Love In Action

As Christians, we want respect. We are kind of like cell phones…We love to be talked to and cared for, but if you press the wrong button you’ll be disconnected!

The reality is “in View of the Mercies of God” causes us to live a life of sacrifice, holy and pleasing to the Lord, while serving in and for the church, we also must recognize we’ve all got baggage, and what we need in the church is to find people who love us enough to help us unpack.

This morning, I want to cover with you the rest of chapter 12 which is laced with exhortation after exhortation to love the church. What will Love in Action look like?

1) True Love -

Romans 12:9 ESV

9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.

Verse 9 gives three imperatives:

Be sincere

Hate....evil

Cling to…good

They all tell us what it means to live a life that is truly about “love.”

There is a deep and abiding truth for the Christian in these three imperatives.

1) We are told that our love must be genuine.

Sincere, without hypocrisy. - You can’t be warm and cuddly on the outside while wanting to rip their face off on the inside! That leads to a culture of “niceness” OR a veneer of pleasantness that covers over a spirit of backbiting, gossip and prejudice.

There is a veneer of pleasantness that covers over a spirit of backbiting, gossip and prejudice.

The problem with that is that there is no room for “tough love” when it comes time for it.

2) We are told to hate (negative) evil and cling (positive) to good.

This is not being true to yourself gobbly-goop, it is a call to be true to the will of God.

Therefore our love operates according to the moral character of God.

Hate - literally horrified by what God calls evil

Cling - Glue yourselves to what God calls good.

Gobbly-goop in music today tells us things like, “If loving you is wrong, I don’t want to be right!”

Your beloved’s stress becomes yours, and his/her happiness becomes yours. That is where the problem comes in because you want to give what causes emotional joy, rather than what is best, which might cause emotional sadness/anger.

Here is the truth of verse 9 though, you cannot love rightly unless you hate rightly. Real love loves the loved enough to be tough.

Here’s how this play out —> God’s law reveals the way in which we are designed and our souls are designed. To go against the law is always a bad thing for the beloved. REAL LOVE IS ALWAYS CONCERNED WITH THE TRUTH! True love is willing to confront , even to “lose” the loved in the short run if there is a chance of helping him/her.

The Gospel Way - How can we love unlovely people whom we do not like, and still be sincere? It is hypocritical to act lovingly when you despise someone in your heart.

A Christian goes about “doing love” while repenting which softens the heart through the reconciliation of Christ’s sacrifice for us (12:1-2). How does that work?

Remember - “IN VIEW OF GOD’S MERCY” - We are not loved because we are lovely or because we have made ourselves worthy of love. We are loved because Jesus died for us when we were unattractive in order to make us attractive.

If you will keep that in mind as you serve, you will find repentance growing in your own heart. If you understand the gospel, you understand this. If you do not have a clear understanding of the Gospel, you cannot do this. If you are just a “nice or generally moral” person…it won’t work.

You show love while you repent. You’re sincerity will grow as you do.

2) Love in Action -

Romans 12:10–16 ESV

10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.

If these first three were not enough, Paul gives us a whole list, 12 to be exact. They all show us what love is. I’ll follow Tim Keller’s lead and break them down into 4 basic categories:

Real love is committed - 10a

Be devoted - love another with brother affection. Paul is applying the normal blood-related family member to the Church.

We ought to love one another as though we are related!

Though we may have disagreements, we are still family! That is my brother, that is my son. That is my daughter. That is my sister.

Real love puts others first - 10b

We are told here to “outdo one another in showing honor” and in verse 16, we are told to not be “proud(haughty), but to associate with the humble (lowly).”

To honor someone is the treat them as precious and valuable. Deep in our theological roots, we have the truth that people are created in the image of God. We were designed to bear resemblance to God in our thinking, personality, creativity, our souls. Each person we meet is important, and precious to God and we ought to treat one another that way.

We are to be considerate, listening to their hopes, joys, needs, fears, .

We we see other believers, they are not just image bearers, as a Christian, they have Jesus taking up residence in them.

The essence of love in the church is not to concentrate on our own image, position, and needs, but on the needs of others.

Real love is patient - 11-12

4 Imperatives - these are calls to patience

In essence - these seem to relate to that relationship with the Lord, but Paul is exhorting us to all our spiritual resources to NOT give up on our Christian brothers and sisters!

It’s always helpful to remember, there is no perfect pastor, there is no perfect church. If you find one, don’t go cause you’ll mess it up. :)

All joking aside, we must keep our “HOPE” and be “PATIENT” in all the troubles we meet and address them with prayer!

CS Lewis said once the only way to never have your heart broken is to never give it away. But that isn’t possible in the church because we are called to love one another.

So because we give our hearts to people, our “zeal” our “hope” our “patience” and even our “prayer” life can wain because we loose sight of this truth.

Hey listen, being a Christian is not easy…it takes hard work.

WHAT KEEPS US GOING IS THE MEMORY OF OUR HOPE OF TRIUMPH IN CHRIST JESUS.

Verse 14 - Bless and not curse - another aspect of patience. Forgiveness is HUGE!

Real love combines feeling with action - 13-15

13 - Put your money where your mouth is. Contribute to help meet the needs of the saints. Practice hospitality.

Share your homes, money, things with those who need help.

IT is a call to be devoted and true regardless of our feelings.

15 - Rejoice when it is time to rejoice, and mourn/weep with those who weep. This means we have to stop and try to understand the inner world of another person. Connecting it with our own joys and struggles. That is not necessarily easy to do, but none the less it is a calling within the church.

Love is doing whatever it takes to give people whatever they need. Notice I didn’t say want…but need. Whatever it takes means you sacrifice emotion, action, and your rights. You give someone the truth they need and the help they need.

3) Losing While Winning -

Romans 12:17–21 ESV

17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 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.” 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.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

The last set of exhortations is a call to love our enemies. Yeah, that pesky ole thing.

The basic principle here is found in 17 and 21.

“Repay no one evil for evil” and “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

“Overcome” here is a military term that means to “overpower”…like when one side overpowers the other side…think tug of war. TO REPAY EVIL WITH EVIL IS IMMEDIATELY TO LOSE THE BATTLE TO EVIL. The only way to defeat evil is by doing good to the one who has done harm.

That person wins when you return the evil to them. The one sure fire way to win is to forgive and love.

In his novel series, The Lord of the Rings”, any good person who used the ring of the evil Lord Sauron to put him down would become evil in the process. The victory would be empty, and it would in fact mean defeat.

What does it look like practically?

Do not avoid the hostile person. verse 18 - live at peace with everyone. When someone wrongs you, it is common to avoid them.

Express loving words and action - If you enemy is hungry, feed them. 20

Forgive and forgo repayment - verse 19 - never avenge yourselves

There are boundaries, though. Verse 9 still reminds us that we are not loving wisely or truly when we enable someone to sin or sin against us. There are many degrees of hostility. Enemies may be so dangerous that to have anything to do with them is to invite them to sin. In that case, the “good” you can do them is to stay away from them. We need to discern the motive behind our staying away—is it a form of payback, or a measured response aimed at blessing them in some way? - Keller

The Gospel is the Secret Sauce

How is all of this possible? The Gospel makes it possible. The Gospel is the Secret Sauce.

Romans 8–16 for You The Gospel Makes This Possible

Paul is saying to us: Have you been wronged by someone who is hostile to you? How will you respond—in vengeful cursing, paying them back whenever and however you can; or in undeserved love and blessing, doing what you can for them in whatever way is best for them? Notice that there is no persecution so great that Paul makes an exception to his rule, no hurt so deep that Paul excuses us from living this way. But how can anyone really live this way toward their friends, and especially their enemies? Paul has already told us. We can only do it if we really do live “in view of God’s mercy” (v 1). The gospel alone makes each aspect of love in verses 9–21 possible. How is this?

The Gospel reminds of several things and I conclude with this:

The gospel reminds us of our patient God was and is with us.

He was patient with you before you came to faith.

Holding back his final judgment.

He is patient with you now having forgiven our ongoing flaws and failings.

If you are not in Christ this morning, the good news is His patience has not run out on you yet. There is still time to take hold of the mercy of God.

The gospel is the measure by which we think of ourselves with “sober judgment”. 12:3

We measure ourselves by the faith in Christ that God has given us.

2 things happen in light of the gospel

We realize we are lost sinners, as lost as anyone else on the earth, and that the one standing before us is no “lower” than we are.

We also find the most admirable Person of all is already pleased to be our Father and dwell in us!

The gospel enables us sincerely and lovingly to share in others highs and lows.

The gospel tells us there is a judge, and He alone is trustworthy to make all things right. You don’t need to get even; there is ONE who cares for us, and for His world, and who will make sure there is justice.

Do you know this Gospel? Do you know this Jesus who gave His life for your sin, that if you’d repent/turn from your sin today you can receive this new life? By healing this relationship first, you can then turn and start working on all the other relationships because now you know how we are to relate to each other in the church.

Church, as you respond to God’s mercy, personal sacrifice, it will strengthen the health and life of our church as well as your personal relationships. Do not live for your name, your reputation, your heritage, or your own hope, but you live for Jesus Christ and Christ alone.