Trinity Baptist Church August 24, 2008
Combating complacency
Authentic Love
Romans 12:9-21
Some of you remember that once upon a time I was -- sort of a hippie. It was during college -- Patty and I both attended K-State. My second Summer in college I left conservative K-State and went to a Navigator summer program in Boulder, CO. If you’ve been to Boulder you’ve seen the remnants of the liberal side of life that started back then. Believe me, you don’t know the half of it! That was the Summer of ‘71 and as far as the children of the 60’s were concerned it still was the 60’s! It was certainly a shock to my system!
Our objective was to reach street people with Christ‘s gospel. So we rented a fraternity house, held jobs during the day and spent evenings and weekends trying to share Christ with people in parks and on the street. Some, we invited to stay at the house and they shared meals and life with us. It was fascinating to say the least. Some of us including me, figured we should take on outward signs to speak to our target audience. I grew my hair long and even managed a little facial fuzz. I bought a thick iron cross to wear around my neck. I really thought I looked the part.
We learned a powerful lesson that Summer from some of our new friends. They weren’t really awed by the look we took on. Those symbols -- hair, clothes, jewelry were just that -- symbols -- and they didn’t impact them. But one thing made lots of them sit up and take notice when they encountered it. It was an experience they’d never had -- authentic Christ-like love.
We should have known it going in -- after all, Jesus did say, By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. He communicated that the striking and undeniable mark that we’re His -- is God‘s love streaming from us. That was true for the disciples who heard it and it remains true. We think we know that -- but this issue is one of those things we can easily know about without it reaching down to our behavior.
We’re in Romans 12 -- today completes our study. I’ve said a good title for Romans 12 would be “God’s prescription for our complacency.” God knows how much we need it -- twin diseases -- apathy and complacency -- seem to plague the American Church. This chapter not only points to God’s answer, it urges us to it.
Romans 12 began with that urgent summons in verses 1 and 2 -- it is to offer up yourself like a sacrifice to God Who’s so incredibly merciful and gracious. Paul told us that sort of sacrificial worship is the only worship that makes sense.
So people who know God’s grace ought to give their whole selves to Him -- as holy offerings and worshiping. There are two areas of overflow. We talked about the first one last time, from verses 3-8; when you give yourself to Christ you’ll commit to Christ’s Body, the Church. After all, God didn’t just make us part of Christ, He made us part of His Body. Along with our connection, we have God-given capacities called gifts. Those gifts are the avenues by which we then can serve in the Church.
Plenty of us need to wrestle with that whole concept. Our independent American spirit often leaves Christians not only disconnected but also apathetic about serving Christ’s people and Church. If you’re at that point, I can only urge you to let God turn you around; you‘re not at a good place -- and, believe me, your walk with Christ doesn’t move forward when you try to regard Christ but disregard His people. The NT asserts that serving His people is an accurate barometer of commitment to Christ.
There’s another barometer in our verses today. It also makes us uncomfortable -- because we often prefer cheap imitations. If you’d go to downtown Moscow or New York or London, you could buy a “Rolex watch” or a “Prada purse” on the street for 10 or 20% of what you’d pay in the stores. Your image might get a boost, but the reality is, what you have wouldn’t be the genuine article. Paul talks to us today about the genuine article.
I’ve said that Romans 12 addresses three significant relationships -- first is the one we have with our God. The second – is relating in the body and serving it. The third is relating to people we encounter everyday -- both believers and unbelievers.
Your relationships tell a story. They reflect what’s in you and show up how things are between you and God. That’s why the NT talks so much about them -- they gauge authenticity. Authenticity is the concept we begin with in verse 9. Look at the Central idea: when it comes to relating with people -- Paul write, practice authentic love -- he adds to that, abhor what is evil and cling to what is good. Those are parallel ideas and amplify what it means to love people with sincerity.
The New International translates it, love must be sincere. Our English word sincere has a story behind it. It’s from a Latin word meaning "without wax." That term grew from a practice of Roman merchants who sold porcelain and clay jars and pots. Their jars would sometimes have cracks -- they’d just take some wax and fill the crack, then paint it -- the buyer wouldn’t be any the wiser. Over time, buyers learned to hold clay jars up toward the sun and look inside -- if a jar had a crack, the sunlight would show it up. Honest merchants labeled their jars and pots “sincerus” -- “without wax“.
That word reflects what Paul’s says -- Let your love be sincere -- not hypocritical . No -- hiddenness -- be certain it’s the genuine article. Historians tell us, one of the primary qualities exhibited among early Christians was authentic love. If you’d been around and you wanted to see that quality demonstrated, you’d have found it among the Christians.
They took seriously the words of Jesus and the apostles -- like when Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:5, The goal of our instruction is love. Love without hiddenness is the objective as Christ-followers learn His Truth and are transformed into Christ’s image.
But then, like now, Christians would fall into the habit of -- imitating -- using the “right” words or putting on outward signs -- just settling for less than the real thing. We aren’t the first generation to put on images and pretend we’re something we’re not. Paul says, that’s disallowed. The Body of Christ must not be a place where phony expressions violate what Jesus did.
Christ saved us -- and He gave us His Spirit -- Romans 5:5 tells us, the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who was given us. Romans 5:5. Imitation love is never a fruit of God’s Spirit, it flows out of the flesh. It comes from the great pretender that lurks inside and wants others to think well of it.
Authentic love flows when we’re imbibing God’s Word and responding and then allowing God’s Spirit to fill us and provides us everything we need to love people like God loves them. That’s the source -- it’s obedience and just being available to God‘s Spirit. That’s the overflow we want to talk about today -- it’s the central idea. What’s it look like when it’s lived out? Paul gives us three larger areas, then some practical areas under each one. First, he says,
Authentic love means caring intentionally for fellow Christians.
My human nature says -- look out for # 1, and do what I can for someone else if and when it’s convenient. My tendency is -- make sure I get the recognition I deserve and let the other guy take care of himself. God pushes us to a radically different attitude. It’s get your vision focused on others -- and out of that, act, whenever you can, to serve their needs. There are three application areas.
He urges us first, exhibit commitment to the “family”.
Verse 10 reads, be devoted to one another in brotherly love. The word devoted was a word used in describing good relationships inside the family.
So, we are treat fellow Christians like people in a loving family treat each other. That’s because we have a family relationship with each other -- we literally are sisters and brothers. So, my concern for a brother or sister doesn’t stem from the fact that I know someone, or like them, or that they’re facing a crisis -- but just because we are bonded together in Christ. The idea isn’t for you to care in some overt way about believers you know best, or enjoy most, it’s simply, you both know Christ -- and so you’re committed -- even to family members you’ve never met. Jot down Galatians 6:10 and memorize it -- it says, whenever we have the opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
So, commit to all the members of your family. Then,
Practice honoring other Christians.
Verse 10 puts it, give preference to one another above yourself. The NIV says, honor one another above yourselves. The NT way to honor others is to put them first. The way to love believers is to take a back seat -- to assign your needs and wants and plans to the back burner and get your sights set on what someone else needs.
It could be as simple as what happened yesterday -- help was needed to accomplish a move. And people -- even people who had plans for their Saturday morning made the choice to prefer someone -- to honor them; they set aside plans and simply went and helped with the move. Philippians 2:3 teaches the same thing -- it says, don’t think simply of your own interests, but also of the interests of others. Obviously, that requires that you take interest in people -- that you observe, ask questions, and listen. It means, pray for fellow believers, and even ask God, “how could I honor this brother or sister or family?“
Then, take the time or funds or whatever you have that might be useful and invest it in someone else’s life. Honor them. The third facet follows that.
Be generous with believers in need.
Verse 13: contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.
Galatians 6:10 told us to do good to everyone, whether they‘re Christians or not. But within the bonds of Christ, there’s a special obligation to generously give to meet needs. We saw that reflected after the Day of Pentecost when believers in Jerusalem who had means gave and gave in order to feed and house believers visiting from elsewhere who had no way to meet their own needs.
Authentic love looks out for others. It recognizes, and takes note, and does something about people who don’t have the daily necessities. We’ve got some Trinity people who are so good at this. It always blesses me and challenges me to do the same, when I happen to see or hear that they’ve reached out again to give someone some money, or a gas card, or feed people who don’t have enough. We move at a fast pace today -- so if you’re not looking, or praying, or asking, you will likely miss out on the opportunity to bless someone in the Body. If you need help, or you’d like to practice that, ask someone to point you in the right direction. Paul aligns hospitality with that because in the early church, hospitality often meant feeding and housing people who didn’t have food or housing. Modern hospitality -- where you simply open your doors and invite fellow believers in -- is also a great way to demonstrate genuine love for people. When you do that, you’re sharing what God has given you in a very personal and loving way.
Love first means intentionally caring for other believers. Secondly,
Authentic love means connecting with other Christians
Paul’s point here is that love commits the time and effort to see from someone else’s perspective, and connect with them in the depths of life -- whether it’s in pain or in rejoicing -- it also means accept and receiving others that Christ has accepted. How do we connect?
The first way is in verse 15 -- Exercise empathy. (15) Rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn. You know what the usual best response is to someone who hurts? Hurt with them. Enter in, as much as possible, to what they’re experiencing. You don’t have take them books about suffering -- or work up a sermon to preach it to them, you don’t have answer all their questions or put all the problems into perspective and explain what God is doing. Just be there and empathize.
I read about a professor who’d lost her father in a painful battle with bone cancer; she said she was troubled by some of the notes and cards she got. It seemed like some people did their level best to steer her way from the normal time and process of grief. They wrote notes and asked her things like, "Are you still applying to grad school?" or "How’s your teaching going?" or "Are you keeping busy?" She said what she most needed was the few people who’d simply say, "I’m so sorry for your loss." She didn’t want to hear how she should feel, she just wanted people to walk with her as she moved through the sadness.
The same goes for good things people experience. Verse 15 is also a command to love people by celebrating their joys and victories. Like, when God blesses them with a good job or they get a house or a car. They really don’t need you to respond by talking about your job or warn them about the lousy gas mileage of their new car. At our house yesterday, I was in the den and I watched a steady stream of women coming in and going downstairs -- they were doing what this verse says. They took the time to rejoice with Wendy as she rejoiced at her wedding shower. If you take part in those kind of celebrations of life, like baths and showers and weddings, you are expressing God’s love for family members. Would you look around this morning, and think of some concrete way you can do that with someone who’s either hurting or rejoicing. Secondly, work to
Build unity in the body. (16)
Verse 16 be of the same mind toward one another. Live in harmony with one another. In music harmony implies you don’t sing the melody, you just add to the whole of the song. Harmony also implies that we may not all be singing the same notes, but we’re still working together. Psalm 133:1 has always been one of my favorite verses -- it says, how wonderful -- how pleasant it is -- when brothers live together in harmony. (Psalm 133:1) We’ll never all think alike or act alike or have the same interests or the same type of personality.
Every Christian in every church is different from all the others, but we can be unified, as we determine that our life as a Body will center on Jesus Christ and His Word. It’s far more than just peaceful co-existence or being sweet looking on Sunday morning -- it’s knowing each other well enough that we can even disagree, yet pursing the mind and direction of Christ as one. Harmony is a powerful way we display love.
Third, Demonstrate acceptance. (16)
Verse 16 do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Here’s a test for us as believers, as a church -- it’s a test for your small group, or SS class or your youth group. How easily can outsiders find their way in? Are we cliquish and walled off? Is that what new people feel? Another test -- how do we respond to people who aren’t like us -- in age or race or income level, or education or …anything else?
How quickly could someone very different become someone you would both receive and in the words of verse 16, associate with? This is the principle that distinguishes us from being just some kind of religious club. If we’re the kind of church where only certain kinds of people feel received, then we’re not loving people like Christ loves them. Authentic love gets expressed when you receive others in Jesus’ name. Period. And don’t lose sight of how this is connected with biblical humility. Paul specifically says -- choose to be with, to go to -- to fellowship deeply with people who are not like you. Choose it and practice it. Things don’t get any less challenging with the third major area here.
Authentic love means not “getting even“.
I sometimes read letters to the editor in magazines and newspapers or I read internet blogs and I read comments that are absolutely depressing. It’s even true with Christian publications and blogs. You discover quickly that there are some horrible ways we use to communicate. For instance when someone disagrees with a writer or blogger over a political or theological issue, they’ll rip them to shreds. And it seems, it’s the idea is, even with Christians that if someone gets nasty to you, it‘s okay for you to respond in kind. God says to His people, “don’t respond in kind.”
He calls us to a very different approach and a very different path. First,
Respond to mistreatment with kindness. (14)
Verse 14 sounds like a word from Jesus from the Beatitudes: Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Those who persecute you -- enemies -- who’s that? For most Western Christians, the extent of persecution might be an occasional insult or a snide remark about our faith from someone who prefers to live life their way. But the principle here isn’t only valid for people who are “Christian haters“.
The principle applies to anybody who hurts or mistreats you.
Very often, those are the people we know best. We hurt them and they hurt us. It happens regularly in the church and in the family. The principle also applies to people who pull in front of you in traffic; to your spouse when he or she says something cutting or unkind or sarcastic. It certainly applies to Christians with whom you disagree. Someone snaps, or bites, or points a finger at you in traffic and you…. how do you respond?
By nature (the old nature!) we respond in kind. We lash back at our spouse or children or parents. Drivers drive faster and cut each other off in return. Christians get amazingly rude to people who for whatever reason.
God’s Word says, don’t respond to the insult with another insult. Don‘t react to an angry word with more angry words. Instead, with no hint of sarcasm, respond with blessing. That means, speak kindly, speak with appreciation and speak to lift up the other person. Crazy, huh? Even impossible? But that’s how Christ-like love responds when it gets mistreated -- not with a curse, but with a blessing, by doing good and speaking well of people who hurt us. The principle in all these conflict environments, Paul says, is
Exemplify righteousness. (17)
In heated situations, when the only human thing to do is respond with a zinger, or with pain to them, with a finely sharpened word or act of your own -- Paul says, no, respect what is right in the sight of all men. Another translation: Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.
On the surface that sounds impossible, everybody never agrees on what’s right. That’s not what Paul is saying. It‘s, literally, by your life, by your responses, you illustrate with something that other people can look at and imitate. The New Living says, Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. You have a choice in heated environments. You can escalate or you can illustrate. Love calls you to illustrate what Jesus is like in the face of pain and abuse.
Peter said about Him, as He headed to the cross: while being reviled, He
did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously… (1 Peter 2:23) He did not respond in kind. That’s love. He calls us to the same kind. Instead of harsh responses,
Bring about peace. (18)
Verse 18: If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Again God insists on unity and harmony. Not being a doormat, but rather, creating a situation that’s peaceful. When you read insofar as it depends on you, you realize that in probably 9 out of 10 times that’s enough to settle things and allow God’s peace and Truth to invade the relationship again. That will mean sometimes you overlook others’ offenses. Love covers a multitude of sins, Scripture says. If it can’t be overlooked, when it needs to be you can handle it calmly and well in love, with no name-calling or insults. Love calls us to give more than we get --
and accept this as part of demonstrating Christ’s kind of love. Finally,
Forgive and bless hurtful people. (19-21)
Verse 19, never take your own revenge, beloved but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord. But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.
Here’s the consistent biblical principle. You don’t need to settle your own scores. You don’t have to keep track of who needs retribution and who doesn’t. Why? Because that’s God’s business. It’s His purview and authority and His task. Your job is quick forgiveness, it is to bless even people who curse you and hurt you and it is to live at peace with people around you.
Paul stretches our understanding with 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." That burning coals phrase likely refers to a tradition of a neighbor offering another neighbor coals enough to start a fire when theirs has gone out. You express Christ-like love when you taking the path of no revenge. It will mean, you bend, you overlook, you forgive, you never get even. You trust God to do what He wants.
Steps I will take
Imagine just for a minute how apathy and complacency would be dealt a death blow, if you and I would take deeply and seriously all that we’ve talked about today and the last two Sundays. These are absolutely radical concepts; no culture, no society, no people live like this. But they represent the high call of Christ Jesus on people who give life over to Him.
Before you leave today, would you just jot down one name -- someone to whom you can show the unmerited love of Christ. Maybe a person who’s hurt you, or a person in need, or someone you barely know. A brother or sister, even an unbeliever. Ask God -- “use me to show authenticity and love to this individual.” Then, this week, do it. Give, provide, talk, serve, offer time, forgive. Express God’s love like maybe you’ve never done.
