Rom 12-Devoted Honor

| Devoted Honor! Romans 12:9-10

March 30, 2008 (New International Version) 9Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.(New Living Translation) 9Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. 10Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.(The Message) 9Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. 10Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle. PRAY Scripture Memory:Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. – Romans 12:4-5 (NIV) Intro:When you think of the following terms, what comes to mind? Love, devotion, honor… A few weeks back: 1. Sincere Love – True love is genuine2. Good Hatred – True love is discerningThis morning:3. Devoted Honor – True love is committed Review:1. Sincere Love – True love is genuine (v. 9)Sincere: based on the Latin words sine cera, meaning w/o wax – pottery – “Quality was stamped with sine cera (‘without wax’) to show that it had not been doctored.” (Boice)This is our goal. Like holiness, it is rarely pure, but it must be our goal.1 John 4:19 (NIV) – We love because He first loved us.We will NEVER be sincere lovers until we are secure in God’s love for us…To the degree that we are secure… Two things we need to grow in:1. Our understanding of God’s love for us2. Our love for each other because of God’s love for us 2. Good Hatred – True Love is Discerning“Love is not some mushy emotion that embraces all, forgets all, and requires nothing.”True love does hate.God is love. (1 John 4:7)Yet, God also hates…Because He hates, therefore we are to hate:Evil – Sin – The alternatives to hating evil:Compromise – giving up truth for the sake of…Redefining Evil to allow what we don’t hateOnce again we come back to v. 2 – our need to resist being conformed to this world’s standards and to have our minds (and hearts) transformed by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. Two more things we need to grow in:3. We need to grow in our understanding of what truly is evil—as GOD would define it…4. And We need to grow in our hatred of that which God calls evil… This morning:3. Devoted Honor – True love is committed (v. 10)(NIV) Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.(NLT) Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.(The Message) Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.Once again, notice the words associated with devotion: to one another, brotherly love, honor, genuine affection, delight in honoring each other, be good friends, practice playing 2nd fiddle Four Key Principles of Sincere Love:Devotion, Brotherly Love, Honor and Deference☞     Devotionv. 10a (NIV) – Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.philostorgos adj. from storge (cherishing one’s kindred, especially parents or children); 1. the mutual love of parents and children and wives and husbands. 2. chiefly of the reciprocal tenderness of parents and children. (Strongs)This kind of love allows for weaknesses and imperfections, communicates, deals with problems, affirms others, and has a strong commitment and loyalty to others. Life Application CommentaryThink about it: the devotion that we have for our family members goes WELL beyond what we feel about them or towards them. It takes MUCH more to cut off a family member than it does the CLOSEST of friends…This is the standard we are called to in the family of God… Be devoted to one another ☞     (2nd Key Principle:) Brotherly Lovev. 10a (NIV) – Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.Philadelphia – What is brotherly love? What does it look like?“Blood is thicker than water.”A common identity – We are familyFamily means many things. Not all families are close. Not all families enjoy each other.However, despite it all, family is still family… and the family we all WANT is a close one, a loving one… We all want STRONGER families…Kids on siblings:A Sunday school teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five and six year olds.After explaining the commandment to "honor" thy Father and thy Mother, she asked, "Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?"One little boy (the oldest of a family) answered, "Thou shall not kill." Dear God, Thank You for the baby brother, but what I prayed for was a puppy.    –  Joyce Dear God,I bet it is very hard for You to love all of everybody in the whole world. There are only 4 people in our family and I can never do it.     – Nan Dear God, Did You really mean "do unto others as they do unto you?"  Because if you did, then I'm going to fix my brother.   – Darla Dear God,Maybe Cain and Abel would not kill each other so much if they had their own rooms.  It works with my brother. – Larry A common Father – Out of love for OUR Father…   |   | A Mutual commitment (committed / devoted to the friendship)Proverbs 17:17 (NIV) – A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversityThe Message – Friends love through all kinds of weather, and families stick together in all kinds of trouble.Love overlooks defects. Arabian Proverb ☞     Honorv. 10b (NIV) Honor one another above yourselves.τιμή [time /tee·may/] – “honour,” “price” 1. a valuing by which the price is fixed. 2. honour which belongs or is shown to one. deference, reverence. StrongsThis means looking for ways to build each other up, to see and to acknowledge that which is goodThe goal of honoring someone is: to both make them look better in the eyes of others and to feel better about themselves.NOTE the difference between honor and flattery (sincere love – Honor is sincere. Flatter is manipulative)The place of humor…How many of you have felt hurt by someone else’s attempt at humor?How many of you have ever ASKED someone if they were hurt?“We only tease you because we love you…”Public and private honor…The opposite: harsh criticism (as opposed to constructive criticism)This takes effort in most cases. It is far more natural for us to take note of failure than of effort or even of success. – i.e. Patrick Morley and his roommate (changing the TP, vacuuming, washing the dishes / taking out the trash, mopping the kitchen floor…) ☞     Deferencev. 10b (NIV) Honor one another above yourselves.Proegeomai – to go before and show the way, to go before and lead, to go before as a leader. (Strongs)to live as a servant leader – living to make others successful – the traditional wife and mother…Mat. 20:20-28 (NIV)James’ and John’s mother came to Jesus and requested him to give them the seats of honor in His kingdom.24When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers.  25Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.  26Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,  27and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—  28just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” The joy of dying to self and honoring others…Phil. 2:3 – Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. What would this look like if we truly did this?***We would be more concerned that the efforts of our brothers and sisters were successful than we were about own…***We would be quick to jump in and serve and slow to resent others not doing so…We would be quick to acknowledge what others have done and be very willing to have no one even notice what we have done… as long as the glory goes to God and to our brethren…We would be VERY SLOW to get angry at others when they “failed” in some way. They are the true disciples of Christ, not who know most, but who love most. Frederich Spanheim the Elder Two more things we need to grow in:5. Our commitment to stand by each other through thick and thin6. Our commitment to doing whatever we can to make each OTHER successful   Summary / Review:Six things we need to grow in:1. We need to grow in Our understanding of God’s love for us2. And we need to grow in Our love for each other because of God’s love for us3. We need to grow in our understanding of what truly is evil—as GOD would define it…4. And we need to grow in our hatred of that which God calls evil…5. We need to grow in Our commitment to stand by each other through thick and thin6. And we need to grow in Our commitment to doing whatever we can to make each OTHER successful A Truth to Remember: God’s love for us is truly sincere. In full awareness and understanding of our sin, He still loves us intensely and enjoys our worship of Him. A Challenge to Consider:Which of the six things that we need to grow in are you willing to invest in over the next week or so? One thing I heard this morning was…   |