Honoring Others Above Yourself

In Romans 12:9-21 there are 29 seperate commands for Christians to live by! Just in 12:9-13 there are 13 separate commands! Each one worthy of an individual sermon! Because we do not want to spend the next eight months on these verses, we will group them by paragraph and study them in their themes. Today’s theme is about our relationships with others. This fits with the what we have previously studied regarding spiritual gifts and the body of Christ. These 29 injunctions primarily deal with our relationships with one another. There are many “one another” exhortations in Paul’s writings. Three of them are found in these verses.

This past Wednesday, for only the sixth time since the terrorist attack on September 11.
The CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL of HONOR was awarded for a soldier who died in Afghanistan. His name was Sgt. Jared Monti. He died trying to rescue another soldier.
Under terrible fire, Sgt. Monti left his secure position to reach 22 year old Pvt Brian Bradbury. He couldn’t reach him and returned to the safety of his position. After catching his breath he tied a second time, under even more intense fire. Still, he couldn’t reach the wounded soldier. Undeterred, Monti tried again a third time. He was mortally wounded. Sgt. Jared Monti died trying to help a wounded soldier. He valued the life of his fellow soldier above his own.

This kind of selfless sacrifice provides a powerful example of the kind of love Christians ought to have for one another.