Genuine Love
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Sermon Title: Genuine Love Part 1
Scripture: Romans 12:9-12
Occasion: The Lord’s Day
Date: May 12, 2023
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Scripture Transitions Sermon Title|Quotes |Emphasis
PRAY
Ephesians 1:2 “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
(Short Welcome)
Turn your bible to Mark 12:28-31
And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”
Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Many of us have heard Mark 12 and asked ourselves, “How do I live these verses out.”
“How do I love the Lord my God with all my being, and How do I love my neighbor as myself?”
Well, today, the apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit answers these questions.
At the heart of our questions and Jesus’ response to the scribes, is love.
Jesus get’s the heart of the commandments in his answer to this scribe and He says: God is love, therefore the greatest commandment is to love God and love neighbor.
In a world that has trampled upon God’s love, today my dear friends, we get real news- today we will learn about “Genuine Love.” Which is the title of my sermon.
Transition:
I kept going back and forth about the title because this whole section is about gospel transformation.
As Zach preached last week, this section is about transformed worship, and transformed thinking, and a transformed Church, and now a transformed love. (That is what I was considering for the title)
God at conversion removes our hearts of stone and gives us hearts of flesh. He gives us a new heart that has new loves- God and People.
The God who is love gives us His love.
The group of people that Paul is addressing in this section of Romans is those of us who have been transformed and are being transformed by the mercies of God in Christ Jesus and His glorious gospel.
This section is not about moralism. This is not about being a good person. No one is justified by works of the law.
We are justified by faith. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
This section is for those who have repented of their sin, and embraced Christ as their savior and treasure.
Is that you today, friend?
If not you can make that decision to follow Christ today, and begin to not only heed the words of this section, but be transformed by the mercies of God in these scriptures!
Transition:
There are 18 commandments in this section that are laid out in 11 units.
7 of the units are found in verses 10-16.
Then there is a separate 4 units in verses 17-21.
Before we proceed to the first 7 units we must start with identifying the theme of this entire section.
So the question for us is: What is the over arching theme of verses 10-21? Genuine love!
Paul begins this section with these words…
Romans 12:9 (ESV)
Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.
Another translation renders this verse this way..
“Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good.” -Romans 12:9 NLT
This word genuine here means “without hypocrisy.”
In other words, when the love of God has been given to you in the second birth, it is a sincere love that doesn't pretend, it is not hypocritical- rather it is authentic, sincere, and active!
Love is verb!
Christians don’t sit around talking about the love of God, we seek to actively love God and others.
Jesus didn’t say “that the world will know you are my disciples by how much you know and talk about my love.”
What he did say is..
John 13:35 (ESV)
By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
People have a hard time with christianity because of the hypocrisy of our love.
Often times our love is not genuine.
We pretend to love God and others, and people can tell that it is not authentic. Our kids can tell that our love is not real. Our co-workers know that we have fraudulent love.
Paul says to us today, May the love of God, beloved, cause you to really love God and others today.
For your sake and for the sake of the gospel.
Transition:
Most of us can get behind the exhortation of examining the way we love God and others. I’m assuming Paul knew this too.
So He continues the sentence by adding a more concrete definition of genuine love.
He says “love looks like this”…
Romans 12:9 (ESV)
Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.
This is the summary of the christian life.
This is the whole basis of the whole law in one verse.
Don’t miss what Paul is saying here:
Genuine love, HATES!
Now that might ruffle some feathers today, but again I’m not giving you some watered down version of the bible and of love this morning. This is biblical love.
Genuine biblical love hates.
What does it hate?
Genuine christian love HATES evil!
Evil here is not abstract.
Evil is an active opposition to what God deems is good.
We have to understand something about evil this morning:
Evil is not just the absence of good, it hates the good and it’s militant against it!
So paul strongly says here to us, that genuine christian love positively and actively hates evil.
And here is the difference between what Paul is saying here and what some might be hearing Paul saying.
Some might be hearing this morning that we must not do things that are wrong and evil.
Please don’t miss this point:
We must not only refrain from doing things that are wrong and evil, we must hate what is wrong and evil!
Psalm 97:10 (ESV)
O you who love the Lord, hate evil!
Those of us who have been transformed by the gospel, not only hate evil but we hold fast to what is good.
Hold fast here means to be attached to something like glue!
We must be fastened and welded to what God deems in His Word is good, pure, righteous, just, and true.
Paul says in Romans 7:12
So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
Jesus said it this way in John 14:21
John 14:21 (ESV)
Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.
You see, Genuine love doesn't say “amen” to what is good on Sunday, then it is attached at the hip to what is evil on Monday.
Genuine christian love not only refrains from supporting evil, but it hates it. And christian love does stop at hating evil, it actively seeks to cling, support, and do what is good.
The love of God always show’s itself in conduct and in action.
Paul in his hymn of love in 1 Corinthians 13:6 summarizes Romans 12:9 this way,
1 Corinthians 13:6 (ESV)
[Love] does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
QUESTIONS:
So where are you with this my dear christian brother or sister?
Have you created your own version of love or have you submitted and embraced to God’s definition love?
Is your love Genuine christian love based on the Scriptures or is it a counter-fit love based on culture or based on how you were taught growing up?
Let love be genuine this morning!
Let us align ourselves with God’s word on this and find freedom, joy, and growth in christ-likeness!
Transition:
So now Paul takes “Hating evil and holding fast to what is good” and uses these contrasts as divisions to parse out the next 16 verses to flesh out genuine love.
Paul begins by fleshing out the actions of a believer with genuine love in verses 10-11.
He says genuine love…
Romans 12:10 (ESV)
Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
One commentator on this verse put this verse this way,
“Love the brethren in the faith. That is brotherly love as though they were brethren in blood.”
Verses 11-13 focus in on genuine love within the household of faith.
What Paul is saying here is that Genuine love first starts with the body of Christ.
If you can’t love the body of Christ without hypocrisy, you will never love those outside the faith with genuine love.
The Church is the training ground for love without hypocrisy.
When you get saved, God gives you a special love for the family of God.
As the commentator said, we love the body of Christ as christians as though they are brothers and sisters in blood.
This word “brotherly” comes from the greek word Philadelphia, which connotes the love parents have for their children or sibling love.
Christians, we are not called to like our brothers in Christ, we are commanded here by God to love them.
Brotherly affection communicates more than just a feeling but a love and an affection that seeks to truly understand other family members in Christ.
There is a deep interconnectedness within the body of Christ.
Paul describes it this way in 1 Corinthians 12:26
If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
When a family member is hurt, it hurts the whole family.
Short illustration of my brother Steve in prison.
Is that how your relationship to the body is?
We are brethren in blood!
The blood of Christ is our common bond. We are connected in a real and living way through Christ.
In the greek the word “affection” communicates “being devoted to one another.”
This is not just a “hi I will see you next Sunday.” But a devotion to know each other and invest in one another during the week. To serve one another. To work out all family issues together.
Martyn Lloyd Jones said this,
“Proof that you are a christian is the extent to which you seek to love, serve, forgive, and understand another brethren in Christ.” -Martyn Lloyd Jones.
Transition:
Then Paul goes on to say,
Romans 12:10 (ESV)
Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
The KJV translates is this way,
“in honour preferring one another”
Honoring here is referred to the price that was fixed for an object after you had gone to the trouble of having it evaluated.
Illustration:
A few years ago me and my wife went to get her wedding and engagement ring, which was her grandmothers, evaluated. And it came back with far more value that I anticipated. We wanted to get insurance on it but we did not because we refused to send it in after the evaluation.
So what Paul is communicating here with the idea of showing honor is that we must have a proper and godly evaluation of others and their gifts.
And to have a right evaluation of others, well of course, you must have right evaluation of yourself.
This is exactly what Paul was talking about a few verses earlier in verse 3.
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
In other words, we are all products of grace and mercy, therefore, we must not think more highly of ourselves than we ought.
We must not think that we are better than others.
Christ levels the playing field by his grace.
Only when you have this proper and biblical evaluation of yourself, will you value others.
Will you show honor to others.
Will you “outdo” others.
Outdo here meaning “preferring” others.
I love this idea of outdoing others or preferring others.
The greek word means to go before. (open a door for someone)
It means to prepare the way.
Paul is saying here that when we have a right evaluation of ourselves, we will values others in such a way where we will go out of our way to be FIRST in showing honor.
Illustration of my dad always sneaking around to be the first to pay the bill for dinner.
RCS family: strive to be first place in showing honor. Don’t come in second or third, and definitely not last place.
Question:
Do you have the right evaluation of yourself and others?
Are you always expecting to be showed honor or are you striving to be first in outdoing your brothers and sisters in showing honor to them?
Transition:
Paul then says to us in verse 11,
Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.
Here is what we shouldn't hear God saying here: I want the Church to be a community of busy-bodies!
That’s NOT what he is saying.
Instead, the Apostle Paul advocates here for a form of service to the Lord that is sincere, alive, and vigorous.
NOT lazy.
NOT sluggish.
NOT half-hearted.
NOT begrudging.
And definitely NOT optional!
This is a command from God to the Church for Christ-loving, God-glorifying, sacrificial service!
We must not be lazy in the work of the Lord.
illustration of working hard at work and giving scraps in our service to Jesus.
We must be thoughtful.
We must be prayerful.
We must be diligent in serving christ.
That’s the meaning of word “zeal” here.
Paul is saying that if we are not diligent in the work of the Lord than we are in danger of slothfulness.
Illustration:
I think we can understand it this way: If you allow the organs of your body to fall into disuse, or you do not use your organs as you should, then this sluggishness will turn into a diseased condition. Your body will eventually shut down.
Move illustration to an example of my 90 year old grandmother mowing the grass.
If we are not intentional and diligent in serving Christ, then eventually we will fall into a spiritual slothfulness that often ends in leaving the Church and then leaving the faith.
Friends, we have to understand that their is spiritual warfare in this.
The devils duty is to keep you from your christian duty.
He will do everything he can to keep you from serving the Lord.
I don’t know about you but I deeply sense that spiritual warfare Sunday.
Nothing goes my way on Sunday morning.
Discouraging conversations.
Family issues
Discouraged when I don’t see others serve the Lord.
So how do we fight to serve the Lord and not fall into this slothfulness?
Three ways:
We must rouse ourselves!
We must preach the truth to our hearts.
Preach what? This: My service to the Lord in the matters to the body and it matters to Christ!
The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.”
22 In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary. -1 Corinthians 12:21-22
Whether you come and set up chairs, visit the sick among us, moms encouraging moms, run tech in the back, or the many other ways this body serves each other- Your service to the Lord in this body matters.
And when you don’t serve, we all feel it.
Illustration of when I recently got sick. It affected my hold body.
2. The second way we can fight slothfulness and cultivate diligence in serving the Lord is by regularly showing up.
If I want to gain muscle I need to not just talk about going to the gym, I need to go to gym. I might start out a little sluggish but the more I show up, and the more it becomes a regular rhythm of my life the more likely I am to be fit. I know I won’t get in shape sitting on the couch.
Beloved this is the same way with cultivating zeal. We must show up at the Church to serve. Ask “How can I help”? This is a powerful and often transformative question.
Give my testimony of asking to help and no being a pastor. By simple but powerful question!
God can do some neat things in and through you by just being present and availing yourself to be used.
3. We must commit to constant prayer and regular bible intake.
Through regularly meeting with Christ, he will not only guide us on where and how to be used in the body, but he will most importantly through these means, give you the desire to be used- to serve him.
This is the way WE can cultivate spiritual diligence!
But here is what I know to be true:
There are some who are naturally energetic and love to be at everything and there are others among us who are more lethargic and reluctant to serve because of a plethora of different reasons.
But what I love that Paul did here in v11 is that He didn't leave it up to us to carry out this command to serve the Lord because the Lord knew that we all had different temperaments.
Paul begins with the natural and then shifts to the supernatural!
You see, God never gives us commands that we cannot carry out.
Every command of God can be obeyed.
How?
By The Holy Spirit that is given to us at the second birth.
Every command can be obeyed regardless of your temperament, because He has given us his Holy Spirit to not only carry out Gods commands but He has given us the Spirit to grow us in zeal in serving our precious and beloved Christ.
1 Corinthians 3:16 (ESV)
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
God gives us His Holy Spirit to be able to serve the Lord.
That’s Paul’s purpose in saying in verse 11 when He says “be FERVENT in Spirit.”
Fervent means to boil, to be hot, to be enthusiastic and energetic in serving Christ.
There are days that I don’t have the desire to serve the Lord because of many different reasons. But here is what I have learned in those days.
In those times I don’t have the energy or enthusiasm to serve Christ, when I press into the Holy Spirit, He not only gives me the energy I need, but He most often shows up in such a way where it humbles me and transforms me.
And He leave me in those moments with encouragement and energy and on fire to continue to serve Christ!
Have you ever experienced the Spirit in that way?
The Spirit has been given to God’s people to help us.
To help us do what?
“Serve the Lord”!
Transition:
You see, Church, serving the Lord is not hobby, it is a matter of love and allegiance and it’s a matter of worship in response to God’s mercy.
We are bond-servants of Christ.
We no longer serve the evil one and this world.
We are Christ’s slaves.
We happily and freely serve our gracious master.
In light of God’s love and in light of His mercy, we..
Romans 12:1 (ESV)
…present our bodies as a living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, which is our spiritual worship.
The way God fights our pride and cultivates humility in us and the way he conforms us to Christ is through sacrificial service to Christ.
Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.
Questions:
How can you serve the Lord in this body of Christ today?
How are you cultivating diligence and zeal in your service to Christ?
How does your life display that Jesus is your master and you are his servant?
Transition:
"Now, Paul transitions to verse 12-13, shifting focus from how a believer with genuine love acts within the body of Christ to how a transformed Christian with authentic love responds to circumstances within the the family of God.
Today we only have time for verse 12, and next we will cover verse 13.
He says,
Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
This verse has been a great comfort to many christians over the years. I know that it has been for me.
The reason I believe this verse resonates with so many christians is because it encapsulates the christian life.
Hope. Tribulation. Prayer.
That’s the life of the christian isn't it?
Paul doesn't put a smiling face on the christian life. He is real about our pilgrimage. He is real about the journey.
Paul elaborates on this verse just a few chapters earlier in Romans 5:1-5,
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
There are two ways we can rejoice in hope:
To rejoice in hope we must have a right view of the present world and of heaven.
Galatians 1:4 refers to this world as the present evil age.
To rejoice in hope we must understand that we live in a fallen world.
We will never rejoice if our hope is in this present evil age.
We can rejoice in hope if we know that God is coming to judge ever wrong In this fallen world.
The only way someone who has been abused, or someone who has faced gross injustice is to know that God will not sweep any wrong under the wrong.
For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.
B. The of course, we must have our eyes fixed heaven.
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
This is not our home.
Our home is in glory in the presence of God with no more sin, broken, injustice, disease, and pain.
We can rejoice in hope when you press into the reality that everyday that passess, you are one day closer to heaven.
2. The second way we can rejoice in hope is to understand God’s purpose for the world.
Why did Jesus come to the world?
The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.
Jesus came to redeem sinners.
Jesus came to give eternal life.
Jesus came to take sinners out of this world and place redeemed saints in the kingdom of God.
Paul says it this way in Colossians 1:13-14
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,
in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Friends, not only must we fix our eyes upon Christ and upon the glories of heaven to rejoice in hope, but we must know that God is working in this fallen world right here right now to transfer sinners to the Kingdom of God.
Transition:
Then Paul says,
Romans 12:12 (ESV)
Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
Patience means to endure or remain.
Remember the words of Romans 5:4-5
Romans 5:4–5 (ESV)
endurance [PATIENCE] produces character, and character produces hope,
and hope does not put us to shame…
When you read this verse you actually get the right perspective of patience.
What Paul is saying in chapter 5 is the same thing he is conveying in Romans 12:12.
Be patient in tribulation because God is using it to do a mighty work in you.
He is producing something in you when you endure/remain.
Peter speaks much about suffering and endurance.
He says this in 1 Peter 2:19-21
For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.
For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.
For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.
Beloved, it is a gracious gift of God and a privilege to endure suffering.
Why?
Because we are never more like Christ then when we are patient in tribulation.
It is a gracious thing because it brings us to Christ, and it make us more like Christ, like nothing else can.
We live in the world of instant gratification.
We want everything here and now.
But that is not how christianity works.
Christianity is long, hard, and requires much patience.
You wont be like Christ over night and through easy street.
The only way to conform to the image of Christ is through enduring suffering.
I love how the psalmist puts it,
It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.
It’s good for us to be patient in tribulation.
This world “tribulation” is interesting.
It comes from a familiar word in Pauls time called “tribulam.”
A tribulam was a machine that was used to crush corn in order to get flour.
Tribulation conveys pressure, difficulty, and a crushing.
You don’t have to live long in this world to now how difficult it is- How crushing it can be.
Illustration of me speaking to the police officer who told me that a young man in our congregation died because he was crushed under the weight of this world. (suicide)
Tribulation is the right word to describe this world.
But the point Paul is making is that we should not be surprised by tribulation.
Pressure and difficulty is the normal way of life for christians.
Because we are christians we have a right view of the world and our future. We know how broken this world is because of sin and we know what awaits in heaven for those who love Christ.
Because the Lord uses trials to conform us to himself.
Because we are christians we should anticipate suffering for Christ. Christ is clear that this is what we should expect.
John 15:20 (ESV)
Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.
Peter says,
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.
Trials and hardship must not be strange to us.
The sooner we come to that conclusion the sooner we can begin to experience the peace of God and understand the purpose of God for our lives.
Hold fast to the words of Christ today in John 16:33
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Transition:
lastly in this summary of the christian life, Paul ends by say,
Romans 12:12 (ESV)
Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
Constant can be translated: being devoted to prayer.
It reminds me of Colossians 4:2
Colossians 4:2 (NIV)
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
What is being communicated here is this:
We must give our lives to prayer if we are to experience the conquering power, presence, and hope of Christ in this broken world.
We need prayer the way our lungs need oxygen.
It’s not a matter of adding prayer as another tool on christian tool belt.
We need prayer because the spiritual health of our christian life depends on it!
Here is how the progression of this verse goes:
Our ability to rejoice in hope and be patient in tribulation is dependent on the degree to which we persist in prayer.
I come to that conclusion because, Paul uses the very same progression in Romans 8:24-27
Romans 8:24–27 (ESV)
For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?
But if we HOPE for what we do not see, we wait for it with PATIENCE.
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to PRAY for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
Here is the great news about prayer:
When the pressures of this world become so crushing to the point of not even being able to pray, the spirit of God intercedes for us and our high priest, Jesus Christ, ushers these spirit wrought prayers on our behalf before the Father. And in return the Lord answers the prayer of the Spirit and of the Son to help us in our weakness!
The truth is caught so beautifully by Charles Wesley in his hymn “Soldiers of Christ, arise.”
strong in the strength which God supplies
through His eternal Son;
strong in the Lord of hosts
and in His mighty power,
who in the strength of Jesus trusts
is more than conqueror.
To keep your armor bright
Attend with constant care,
Still walking in your Captain’s sight
And watching unto prayer.
Questions:
Is your hope in this world or is it in heaven?
If it’s in heaven, rejoice!
If it is not, repent, believe, and place all your hope on Jesus.
What are some of the pressures of this world that are crushing you?
Encouragement:
Beloved, endure. Remain. Press into Christ.
May the troubled waves of this world crash you into the rock of Christ.
I pray that you learn to kiss the wave that throws you up against the rock of ages.
How’s your prayer life?
Are you relying on God in prayer like your lungs are relying on the air that you breath? If not, why?
It might be because you are not relying on God but on yourself.
Prayer reveals where your dependence really is.
Encouragement:
Christian, remember that, if today the pressures of this world are too great to utter a word in prayer, The Spirit will help you in your weakness, today.
He will pray on your behalf.
Romans 12:9–12
“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.
Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.
Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”
PRAY
