Romans 12:9-13
We’re going to read some scripture and I don’t know if you thought about those words in that last stanza that we sang but when we’ve been there 10,000 years we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise than when we first begun so that’s amazing when you think about how long eternity is it reminds us of how short this life is and so that’s a good reminder to make our days count. We’re going to read some scripture this is Romans 12:9 through 13 the Apostle Paul writing to the Roman believers and you can follow along as I read. The Apostle Paul writes love must be sincere hate what is evil and cling to what is good be devoted to one another in love and honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal but keep your spiritual fervor serving the Lord be joyful in hope patient in affliction be faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need and practice hospitality.
We’re looking at one word from the Greek New Testament it’s the word allélón which is translated one another it’s used 58 times in the New Testament outside of the Gospels 40 times by the Apostle Paul but no surprise the command one another command that’s given most often in the New Testament is the command to love one another it’s given 12 times or 16 times actually in the New Testament to love one another. Jesus talked about that and in the upper room discourse John 13 a new command I give you to love one another as I have loved you so you must love one another, now there’s the new command the command to love one another is in the Old Testament but Jesus said I want you to love one another and here’s the standard just like I love you. And so, Jesus raises the bar and then he says this is how people will know that we’re followers of Jesus not by how many times you read your Bible during the week or how many times you go to church in the week no but by demonstrating genuine biblical love for one another that’s how people will know that you’re a follower of Jesus.
So, we’re looking at these one another commands in the New Testament there’s about 12 of them when you group them all together. So, we looked at the fact that we’re members of one another we’re part of the body of Christ and we studied that from 1st Corinthians 12 last week. We looked at the fact that there were to be like-minded one toward another that was Paul’s prayer in Romans 15 and let me read a portion of that may God give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Jesus Christ had. Also, we’re to have the same mindset toward one another that that Jesus had the mind of Christ and so we looked at Philippians 2 that tells us what the mind of Christ is like its humility it’s sacrifice and its obedience and so we’re to have a light like-minded and that brings that brings unity together. Well now we’re going to look at a passage that we read this morning has two more one another phrases in it so we’re just going to like go through these rather quickly this morning.
But let me give you the outline of the book of Romans chapters 1 through 12 is all about doctrine some of the greatest doctrines of the New Testament where Paul writes about justification and sanctification and glorification it’s all doctrinal. Then when you get to chapters 12 through 16 it’s all about duty about application so God does doesn’t want us to know like mental biblical facts so that we can do well at Bible trivia no he wants us to take the Word of God and apply it to our lives. And so, you start in Romans chapter 12 and this section Paul writes therefore I urge you brothers and sisters in view of God’s mercy offer your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and pleasing to God do not conform to the pattern of the world but be transformed how by the renewing of our minds. So that’s what we’re going to do this morning that our minds need to be reprogrammed and renewed by the Word of God so 12 through 16 is all about application.
So, this morning we’re going to run through this section and really, we can use this as a checklist we’re going to look at ten things very quickly that Paul tells us we need to do and the question is am I a loving person. Now we’re probably not the best one to answer that question ourselves because we all have a skewed view of ourselves perhaps you get a better response from your spouse or a close friend or somebody in your circle of influence but we’re going to think about this question of am I a loving person. Well, I don’t know if you’ve years ago we’re familiar with a comic strip that was entitled love is I think we have some of these up on the screen this morning it was created by New Zealand cartoonist her name is Kim Casali in the 1960s and this cartoon series originated from love notes that she drew to her future husband then it became a syndicated column in newspapers all around the world. And at the peak of this love is cartoon in the mid-1970s Kim Casali was earning five to six million dollars a year by drawing cartoons the love is cartoons. So, here’s just a couple that she drew love is love is all you need love is distracting you know yeah, we can all relate to that maybe in those early days here’s a great one love is visiting grandma and grandpa I’ll vote for that one.
But this morning we’re going to think from scripture what Paul says let me tell you what love is and there’s really ten of them you know that love is not a feeling. Dr. Gary Chapman who’s written so many books and probably a premier marriage counselor in Christian circles says that most couples experience the tingles and it lasts about two years that’s that euphoria of love when you’re falling in love but you can’t keep living like that and then actually, we come down to reality. But love is not a feeling Bob Goff wrote a book titled love does Dr. Gary Chapman wrote a book called love is a verb.
1. love is authentic
So really quickly this morning as we go through this passage 10 truths about what love is and we’ll use this as a checklist in our lives Romans 12 verse 9 love must be sincere here’s the first one love is authentic love is to be genuine. The word literally is unhypocritical love is to be the real thing oftentimes the way the world loves in relationships is transactional in other words you do this for me and then I will return and do this for you.
But that’s not what God’s love is all about and the key to being able to love like we’re going to just look at in Romans chapter 12 is from Romans 5:5 we can only love like this if God himself lives within us Romans 5:5 says that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts so if we’re going to try to love like Paul describes here in Romans 12 without God indwelling in us we’re not going to be able to do it. But God wants us to be a conduit of His love, love is authentic love is genuine God’s love is the real thing. And if we want to get a good picture of what God’s love looks like we could just go to that very familiar passage 1st Corinthians chapter 13 love is patient love is kind love doesn’t envy it’s not proud it doesn’t dishonor it’s not self-seeking it’s not easily angered keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth that always protects trust hopes perseveres love never fails that’s God’s love.
2. love is discerning
So, Paul says number one our love needs to be authentic but secondly the last part of verse 9 he writes hate what is evil and cling to what is good love must be discerning hate evil cling to what is good. Proverbs 8:13 to fear the Lord is to hate evil I hate pride and arrogance so we need to distinguish between hating sin and hating the sinner God doesn’t want us to hate the sinner but God doesn’t want us to hate sin and we live in an evil world and so love needs to be discerning. Psalm 97:10 let those who love the Lord hate evil so one of the problems in our culture today when we say that we’re to hate evil and cling to what is good is that we live in an age of relativism where people today don’t even know what is good and what is evil. Isaiah 5:20 woe to those who call evil good and good evil and that describes a little bit our culture today. George Barna did a recent survey about knowing the difference between right and wrong and here’s what they found out while lying is still considered sinful by 73% of individuals drunkenness gambling and premarital sex are seen as morally acceptable by most adults.
3. love is being devoted to one another
Dr. George Barna says this redefinition of sin has led to decades of social turbulence and spiritual confusion fewer than one in five Americans maintain a biblical view of right or wrong. Less than 20% Americans have a biblical mindset of what the Bible says is right and wrong and so love is discerning and that’s why we need to fill our minds with God’s Word and God’s truth well told you we’re going to run through these rather quickly this morning love is authentic or genuine love needs to be discerning we need to hate evil we need to cling to what is good verse 10 be devoted to one another in love there’s our one another phrase the matter of commitment the matter of devotion be devoted to one another in in love this is the word Philadelphia fell out fell us brotherly love kindness be devoted to one another.
This was the mark of the early church in Acts chapter 2 when the church started Pentecost now there’s 3,000 believers and so that church came together in the first century there in Jerusalem and they were committed or devoted to four things and this is Acts chapter 2 verse 42 I’m sure you’re familiar with this passage says those new believers devoted themselves to the Apostles teaching that’s God’s Word they devoted themselves to fellowship to being together fellowship opportunities like right after the service or a Thanksgiving meal and being together to the breaking of bread some say that refers to the Lord’s table and to prayer.
4. love honors one another
So, what made the early church so dynamic is that these believers were committed to God’s Word and to being together and to praying and to observing the Lord’s table in fact it says they were sharing their homes together and they were breaking bread daily being together and so a devotion love is being committed and devoted to one another. Well number four love the fourth thought here is that love honors one another the next phrase verse 10 be devoted to one another in love honor one another above yourselves honor one another and so in order to do this we have to have the mind of Christ that we talked about last week not thinking of ourselves first but of others first.
The word honor means to esteem and to value and to give respect and all through the New Testament we’re giving commands about honoring people Exodus 20 and it’s repeated in the Ephesians chapter 6 we’re to honor our parents that’s a lifelong command to honor your father and mother it’s the first commandment with a promise Leviticus 19:32 this is one I’m glad in the scripture you to honor the elderly so I’m in that category now honor those in authority that’s found in the scriptures honor your elders your spiritual leaders 1st Peter 2:17 honor all people love the brotherhood honor the king and so we’re to respect those that are have positions of authority we’re to honor one another respect one another and those that God puts into our lives.
For about a dozen years on Mother’s Day and Father’s Day we would have a father or mother of the year be nominated from somebody from the congregation that wanted to honor their mom or their dad. On Sunday morning we would then call that person up and just honor them and put their names are on that plaque in our entryway. That’s what it means to honor others to encourage them recognize them for all that God has.
5. love is enthusiastic
Well love must be sincere hate what is evil cling to what is good be devoted to one another love honor one another above yourselves verse 11 never be lacking in zeal but keep your spiritual fervor serving the Lord love is enthusiastic love is enthusiastic it’s zealous, love is enthusiastic we like to get excited about other areas of our lives and I grew up in a family of all boys and sports fans.
So you know in sports it’s acceptable to kind of go over the top but God says that we need to have some sort of zeal and passion in serving the Lord so keep your spiritual fervor in serving the Lord there’s a couple questions number one are you serving the Lord now have you have you found your area of giftedness and are you serving others are you serving the Lord do you do it with zeal and passion and enthusiasm God wants us to serve him with zeal and passion and enthusiasm.
And so I feel like I can be a little help here because I’ve been a pastor for 44 years and starting November we’ll start year number 45 and so one of the questions that as I thought about this is how do you how do you kind of keep your passion going for ministering and serving and pastoring have there been times of disappointment and discouragement yes but here’s a couple ways to keep your focus and in serving the Lord with enthusiasm I just jotted down some thoughts keep your eyes on Jesus that’s Hebrews 12:2, the author and finish of our faith who for the joy set before him went to the cross and endured for you.
So who are we serving or we’re serving Jesus and people can will always at some point in time disappoint us but if we’re going to serve with passion long-term we need to keep our eyes on him and then verse 2 says let’s run the race with perseverance and then God will reward us secondly here’s how we can keep our passion and enthusiasm recognize that our job and task is to be faithful and to leave the results to God 1st Corinthians 4:2 moreover it is required of a steward to be found faithful and so God does His work what he wants us to be is faithful in what he has called us to do.
Another way to keep your zeal and enthusiasm when you’re serving and ministering recognize that it is God who is at work and he is at work even when you don’t see tangible results so you’re teaching that Sunday school class or you’re the junior church class and like are these kids even listening are they getting anything and I want to remind you that God is at work and Isaiah says His word will not return void and sometimes we see results immediately and other times it’s long-term of planting the seed and then God makes that seed grow.
Here’s another principle that will help you long-term in ministry and keep your zeal and enthusiasm remember the Sabbath principle and how God designed us to live life work, work, work, six days what did God do on the seventh day not because he was tired he just was giving us an example and he wants us to rest and so the Sabbath principle is very important to replenish ourselves physically emotionally mentally spiritually I love the example of Charlie Kirk who said turn your cell phone off one day a week I would love to do that not sure I can but yeah we need to we need to reset and we need to have that Sabbath principle in our lives.
6. love is hopeful
All right five more here we’re going to run through that Paul tells us beginning in verse 12 be joyful in hope love is hopeful love is hopeful we serve the God who’s called the God of hope Titus 2:13 talks about the blessed hope what is the blessed hope it’s the return of Christ and so how can we keep our love going because love is hopeful Paul wrote the joy epistle from a prison cell in the book of Philippians why because his focus wasn’t on his circumstances but his focus was on what God is doing and God used Paul’s imprisonment what to witness to the Roman Guard and people came to know Christ and so hope regardless of your circumstances this morning you can have joy in hope if you know Jesus.
The old hymn says my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness great is thy faithfulness strength for today what bright hope for tomorrow and so ultimately our hope is not in this world this world will always disappoint us the news will be discouraging but what is our hope our hopes out of this world and so Paul writes the Thessalonians and he says when you lose a loved one that knows Jesus you can sorrow but don’t sorrow like those who have no hope because you will see them again someday if you know Jesus and that’s the great resurrection chapter that that tells us to keep on keep on serving the Lord be steadfast unmovable always abounding because of what’s going to happen someday resurrection and reunion we sung about it when we’ve been there what 10,000 years that’s where our hope lies and so love is hopeful.
7. love is patient
Here is Paul’s prayer and in Romans 15 made the God of hope fill you with all what joy and peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit well number seven love is hopeful love is patient in affliction be joyful and hope patient in affliction the word there patience is that word hupomoné it means to remain under and picturing when we go through trials the word affliction is the lips this it means a crisis a difficult time a tribulation a pressure.
When it happens in our lives our first response the Lord get me out of here but oftentimes God’s more interested in doing something within us in our character than he is immediately delivering us from our tribulation or our trial and so he asked us to be patient because God is doing a work in our hearts and lives that’s like that piece of coal that gets turned into a diamond but it’s through it’s through pressure John 16:33 Jesus said in this world you will have trouble but then he encouraged us and says take heart I’ve overcome the world James chapter 1 don’t be surprised when trials come that counted joy because God’s going to do a work in your heart and life and so love is patient in in trials and tribulations of verse 12.
8. love is faithful in prayer
Number 8 be joyful and hope patient and affliction faithful in prayer faithful in prayer so what are we to be doing this is all through scripture for Thessalonians 5:17 pray without ceasing Ephesians chapter 6 keep on praying for all saints and always keep on praying and so we’ve got this wonderful tool that we can go right into the presence of God 24/7 don’t need to make an appointment and prayer is powerful and so we need to keep on praying maybe that’s the most loving thing you can one of the most loving things you can do for a person some most powerful words that you can share and you share this if you’re actually doing it.
It’s easy, and I find myself very easy to say and talking to various people, like, I’ll pray for you, but then my question is, am I doing it? You know, that’s why a lot of times I write it down immediately, or sometimes I pray right there. But we are to be faithful in prayer, praying for our kids, praying for our grandkids, praying for our neighbors to come to know Christ, praying for our church, praying for our country, praying for our leadership, praying for our president. That’s commanded in 1st Timothy 2, to pray for those in authority.
9. love is generous
And so, love is faithful in prayer. Number nine, love is generous. Love is generous. Share with God’s people who are in need. This is the word koinōnia, share with God’s people who are in need. Again, this was the early church.
Acts chapter 2 and Acts chapter 4 says in the early church there were no needy people in the congregation, and they didn’t have any government welfare programs back then. Why were there no needy people? Because the church met those needs. So, in Acts 2 it says some people, perhaps as Acts 4, would even sell a possession or a piece of land, and they brought it to the apostles and they said, give to those that have need.
So, there were no needy people in the early church. And that’s one of the things that being a part of a church family can do for you, and we want to be intentional about this as well, and we have a benevolent fund, and quite frankly it’s active, it’s behind the scenes. But I would say this, we’re not, the leadership is not mind readers, but if you have a need, a genuine need, or you know somebody connected to our church that has a genuine need financially or otherwise, we want to know, because what do Christians do? We share with those in need.
And so, the Bible says love is generous, and the Apostle John writes, 1st John 3:17, if anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need, but has no compassion on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Your children, let us not love with words or speech, but with action and in truth. So, love is generous, love is generous.
10. love is hospitable
Here’s the last one, number 10 on our checklist of what love is, what genuine love is. Verse 13, share with God’s people who are in need, two words, practice hospitality, practice hospitality. When you look at that word hospitality, it’s an interesting word, it literally means love of strangers, love of strangers. And we kind of fall into our American culture of hospitality is that we have friends, and we invite them over, and then they invite us over, and like mentally we kind of keep track, like whose turn it is to have that person or that family over, and that’s fine and that’s good.
But biblical hospitality is love of strangers. It was critical in the first century when they had itinerant preachers. And they’re traveling through various towns, and back then there’s no like days in or holiday in, and so we can read this in 3rd John verses 5 through 8, what did the Christians do? They opened up their homes to these itinerant preachers, people that they didn’t know, but they practiced hospitality.
And so that’s what the Scriptures encourage us to do, Paul says, practice hospitality. And this question will be convicting for me as well, but when was the last time you invited someone, you did not know, maybe into your home or out to dinner? That’s hospitality, and that’s what love looks like. Practice hospitality.
Well, here’s our checklist of love. Love is, the Apostle Paul says, love is genuine, it’s a real thing, it’s because it’s God’s love channeling through us. Love is discerning, hate evil, cling to what is good, love is committed, being committed to one another, honoring others, love has zeal and passion and is enthusiastic as we serve the Lord.
Love is hopeful because our hope’s not in this world, but in the world to come. Love’s patient, even when going through trials. Love is faithful in praying for others. Love is generous, and then love is hospitable. I want to close with just sharing one other thought here that’s not in the text here, but I really think this is true, that the greatest act of love that we can do for somebody, the greatest act of love, is to share the gospel with them. That is the greatest thing you could do for a person.
I remember watching a video from years ago, and it’s out there in the YouTube world somewhere, and it’s the magician Penn and Teller. Which one talks? I think Penn talks. Am I right? Anybody know? Penn is the one.
One of them doesn’t talk at all, at least in the shows. But here, one of those magicians, let’s just say it was Penn, and he had done a magic show in Las Vegas, and somebody came up to him after the show, and Penn is an atheist, agnostic, atheist, doesn’t believe in God, and someone gave to him a Bible and like a little gospel track, and he received it. And then afterwards, he shares this clip, and he said, if this is really true, that it’s only through Jesus that you have eternal salvation, then if you don’t receive Jesus, you’re going to suffer eternal condemnation in a place called hell, if that is true, then I really respect this person, number one, for standing up for what they believe, but he says, how much do you, this was Penn’s words, how much do you as a Christian have to hate a person not to tell them the best news in all the world, that your sins have already been paid for, and sin has to be paid for, Jesus already paid for it, and you can have this wonderful gift called eternal life by putting your faith in Him.
the greatest act of love we can do for someone is to share the good news of the gospel
And so, the greatest act of love we can do for someone is to share the good news of the gospel. That’s why God’s placed you in your neighborhood, that’s why God’s placed you in your place of work, that’s why God has placed this church here, is to share the good news of Jesus.