Loving One Another Pt 2 - Love in Action

Today we are going to conclude our summer sermon series looking at some of the “one another” commands that we find in Scripture and some practical ways in which we can make changes in our lives in relation to these commands. As I mentioned last week, we are going to wrap up with love one another. Frankly, this is probably one of the hardest for us to do well, but probably the one most of us have convinced ourselves that we are pretty good at.

To quickly recap, we have talked about encouraging one another, praying for one another, valuing or considering one another, comforting one another, showing hospitality toward one another, caring for one another, having humility toward one another, and forgiving one another. At the end of those messages we ended with several practical steps we might take to improve how we do with these commands in our own lives. We’ve been challenged to let God point out to us how we are doing and what we might do differently as we continue to allow him to transform us. I hope that we all have taken these to heart as we considered how we might be able to work on how we might become more intentional about live life among each other.

Last week we started to talk about this idea of loving one another. Today, we are going to dig in a bit deeper on what that should look like.

As we get started, I have a question for you to consider as we dig into this morning’s Scripture passage. When I mention the idea of “love in action” what comes to mind? What do you personally do to show your love to others in tangible ways?

Turn with me to Romans 12, starting in verse 9.

Romans 12:9–21 NIV

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.

Last week, we talked about how we can learn much about loving others by looking at the life of Jesus. We talked about how it is not enough to have a head knowledge of love, we must let God transform our hearts to love others, because sometimes loving others just doesn’t make sense in our minds, but our hearts know that the difficult must sometimes be done. You see, loving others this way includes being willing to lay down our lives, just as Jesus did on the cross. Good shepherds were willing to lay their lives down for their sheep, just like Jesus did. Disciples must be courageous, but we must remember that our courage does not come from confidence in our own human strength.

Today, we want to focus on a bit more about what this love might look like in practice.

Paul has much to say about love in this Romans passage. The passage starts out with this idea that love must be sincere. If we go back to the original Greek, we would see something to the effect of hypocritical love. We need to understand this before we can dive into the rest of the passage. The verses that follow help us to understand a bit more about what this love that is sincere or unhypocritical should and should not do. This type of love requires a disciplined commitment to honesty and the respect of limits, something that we are not always good at as human beings. We tend to like to push the limits as far as we can.

Love like we are talking about is modeled after and only possible when God’s love is poured into our hearts by the Spirit. It is not a thing, but as the commentary describes it as an “abstract verbal noun describing behavior and attitudes of a particular kind.” Love is the comprehensive manifestation of the Spirit. It is not an accident that Paul continually refers to love the way he does throughout his letters. It is not an accident that love is the first manifestation mentioned of the fruit of the Spirit.

Love must come to some sort of concrete expression. It is not to be confused with sentimentality or some sort of self-indulgent passion, but rather a vigorous moral quality. All that follows in this passage will be manifested if our love is a sincere and unhypocritical love.

When believers love genuinely as we just discussed. We are to cling to:

Believers will hate what is evil and cling to what is good. (vs 9)

Believers will be devoted to one another in brotherly love. (vs 10)

Believers will honor one another above yourselves. (vs 10)

Believers will not lack in zeal, but will be fervent in serving the Lord. (vs 11)

Believers will be joyfil in hope. (vs 12)

Believers will be patient in affliction. (vs 12)

Believers will be faithful in prayer. (vs 12)

Believers will share with other people. (vs 13)

Believers will practice hospitality. (vs 13)

Believers will bless those who persecute us, not curse them. (vs 14) - there’s a lesson for us in 2020 in this one.

Believers will rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn (vs 15).

Believers are to live in harmony with one another. (vs 16)

Believers will not be proud but willing to associate with anyone, especially those who might be considered the least of these. (vs 16)

Believers are not to repay anyone evil for evil but will do right in the eyes of everyone. (vs 17)

Believers will as far as it is in our control will live at peace with everyone. (vs 18)

Believers will not take revenge. (vs 19)

That’s quite a list, just in these few verses. This type of love is based on the real, agape love of God for us. It is not directionless emotion or unexpressed feelings. Love is not genuine when it leads a person to do evil and refuse to do right. It is a real thing that will lead believers to do what is good as a result of the transformed life and renewed mind that only comes through the work of the Holy Spirit in and through us! We cannot love like this on our own strength or because of how good we are, it is only possible through a life that is being continually transformed through the work of the Spirit!!!!

Let’s take a step back and understand just how strongly Paul is speaking here. When we see the words “hate what is evil,” it is a strong hate. It is to hate exceedingly or totally abhorring the evil. In contrast, the words “cling to what is good” is similar to the intimate sexual union

of marriage, the committing of oneself to a community, or to travel together.

Romans 9–16: A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition In the Text

If agapē is Christian love in its highest form, it does not supplant but fulfills all other loves. As genuine love is expressed in a church, it acquires something of the character of an extended family or a community of close friends. Its members are bound together in deep fellowship, exhibiting toward one another a heartfelt and consistent mutual concern.

Listen to these two illustrations as we consider what this unfailing and sacrificial love looks:

Unfailing Love

There was a very unusual military funeral in California in December of 2013. Sgt. First Class Joseph Gantt, who fought in both World War II and the Korean War, was laid to rest. He had been captured in Korea in 1950 and died the following year. But his body was not returned for many years, and his death was never confirmed by the North Koreans.

His wife, Clara, waited for decades for her husband to come back. She regularly went to meetings with government officials seeking information about what had happened. Clara even bought a house and had it professionally landscaped so all Joseph would have to do when he came home was go fishing. She was ninety-four years old when his remains were finally brought home for a military funeral with full honors. It wasn’t the homecoming she dreamed of, but she finally knew his fate. Clara told a reporter who interviewed her, “He told me if anything happened to him, he wanted me to remarry. And I told him ‘No, no.’ Here I am, still his wife, and I’m going to remain his wife until the day the Lord calls me home.”

Love—true, godly love—is not temporary or transient. Love is a commitment that is meant to last. Love is not based on everything going right or always being happy. Love is not an emotional feeling but rather a choice of the will. Casual commitments do not produce a foundation for deep and meaningful relationships. Instead we should love others as God loves us—with an unfailing love that never ends.

https://ministry127.com/resources/illustration/unfailing-love

Sacrifical Love

Maria Dyer was born in 1837 on the mission field in China where her parents were pioneer missionaries. Both her parents died when Maria was a little girl, and she was sent back to England to be raised by an uncle. The loss of her parents, however, did not deter her young heart from the importance of sharing the gospel. At age sixteen she, along with her sister, returned to China to work in a girl’s school as a missionary herself. Five years later, she married Hudson Taylor, a man well-known today for his life of ministry, faith, and sacrifice.

Hudson and Maria’s work was often criticized—even by other Christians. At one point Maria wrote, “As to the harsh judgings of the world, or the more painful misunderstandings of Christian brethren, I generally feel that the best plan is to go on with our work and leave God to vindicate our cause.” Of their nine children, only four survived to adulthood. Maria herself died of cholera when she was just forty-three. But she believed the cause was worthy of the sacrifice. On her grave marker these words were inscribed: “For her to live was Christ, and to die was gain.”

In a day when many are self-absorbed and care more about what they can get rather than what they can give, we need a renewal of sacrificial love. It was God’s love for us that sent Jesus into the world to die for our sins, and it is that kind of giving love that our world needs so greatly today. When we love God as we should, our interests fade as we magnify Him.

Folks, the call to love this way is not something for us to take lightly. We are to love all people with this type of unfailing and sacrifical love. It will be difficult at times. It will be messy. Guess what - people are difficult and their lives are messy at times. No matter what, we are to love them with this type of love. We are to love:

the least of these

those who cannot help themselves

those who do not have a voice - we are to be a voice for them

republicans

democrats

liberals

conservatives

independents

white people

black people

hispanic people

asian people

indian people

native american people

rich people

poor people

middle class people

husbands

wives

children

families

and any other way we can think of to classify or group people.

You see, I do not see any passes or outs in Scripture for not loving someone or a particular group of people. As I mentioned last week, we cannot live out the other “one anothers” we have talked about without loving one another first! With a deep, unhypocritical, sincere love.

So what do we do with this? As we close this morning, I have some questions for you to reflect on:

Are you living your life in such a way to allow God’s Holy Spirit to transform your life into one more and more like that of Jesus Christ?

If not, are you persistent in your spiritual disciplines - time in the Word, time in prayer, time in silence - listening for God’s voice. Are you taking time away from all of the distractions to be able to hear what God is saying?

Is there someone in your life who you are not loving this way? Are there people in your sphere of influence who you need to love this way, but for whatever reason you have not?

Benediction:

May God take us on our journey May we follow you as Christ Lead us where we may not expect Bring out of us gifts and talents that we could not imagine having Teach us things about ourselves and others which are surprising and are the beginning of wisdom. May God lead us to connect with people in ways beyond our thinking Experiencing difference which jars and challenges our sense of normal Exposing us to needs that awaken our compassion And give us cause to act for good. May God confront our beliefs and dogma, Expose us to realities and experiences which stretch your belief and faith, Shattering the illusion of certainty which we try to cloak ourselves in. May God take on the way of the Christ, Not along easy or comfortable roads, But on the way to the cross Leading us as Spirit Towards the promised end. Amen (Source: Jon Humphries, Prayers that Unite)

https://pilgrimwr.unitingchurch.org.au/?p=256