Church in the Park
April 12, 2026
Noble virtues & the cost of discipleship.
INTRO: When people (including Christians) think about Christians, it’s easy to think about “the things Christians do,” and “the things Christians don’t do.”
This is perfectly understandable. After all, there are things that Christians should do, and things that we shouldn’t! In fact, there are several lists in the New Testament of things that Christians are to do, and not to do. We find one of these lists of good things to do in Romans 12:3-13:1 This passage gives us a whole list of good things to do!
If you are using the notes on the Church website, (havasuchristian.org) it’s printed there for you. But I’m just going to summarize and paraphrase the list….
- Don’t think that you are “all that!”
- Use good judgement.
- Be a functioning part of the Church body. Use the gifts God gives you.
- Really Love, don’t be a fake.
- Hate evil, love good.
- Be devoted to each other as family.
- Treat each other with honor.
- Be diligent serving the Lord.
- Rejoice in the hope God gives us!
- Hanging in there during the tough times.
- Help other people!
- Be hospitable.
- Be happy with people when they are happy.
- Cry with people who are crying.
- Don’t be “stuck up.” (Haughty)
- Hang out with people who aren’t important.
- Don’t think you’re the smartest guy in the room.
- Don’t be mean when someone is mean to you.
- Respect what’s right!
- Be at peace with everyone who allows you to be at peace with them.
- Don’t take revenge.
- Feed a hungry enemy, and give him water if he needs something to drink.
- Don’t let evil win. Beat evil by doing good.
- Be a good citizen.
- Being a Christian DOES lead to living a life of noble virtues.
- There are plenty of other “lists” like this in the bible about how a Christian should live.
- Ephesians 4:17-32, I Thessalonians 5:12-48, and others.
- People who love Jesus have done and continue to do MANY good things in the name of Jesus!!!
- Have you ever seen an “Atheist General Hospital?”
- There are certainly hospitals that are not run by Christian organizations, but many of them are “for profit” hospitals.
- Or how about “Pagan Children’s Home?”
- I’ve never seen “Biker Buddies Rehab clinic” either.
- There ARE charities outside of a Christian context, (Lions club, Rotary, Kiwanis, etc.) but they are far outnumbered by “Christian charities.”
- In my admittedly limited experience, many of the Charities done outside of a “Christian context” are often “short term projects.” (A biker run to collect toys.) or it’s a passion someone wants to pursue. (Introducing disabled children to riding horses.)
- This is not meant to belittle these groups and charities, but the ones who are “grinding away to get it done” are usually Christian Charities.
- Such work not done by Christians is usually done by the Government, using tax dollars.
- They are not typically done through the donations of people who don’t follow Jesus.
Religious Faith and Charitable Giving By: Arthur C. Brooks hoover.org/research
The study I am quoting is in my notes, which are on our website havasuchristian.org. feel free to pull them up.
Here’s the summary. Nearly 30,000 people were questioned. 50 different communities in the USA. The survey asked about giving and volunteering in the past year.
“Religious” meant people who attended religious services at least once a week. This was 33% of the sample.
“Secular” means attending religious services just a few times a year or saying explicitly that they “have no religion.” This was 26% of the sample.
This leaves 41% who “practice” their religion occasionally.
Respondents were asked whether and how much they gave and volunteered to “religious causes” or “non-religious charities” over the previous 12 months. Across the whole population, 81 percent gave, while 57 percent volunteered.
Religious people are 25 percentage points more likely than secularists to donate money (91 percent to 66 percent) and 23 points more likely to volunteer time (67 percent to 44 percent).
Among those who attend worship services regularly, 92 percent of Protestants give charitably, compared with 91 percent of Catholics, 91 percent of Jews, and 89 percent from other religions.
Education between the “Religious” and “Non Religious” were virtually identical, as were incomes.
So, on average, people who take their faith seriously, GIVE! Time, and money!
- But is that all there is too it?
- Are we just supposed to “follow the rules” and that’s all there is?
- Are we to be “nice people” doing “nice things?” Or, is there more?
- There IS more to it than that! WHY Do Christians do what they do?
Romans 12:1-2 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
- A Christian is a “LIVING SACRIFICE!”
- Animals that were sacrificed, died!
- When Jesus offered Himself as a sacrifice, He DIED!
- So what’s this “Living Sacrifice” thing all about?
- We “present our bodies.
- What I do with my body isn’t up to me anymore.
- It’s up to JESUS to decide for me what I should be doing!
Jesus doesn’t TAKE control, we GIVE control.
- My will no longer runs my life. His does. It’s all about HIM!
- I am to live to serve Jesus!
- How do I do this?
- Do not be conformed (molded) to this world.
* Silver Dollar City glass blowers: Press molten glass into a mold, even after they blow the glass out, it still retains the pattern pressed into it.
- Our world hasn’t changed much. Fall in line with whatever happens to be “proper” at the moment, or we will do whatever we can to MAKE you take on the form we want!
- Back then, numerous pagan gods, emperor worship, evil lifestyles.
- Today, same evil lifestyles, they don’t hide behind “gods” anymore.
- As it was then, we are expected to not only tolerate, but encourage and participate.
- If you don’t encourage and participate, shame, ridicule, even force may be used.
- We are to be transformed!
- Different (Metamorphoo) Caterpillar to butterfly, tadpole to frog, a larva becomes a ladybug. Another larva becomes a fly. A larva hatches underwater, and becomes a mosquito.
- All of these occur naturally. A tadpole naturally becomes a frog.
- Once we give our lives to Jesus, the Metamorphous begins.
- Our lives change, because our hearts have changed!
- Our minds are renewed… changed back to how God made them before sin’s corruption wrecked things.
- We start thinking in a Godly way, and our actions naturally follow!
- The change in our actions comes AFTER the change in our hearts!
- This change LEADS us to live in a way that is
- Good: Doing the Good things God has given us to do.
- Acceptable: Doing what is PLEASING to God.
- Perfect: Growing in Maturity… A “perfect” tree will have had branches broken off, irregularly shaped rings, from easy years and hard ones. But it is WHAT A TREE IS SUPPOSED TO BE!
What do I take home with me today?
- I’m not a Christian because I do the “right” things. I do the right things because I’m a Christian.
- You don’t need to get your life in order before coming to Jesus! In fact, you really can’t be pleasing to God without coming to Jesus for forgiveness.
- God is perfect! Even if you do everything right from this day forward, that doesn’t get rid of the past! Jesus does that for you!
- It’s not all about you, it’s all about HIM!
- When I give my life to Jesus, I’ll have the help of the Holy Spirit living in me to help me live a “good, acceptable, growing to maturity in my Christian life.
- I’m not left drifting alone.
- I also have the help of Brothers & Sisters in Jesus who’ve most likely been through what I’m going through.
- If I’m a Christian, but I’m not changing, I need to ask myself “WHY?”
- Have I reached perfection?
- Have I “settled?”
- Unlike a butterfly, or a frog, our metamorphous is never completed.
If this path of metamorphous is what you want, there’s no better day than today to begin!
Romans 12:3–13:1 (NASB95) For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.
4 For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function,
5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
6 Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith;
7 if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching;
8 or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.
10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor;
11 not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;
12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer,
13 contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.
16 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.
17 Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men.
18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.
19 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.
20 “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 ON HIS HEAD.”
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Chapter 13:1 Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.
Religious Faith and Charitable Giving By: Arthur C. Brooks hoover.org/research
How do religious and secular people vary in their charitable behavior? To answer this, I turn to data collected expressly to explore patterns in American civic life. The Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey (sccbs) was undertaken in 2000 by researchers at universities throughout the United States and the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research. The data consist of nearly 30,000 observations drawn from 50 communities across the United States and ask individuals about their “civic behavior,” including their giving and volunteering during the year preceding the survey.
From these data, I have constructed two measures of religious participation. First, the group I refer to as “religious” are the respondents that report attending religious services every week or more often. This is 33 percent of the sample. Second, the group I call “secular” report attending religious services less than a few times per year or explicitly say they have no religion. These people are 26 percent of the sample (implying that those who practice their religion occasionally make up 41 percent of the sample). The sccbs asked respondents whether and how much they gave and volunteered to “religious causes” or “non-religious charities” over the previous 12 months. Across the whole population, 81 percent gave, while 57 percent volunteered.
The differences in charity between secular and religious people are dramatic. Religious people are 25 percentage points more likely than secularists to donate money (91 percent to 66 percent) and 23 points more likely to volunteer time (67 percent to 44 percent). And, consistent with the findings of other writers, these data show that practicing a religion is more important than the actual religion itself in predicting charitable behavior. For example, among those who attend worship services regularly, 92 percent of Protestants give charitably, compared with 91 percent of Catholics, 91 percent of Jews, and 89 percent from other religions.
Socioeconomically, the religious and secular groups are similar in some ways and different in others. For example, there is little difference between the groups in income (both have average household incomes around $49,000) or education level (20 percent of each group holds a college degree). On the other hand, the secular group is disproportionately male (49 percent to 32 percent), unmarried (58 percent to 40 percent), and young (42 to 49 years old, on average). In addition, the sccbs data show that religion and secularism break down on ideological lines: Religious people are 38 percentage points more likely to say they are conservative than to say they are liberal (57 percent to 19 percent). In contrast, secular people are 13 points more likely to say they are liberal than to say they are conservative (42 percent to 29 percent).
Arthur C. Brooks
Arthur C. Brooks is associate professor of public administration at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University.
