Love Must Be Sincere

Love Must be Sincere

Romans 12:9-21

Online Sermon: http://www.mckeesfamily.com/?page_id=3567

Is your love for God truly sincere? Do you genuinely love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind (Matthew 22:37)? That’s more than a question of religious practice—it’s a question of the heart. A question that cuts beneath surface behavior and into the core of our devotion. I'm not talking about a love that wears a mask—a shallow, performance-based kind of love that tries to earn God's favor in exchange for status, wealth, influence, or even health. Too often, we live out our faith like actors on a stage—switching masks depending on who’s watching. In ancient Greek theater, an actor would change roles simply by changing a mask. Don’t we sometimes do the same? We put on the mask of joy. The mask of peace. The mask of kindness. Not because those fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22–23) are truly growing from within, but because we know how they’re supposed to look. And in doing so, we can fool others—and sometimes even ourselves.

But God is not impressed by a performance. I'm not referring to the kind of love that only shows up when it's easy to serve God. Or the kind of love used to manipulate others, guilting them into submission or using spiritual authority as a tool to control. Jesus warned against that kind of leadership in Matthew 20:25–28:

“Not so with you.” In His Kingdom, love doesn’t lord over—it serves.

If our love for God is to be sincere, it must go deeper than transaction or emotion. True agape love is free from hypocrisy. It flows from a heart transformed by the majesty and mercy of God. It is rooted in pure motives. It reflects the character of Christ. It's a love others can trust.

But here’s the truth: We can’t manufacture this kind of love on our own. It requires surrender—dying to self so that Christ may live through us (Galatians 2:20). As James reminds us in James 1:6, we must “believe and not doubt”—trusting that God’s way of living and loving is better than anything the world or our own hearts could ever design. In the end, it’s not others who will judge the sincerity of our love. It is Jesus Christ—the Judge of the living and the dead (2 Timothy 4:1), the One who knit us together in our mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13–14). He sees through every mask. And He knows every motive.

Before we can love sincerely, we must be willing to look inward—honestly, humbly—and ask the hard questions. So today, as we open God’s Word and explore Romans 12:9–21, let’s come with humble and vulnerable hearts. Like David, let us pray:

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23–24).

May we be honest before God. May we lay down our masks. And may we cry out for the Spirit to teach us how to love—for real.

Sincere Love is Hating Evil and Clinging to what is Good

Romans 12:9 tells us that genuine love not only hates what is evil but actively clings to what is good. Love that is sincere is not passive—it takes a stand. We cannot truly love God while tolerating what He hates. But for our love to be truly authentic and honoring to the One we worship, it cannot be shaped by the shifting morals of the world. Instead, it must be defined by God Himself. True love is not dictated by our emotions, feelings, or human intellect—which, apart from God, is mere foolishness in His sight (1 Corinthians 1:25). If we long to one day hear the words "Well done, good and faithful servant" (Matthew 25:21) from the One who purchased us at the price of His own life (1 Corinthians 6:19-20), then we must submit to His definition of righteousness.

Instead of embracing the world’s values—which ultimately make us enemies of God—we are called to have a deep, holy hatred of all evil. God doesn’t leave us guessing about what is evil in His sight. Proverbs 6:16-19 gives us seven things the Lord hates:

Haughty eyes (prideful arrogance),

A lying tongue,

Hands that shed innocent blood,

A heart that devises wicked schemes,

Feet that rush into evil,

A false witness who pours out lies,

A person who stirs up dissension among brothers.

Yet, the Christian life is not only about rejecting evil—it is about clinging to what is good. We are called to put on the character of Christ (Colossians 3:12-14), cultivating compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. This transformation happens as we meditate on His Word (Psalm 1:2) and allow the Potter to shape us—fragile jars of clay (2 Corinthians 4:7)—into vessels of His light. Rather than being shaped by the world, we are called to be beacons of hope—illuminating the darkness and pointing others to the Father, our eternal portion (Matthew 5:14-16). This is the evidence of a love that is not just claimed, but truly sincere.