INTRODUCTION
Opening Statement: In my reading this week, I came across a funny story that sets up our theme today. His name was Bud. He was a factory worker with more than a slight resemblance to Archie Bunker. Every single day he’d come home sweaty and dirty. He’d go in the back door, grab an alcoholic beverage of choice from the frig, and plop himself down in front of the TV until his wife brought him supper.
One day as he was driving to work he happened across a Christian psychologist on the radio -- kinda’ of a local version of James Dobson. And something the commentator said stuck in his mind -- that love and marriage are about sacrifice.
And it hit him – no, convicted him – that he’d been expecting his wife to sacrifice for him but he’d never really sacrificed for her. It was as though a relational light bulb came on and he knew that he had to do something about it.
So he decided that he was going to surprise her the next day. Before coming home he showered and shaved. He went to the florist and bought flowers and instead of going in through the back door he went to the front and rang the bell.
When she answered the door he held out the flowers and said -- "Honey, they’re for you! I love you."
She looked at him, her mouth dropped open. Tears filled her eyes.
And she said, "I’ve had a terrible day. Billy broke his leg and I had to take him to the hospital. No sooner had I got home than the phone rang. It was your mother and she’s coming to visit for two weeks. I tried to do the wash but the machine broke and there’s water all over the basement floor. And now, you come home drunk!
Transition: Poor Bud. He somehow knew that the concept of love was wonderful. However, he soon discovered that love relationships are difficult and messy and we’re not very good at it by nature. There’s a lot of pain and disillusionment involved in opening your heart to another person and all the baggage from our past is many times pulled into our present relationships. But, let’s give Bud credit; he’d finally got the right idea! He was on the right path, at least as mapped out by our text this morning. True love manifests itself in sacrificial action. Love and sacrifice goes hand-in-hand with husbands and wives, with brother’s and sister’s, with teammates, with business partners, with God and humanity.
Title: Love and Sacrifice
Background: The twelfth chapter of Romans opens with one of the most powerful exhortations in the New Testament, as we are urged to offer our bodies as living sacrifices to God, refusing to be conformed to the world, but instead being transformed by the renewing of our minds (12:1,2). Then Paul proceeds to show us what a transformed life and a renewed mind look like. Paul fires off a volley of short, sharp injunctions with very little elaboration. They are like little biblical bullets that are to impact the reader. The common theme that connects these biblical bullets is love.
Quotation: John R. W. Stott, the English commentator, calls these bullets, “staccato imperatives” and each one adds a fresh ingredient to the apostle’s recipe for love.
Recitation: Romans 12:9 Love must be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil, cling to what is good. 12:10 Be devoted to one another with mutual love, showing eagerness in honoring one another. 12:11 Do not lag in zeal, be enthusiastic in spirit, serve the Lord. 12:12 Rejoice in hope, endure in suffering, persist in prayer. 12:13 Contribute to the needs of the saints, pursue hospitality. 12:14 Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse. 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 12:16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty but associate with the lowly. Do not be conceited. 12:17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil; consider what is good before all people. 12:18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all people. 12:19 Do not avenge yourselves, dear friends, but give place to God’s wrath, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. 12:20 Rather, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing this you will be heaping burning coals on his head. 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Key Word: Romans 12:9-21 answers the question, "What are some practical, everyday ways in which God expects us to exhibit love in our relationships?" Love is not just a feeling; it’s also a sacrificial action. This passage gives to us the “actions” of love in FOUR ATTENTION SHIFTS alternating from love and sacrifice as it relates to believers and love and sacrifice as it relates to non-believers. We will put the thought units together and deal with Love and Sacrifice in Christian Relationships (9-13, 15-16) and Love and Sacrifice in Non-Christian Relationships (14, 17-21). The first deals with how love looks in the family. The second deals with how love looks in the world.
Notation:
Love and Sacrifice in Christian Relationships (9-13)
•Love is sincere and honest with the truth. (9)•Love gives preference to other believers. (10)•Love relishes Christian service. (11)•Love responds positively to trials. (12)•Love practices generosity and hospitality. (13)
Love and Sacrifice in Non-Christian Relationships (14)
•Love reacts positively to persecution. (14)
Love and Sacrifice in Christian Relationships (15-16)
•Love empathizes with a fellow-believer. (15)•Love shows special regard for the down-and-out. (16)
Love and Sacrifice in Non-Christian Relationships (17-21)
•Love refuses to react in kind to evil. (17-18)•Love rejects all motives of revenge. (19-21)
OUTLINE
Observation: Love is a miracle; it is not a natural thing. Exhibiting love in the way that the Bible advocates is truly miraculous. The Bible says that one day a man came to Jesus and asked him: “Sir, which is the most important command in the laws of Moses?" Jesus replied, " ’Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. The second most important is similar: ’Love your neighbor as much as you love yourself.’ (Matthew 22:36-39TLB).” The greatest thing that you and I will ever do in our lives, according to Jesus, is to love! If this is true, how can we become a better lover of people?
Quotation: The Apostle John wrote: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers ... Little children, let us stop just saying we love people; let us really love them, and show it by our actions (1 John 3:16NIV,18TLB).” Love is more than a feeling; it’s also a sacrifice of actions. And in the spirit of Romans 12:1,2, I want you to think of these actions as a “sacrifice” or “a living sacrifice.”
Question: What, then, is the first “staccato imperative” that Stott references in his commentary on Romans and that Paul gives to us here?
Love and Sacrifice in Christian Relationships (9-13)
Love is sincere and honest with the truth. (9)
Exposition: Verse 9 reads, "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good." The key word here is “authentic.” Authenticity ought to characterize both the way we present ourselves and the way that we express our love. Don’t just pretend like you love others, but really love them. And the way that you really love them – you sacrifice for them.
Question: What is the difference between real love and fake love? Actions! Real or sincere love demonstrates itself by doing, i.e. by actively helping others. But it’s not just blind “actions” for everyone’s agenda. Sacrificial love is also discerning; biblical love is not blind. It’s able to discern between good and evil. The latter part of verse 9 says “Abhor what is evil, cling to what is good.” We know what is evil – hypocrisy. But what is the good? We are to cling to love and sacrifice as it follows in the next 11 verses or so.
Illustration: More people have been brought into the church by the kindness of sacrificial Christian love than by all the theological arguments in the world. Conversely, more people have been driven from the church by the hardness and ugliness of so-called Christianity than by all the doubts in the world. I read the story this week about a lady named Beth who was talking to one of her friends and both of them were just ripping another lady named Michelle apart with their words. Much to their surprise, Michelle unexpectedly stepped out from behind a door to reveal that she had heard every word. Michelle stormed out of the room, red-faced with anger and deeply hurt. After this incident, Beth felt so badly about what had happened that she tried contacting Michelle via letter or telephone call to make things right between them but she could not get a response. What is most tragic of all is that Beth was known as a solid Christian and Michelle was not. I’ll bet that Michelle thought, “If that’s the way love works in the Christian family, I don’t need it.”
Explanation: I bring you back to the Romans 12:1,2 concept of sacrifice. Love sacrifices the luxury of tearing into someone with your words or the luxury of a false-impression. Sincere love knows sacrifice. Sincere love requires concentration on what is happening within ourselves and those around us. Sincere love requires effort on our part. It means helping others become better people. It demands our time, money, and personal involvement. “Let love be without hypocrisy.” Humbly accept the truth about yourself and lead your life and relationships with this kind of honesty. Don’t flatter or hide behind a mask of pretense and don’t try to be something that you are not. Sincerely love sacrificially.
Quotation: I love the quote that says: “You are not necessarily called to do something great; you are called to do small things with great love.”
Love gives affectionate preference to other believers. (10)
Exposition: Remember, we are still talking about the family of God here. Verse 10 reads, "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves." I bring you back to the Romans 12:1,2 concept of sacrifice. Love sacrifices our preferences for the preferences of another.
Quotation: I like Phillips’ translation here. He says, "Be willing to let other men have the credit."
Explanation: If you really don’t care who gets the credit, then you can just enjoy yourself and do all kinds of good deeds. Just be glad that it is done, and don’t worry about who gets the credit. Again, our flesh doesn’t like that. It is very eager to be acknowledged and promoted and recognized.
Illustration: I read this week about a very popular speaker who was introduced to great applause. While he was on his way to the platform with someone else who evidently had been announced as well, he stepped back, allowed him or her to pass, and then he mounted the platform applauding vigorously along with them.
Love relishes Christian service. (11)
Exposition: I bring you back to the Romans 12:1,2 concept of sacrifice. Love sacrifices time and energy in service, despite the setbacks. Verse 11 continues: "Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord." Paul argues that love issues forth in caring service.
Quotation: You’ve heard, perhaps, about the guy who was asked if he thought ignorance and apathy were the two greatest problems of human nature. He responded, "I don’t know and I don’t care."
Clarification: Well, Paul didn’t want to see that kind of attitude in the church; rather he urged for us to be zealous believers acting lovingly out of firm conviction and deep commitment.
Observation: The trouble with many of us is that we know we’re apathetic and we don’t particularly like it, but we don’t know what to do about it. I think the answer for us is so simple we often miss it. The answer may not be prayer or another Bible study. The answer is to get busy and serve! When the apathetic person begins to work he/she discovers that they gain a sense of satisfaction from being productive in service than they could ever achieve in their lethargy. Serve the Lord. Discover the joy of service!
Illustration: Do you know who serves the Lord with joy? It’s Helen Mosmeier? - a kind disposition, a pleasant smile, a gracious manner, a tender heart, a faithful servant. Over the years, funeral dinners that she has supervised or a meal that she has prepared or a moment of hospitality that she has extended into her home has touched many. (We won’t say anything about Eddy? You’re on your own there.) You may not hear her or see her, but all of us have felt her presence. I still remember her face as one on the pleasant faces I saw standing on the sidewalk when my moving truck turned the corner.
