Title: Love in Action

Text: Rom 12:9 -13

Date: 4-13-08.am

Introduction:

The last two weeks as we have looked in chapter 12, Paul has told us we are to be living sacrifices. We are to manifest righteousness in every area of our lives. We talked about our commitment to the Lord, that is total, continual, holy, acceptable and reasonable in response to the mercy and grace of God given through Christ Jesus.

Last week we looked at how that was manifest through a new and right or correct way of thinking about ourselves as people created intentionally and purposefully in the image of God; a right way of thinking about others within the body of Christ as members one of another, or belonging to one another. And a right way of thinking about our spiritual gifts and how those various gifts are used for the edification of the Body of Christ in order that the church might function properly, efficiently and effectively fulfilling it’s purpose or its commission to share the gospel with the world.

This morning the topic is love. We often talk of love in terms of emotional affection and have a holiday set aside to honor that kind of love, Valentines Day. The love Paul addresses in this passage and the love the Bible most often talks about is much more than emotion it is love in action. The Bible speaks a lot about that kind of love and how we as believers are to demonstrate it in our lives.

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” 38 This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 The second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” Mt 22:37-40 NASB

John 13:34 “. . . As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

1 Jn 4:7-12 John wrote: Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another. God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

The word used in those passages translated love is the word agape. We’ve talked about that kind of love before in our study of Romans. Paul used it in 5:5; 8:35 and 39 to express the idea of divine love, that unselfish, unqualified love of God for us. He also used it to express the kind of love we are to have for God. Now he uses it in verse 9 to describe our relationship towards others, expounding upon the teaching of Jesus.

In these last verses of chapter 12 he gives a series of exhortations concerning agape love. That’s the word Paul uses in verse 9. But he changes it to the word philadelphia in v. 10 which we translate in English as brotherly love. The idea is that selfless love is demonstrated through acts of brotherly love.

Paul gives a series of ten characteristics of how love is to be manifest withing the body of Christ. Each of these characteristics could be sermon in itself, but we are going to look at them as a whole this morning.

The first statement Paul makes regarding love is one that is so simple. Yet, so direct and challenging. It is one of those foundational statements for Christian thinking, Christian living and Christian action.

Love must not be Genuine v.9a

Let love be without hypocrisy.

The love we have for one another must be sincere, genuine. I would imagine most everyone here knows what hypocrisy is. It means pretending to be something you are really not. When the walk doesn’t match the talk. It was originally a neutral term with no moral meaning, it came from the Greek theater where the actor held masks and as the character changed they put up a different masks. In usage it came to have the negative moral and ethical understanding of pretense, deception or insincerity. Thus we derive another term two-faced.

People make that charge against the church all the time the church is nothing but hypocrites, and it's sad to say but that is true. Sometimes it's true intentionally because there are non-believers in church, but those of us who are believers recognize the fact we are still sinners who have been saved by grace. That doesn't give us a pass to be hypocritical, but sometimes we do things we shouldn't and have to seek God's forgiveness. That's what John tells us in 1 Jn 1:8-10 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. NASB

But, I find it interesting those who most loudly accuse the church of being hypocritical are the same ones that are loudest to suggest the church should be hypocritical by compromising on moral issues for the sake of political correctness.

And, all too often familiarity with culture has lulled many believers into a state of general tolerance for whatever deviant behavior is in vogue at the present time. (Mounce p. 237)

Paul says there can be no compromise - we must hate that which is in opposition to God.

Believers are challenged to live out the highest degree of love, and to do so with the highest degree of sincerity. Love must be genuine and as we saw last week in talking about the body this kind of love is also relational. It’s not just emotional or affectional it’s actional ( I think I just created that word). The idea that agape love is demonstrated is particularized in the exhortations that follow.

         Love must be Consistent

True love is consistent, it does not compromise the things of God. The word abhor means to utterly detest, to stand in horror of, or more specifically to hate. We are to abhor or hate that which is evil. Generally when we think of evil we think of something unspeakable Freddie Krugger, Jason from the movies, and I’m probably dating myself with those, or people in history such Hitler, the concentration camps of WW II, Joseph Stalin in Soviet Union, Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, Saddam Hussain in Iraq, the current genocide in Darfar. However, in a biblical since evil is more accurately described as moral unrighteousness, anything that stands in opposition to righteousness or godliness; unrighteousness in any form is evil and you could substitute the word sin and still have the correct meaning. While Paul does seem to have in mind all evil, he is speaking in a more narrow sense as evil concerns our relationship with other believers. Looking back to what he wrote in the previous verses particularly as it relates to pride for ourselves and disrespect or scorn for others in the body of Christ.

In contrast we must cling to those things which are good and right. The word cling means to join together, to bind ourselves to. Because of our tendency to fall back into sin we must hold tightly to that which is good or right. The precepts, tenets, doctrines of the Christian faith set forth in the Word of God are to be held on to tightly and are the basis of our consistent love and our relationship one with another.

         Love must be Devoted I0 Ro 12:10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; NASB

The change in terminology to philadelphia implies not only consistency in our love but a devotion to one another. In the family of God we are to demonstrate he same love, esteem and commitment that is shared by members of a natural family.

         Luve must be Unselfish 10 Ro 12:10 give preference to one another in honor; NASB

Chuck Swindoll says, ‘when we love as we should esteem others more highly than ourselves and readily give them the honor or recognition of their worth which they deserve as a result of being god’s own possession.

         Love must be Enthusiastic 11 Ro 12:11not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; NASB

Verse 11 requires that we engage in the work of love with enthusiasm and fervency in spirit. The manifestation of our love towards one another, serving one another in diligence or being conscientiousness in giving proper attention to a task of serving one another out of love. Fervent in spirit is giving the proper degree of care required in a given situations because serving others is service to the Lord. That’s the truth Jesus taught in Matt 25.

         Love must be Hopeful 12a Ro 12:12 rejoicing in hope, NASB

Christian love is built upon the living hope we have in a living Savior Christ. It is for that reason that believers can find peace and joy and hope in the midst of hopelessness. Love is show as we share this hope and experience this hope in union with other believers to help in overcoming hopelessness and despair through sharing the love and hope that is Christ.

         Love must Persevere 12b Ro 12:12 persevering in tribulation, NASB

Agape love displays the ability to persevere in the middle of adversity and tribulation. when we are being persecuted and rebuked when people are difficult to get along with and resistant to truth and hateful and hurtful. Christian love exhibits resilience and staying power continuing to minister Christ’s love.

         Love must be Prayerful 12c

Of all the ways we are to demonstrate love for one another this may be the greatest of all. We are commanded to be earnest, constant steadfast and faithful in our prayer life. While we are on our knees before God we demonstrate love by consistently lifting family, friends, associates and even enemies to God in intercession and petition, but especially those in the body of Christ. Paul combines these in verse 12 because we can rejoice in hope and persevere in tribulation only to the degree we are devoted to prayer.

         Love must be Generous 13a

This is love manifested in benevolence towards fellow believers. The ideal expression of this is found in the books of Acts 4:34-37 where those in the church sold land and houses arid brought it to the apostles to distribute to those in need. We don’t do that anymore but we have had in the past what in the south we call poundings. I remember the first time I used that term a lot of folks were scratching their heads. IT originally meaning bringing a pound of flour or meal or whatever. We bring canned good and such now, but the idea is the same. We receive a benevolent offering after the Lord’s supper that is used from time to time to help someone with groceries os such. We have to keep aware of those in need of our generosity.

         Love must be Hospitable 13b

The word translated hospitality means love for strangers. Hospitality was important in both Greek and Roman culture and Jewish culture in particular was distinguished for its hospitality. Christian ethics raised hospitality to a new level. It was originally used to describe the custom of opening ones home to others. As you read the accounts of Paul’s mission journeys in Acts you see this practiced wherever he went. But it came to mean so much more. Several passages in the New Testament such as Heb 13:1-2; 1 Pet 4:8-10 show that it came to be viewed as the concrete expression of Christian love. And 1 Tim 3:2; and Titus 1:8 we see this expression of love became recognized as an official obligation of the ministry. And again we see the importance of hospitality in Jesus words in Matt 25: 35-46. In our culture, in our day, this may be one of if not the hardest of all ways we find to express our love. Certainly in the world today we don’t often open our homes to strangers but we are no less obligated to discover ways in which we can manifest love through hospitality.

We recognize with, all honesty, there is hypocrisy in the church because we are all sinners, saved by the grace of God. No one in the church especially the pastor is perfect. We all make mistakes we all struggle with sin as John wrote in 1 Jn 1:8-10

8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. NASB We are hypocritical but we confess it we repent of it and seek forgiveness and seek to live better.

But the thing we must guard against the thing we can never take for granted and the thing that can do the greatest harm to the church is hypocrisy in love.

This passage is a call to honestly examine our hearts asking ourselves the question. “Do I love others especially those in the church sincerely arid without hypocrisy?” Are the characteristics of sincere un-hypocritical love evidenced in our lives. Peter says that this kind of love can only come from a relationship with Jesus Christ (1 Pet1 :22-23) If the answer is “no” or, “I don’t know,” or “maybe” or “I think so,” or anything other than “Yes,” we must repent and hasten to him in prayer resolved to commit ourselves totally to him that His love my be manifest in our lives in sincerity and honesty without any hypocrisy. Are you willing to make that commitment