Sincere Love

Romans 12:9–16 NKJV

9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. 10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; 11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; 13 distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.

This paragraph has been given the heading in my bible “Behave Like a Christian”.

Based on the righteous of God revealed in the Gospel from faith to faith and the power that it has to save everyone who believes, Paul has given us the only true expression of worship worthy of such a gospel. We must present our bodies every member of our body to God, sacrificed in that it is dead to sin and only alive to God to serve Him. This is the life transforming power of the gospel. Not being conformed to this world but being transformed by the renewing of our minds, proving the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. As transformed people we have a new identity. We are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. That is that not only are we inseparably connected to Christ we are also connected to one another in order to serve one another.

Now as we come to verse 9 we see what this transformed life looks like in practice. Paul urges us to let our love be without hypocrisy.

Love Without Hypocrisy

Definition of Hypocrisy: Behavior that contradicts what one claims to believe or feel.

This is one of if not the most common criticism of the church by non believers. Why is that. For a start, as soon as a person stands and says I believe in something they set them selves up for the potential of hypocrisy based on our definition. If a person never confesses belief in something then then they can never act in a way that contradicts their belief. Hypocrisy is not just confined to Christians. It is part of our fallen nature to be hypocritical. When someone pulls out in front of us in traffic we believe that they are in the wrong and we toot out horn, maybe even get angry at them. But when we pull out in front of someone we are justified because we had to wait for a gap in traffic for five minutes and we had to push in because who knows how long we would have waited.

Christ talked about religious hypocrisy.

Matthew 23:23–27 NKJV

23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. 24 Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! 25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. 27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.

Unfortunately the criticism that the church is full of hypocrites is accurate. But it is not accurate because it is our new nature to be hypocrites. God would have us transformed from being hypocrites. The process of sanctification at work in us is to bring our life in line with our belief.

So Paul urges the Roman church and our church this morning let love be without hypocrisy. This “love” should be taken in the broadest sense.

First and foremost our love for God should be without hypocrisy. We say that we love Christ we sing about it and yet our mind is wondering during the message. Are we thinking about something else rather than listening to the very words of Christ who we claim to love? It is hypocrisy. We sing about worshiping God but do we give our time and energy to the lust of our flesh, sin? It is hypocrisy. Christ said if you love me keep my commandments. Is our love of God with all our heart and mind and soul genuine? We need to transforming power of the Holy Spirit to come and change us.

The church is full of professing Christians who are not transformed. Are we playing games?

If we say that we love God but we hate our brother we are a liar. Is our love for one another genuine? Or do we pretend to love one another because we want to appear spiritual?

Let you love be without hypocrisy.

Hating Evil

It is interesting that immediately after the exhortation to love Paul commands us to hate. Mainly because in our culture love has been made into some warm fuzzy feeling. Because of this people struggle with the idea that God is love and yet God abhors sin. And God will bring judgement on the world. How can God be love and yet have hatred. Arn’t they incompatible?

The truth is they are not only compatible but true love cannot exist without hatred. To love something you must hate anything that would destroy it. If you love a car then you hate the rust that eats away at it. If God loves me then He hates the sin that destroys me.

Christ said...

Luke 14:26 NKJV

26 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.

1 John 2:15–17 NKJV

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

To love God without hypocrisy means that we must hate that which is evil. The transformed Christian no longer loves the world rather they hate the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. These are not of the Father.

If we abhor what is evil then we must also…

Embracing Good

To have genuine love for God without hypocrisy means we must hate what is evil and cling to that which is good. So what is good.

Jesus told the rich young ruler that no one is good but One, that is God. So we must cling to God, embrace God. Lift up you soul to Him which is good.

The psalmist said in...

Psalm 133:1 NKJV

1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity!

It is good for us to come together and be together in unity. If we love God without hypocrisy then we must not forsake the assembling of ourselves together.

Paul said in..

Philippians 4:8 NKJV

8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.

What do we meditate on? What do we allow our minds to dwell on? Is it good? Is it true? Is it noble? is it just? Is it pure? Is it lovely? Is it virtuous, praiseworthy?

Be very careful about what you allow you mind to dwell on.

The world’s criticism of the church is accurate. The church is full of hypocrisy. People who pretend to have faith in Christ but they do not. People who pretend to love Christ but they do not. People who pretend to love the brothers and sisters but they do not. We all suffer with hypocrisy. We all need to have the Holy Spirit work within us and change us remove our hypocrisy by bringing our lives in line with what we believe.