Let love be genuine
Notes
Transcript
Bible
Prayer
Intro
Intro
Last week we began looking at Romans chapter 12, and we saw that Paul was calling believers to live differently.
After spending eleven chapters explaining what God has done for us through Jesus Christ,
Paul comes to chapter 12 and says,
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
We discussed the importance of the The word “therefore” is as it connects everything Paul has said before with everything he is about to say.
Paul is saying that because of who God is,
because of what God has done,
and because of the mercy we have received through Christ,
our lives should be different.
Right beliefs should lead to right living.
The mercy of God should produce a life that is surrendered to God.
And this includes, as Paul begins to show in verse 9, the way we Love.
If we are going to present our bodies as living sacrifices,
then we will begin to sacrificially Love others as God loves us.
If we are going to have a renewed mind,
then we can no longer see love through the lense of how the world sees love,
mostly as transactional or purely emotional,
putting ourselves first.
But rather,
if we have a mind renewed by the Word,
we will begin to see Love through the lense of God’s love,
which extends sacrificially even to those it is hard to love.
That is why Paul begins this section with these words in Romans 12:9:
“Let love be genuine.”
These four words are the doorway into everything Paul says in the rest of this chapter.
Everything that follows is an explanation of what genuine love looks like.
Genuine love is not simply a feeling we have toward people.
It is a love that changes how we treat one another,
how we respond when people hurt us,
how we serve one another,
and even how we respond to those who oppose us.
But notice that Paul does not simply say, “Love one another.”
That is understood, of course we should love one another.
He says, “Let love be genuine.”
This presupposes that some love can be false love.
We can say the right things without truly loving.
We can show kindness when it is easy but fail when love becomes costly.
We can have the appearance or even the emotions of love without the sacrifice that true love requires.
So that is what we are going to examine this morning through verses 9-21.
To help us organize this teaching, we will divide the text into three parts…
I.Genuine Love Loves What Is Good (Romans 12:9–13)
I.Genuine Love Loves What Is Good (Romans 12:9–13)
II. Genuine Love Loves Even When It Is Difficult (Romans 12:14–16)
II. Genuine Love Loves Even When It Is Difficult (Romans 12:14–16)
III. Genuine Love Loves by Overcoming Evil with Good (Romans 12:17–21)
III. Genuine Love Loves by Overcoming Evil with Good (Romans 12:17–21)
I. Genuine Love Loves What Is Good (Romans 12:9–13)
I. Genuine Love Loves What Is Good (Romans 12:9–13)
As we said in the Intro,
“Let love be Genuine” is the focused topic of the remaining verses.
In the original language,
verses 9 through 13 are actually connected together as one continuous sentence.
Paul is not giving us a random list of commands.
He is describing what genuine love looks like when it is lived out in the life of a believer.
And the first thing Paul shows us is that genuine love has a proper view of good and evil.
The second half of verse 9 says…
……Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.
define abhor
These two commands belong together.
We cannot separate loving what is good from rejecting what is evil.
The reason we reject evil is because we love what is good.
And the reason we pursue what is good is because God Himself is good.
I need to stress this because if we are conformed to the world,
we may begin to think what God calls evil is no big deal.
We may even begin to call evil good and good evil.
The world often says that love means accepting whatever someone wants or affirming whatever someone believes.
But biblical love is not separated from truth.
Biblical love is shaped by the character of God.
This is why I have on a number of occasions mentioned homosexuality as being sinful.
Some of you may have wished I would choose a different sin to always bring up,
but the reason I repeat this one so much is that cultures across the world have begun to say it is wrong to call this sin evil,
and we want Hutong to be a Church that knows the truth of the Word and is not conformed to the world’s idea of what is good and what is evil!
Last week we talked about the difference between a thermometer and a thermostat.
A thermometer simply reflects the temperature around it,
but a thermostat is set according to a standard and influences the environment around it.
In the same way, Christians do not determine what is good and evil based on whatever the culture around us says.
God’s character is the standard.
Genuine love rejects what God calls evil and holds firmly to what God calls good.
Paul could have left us with this great principle,
but he continues by showing us more practically what loving good should actually look like in our lives.
He says in verse 10…
10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
The first place Paul goes to in order to show us what genuine love looks like is the Church.
Genuine love is first demonstrated among the people God has brought together as one body.
The church is not simply a gathering of people who happen to meet together.
Through Christ, we have become brothers and sisters.
And one of the ways we show that love is by giving honor to each other.
Then Paul continues in verse 11
11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.
Genuine love is not lazy love.
It requires effort.
It requires commitment.
It requires us to continue serving even when it is difficult, and it will sometimes be difficult!
A fire does not remain hot without fuel.
In the same way, our love and service to others cannot continue in our own strength.
This is why Paul immediately connects this in verse 12 with
rejoicing in hope,
being patient in suffering,
and being constant in prayer.
Our ability to love others comes from our dependence on God.
So are you actively being dependen on Him for your Love Hutong?
Have you been slothful in your zeal, or are you actively seeking the Love of God as fuel for your love for others?
Are you serving the Lord as an expression of your Love?
One way to do this is seen in verse 13.
13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
Genuine love does not remain only in our thoughts or feelings.
Genuine love takes action.
It sees needs and responds.
Hospitality is not simply waiting until someone asks for help.
Paul says to seek it.
Look for opportunities to welcome others and care for them.
This can look very simple.
Show up early enough to service to be able to talk to people and show them love.
Make sure guest are welcomed well.
bring snacks to share at church.
Come out to eat with us after church and make sure if anyone can’t afford the meal, that someone is able to cover it.
Invite someone in Church out to coffee after service or during the week.
Have people over into your homes.
Be very intentional to know at least 2-5 people in Hutong well enough that you know if there is a need in their life, and seek to sacrificially fill that need.
Love becomes visible when we make room for others.
So Paul shows us that genuine love is a love that holds onto what God calls good.
It rejects what is evil,
honors others,
serves faithfully,
and meets needs practically.
This is what love looks like when it has been transformed by the mercy of God.
But what about those in our lives who are difficult to love?
II. Genuine Love Loves Even When It Is Difficult (Romans 12:14–16)
II. Genuine Love Loves Even When It Is Difficult (Romans 12:14–16)
Paul touches on these hard to love people in verses 14-16.
Verse 14 says,
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.
Pretty bold statement isn’t it?
I don’t care where you are from, that is as counter cultural as it gets is it not?
And I need you to understand this teaching,
because it is so relavent.
The world does not naturally want the Church to grow.
Throughout history,
and even today,
there are places where people face opposition because they proclaim Jesus Christ.
Sometimes this means restrictions on churches.
Sometimes it means services being shut down.
Sometimes it means believers being arrested.
And in some places, following Christ can even mean death.
So how do we respond when persecution comes?
The wisdom of the world says,
“Fight back. “
“Get revenge.”
“ Make them pay.”
That is honestly my first reaction as well If I am being honest.
But is that how we are to respond when persecution comes our way Hutong?
But how do we respond?
14 Bless those who persecute you….
Jesus taught us to turn the other cheek,
but now Paul through the Holy Spirit is telling us to actively seek their good.
This will look different from situation to situation.
Ditch pride, Embrace Humility example.
The blessings can mean many things..
But The greatest blessing we can give is Jesus Christ.
We know this because the same was true for ourselves.
10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
Because we have received that kind of love while opposing God, we can extend that kind of love to those who oppose us.
Then Paul moves from those who oppose us to those around us.
15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
Genuine love enters into the lives of others.
It shares their joys
and it shares their sorrows.
C.S. Lewis made the point that the only way to guarantee your heart will never be broken is to never give it to anyone.
If we never truly love people,
we may avoid some pain.
But a heart protected from all pain is also a heart unable to truly love.
Many of you who are expats understand this.
You have watched people come and people go in this city.
You build friendships,
sometimes deep friendships,
and then one day they leave.
Whitney and I have experienced this many times in the seven years we have been here.
And the temptation can be to say,
“I do not want to get close to anyone else because eventually they are just going to leave.”
But that is not the heart of genuine love.
God has not called us to love people only when it is convenient.
He has called us to enter into the joys and sorrows of others,
even when it costs us something.
Finally, Paul says in verse 16,
16 Live in harmony with one another.
Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.
Never be wise in your own sight.
Genuine love requires humility.
If you were here last week, we discussed having a right view of ourselves.
Pride makes love difficult because pride makes everything about us.
Insecurity makes love difficult because it still makes everything about us.
But genuine love moves toward others by seeing both ourselves and others through the lens of God.
It pursues harmony.
It humbly serves others.
It remembers that we are all people who have received mercy from God.
But lest we begin to see love as the world sees it…
we must be reminded that living in harmony does not mean accepting evil.
That leads us to our third point.
III. Genuine Love Loves by Overcoming Evil with Good (Romans 12:17–21)
III. Genuine Love Loves by Overcoming Evil with Good (Romans 12:17–21)
Genuine love must continue even when someone does evil against us.
Paul says in verse 17,
17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.
We have already seen that genuine love abhors evil.
But genuine love does not overcome evil by returning more evil.
This may sound obvious, but let’s be honest.
That is our natural response, is it not?
When someone hurts us, we want to hurt them.
When someone treats us unfairly, we want to make sure they pay.
But when we repay evil with evil, we do not defeat evil.
We only add more evil.
Anyone here ever read or watched the Lord of The Ring?
The ring offered enormous power,
and the temptation was to use it to defeat the great and evil Sauron.
The goal sounded good,
after all,
Sauron was indeed horribly evil,
but anyone who used the ring would eventually be corrupted by it.
Tolkien was a Christian and He was using these same Biblical principles in his novels.
You cannot defeat evil by allowing evil to control you.
If someone’s sin against us fills us with hatred,
bitterness,
and revenge,
then evil has begun to overcome us.
So I encourage you to reflect on your heart this week.
How are you viewing those doing evil?
Are you tempted to return evil with evil?
If so, repent, and seek accountability to transform your mind according to the Word.
But if we aren’t supposed to return evil with evil, then what do we do?
Paul, by the inspiration of the Spirit, tells us to consider what is honorable before others.
We are to be a people who respond to offense not by attacking them, but by loving them.
Paul continues this line of thought in verse 18.
18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
unfortunately we know that Peace is not always possible because we cannot control another person.
But as far as it depends on us,
in all the areas we ourselves have control over,
we should not feed the conflict.
Genuine love pursues peace.
I know this is hard.
I know this goes against everything our cultures tell us.
I know the natural tendency is vengeance,
but what does Paul tell us in verse 19?
19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
But how is this even possible?
When someone makes you lose face, how are you supposed to just let that go?
In some cultures in this room, it would be shameful to not retaliate when someone does something wrong to you.
feel free to expoound
We do this by understanding that God is the judge.
God sees perfectly, and God judges rightly.
When we decide to seek revenge, get even, or make them pay,
what we are really doing is saying
“God, I don’t trust you to sit on the judgment seat.
Get up, I will sit on the judge’s chair now.”
At the end of the day,
are we going to be a people who trust in our own vengence, or trust in the perfect justice of God?
But he does not stop there.
He continues with the counter cultural teaching in verse 20.
20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Growing up, I thought this was almost a Christian way of getting revenge.
Be nice to the person who hurt you, and then they will really suffer.
But that cannot be Paul’s meaning.
That would still be revenge hidden behind kindness.
The burning coals picture the shame and conviction that kindness may produce.
The goal is not vengeance.
The goal is repentance.
Our ultimate desire is to bestow upon them the blessing of repentance so that yes,
even our enemies may receive the saving Grace of Jesus Christ.
It should be our diligent prayer that God may use our goodness to soften their heart and bring them to see their sin.
Do ya’ll see how countercultural this all is?
I defy you to show me a culture that this is how society works.
No, we as humans don’t typically respond well when evil is done to us do we?
Which is why Paul sumarizes this section in verse 21.
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
If you don’t understand how this is possible,
we already have the greatest example in the cross.
Jesus was mocked,
falsely accused,
and crucified.
Yet He did not return evil for evil.
He entrusted Himself to the Father and gave His life for sinners.
At the cross, it appeared that evil had won.
But through the cross,
Jesus defeated sin and death.
He overcame evil with good.
And He did this for sinners like us.
We do not love our enemies because they deserve our love.
We love because Christ loved us when we did not deserve His love.
Because Christ has overcome evil with good, through Him, we can do the same.
I want to first take a copule minutes here for silent reflection.
Ask the Spirit to reveal to you the areas where you should be loving more genuinly.
Maybe it is your spouse.
kids.
people in the Church.
someone difficult at work.
Someone difficult at Church.
Repent where you have lacked in love.
Pray for streantgh to better love.
Prayer Points:
Thank God for His amazing Love towards us.
Pray for wisdom in loving each other in Hutong.
Pray for wisdom in Loving our enemies.
