Love One Another
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction
Introduction
Junior Church Dismissed
Great singing today.
This morning we are going to continue our series Better together.
Last week we saw where Paul admonishes us to spend more time together as Christians for the purpose of provoking one another to love and to good works. To encourage one another.
This week we are going to see where Paul, writing to believers in Roman under persecution admonishes them to Love One Another.
What it means to love and show love is different in each of our minds.
I’ve got a list here of what love is from the mind of some children.
“When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.”—Rebecca, age 8
“When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.”—Billy, age 4
“Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French Fries without making them give you any of theirs.”—Chrissie, age 6
“Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired.”—Terri, age 4
“Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.”—Danny, age 7
“If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate.”—Nikka, age 6
“Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.”—Noelle, age 7
“Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.”—Tommy, age 6
“My mommy loves me more than anybody. You don’t see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.”—Clare, age 6
“Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.”—Elaine, age 5
“You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.”—Jessica, age 8
What love specifically looks like may be different but the common thread between the kids is that we all should be loving others and showing it.
In Romans today we will see where Paul writes about love, what it is, what it should look like, and then what the result of loving one another is.
Ultimately, when we have love toward one another, we are Better Together.
Follow along as I read
9 Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;
11 Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;
12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
13 Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.
14 Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.
15 Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.
16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.
PRAY
Let’s get a little backstory on the book of Romans real quick
This letter was written around 57 AD from Corinth before the Apostle Paul took his third missionary journey
He wrote this letter to the church at Rome establishing contact with him for what is believed would become his 4th missionary journey that never happened due to his death in Rome at the hands of the emporer.
The Roman Christians were under much persecution at this time.
Paul has covered a lot of information up to this point with the Roman believers and has now turned to application of much of what he has taught them. Where we are now is his teachings on love.
Notice with me first the definition of Love
I. The Definition of Love
I. The Definition of Love
9 Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;
To understand how to apply something we must first understand what it is from a philosophical stand point and not just a practical.
I find in my limited time on this earth that people are always wanting the practical steps to accomplish something without understanding the why or how those steps actually allow for things to be accomplished.
Paul starts these passages on love by defining it as first a Sincere Affection.
A. Sincere Affection
A. Sincere Affection
Imagine being walked into an exam room at your doctor’s office by someone wearing scrubs, carrying a clipboard, and using the correct rhetoric as they walk you back. They’re doing all the necessary things that a nurse does, but as soon as you start asking questions, they begin to falter. As you ask them what’s going on, you realize they aren’t really a nurse. They’re a high school biology student, going through the motions. They put on a facade to come across as a “nurse,” but they internally are not truly a nurse.
That biology student was faking it.
When we just go through the motions of love without real love behind we, like the biology student, will eventually show our true colors and then any actions are seen under the light of our true selves and are meaningless.
Paul wrote to Timothy in
5 Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:
We approach love to others with a pure heart, not dissilusioned by bad conscience that is loving for personal gain. It’s not a quid pro quo love, it’s altruistic love.
If it’s not…It will be discovered in time.
Husbands and wives, you know this is true more than anyone. Parents, your children know when you are being sincere. Christians, those around us know if we are being sincere in our actions.
Love is sincere and Love is Submissive to others.
B. Submissive to others
B. Submissive to others
The Bible tells us to be Kindly affectioned one to another. That can also be understood as loving each other as brothers and sisters...
Now, if your relationship with your brothers and sisters is not good then let’s say best friends...
Last thing I want you to walk away from today with is that if you are to love someone like your brother and sister you walk up to them and hit them.
Being kindly affectioned and submissive to one another is about lifting others up. It’s not about lifting us up. It’s about being humble and not prideful. It’s about focusing on them and not us.
Pride is so prevailant in our society…especially with social media. We have a selfie generation that can feel that every part of their life is important and others should know about it.
However God does not call us to be prideful…He resists the proud. John gave us what this looks like in
30 He must increase, but I must decrease.
John wanted to lift up Jesus and glorify Him so he was willing to decrease from a person everyone was looking to into a person behind the scenes.
To understand what love is and show it we must be willing to allow ourselves to die and Christ to live.
It is a choice you make. Who will live through you today? This week? Self or Christ?
Paul wrote to the Romans and explained the definition of Love to them and then he showed them the Expression of love
II. The Expression of Love
II. The Expression of Love
11 Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;
Serving the Lord is best shown by serving those He served…others
A. Serving Others
A. Serving Others
We are to not be slothful in business.
Now, that is not just talking about in the business of your job. In the 21st Century we might say “do not lack diligence in zeal”
In your life, in your service for the Lord, be diligent about what you do. The word diligence means to have care or consciousness about what you are doing.
It means to think about and be clear in your actions for the Lord. Do them on purpose.
Then Paul says fervent in spirit.
The word fervent can be illustrated this way
How many of you ever heard of putting a wooden spoon over a boiling pot to keep it from boiling over?
Fervency is like the water in the pot that is brought to a boil and begins to go over the side.
When it comes to serving others and serving the Lord, be like the water in the pot and don’t let anyone put a spoon over you. Serve others fervently.
We can often believe that someone else will help a person in need, someone else will do the work of the Lord. As a church we need someone else to serve in Nursery, we need someone else to step up and be discipled to teach in Junior Church, we need someone else to be discipled to be an Awana teacher, someone else to be a greeter, someone else to be an usher. Not because anyone is doing a bad job but because the Lord has called someone to serve Him…that someone is you…the question is…are you serving Him by serving others or are you letting someone else do your job?
We express our love for the Lord by serving others and we express our love with a sympathetic response.
B. Sympathetic Response
B. Sympathetic Response
14 Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.
15 Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.
14 Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.
Verse 14 essentially teaches us to love our enemies…something Jesus said as well.
43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
It’s amazing to see that Paul was doing for the church he wrote to the exact thing we try to do now…teach them about who Jesus is, What Jesus did, and what Jesus said.
Verse 15 describes one of the gifts of the spirit, the gift of mercy. It’s the gift or ability to feel what others are feeling. We could also call this empathy.
When we are loving with a biblical love we will be able to rejoice with those that rejoice and weep with those who are weeping.
When we are loving with a biblical love we will be able to rejoice with those that rejoice and weep with those who are weeping.
When we can see people through the lens of love we care about how they feel. We care about what they think…that doesn’t mean we always agree but it does mean we are willing to listen and feel with and for them.
The ability and desire to show this type of love only comes from understanding what love is and then choosing to express it.
Once we have these two down and are living the love of Christ out, we will then see the result of love
III. The Result of Love
III. The Result of Love
The ultimate understanding of the definition of love and the expression of that love will have results in your life.
The Bible says that we have trusted christ as our savior old things are passed away and all things become new. We are new creatures in Christ.
When we know the Love of God through the sacrifice of Jesus, there will be results. Now, we are all different. The results may look different and depending upon our willingness to submit to the Holy Spirit, could take longer in some and shorter in others.
However there are 2 results Paul writes about here that I want us to focus on. The first is a Hospitable Spirit.
A. A Hospitable Spirit
A. A Hospitable Spirit
Verse 13
13 Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.
Hospitality is not just giving things away. Sure that can be considered part of it but by definition the word hospitable literally means to be friendly and welcoming to strangers.
It’s my desire for Liberty to be known as a church that is hospitable as an organization but that only happens when the people that make up the organization are hospitable.
Here’s some examples of how we can be more hospitable in our lives:
Also greet someone you don’t know in church. Smile, offer a handshake, ask their name, how they heard of LIberty and thank them for being here. Ask if they’ve had a coffee or snack from our Cafe and offer to get them one. If you see someone new returning, invite them out for coffee during the week.
Be willing to invite strangers into your home and spend time with them.
Hold the door for others in the community. Always seek a way to perform a small act of kindness for someone else. Can you buy their coffee order? Could you pay for that families meal? No matter how BIG or how small you think the act is…do it.
Hospitality ultimately comes from an outwardly focused heart that isn’t always concerned about self.
When we get so focused on what we want or how we want things then we find ourselves not hospitable and sometimes rude or selfish in our actions. It’s when we have the love of Christ in our hearts that we are focused on those he is focused on…others.
Have you considered the impact you could have on someone by a small hospitable act of kindness?
Have you thought about the impact a church could have on a community through small acts of kindness like that?
Jesus walked this earth doing amazing miracles that were in essence acts of kindness that He used as an opportunity to tell others about the Love God has for them. Shouldn’t we be doing the same?
The Result of the love of God in our hearts is a hospitable spirit that leas towards a harmonious relationship.
B. A Harmonious Relationship
B. A Harmonious Relationship
16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.
When love abounds, unity is found.
Remember what Solomon wrote in Proverbs?
10 Only by pride cometh contention: But with the well advised is wisdom.
10 Only by pride cometh contention: But with the well advised is wisdom.
Contention, arguments, bitterness, a bad spirit toward one another, an inability to reconcile differences is a sign of an absence of love. An absence of not just love but an absence of Christlike love.
Who in your life is there contention between? Who in your life has offended you or you have offended and things are not right between?
When there is love in your heart…not the other persons....in your heart, there should be a desire to reconcile.
We look at where Jesus speaks of reconciliation between people and call it “church discipline”…and while that can be an application of the scripture…it’s not the only one.
Have you ever noticed that is a command of Jesus and not a suggestion?
15 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
Jesus didn’t say “If the conversation won’t be too uncomfortable for you..” He didn’t say “Only if that person is acting like they will be nice in return.”
Just as when he taught the disciples to pray it wasn’t a question of if they would pray He said “When ye pray..”
See how this passage is the same? He didn’t say “if your brother offends you and you feel like it...”
He said “If this happens…DO THIS”
Christ desires unity between believers. That means when offenses happen, because they do, we apologize, forgive, and move on for the cause of Christ. Yet if there is disunity between believers the cause of Christ is harmed.
Maybe your the one who has offended someone and your not apologizing because “they shouldn’t be so sensitive”
Maybe your right but that doesn’t change the fact something you did has caused disunity.
Swallow your own pride, show the love of Christ and go to that person to reconcile the relationship.
Love is not just an emotion or feeling that we have when we see a loved one.
Love is a choice we make to be like Christ toward all men in order to glorify Jesus and maintain unity in the church.
We are better together when we love one another because the absence of love in a group leads to pride, which leads to contention, which leads to disunity and harm to the cause of Christ.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Are you here this morning and you don’t know the love of Christ? You’ve not had your life changed by His grace and mercy?
I know how Jesus has changed my life and I want you to experience the life giving and life changing gospel like have.
That all begins with putting your faith in Christ.
The Bible says in
that God loves you so much He sent Jesus to die for your sins. In that same verse Jesus said that whosoever believes on him will not perish but have everlasting life.
Eternal life in Heaven with Jesus is based upon your belief in Jesus’ death burial and resurrection paying for your sins.
It’s that simple. Believe on Jesus…have a relationship with Him.
Christians, those of us that profess faith in Jesus and have the Holy Spirit living within us, are we loving and showing love like we should? Are we experiencing the result of love in our lives or are we experiencing the results of pride?
Take a moment and ask the Lord to reveal how you can better express His love towards others and have less contention in your life.
Do you believe this morning? If you made the decision to trust in Jesus this morning I want to invite you to confirm that with prayer. The words of the prayer mean nothing if you don’t believe in your heart that Jesus is the Son of God who died for your sins and was raised from the dead.
If you want to make the decision to trust Jesus as your savior this morning please pray after me
“Dear Jesus, I know I’m a sinner, I believe you came to die on the cross and rose from the dead. I put my faith right now in you and ask you to come into my life and change me from the inside out. Amen.”
PRAY
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