“Pay-What-You-Can Christianity”

Romans 12:9-21

By Dr. Rafi Balabanian

There’s no free lunch. Someone said that, but it’s not true. Well, not quite. Maybe there isn’t a free lunch. It’s just that in some cafés in Salt Lake City and Denver, if you don’t have money to pay for your meal, you can barter or work off your bill. Or you pay what you can. Wealthier diners are encouraged to leave more than necessary to help those who can’t pay as much. You walk into these establishments and you’re not going to see a menu or set prices. You can munch your lunch for what you think is fair. “You price your own meal — what you can afford, or whatever you think is fair,” explains one of the owners.

This concept is catching on. Pay-what-you-can restaurants are popping up in places like Seattle and New York City.

We bring this up because it seems to have relevance for the text before us in Romans 12. Paul does, after all, talk about our “reasonable service.” We hear Paul urging the apostolic community to adopt a “pay-as-you-can” type of ministry in the Christianity Café. No, there’s no free lunch. You don’t feast on the goodness of God for free, you don’t accept blessings from the hand of God for nothing, you don’t sup at the table of goodness, grace and mercy without in some way taking care of the bill.

Here Paul gives us a list of some of the things we can do.

We can pay with “genuine love” (v. 9). We can hate what is evil; we can cling to what is good. We can love one another. We can be zealous; we can show each other honor. We can be ardent. We can offer service. We can rejoice in hope and be

patient in suffering. We can contribute to the needs of the “saints.” We can extend hospitality to strangers.

Those are the menu prices.

Paul has already talked about the “wait staff” in this café. (See verses 3-8.) We’re invited to pick up a towel and an apron and actually get to work “according to the measure of faith that God has assigned” (12:3). We have gifts, he says. We have jobs “that differ according to the grace given to us” (12:6). So we have faith that has been assigned to us; and grace that has been given to us.

Problem: Some of us do nothing because we think God expects us to serve beyond our ability. “Oh, I could never do that …” Well, God isn’t asking us to do what we can’t do. There were others in the Bible who said the same thing, and were astonishingly wrong about their own self-assessment — Moses, Jeremiah, John the Baptist, come to mind.

Problem: Some think that they are not needed because the load is being carried by a community of very capable people. Someone else is doing this, and doing it quite well, and therefore I am not needed. So I not only don’t pay — I don’t leave a tip, either.

Paul’s view of this is that the Spirit has given us tasks, just like parts of the body have jobs to do. You do what you’ve been asked and tasked to do. You teach if you’re a teacher, you minister if you’re a minister, you give if you’re a giver, you lead if you’re a leader, you act cheerfully if you’re a compassionate one (vv. 7-8).

Pay what you can.

• bless those who persecute you. • do not curse those who persecute you. • rejoice with those who rejoice. • weep with those who weep. • live in harmony. • mingle with the less fortunate. • don’t think you’re so smart. • don’t repay evil with evil. • live peaceably with all. • don’t take revenge. • feed your hungry enemies. • give drink to the thirsty enemies. • overcome evil with good.

Would you like to super-size your order?