Loving Sincerely
Romans 12:9-21 9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly 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 God'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 everybody. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my 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.
Intro: In a survey of 4-8 year olds, kids share their views on love. But what do little kids know about love? Listen to what they said.
- "Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other."
- "Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs."
- "Love is when someone hurts you. And you get so mad but you don’t yell at him because you know it would hurt his feelings."
- "Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK."
- "Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday."
- "Love is if you hold hands and sit beside each other in the cafeteria. That means you’re in love. Otherwise, you can sit across from each other and be okay."
- "Love is when mommy sees daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redbird."
- "I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones."
- "When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you." [Borrowed from Steve Shepherd, sermoncentral.com]
-People have all kinds of ideas about what real love looks like. One thing’s for sure: Love gives! God so loved the world that He gave…. The Bible also tells us that we are able to love because God loved us first. So as we get to know who God is, and align our lives with Him, the more love should be expressed in our lives.
-Romans 12:1-2 speaks of offering ourselves to God. Part of that means putting others before ourselves. After Paul gives the call for his readers to offer themselves entirely to God, and points out the variety of gifts God gives to people to use, he takes the rest of Romans 12 to give practical advice about what it looks like to love God and love man. He is talking about real love. He calls it sincere. It must be real! If it is insincere then it carries ulterior motives and is still all about ME! Insincere love (or selfish-love) is all about what will benefit me or mine. I may try to act graciously toward others, but in my heart I might be more concerned about myself than anyone else. Paul says, “Keep it real! Don’t fake it!”
-So 1 Corinthians 13 is known as the love chapter in the Bible, and describes love as patient, kind, not rude, not self-seeking or puffed up with pride, does not envy, is not easily angered, keeps no record of wrongs, does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth, always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres and never fails.
-These words in Romans 12 could possibly be called the love chapter, part 2. When I first approached this part of the chapter I just thought Paul got kind of happy with the one-liners on how to live for God. But as I looked closer I began to see a thread linking all of Paul’s admonitions together. Each of Paul’s commands or exhortations are really ways of expressing love to God and to fellow human beings. My plan of attack is a little different from Paul’s, however. I’d like to start with a few thoughts about loving God.
1. Love God.
Romans 12:11-12 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
-Avoid a lackluster Christian life! A friendship with and commitment to following Jesus Christ should never be dull, boring, or half-hearted!
-Be passionate about your faith and about the One whom you serve! Lack of passion results in lack of service.
-Have you ever been waited on by someone at a business and it seemed like the last thing in the world they wanted to do was to help you? Maybe they were tired or having a bad day, but they were completely disconnected with you and just wanted to be done with you. No passion for their job, no concern for their customer, no customer satisfaction. I wonder if we ever come across this way to the Lord? Do we lose interest and just put in our time? Why do you think the Lord wants us to be passionate about our faith and our service for Him? Because His love is not a placid thing! He is zealous for us! And that kind of love calls for a like response!
-Looking at v.12 we can find what drives this zeal or spiritual fervor to serve the Lord. It is joy! Joy is part of the fruit of the Spirit and it should be evident in every Christian. It is more than just feeling good and being happy. It is rooted in the hope that we have in Jesus Christ! And the well known triad of Christian virtues consists of faith, hope, and love. We have hope because we love and trust the God who loves us!
-So how do we love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength? Don’t be half-hearted about it! Be passionate about loving and serving Jesus! This passion both feeds and is fed by being joyful in the hope we have through Jesus. His promises are certain, and that gives us hope!
-We can also express our love to God by being patient in hard times. The lack of patience reveals a lack of trust and leads us to murmur and complain during the hard times, or it can lead us to try and take matters into our own hands and force a solution onto our difficult situation. We need to remember that it is hard to follow Christ if we are running out ahead of Him. He may allow us to go through a time of affliction or trouble to accomplish something lasting in us or through us. If we become impatient and resist Him, we may miss out on or delay what He is trying to accomplish in us. So, show God your love by patiently trusting in Him when you face hard times. Don’t run away from Him! Run to Him!
-The best way to do that on a consistent basis is through prayer. Be faithful in prayer. Being faithful in prayer keeps us connected with God as we communicate with Him and worship Him. God is looking for people who will love Him sincerely – worshiping Him in spirit and in truth.
-Now, we’ve been talking primarily about the vertical relationship between us and God, but the Bible tells us that loving one another is one of the best ways we can love God.
2. Love one another
1. Sincere love is protective
9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.
-Sincere love hates what destroys relationships.
-Sincere love hates sin bc of what it does to those we love and to the church. Sincere love is willing to confront (graciously & humbly) the sin in order to preserve relationship. Being okay with evil in a bro. or sis. does not preserve relationship. Being devoted to one another in brotherly love means caring enough about the other person to step up beside them and walk with them, leading them toward what is good. Even honoring one another above ourselves means caring more for the spiritual well being of my bro. than my own emotional comfort level. It takes guts to love! Sincere love is courageous and does the right thing!
2. Sincere love is devoted
10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.
-This speaks of commitment; not about what I get out of it, but about others. I am devoted to my church family. Therefore, I will do everything I can to support, strengthen, encourage, and bless the members of my family.
3. Sincere love is unselfish 10b
10b Honor one another above yourselves.
4. Sincere love is generous 13a
13 Share with God's people who are in need.
5. Sincere love shows hospitality 13b
Practice hospitality.
6. Sincere love responds kindly to mistreatment vv. 14, 17, 19-21
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.
19 Do not take revenge, my 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.
7. Sincere love shows empathy 15
15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.
8. Sincere love values peaceful relationships 16, 18
16 Live in harmony with one another…. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
9. Sincere love is humble (16)
Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
Wrap Up from The Message Bible:
9-10 Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.
11-13 Don't burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don't quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.
14-16 Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they're happy; share tears when they're down. Get along with each other; don't be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don't be the great somebody.
17-19 Don't hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you've got it in you, get along with everybody. Don't insist on getting even; that's not for you to do. "I'll do the judging," says God. "I'll take care of it."
20-21 Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he's thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don't let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.
-Sincere love does the right thing for the right reason! Do you love sincerely? How are you doing in your love expression to one another? How are you doing at expressing love to those who don’t return it? How’s your love relationship with God? Do you know Him? If not, you can start a relationship of love and trust with Him right now. If you are willing to go all in with Him, you start by confessing Jesus as Lord (Lord of all and Lord of your life); and if you believe with all your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you will be saved (forgiven, cleared of all guilt and sin, and made right with God). If you want that and need that, then take care of it today.
