I. Introduction

A. Illustration - In his book, Sources of Strength, President Jimmy Carter shared this account: After a personal witnessing experience with Eloy Cruz, an admirable Cuban pastor who had surprising rapport with very poor immigrants from Puerto Rico, I asked him for the secret of his success. He was modest and embarrassed, but he finally said, "Senor Jimmy, we only need to have two loves in our lives. For God, and for the person who happens to be in front of us at any time." That simple yet profound theology has been a great help to me in understanding the Scriptures. In essence, the whole Bible is an explanation of those two loves (as cited on PreachingToday.com). That’s exactly what Paul is talking about in Romans 12:16.

B. Romans 12:16 from the NIV – Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. The New Living puts it, Live in harmony with each other. Don’t try to act important, but enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!

C. Good advice, but what is living in harmony with one another all about?

II. The Same Mind

A. As someone with a music ed degree, I have a pretty good idea of what harmony means when it comes to music. My dictionary defines harmony as “agreement or accord, as of feeling or opinion… A pleasing combination of parts or elements… Combination and progression of chords in musical structure.” All of them are good definitions that fit well with what we’re talking about today, but there’s a bit more. A literal translation of this verse says “The same thing toward one another minding; not the high things minding but to the humble condescending. Become not wise with yourselves.” There are a couple of truths in this translation that will help us blow open the door to understanding this verse. They blew my socks off as I read and studied and meditated on them. Paul wrote about having the same mind, agreeing with one another in what we believe and what we do. In 1 Corinthians 1:10 Paul wrote, I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. Think about this – division in the churches was such a problem that Paul directly addressed in his letters to two churches: Rome and Corinth. And when we remember that he wrote nothing that was not inspired by the Holy Spirit, we can recognize how much importance God places on living in harmony, being of one mind and one heart.

B. This literal translation also reminds us not to be proud so that we only pay attention to those who are of high position in our world. Paul doesn’t say to discriminate against them, but that we should play favorites with them. What really hits us hard is that phrase “but to the humble condescending.” I see lots of Christians inside and outside of our church acting condescendingly toward people they consider lower than themselves, that don’t measure up to whatever standards have been made up in their minds. It happens all the time. Lots of times hurtful things are said, and even when they aren’t, looks and gestures of superiority abound. Folks, we’re all guilty of it, so we’d better own up to it and knock it off. But doesn’t the literal translation say to be condescending? Yes, but not in the way we think it means. Marvin Vincent, in Word Studies in the New Testament, writes about this verb: “The verb literally means being carried off along with; hence yielding or submitting to, and so condescending…. According to the original sense, the meaning will be, being led away with lowly… people; i.e., being drawn into sympathy with them.” Isn’t that powerful? It ties this passage directly in with Philippians 2:3-11, which we looked at last week. It means that, if we’re going to live in harmony with one another, we’ve got to submit to one another in humility with one heart and mind.

C. There’s another little part of this translation that speaks powerfully to where we’re at. “Become not wise with yourselves.” Vincent indicates a meaning from the Greek of “don’t be incredible in your own opinion.” Ouch! All of us have areas of our lives where we think we’re pretty good, where we think ours doesn’t stink. The areas where we struggle with pride are those areas where we think we’re pretty incredible in our own opinions. For some of us, it’s vanity about our looks. For others, it’s vanity about our stuff. For others, vanity about what we know. Proverbs 16:18 says Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. If that’s the case, and it is, and God wants us to move past our pride and learn to live in harmony with one another, and He does, then what are we supposed to do about it?

D. First, learn to discern what is important and what is not. Living in harmony means agreeing on the important and not allowing the unimportant to cause division in our hearts or with others. What are some things that are important? Salvation by faith, grace, holiness, prayer, discipleship, reaching the lost, the inerrancy of Scripture – lots of truths in the Bible that are essential to our faith in Jesus Christ. What are some things that are not important? Personal preferences, opinions, styles, methodologies – these and more are not essential to our faith in Jesus Christ. We get too hung up on how things are done rather than focusing on what needs to be done and what the best way is to do it. That which is essential and important is non-negotiable; that which is unessential and unimportant is open to negotiation. Let’s be sure we discern and agree on what is important and cut each other some slack on what is not.

E. Second, examine your own heart to see if you favor some over others because of their standing or position. All of us are naturally going to have those who we’re closer to than others because all of us are wired differently and have different needs in our close friends. But that’s a lot different than favoring someone because of their standing or position inside or outside the church. James 2:1-7 addresses this issue: My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those among you who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? 6 But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong? James cuts to the chase, doesn’t he? He’s not saying that being rich is intrinsically evil – he is saying that riches tempt us to exploit others. Riches tempt us to play up to those who have them. The early church struggles with this, and so does the church today. If we take the time regularly to examine our own hearts and see if we’re favoring some or discriminating against others because of their standing or position, we’ll go a long way toward living in harmony with one another.

F. Third, learn to live in submission to your spiritual leaders. Hebrews 13:17 says, Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you. When I speak of submission, I don’t mean groveling or subjugating yourself to demeaning demands. What I’m saying is this: Those who are in authority over you, and especially your spiritual leaders, will have to stand before God and give an accounting for their leadership. Implied in this is that those who are supposed to be in submission will stand and give an account for how they’ve submitted to their leaders. God will judge us all and reward us for our obedience and take away rewards for our disobedience. On the plus side, as we submit to our spiritual leaders and follow them in becoming the people God has called us to be, we’ll become one in heart and mind and live in harmony. I personally like the music analogy. Think about the beautiful music we’ll make together in becoming more Christlike and in bringing lots of people to know and love Jesus. Harmony is an awesome thing!

G. Fourth, learn to become the servant of others. That’s hard for us, because our culture teaches us to be no one’s servant. Matthew 20 has a fascinating contrast between our world’s values and God’s values. 20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him. 21 “What is it you want?” he asked. She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.” 22 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” “We can,” they answered. 23 Jesus said to them,” You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.” 24 When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. 25 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave – 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and give his life as a ransom for many.” I personally don’t care for that passage a lot, because it hits a little too close to home. Prestige and recognition tempt me, as they tempt all of us, but God keeps reminding me that I am a servant, so that is what I strive to be. We are all servants, and when we remember this truth and act on it, we’ll be living in harmony because nobody will be striving to be first or to have their own way.

H. Fifth, remember to love one another sacrificially, devotedly love one another as family, and honor one another above ourselves. We can’t live in harmony unless we do. We’ve been talking about these things the past few weeks, and all of them build toward living in harmony with one another. A big part of this is learning to live in humility. Remember that literal translation: don’t be incredible in your own thoughts. Pride brought Satan down from his lofty position as head of all the angels. Pride brought King Uzziah down as God had to strike him with leprosy for trying to do the job of the priests. Pride brought down King Zedekiah and led to the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of the people of Judah. In more modern times, pride brought down General Custer. Pride brought down Hitler. Pride brought down Richard Nixon. Pride brought down Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, Martha Stewart, Bernie Ebbers – the list could go on. But there is good news. No, I didn’t save a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to Geico! 1 Peter 5:5-6 – All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” (Prov. 3:34) 6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. That’s good news for all of us. If we all wrap ourselves up totally in humility toward one another and toward God, He will lift us up. He’ll be on our side and take care of us. We’ll follow the command to live in harmony with one another.

I. Illustration – When I was meditating on this passage, my thoughts went back to my music teaching and even my college days. I learned a lot about harmony that I still use from time to time. But one lesson I learned in instrumental conducting class stands out to me on this topic of living in harmony with one another. One of the pieces we had to learn to conduct and were tested on was Anton Dvorak’s New World Symphony. The pages of music in your bulletin are the first four of the conductor’s score of the first movement of this symphony. Take them out and look at them. The chicken scratches and marks on them are ones I made to remind myself of cues, dynamics and tempo changes, and were all necessary to direct it properly. But look at all the notes. Even if you don’t know a thing about music it’s obvious that they’re all spread out. Everybody is not doing the same thing at the same time. It would be easy to conclude that it’d just make a jumble of sounds and that everybody is doing his own thing in his own way. But that’s not true. Every part fits together into the whole to make a beautiful symphony that many consider to be one of the greatest ever. Our church body is like that. Sometimes it seems like we’re just all off doing our own thing, but when we’re following our conductor, God, we live in harmony with one another and we make beautiful music together as the Body of Christ. We all need each other, and we can together become a great collection of parts that create a beautiful whole. Look at the music, even if you don’t know anything about it, and listen to the first part of this symphony. PLAY CD TRACK 1.

J. Folks, that’s what living in harmony is all about. It’s what God is calling and equipping us to do.

III. Conclusion

A. Please bow your heads and close your eyes out of respect for one another’s privacy. What’s God been speaking to your heart about living in harmony with one another? Let’s just take a few moments to listen to His voice whisper to our hearts, and then respond to Him in prayer. Surrender to His call to live in harmony with one another, and your life will never be the same.

B. Let’s pray.