one Spirit.

6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;
7 Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching;
8 Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.

The last verb is in v 5, we are one body in Christ. Here is how it looks in Greek, you can see how terse the language is:

6 Having then various gifts according to the grace which is given to us, whether prophecy, according to the measure of the faith;
7 Whether ministry, in the ministering; whether he who teaches, in the teaching;
8 Whether he who exhorts, in the exhorting; he who gives, in simplicity; he who rules, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

Having then various gifts – this is charismata, same as in Corinthians, grace gifts. Here’s the list

Prophecy
Ministry
Teaching
Exhorting
Giving
Ruling
Showing mercy

Paul likes lists. In 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 he listed 9 gifts, in 12:27 he listed 8, in 12:28 he listed 7. And none of the lists are exact matches! I believe this tells us two things, (1) no list is exhaustive; and (2) there are different kinds of gifts. In 1 Cor 12:8-10 he is speaking of manifestations of the Spirit, which as I said, any Christian can experience any manifestation at any time, all controlled by the Spirit. The gifts mentioned here are ministry gifts, or what I call take home gifts. They are still supernatural grace gifts, but they can be exercised at any time by the person with that gift. He says nothing about how or when we receive them.

Here is a brief description of each gift, with help from John Rea†

Prophecy – “the ability to speak forth under divine prompting something which the Holy Spirit revealed to the one having this gift. According to the measure of the faith, in agreement with the teaching of the Christian faith.”

Ministry – “can refer either to the dispensing of the Word of life or to the administering to the temporal affairs of the local congregation.”

Teaching – “not simply systematic instruction, but a manifestation of the Holy Spirit in the ability to make plain the meaning of the Word of God which He has inspired.”

Exhortation – “the ministry of speaking words of comfort and encouragement. This gift usually accompanies preaching, teaching, and prophesying.”

Giving – The Lord has blessed some in the body with the ability to make money and the generosity to share much of it. “Giving should be done with ‘simplicity’, with no self-seeking or ulterior motive.”

Ruling – “leadership, a gift which implies the ability to rule, manage, or administer. This seems to be the same as ‘governments’ in 1 Corinthians 12.”

Showing mercy – “probably the same as the gift of helps. A person’s special ministry may involve visiting the poor, the sick or the sorrowing; it may be helping behind the scenes.”

“In conclusion, we should note that Paul did not include the gift of tongues in this list in Romans. Since he encouraged the Corinthians to desire to have the gift of prophecy (1 Cor 14:1), and since that gift is listed here, it seems that speaking in tongues is not an essential ministry gift in a local congregation. When accompanied by the gift of interpretation of tongues, however, it may be used to edify others (1 Cor 14:4,5).”

This is an interesting section, there is no verb, so we have to supply the action: “If your gift is prophecy, [then prophesy]” and so on with all the gifts. It seems that his emphasis is, If you have a gift, then exercise it!

If you have a gift. How do I know if I have a gift or which one? I suppose if I am emphasizing anything it is this, Paul nowhere offers a "quiz to discover your gift." He assumes if you have a gift, you will know it. It is the Holy Spirit who distributes the gifts; being born of the Spirit, we need to press in and be baptized with the Spirit. And when I've been filled with the Spirit, I ask Him to bless me with gifts and confirm the gifts he has blessed me with. Amen.

 

† The Holy Spirit In The Bible: All The Major Passages About The Holy Spirit; A Commentary, by John Rea; pages 223-225

Romans 12 Clemency, Charismata, Character I

 Romans 12 Clemency, Charismata, Character

Over two weeks in June I looked at spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12-14 (if you missed it you can find it here). This week I want to go through Romans 12, what I call Clemency, Charismata, Character, also known as Mercy, Gifts, Virtues. I figure this will take three posts.

 

1-2 Clemency or Mercy

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God – These 10 words have an eleven chapter backstory! The first clue is therefore. Whenever you see therefore you want to stop and see what it’s there for. The second clue is the mercies of God. The first 11 chapters of Romans tell us about the mercies of God regarding salvation, sanctification, and God’s plan to include the Gentiles now and save Israel when Messiah returns. Such amazing and abundant mercy should move us, and Paul tells us in what direction we should be moved.

Present your bodies a living sacrifice – This metaphor is drawn from the Old Testament sacrifices. “They are exhorted to give themselves [as a] sacrifice; to be as wholly the Lord's property as the whole burnt-offering was, no part being devoted to any other use.” †

This is an important verse for the Christian life. This is in fact, the second time Paul has urged this upon them, the first being 6:11-13. I have heard people teach that this is something we need to do at the beginning of each day, but that is definitely not what Paul is teaching. This is what we in the Christian & Missionary Alliance call a crisis experience. By crisis is meant a “defining moment”, “turning point”, “boundary marker”, “threshold”, a “distinct event” or “a moment of truth”. It is definite, distinct from
regeneration, often dramatic.” ‡ This is what Paul is urging in this verse. Have you had this crisis experience?

holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service – reasonable service of worship; it is a reasonable response to Christ giving himself for us.

be not conformed to this world – There is intense pressure to be conformed to the world, but we have been called out of the world, and should therefore be

transformed by the renewing of your mind – what I am and do begins with what I think, as my thinking is renewed, I am transformed. This complete surrender of myself to the Lord is one of the steps of renewal. Paul says in Colossians 3:10, we are “renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.” This tells me the how we are renewed - knowledge of Christ and His Word, and the goal - likeness to Christ.

that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God – this tells me two things: (1) I can know the will of God! (2) giving myself wholly to the Lord is a vital step to knowing the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.

present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God

 

Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid?

Your heart does the Spirit control?

You can only be blest,
And have peace and sweet rest,
As you yield Him your body and soul. 

(E.A. Hoffman)

† Adam Clarke, commentary on Romans 12:1

‡ https://awf.world/repository/albert-benjamin-simpson-a-b-and-the-crisis-experience-of-sanctification/

How in the world am I still here?

Our testimony is the story of what the Lord has done for us. It is like a book with many chapters. This week I’ve been sharing the chapter in my testimony about cancer and covid. Today I conclude with, How In The World Am I Still Here?

How did I make it out of this, when it seemed everything was against me? I have been told I was too strong to die. Not so. Covid had me whipped. I was as close to death as you can get without actually dying.

An experience I had, probably early in my stay in the hospital, will reveal how strong I was. I don’t know if this was a dream or a vision, only that it was very real. I was lying on a bed in a dark room. There were nurses and doctors working on me. The bed was slowly moving to the right, toward a wall that was covered with a black curtain. I knew that if the bed passed through the curtain it would be bad. I couldn’t get up, I couldn’t stop the movement of the bed, I was too weak to even pray, and I was getting ever closer to that curtain. I remembered a friend telling me, “If you’re too weak to pray, just call on the Lord.” So I cried out, “Lord Jesus! Lord Jesus! Lord Jesus!” As soon as I finished, it was like brakes had been applied, the bed stopped moving to the right and began to slowly move to the left. I knew that this was because of the prayers of all the people praying for me.

How did I make it? The Lord! I don’t know why I caught Covid, nor why I was raised up when so many other people were not. And I’m not aware of some special mission or assignment I now have, except to declare the works of the LORD. I regularly offer thanks and praise to Him for saving me and speak or write often of His mercy and grace. He is mighty to save!

It was the Lord who raised me up. He used Kettering Hospital to do it. And Mary. She saved my life! She was there every day, advocated continuously for me, and when the social workers listed me as “actively dying” she fought tooth and nail to keep me in the hospital and not shuffled off to some nursing home. I would have wasted away in a long-term care facility. Instead, I remained in the hospital until I came home and walked my way out of the deep, dark woods.

Anne came by every morning as long as she could. She sat with me, sang to me, prayed for me. All my girls came to see me and help their mom, multiple times!

I am so thankful for all the people and churches who prayed for me, for Mary, for the family: Church of the Resurrection in Rock Hill, SC; Bible Covenant Community Church in York, SC; Centerville Community Church in Centerville, OH, and others. I know of one sister who prayed for me day and night. And many others too many to mention, even if I knew all their names. I’m convinced that my being raised up was through your prayers and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ!

 

I cried unto thee, O LORD:
I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living.
Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very low:
deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I.
Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name:
the righteous shall compass me about;
for thou shalt deal bountifully with me. 

Psalm 142:5-7

I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD.

Cancer, Covid, and How in the world am I still here?

 

Covid: What I remember…

As I said earlier, I “slept” most of the time I was in the hospital, so I don’t remember much, but what I do remember is mostly not good. I remember coming down with this. Never felt so sick in my life. This is the “10” of “How do you feel on a scale of 1 to 10?” I remember some of the very first days in the hospital, but not clearly. One thing was clear and strong, I felt an evil presence in the dark corner. I am told Stephen Albright prayed for deliverance for me.

My conscious memories really began On August 25, the day I was transferred via ambulance to Post Acute Medical. As I said before, the room was so hot!

There was this chair they insisted I sit in. I hated it. It would lay flat next to the bed and they would throw me onto it! Then it would fold down into the most uncomfortable chair in the world, which they wanted me to spend hours in.

Physical Therapy began in PAM. They had to teach me how to sit up in bed, then sit on the edge of the bed. First time I sat on the edge of the bed, the therapist said I could slowly lay back down. I flopped back into the bed!

They taught me how to transition from the bed to the walker, with help, of course. Then slowly how to walk again. Progress: I made it to the side of the bed; to the walker; to this line on the floor and back; to the door of my room. What an achievement it was when I made it out of my room, into the hallway, and to the end of the hallway!! Even when I was walking on my own, they always had this big belt they would wrap around me and hold on to while they walked behind me.

I never knew which therapist would show up in PAM, but I got a report that the first guy said he could “break my leg.” That angered me. Next time he came in I told him I didn’t want him working with me. “Why?” “Because you said you could break my leg. I don’t want anybody working on me who’s trying to break my leg!” At first he denied it, but after awhile explained it was a therapy expression. They need new terms for the Covid confused.

I don’t know if I can fully explain how confused I was and how my mind wasn’t working right. In the last unit I had to order all three of tomorrow’s meals today by 10 am. It was so overwhelming I couldn’t do it. Mary had to do it for me. To make matters worse, I don’t eat three meals a day, but I felt obligated to do so in the hospital. It was so freeing when Mary told me I could eat any way I wanted!

The medicine they gave me, Fentanyl & Ativan, compounded my Covid caused muddled mind. Whew! it sent me on many “trips”! Interestingly, in every single one I was bed bound or unable to walk. Here are just a few, marked by +

+ ICU - many strange, troubling “trips”. They were so intense that when we went back to see and thank the staff, I could not enter those doors!

+ A recurring and very distressing trip: I was preparing to go out west to make a movie. I had been out the year before to audition for a different movie. The first visit had resulted in me having iron nodes implanted in my chest. I went to the doctor, but when he saw the nodes, he would not touch me. I also had a really large handle-bar mustache that had branches and debris in the tips. This was so strong I thought I had been having this dream for a year. It was very oppressive. I think this was demonic.

+ I spent a season thinking they were making a movie about a person with covid, and I was the star of this movie! I was even in a western!

+ These “trips” were always disturbing and distressing. I told Mary one night as she was preparing to go home, “You can’t leave me! You don’t know what happens at night!!”

There was one comforting element. Many times as I began to become distressed, a gray-haired nurse would walk into the room and ask, “Jeff, do you know where you are?” I would reply, “No.” She would reassure me, “You are at Kettering Hospital. It’s OK.” I can’t tell you how many “trips” I took and how many times she appeared and rescued me from the confusion and fear, “You are at Kettering Hospital, It’s OK.”

+ The worst was the night I heard a man drowning next to my bed! I couldn’t see him, but I could hear him! I couldn’t help him, so I raised quite a ruckus trying to get someone in my room to help him!! I can still feel the despair. I think I had 4 people show up, trying to calm me down and assure me there was no one there.

One night, it seemed late and the room was dark, a Doctor came in to check on me. He asked if he could pray for me. I said, Yes. He prayed for me in the name of Jesus, asking the Lord to strengthen my legs and raise me up. That was the night I knew I would be going home. He was real, not an angel.

I entered Inpatient Rehab on Saturday Sept 11. Tuesday morning, Sept 14, Unit Director Dr Beer popped in and said that they were having a meeting later that afternoon to decide my release day, but that I was in charge of my care. They were thinking Thursday or Friday. I said, “I want to go home on Wednesday.” Tuesday afternoon the social worker (they were an evil lot) came in and told us I was to be released on Thursday. I said, “Go tell Dr. Beer I have a counter proposal, Wednesday.” She said she would but was sure it wouldn’t be accepted. I told Mary, “If Dr Beer comes in to tell me I’m not going home until Thursday, he better be standing at the door, ‘cause I’m gonna jump out of this bed and attack him!” She replied, Oh, Jeff don’t be like that.”

He kept his word! He even came by and told me he agreed with my decision. I came home on Wednesday, September 15. What a day that was! I came home with a walker. My first walk was to the mailbox and back. By Sunday I was off the walker. Monday I began physical therapy. I continued until I learned how to get up off the floor by myself.

Cancer, Covid, and How in the world am I still here?

 

COVID: an overview

June 4, 2021 we moved to Ohio. Near the end of June the Lord gave me a word one morning, I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD. At first, I thought it was about my prostate cancer, but that lasted about 5 minutes. Then I knew it was not, but I had no idea what it concerned. I sent it to Anne and told her as much.

July 10 (Saturday), at a baseball game in Urbana, OH I started feeling sick. Sunday morning Mary took me to Urgent Care in Waynesville. They told me I had prostatitis. Wednesday morning (14th) I took a shower; as soon as I turned the water off I had no energy and collapsed on the bed. Downhill from there. Mary took me to urgent care on the 15th; the ER on the 17th, where I was diagnosed with Covid, but sent home. Again on the 18th. Once more on the 20th where they finally admitted me. I just kept going downhill. On the 26th of July I was intubated (put on the ventilator) and proned.

You should see the calendar for August!!! I can’t even imagine what it was like for my family. Covid was doing its best to kill me. Doctors and nurses didn’t think I would make it and some even said so. My pulmonologist told me every time he saw me after I “woke up”, “When I first saw you, I didn’t think you would make it.” Most of the month the hole looked too deep to climb out of: I was out of it, on the ventilator, with a feeding tube. You’d have to talk to Mary about August, all I know about it is what’s on the calendar, the record Mary kept, but it didn’t look good.

August 25 I was transferred by ambulance from whatever unit I was in to Post Acute Medical or PAM. My new room hadn’t been used in a while and it was hot! Mary bought a fan, which Drew put together for her. Still have that fan.

End of August they began taking me off the ventilator: 3 hours on the 27th, 6 hours on the 29th. I remember those trials, very difficult and stressful – it was so hard to breathe. The 31st says “off…off…& stayed off!” September 1, “48 hours off!”

I remember September 2 very well, that was the day they removed the ventilator from my room. Yes!! But I still had a trach and was receiving oxygen.

On Friday September 3rd a speaking valve was placed on my trach. My first words in over a month were, “Hello, my name is Inigo Montaya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”

September 6. My trach was capped, but I was still on oxygen. I stood up by myself for the first time since July! Also, in the very early morning of the 6th, while it was yet dark, the Lord put it in my heart to go outside. The nursing staff worked all day on that and in the afternoon they wheeled me outside. Sybil was my respiratory therapist and she told us, “I’m going to make this happen.” Makes me tear up when I think about all she did for me. And I went outside for the first time since July 20. A small request that called for a lot of work on their part. Thank you!

September 7 my feeding tube was disconnected and I ate my first meal in over a month. Made me so sick!

September 9 I was decannulated. What?? “Tracheostomy decannulation is the process of removing the tracheostomy tube and making sure that they are breathing well without it.” I was breathing well enough that they never put it back in. The tracheostomy had some permanent side effects: I can no longer sing worth anything; I lost the upper register of my voice, both high notes and falsetto, so now I have to pitch everything an octave lower than the melody line; most days I can’t yell; I can always feel it.

September 11 I was transferred to Inpatient Rehab. Three plus hours a day of physical therapy. Oh they worked me! I was still weak and confused. Covid did a real number on my brain.

September 15th, my 58th day in the hospital, I was discharged and went home. Praise to the Lord who kept his promise to me!

Cancer, Covid, and How in the world am I still here?

 

CANCER

In Spring of 2020 I went to my doctor with some issues – I was going to the bathroom all the time, and not very successfully; then I had some bleeding. He saw me a couple of times and decided to do a scan. I called before the scan and told him the bleeding had gotten considerably worse, so he referred me to a urologist. In July I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. I had a PSA of 43. An internet search reveals, “In general: For men in their 60s: A PSA score greater than 4.0 ng/ml is considered abnormal.” Yeah, 43 is rather high. I didn’t know that then, but Mary recognized that right away.

The biopsy revealed a Gleason score of 8/10. “Gleason scores are a grading system for prostate cancer. Healthcare providers use Gleason score results to set up treatment plans. Gleason scores range from 6 (low-grade cancer) to 10 (high-grade cancer). Low-grade prostate cancer grows more slowly than high-grade cancer and is less likely to spread.”

My urologist told me my prostate was “very large and asymmetrical”. So, I had it bad: very large prostate, with a severe and aggressive cancer.

I asked the pastor of Church of the Resurrection in Rock Hill, SC to anoint me and pray for me. Later the pastor and another brother came to my house and prayed again.

My prayer was, “Lord, what are you going to do in this? Will you heal me? Will I go through treatment? Will I die from this?” Shortly after that, I woke up in the middle of the night (which in itself was not abnormal in those days) and the Lord gave me this verse, 1 Peter 5:10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you. There it was, It was going to be hard going for a while, but I would get better, which being translated means it wouldn’t kill me.

The treatment: My urologist said it was a testosterone fed cancer, so the goal was two-fold: dry up the testosterone in my system and zap the prostate. I began an 18-24 month Android Deprivation Therapy to remove testosterone and radiation treatments (8 week, 5 days a week, 43 total) to zap the prostate.

Android Deprivation Therapy (ADT). Android comes from the Greek word for man, andros, and Deprivation means, well, you get the picture. It is very effective.

Radiation. They zapped me good, which is a euphemism for they did me in. I would park a mile away and walk to my radiation treatments. Going was difficult because they wanted my bladder full for treatment (I always made it, but just barely!). More often than not I was feeling so bad afterwards that I barely made it back to my Jeep. The week of Thanksgiving I had to go in on a Sunday because they were closed on Thursday and Friday, so I went to treatment and from there to church. I was feeling so bad when I got to church it was visible. That church had communion every Sunday (❤️), for which we went down front and knelt at the kneeling bench. After serving me the Cup, the Deaconess, Jean Roach, made a step toward the next person but came back to me, laid hands on me, and prayed for me. I immediately improved!! I practically skipped back to my seat and sang with gusto the closing song!! Still moves me.

After 6 months of ADT, I did detailed research on it (because it was so bad), specifically the survival rates of those who stopped at 6 months compared to those who got all 24 months. There was only a 3% difference, so my thought was, “There is only this small difference; I have been prayed for and anointed; I’m going to trust the Lord.” So I stopped the ADT. I might add, not a single urologist was happy with this decision.

Oh yeah, I was so happy to ring that bell after my last radiation treatment!!

So, how am I doing now, 4 years later? one year shy of that magical 5 years? I’m still kickin’! I’m still suffering the side effects of ADT and radiation (to varying degrees), and most likely always will; but I am better. And this is probably preferable to having metastasized cancer. An interesting side note: I have been to three other urologists since July 2020. They all say they would have treated me differently than the first doctor and none of the four agreed on how they would’ve treated me! Also, one of them told me that because of the treatment prescribed by the first urologist, if this cancer returns there is really nothing that they can do. In other words, my goose is cooked. (In more ways than one - I’m pretty sure I have already received my lifetime limit of radiation.) So, I choose the “No return” option!