A Special Love Within the Church

Lord’s Supper/Read

Romans 12:9–10 (ESV)

9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

Opening Prayer

Setting the Stage

This morning I want us to look at this passage in which the Apostle Paul gives us a picture of how the local church should express it’s salvation towards one another.

I think it is a healthy practice to remind ourselves of what a church should look like as each member expresses the fruit of their salvation to one another.

Our response to our salvation is not only to be aimed towards God…

By loving the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength…

But it is to also be aimed at our neighbor…

By loving others as our self…

That love being especially aimed at those within the household of faith.

I also, believe that it is a good reminder because it is so easy to forget, avoid or even ignore the commands of Christ as it pertains to our individual responsibility towards the church.

Beginning in v.1 of Romans 12, Paul gives details on the individual gifting of Christ upon the church for the health and benefit of the church.

Every Christian has been gifted with at least one spiritual gift.

If you’re a Christian, you’ve been gifted with a gift that is given and purposed to be a blessing to the church.

So, we are to use that gift(s) to the glory of God and the benefit of one another within the local body of Christ.

Paul tells us in…

Romans 12:5 (ESV)

5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

By the power of the HS, we have been knit together because of the work of Christ…

And, that connection is for our benefit.

‌As blood bought Christians, we are not free to say...

I will live my life for my self.

Our life has been redeemed to be spent for the glory of God…

And, the good of His people…

We are not our own.

We are Christ’s and we are purposed to live for Him…

And, follow His commands for us…

And, now after explaining that we have all been individually gifted for the mutual benefit and edification of one another…

Paul moves on to tell us what each and every Christian has been gifted to do…

And, how our salvation should be expressed towards one another…

This is God’s will for the church’s behavior…

And, we have been empowered by the HS to conduct ourselves in such a way…

Not perfectly…

But purposely, with quickness to repent, forgive, & reconcile…

Remember the Covenant You Are in With Christ

We need to always remember that we are in the New Covenant with Christ.

We’ve been delivered from the “Obey & Live — Disobey & Die” mandates of the old Covenant of Works.

The Blessings and Curses of that old covenant have been remedied for us by Christ.

The curses have been paid for, removed from our debt.

We have the blessings in full in Jesus and because of Jesus.

So, and we need to remember…

And, I will do my best to keep reminding us…

That we pursue obedience to God, not out of fear…nor to gain God’s blessing…

But, because of the joy, and the blessings of the salvation…

And the covenant blessings we already have because of Jesus…

I know that some people like, even feel the need to obey out of fear…

But, obedience out of fear is not obedience out of love.

It’s obedience motivated by a fear of consequences…

Rather than obedience out of a heart that delights in the One who commands us…

So, when we read commands in the NT they are not to cause you to fear…

We’ve not been given a spirit of fear…

But, we obey out of a delight for our fixed, permanent standing with God…

That we have obtained exclusively by/through the merit of JC.

We read the commands and should say to our self…

This must be the absolute best thing for me, the people of God, the glory of God…

And, even a benefit for the enemies of the gospel, albeit temporary benefit if they do not heed the gospel.

So, what we read in these commands, we read as the people of God hearing the will of God for His redeemed people…

Who are safe and secure in Christ.

Paul starts with this statement…

Romans 12:9 (ESV)

9 Let love be genuine.

Simple but Profound

love = agape

This is a rare word used for love outside of the Bible.

Early Christians very possibly took up this otherwise rare word to express the distinctive nature of the love they had come to experience as the recipients of God’s grace.

And the quality of love they were to show to one another.

The same love that we have received from God…

We are to imitate in our love for one another.

As, each one of us purchased by God by the blood of Christ…

Are indwelt by God and are living temples of God…

When we love one another we are loving as an expression of our love towards God.

This is an important truth.

As Christians, we cannot separate our attitude and behavior towards one another from our attitude and behavior towards God.

Our attitude towards each other is a marker of our attitude towards God…

As, we are either obeying or disobeying God…

And, one or the other informs us of what or who is seated on the throne of our hearts.

Paul goes on to define what this kind of love is by saying…

Let Love Be Genuine

genuine = without hypocrisy

This tells us that this agape love is always concerned with the good of the one receiving such love.

It’s not a false love that is merely looking out for what one can get in return.

That’s not genuine love of the other person.

That’s a genuine self-absorption and deeds only done for the eventual benefit of self over others.

It’s a deed done at little expense done for the benefit received later that is expected to come back with interest.

Jesus gives us a wonderful illustration of this sort of self-absorption…

And, genuine love in contrast.

Luke 14:12–14 (ESV)

12 He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

It was then, and is still today, a popular tactic to be cunning, scheming, and self-absorbed in inviting people to a dinner or banquet.

Thought is put into the economic, social, and political or religious status of those one invites.

The reason being is we are more concerned with how the guest list will make us look in society…

How the guest list can impact us economically with business investments, and job opportunities…

How the guest list will impact our how we may be esteemed in our religion.

Our natural tendency is not about how we may bless the ones we invite…

But, how those who have been invited will bless us in return.

Jesus says that is not love, but self-absorption.

If you really are interested in loving people without an eye on the return on investment…

Invite those who have not, and cannot reciprocate.

And then, Jesus concludes with this fascinating statement…

Luke 14:14 (ESV)

14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

IOW, keep your heart and affections on the reward you already have and will enjoy forever.

Your eternal salvation.

There’s nothing that can be of more value, nor can endure longer, nor can benefit you greater.

You have all you need in Jesus.

agape love is not a pretend love.

God tells us it is genuine.

Another characteristic of agape love is shown in Paul’s next phrase…

Abhor what is evil

A characteristic of agape love is that it abhors what is evil.

abhor = strong dislike, repulsion

You ever held two magnets and tried to force the same poles together.

One of the magnets has to flip to the opposite side foe the magnets to come together.

Otherwise they resist and will actually move away from each other.

That is called magnetic repulsion.

There is such a resistance between the two that they will not cling or touch one another.

agape love is by its very nature repulsed by what is evil.

It cannot and will not yield to it.

It will not join itself to what is evil.

So, our love for one another in the body of Christ…

As is the context here in Romans 12.

Is that our love for one anther should always be with the good of others in mind.

So, let’s think about this practically:

what we say about others…

What we do to others…

How we pray for each other…

Whether we pray for each other…

How we respond to one another…

How we support one another…

How we feel about one another…

All of our words and behavior towards and for one another is to be bathed in this…

agape love

Evil should be abhorred.

Not only evil speech and deeds done by others…

But, especially, done by us or felt within our own hearts and minds.

And, what is evil those things and all things that God declares as morally corrupt.

And, rather than cling to evil we are to…

Hold fast to what is good

hold fast = cling to, stick to, hold tightly

This would be the opposite of repulsion.

This would be like the attracted sides of the magnet.

In this scenario you have the magnets actually moving towards one another without any outside force.

It is a natural attraction.

As Christians, although we are still battling the flesh…

There is also within us a new heart, new affections, a new creation…

—> That is now attracted to what is good.

Those things that God calls good…

Like the behaviors and attitudes described in this passage…

Are the characteristics we should cling to…

The characteristics we should seek to strengthen…

Through prayer and dependence upon the HS, and joy in our Savior…

Clinging to what is good is what naturally occurs with the type of love that is agape.

And within the church this agape love, clinging to what is good is expressed by…

Loving One Another with Brotherly Affection

Here love = phila & storgoi

Meaning a family love.

The church is a family.

There’s only one kind of covenant family in the NT and that is the Church.

The love that we are supposed to have, commanded to have, and empowered to have…

—> Is a love that a family has for one another.

The kind of love that spends time with one another.

The kind of love that pursues one another.

The kind of love that is interested in one another, especially one’s well-being.

The kind of love that cares deeply for the other members.

Brotherly affection is one word…

philadelphia = brotherly/sisterly love.

Paul is stating that we should have tender family affection for one another in brotherly and sisterly love.

And, a clarifying thought that is absent many time within a natural family…

Paul states a truth that the natural family should display…

—> But, because of sin does not.

However, the spiritual family, by the power of the HS should…

Outdo One Another in Showing Honor

outdo = to delight in having others honored above yourself.

Easier said than done.

What keeps us from doing this is the old flesh within us.

The old Pharisee that still tempts us to find our righteousness in self.

And, if we’re finding our righteousness in our self…

Then everything is a competition for self-glory.

You ever notice that within a family, quite often siblings will avoid the things their other siblings excel at…

Especially, if the other sibling seems at first attempts to be better by a long shot.

A reason that contributes to that is we want glory…

So, if we cannot find glory in a certain area we go looking for areas in which we feel glorified.

This is not to be in the household of God.

We have died to the fleshly desire for self-glory.

Everything we do should be to glorify God and benefit others.

Especially our brothers and sisters in the Lord.

And, we have died to the need and desire to find righteousness in self.

We acknowledge our bankruptcy of righteousness.

We confess loudly that our value, our righteousness, our worth is fully and exclusively found in Jesus.

So, we honor our Lord by honoring others over our self.

And, this is not some fake honoring…

In which we pretend others are more gifted when they’re not…

This is a searching our and knowing what brothers and sisters are gifted at…

And, celebrating their giftedness by honoring them…

Encouraging them.

Thanking them.

And, ultimately thanking the Lord.

Let’s think about this…

This is the kind of love…agape

And the expressions…of agape love

Brotherly love and affection towards one anther in the church…

That we should be pursuing, exhibiting, and strengthening within our hearts and minds…

So, they work themselves out in the household of God.

Oh, that we would be this kind of church…

For the glory of God and the good of our covenant family…

And, while we pursue such love…

We rest in the perfect love of our elder brother, Jesus Christ…

Who did love perfectly, on our behalf.

And, we stand redeemed in Him.

Closing Prayer/Lord’s Supper