Sincere Love
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WELCOME:
Welcome to LHC
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Continuing Sermon Series, “Transformed.”
This weeks Sermon Title, “Sincere Love.”
Grab your Bibles and Turn with me to Romans 12:1
Please stand for the reading of God’s Word.
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
PRAYER:
INTRO:
We are on this journey of transforming our lives by renewing our minds...
So that we live lives that are Holy and Pleasing to God!
And Paul has been teaching us truth for us to renew our minds in Romans 12-15.
Before we get deep into todays message...
How many of you have been reading Romans 12-15 this past week?
How many of you are growing and being transformed by this sermon series?
Anyone want to share a testimony?
Let me encourage you… Don’t just hear the words of God and stay the same.
When we become doers of God’s word… we begin to walk in His blessing!
So take what we are learning and begin to apply them in your life.
Let’s now get started with today’s renewing of the mind.
Found in Romans 12:9
SERMON:
9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Living a Holy and Pleasing Life to God requires us to develop a sincere love.
Living a Holy and Pleasing Life to God requires us to develop a sincere love.
Sincere Love is not Cheap Talk...
Sincere Love is not pretending to love...
It takes intentionality and practice for our love to be sincere.
Don’t forget… Love is not an emotion… It’s a choice!
As followers of Christ we must strive to have Sincere Love!
WHAT IS SINCERE LOVE?
WHAT IS SINCERE LOVE?
In verses 9 and 10 we see Paul define what this sincere love is.
1. Sincere love is rooted in doing good.
1. Sincere love is rooted in doing good.
9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.
Verse 9 is then reaffirmed in verse 21...
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Love chooses to do what is good and right… and it chooses to stay away from what is evil!
Much easier said than done… right?
Paul even gives us examples of doing good and avoiding evil.
Look at Romans 12:17
17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Church… We have to choose to avoid evil!
We have to choose to not operate in it and to not let it settle inside of us!
Instead...
When revenge seems like the right response… We must choose to do good!
You start changing your heart and renewing your mind when you choose to do good while your flesh his telling you to attack!
Overcome evil by doing good!
The second thing sincere love is...
2. Sincere love is strengthened in devotion.
2. Sincere love is strengthened in devotion.
10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.
Devoted means to be affectionate and caring towards one another.
Love chooses to care deeply for others… Not a shallow or cheap love.
Many times we will keep it shallow because truly caring for others is hard.
Sincere Love is hard… But it’s worth it every time!
And once again Paul gives us an example of living out sincere love through devotion to one another...
Look at verse 13.
13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
Church we demonstrate Sincere love when we care for one another in the body of Christ!
But you can only recognize those who have need in the Church by looking around!
You have to look up and look out!
Get your eyes off yourself...
You choose sincere love when you choose to help others in need.
But notice the Practice hospitality part...
The original language here for Practice hospitality is directed towards strangers.
We can’t claim we have sincere love when we only care for those who we know well.
This also requires us to look up and look out from the circles we normally run in and care for others in need!
I know… These are much easier said than done! But they are things we should work on to strengthen our sincere love!
Look at another example of being devoted to one another.
15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.
This is telling us that we are to participate even emotionally with one another.
Sincere love is not just surface love and it isn’t just a quick text, “I’m praying for you.”
It’s rejoicing with them and it’s mourning with them.
It is an emotional connection.
A choice to be compassionate to one another!
This is sincere love… Walking together and supporting one another!
Let’s look at the third example Paul gives us to living our Sincere Love.
The third thing sincere love is...
3. Sincere Love is multiplied in selflessness.
3. Sincere Love is multiplied in selflessness.
10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.
Sincere love recognizes the value of others and willingly places their needs above our wants...
I personally think this one can be the hardest of the 3 things that Sincere Love is.
Because we are good at seeing the bad in people and we are great at satisfying ourselves.
That’s the way of the world… but it’s not God’s way.
Look at Pauls example in verse 14...
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
Are you kidding me!
Blessing is the last thing on our minds when someone attacks us or curses us!
How can you bless someone like that?
By honoring them above yourself.
Choosing to humble yourself and seek to bless them no matter what they have done to you.
Christ is the best example of this! (On the Cross, “Father forgive them”)
Sincere love requires you to set aside your personal feelings in order to bless those who have hurt you.
It takes practice and choosing to humble yourself.
Look at this next verse...
16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
Once again we see humility is essential in having Sincere Love.
The moment you think you are above something or above someone… You need to quickly humble yourself and choose to love.
According to this verse… that is how we live in harmony… Only through humble sincere love!
As we have looked at this… we can see that Sincerely loving others is difficult and draining.
It won’t be easy… But Paul doesn’t leave us with just a list of ways to sincerely love.
He also gives us the key to continue living and operating in sincere love!
How to Keep Loving Sincerely
How to Keep Loving Sincerely
Look at verse 12 with me...
11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
We don’t use zeal and fervor much today… So here are words that we would understand for today.
zeal: Determination
Fervor: Enthusiasm
When we replace those words with today’s words here is what we get...
Never be lacking in determination, but keep your spiritual enthusiasm, serving the Lord.
In other words… For us to live Holy and Pleasing lives to God through sincere love, each and every day of our lives… There are 3 things he gives us!
a. Believe in Hope
a. Believe in Hope
b. Be Patient
b. Be Patient
c. Pray all the time
c. Pray all the time
CLOSING:
Will you please stand with me...
We have been discussing how our love must be sincere...
That Sincere Love, must also be for God
We remember the 2 greatest commandments right...
Love God with all your heart, mind, body, and soul...
And love others as yourself.
In order to fulfill the second command you have to follow the first!
Sincerely love the Lord… and then love one another!
You can do it… It’s your choice!
ALTAR CALL:
Salvation Call
Spend some time with God… He is Love…
Then begin to develop your love to be sincere for one another!