The book of Romans is a beautiful book because it deals so much with the basic theme of righteousness. As we live in this world, nothing becomes more intriguing than God’s provision of righteousness for us. It is an impartation and an imputing of righteousness to us, until we literally become the righteousness of God. The more we see the sin, the problems, the inadequacy of man, and our lack of capacity to be even what we would see on a human plane, the more beautiful it is to see what God has provided in His righteousness. The book of Romans deals also with very practical problems.
Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cleave to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and curse not. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.
Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord. But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:9–21.
These are the commandments of love that follow in one of the principal chapters in the Bible on Body ministry. Romans 12 tells about the various members and their functions and gives us exhortations about some of the principal ones. Then it goes into this wonderful message on love, telling us how to love one another and how we should react in all circumstances. I like the way the Word of God in the New Testament does not give us a lot of do’s and don’ts—rather it is mainly concerned with telling us what to think, what to feel, how to react, and how to respond in every instance.
In essence, this passage is dealing with the problem of sensitivity in the individual. Sensitivity in the heart is really a great crime against the Body of Christ. Sensitivity is criminal against the Body because we become sensitive to the point where God’s Word does not rule our life; instead, we react to people—what they think, what the say, and what they do toward us.
This extreme sensitivity, when you find that someone can hurt your feelings, could cause you to turn away from the Walk, to turn away from the Lord, or to be wiped out. The source is unbelief. It is the kind of unbelief that does not believe in its place in the Body, that does not take seriously what God says you are and what He commissioned you to do. If you were not so sensitive, you would set your heart upon what God says about you and what He commissions you to do and not react on a human level without love. If unbelief in the word and in the place God has given us is really the basis of our sensitivity, then faith must be the cure for it!
Every one of us has had a problem with sensitivity. We become sensitive if people are not appreciative, if they are rude to us, if they are generally unconcerned, if they look right past us or through us, and if they are not considerate of our feelings. Some are more prone to becoming sensitive than others.
Sensitivity is not just some quirk in your nature. It can be well overcome if you have the faith that you need: faith to believe God, faith to appropriate love for God—after all, it is faith which worketh by love (Galatians 5:6). We can talk about being devoted to one another in brotherly love (Romans 12:10), rejoicing in hope (Romans 5:2), contributing to the needs of the saints (Romans 15:26), and blessing our enemies and never paying back evil to anyone (Romans 12:14, 17). These verses deal with aspects of love. We could call them the various commandments for Body ministry in relation to our love that we show, but the love that is expressed in Romans has faith to drive it beyond any reaction or any sensitivity on the human level. This has to be.
You must have the faith that drives you in love beyond reactions on a human level. You cannot love your enemy because you say, “I have a lot of love in my heart.” When you go to show that love, watch how sensitivity comes into being. Romans 12:10 says, Be devoted to one another in brotherly love… Sensitivity comes up when they don’t respond to your love, and then you have to position yourself very much in faith. Really believe God and stand on the Word that God gives, or the love will fizzle out and fail. The love has to have a driving, aggressive faith behind it or it will remain sensitive.
I rejoice that in the Walk we are coming to the place where we are taking our position in the Body of Christ, and sensitivity is being diminished. We are coming to the injunction: “Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves” (Matthew 10:16). We can see one another’s problems and needs, and it does not defer our love nor our faith for them. In the past, I would see certain problems for which I felt a good swift kick would probably accomplish a lot, but that day is past and my reactions are no longer that way. To the contrary, there is now a love that flows out. When I see a need, I find myself watching and asking God for the wisdom, and biding the time until it is just right to deal with it. It takes much patience and genuine love. We can become so sensitive that we respond too quickly; we become too quick on the trigger, and that is wrong. How can you overcome this great peril of sensitivity? Look to the Lord to give you more faith, faith which will accept what you are and what you are to do. That is the only way.
When the Lord called me to be an Apostle it was very difficult for me to accept or relate to it. I constantly felt out of character with what God wanted me to be. The day I accepted the fact that I was to seek the Lord and I began to earnestly cry out to Him, He really met me. After He met me, I could accept it, and from that time on I found that I did not have any difficulty in filling the position because I accepted it. Once I believed in what God said and what God chose me to be, I could easily walk in it. I did not need a vacation from it. It was not a role I put on when I came to church, but more and more it became something I lived with twenty-four hours a day. I was what God chose me to be. I became that because I accepted it by faith.
Paul … called to be a apostle … Romans 1:1. Paul recognized that when he accepted what God called him to be, he was able to perform it. When you accept the role God has given you, then you accept yourself to be the person He has called you to be and the ministry He has called you to fill. When you accept that, you soon find it is not a ministry you try to fulfill; you are that ministry. You become that ministry totally and completely. Has God called you to be an apostle? The day you accept that, you become an apostle. Has He called you to be a prophet? The day that you break through all restraints and accept yourself as a prophet of God, you become that prophet. This is true of an elder. It is true of any other ministry. That is the day you lose your sensitivity. I know you feel you could just perish when anyone would criticize, but once you accept: “God chose me to be this,” you lose your sensitivity.
At the present time, if you talked to a great number of people, they would have many comments to make on my apostleship. Many would be very derogatory. It doesn’t bother them to write crank letters. Does this bother Me? Not in the least. It doesn’t bother me when anyone says anything derogatory. Bless them, and curse not (Romans 12:14). Why? Because I have accepted it with faith, and I believe that I am what God called me to be. I am not that as fully and completely as I will be, but I never will become all that God wants me to be until I accept it and walk in it.
This gives you a hint of what God wants in your life. You are called to be a member of the Body. You are set in as a member of the Body. After a while you will find all of your reactions are according to that. Your sensitivity changes. When you are driving, if someone honks at you angrily and cuts in, what can you do? Just bless him. Give him a hand where at one time you would have given him a fist. Bless him—bless and curse not.
Has sensitivity kept you from actually being the member in the Body of Christ you should be? You become sensitive and back away from the place you should have. Sensitivity has been one of the greatest enemies of Body ministry. This hits right at the heart of our disobedience and unbelief. It is the sin of ommission. We do not move in as brothers with love because we are sensitive. We call it self-consciousness. We are afraid of making a mistake. We are afraid of being rejected. I believe that is true with most of us. In my lifetime I have missed a lot of wonderful opportunities because I was so sensitive that I thought, “Well if I make this pitch, if I come with the word, they will reject it.” So I didn’t say anything at all.
There is a brother who has written letters to hundreds of preachers in a specific area. He has contacted radio stations, editors, and others, telling them what is going to happen—the wrath of God that is going to fall on them! I admire his courage and faith to take his place and to aggressively speak a word God gives. It is something all of us should envy. I bless that boldness.
There are times God holds us back, then the time comes when He says, “Now is the time, now is the set time to speak that word.” Will we be so sensitive that we will want to minister only where we are accepted? Will we have the boldness to take our place in the Body of Christ, to be the mouthpiece God wants us to be and to speak the word of God when the time comes? We will not if we are defeated in the house of God by sensitivity. We will be defeated out in the world by sensitivity too. If we are so sensitive that we fail to respond in love and aggressive faith to our brothers in the house of God, we will fail outside the house of God too. This is where we bolster up and edify one another.
Pray about this sensitivity. If you have repentance in your heart, God can help you break through.
God, deliver us from sensitivity. We curse the fear of man for it brings a snare upon our hearts. O God, we are set to be the people who will move the world, but how can we move the world if we are not bold enough to bless and come forth in the house of God? Give us the vision, the faith, and the awareness of what You have called us to be, so we will move in and become those instruments of the grace of God. This world will be turned upside down by a remnant because You shall give us faith to move in what You have spoken over us. We repent of our unbelief because we sit and rejoice in a word describing what we are, and then we walk out not believing enough to move in it. We draw the grace of God. This word shall bring us forth, in the name of the Lord. Amen.