Love and the Christian Life
1 Corinthians 13 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 1 viewA practical living out of a 1 Corinthians 13 lifestyle
Notes
Transcript
This week and next week we are going to be spending a little bit of time in Romans 12:9-21. Tonight we will just be in 9-13 and what is incredible about this section is how much it reads like 1 Corinthians 13. For the past month we have looked at that chapter and we see a love that is not only expected of Christians, we see the love that is demanded of Christians. The agape love that Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 13 is the same agape love that we are going to see tonight in Romans 12:9-13. In the book of Romans, agape love is seen in a number of places: at the cross, as something that is poured into believers, and the love that we can base our security of salvation in but then we get to Romans 12 and we see what John Stott refers to as agape love that is the essence of Christian discipleship. When I say the word discipleship, what do you all think about? Chances are we usually think of discipleship as a 1 on 1 meeting between Christians where there is a pouring into the spiritual life of someone. We think of it as a pastor’s job to train people up in the Lord. We may think of what a husband may do with a spouse or parents with children to raise them up in the Lord as discipleship. We might even think of the act of evangelizing and going out and making disciples as discipleship. All of that is correct. All of that contains elements of what makes discipleship what it is. Discipleship is really an intentional living out of the truths of Scripture within the Christian life. If we are going to love like we see in 1 Corinthians 13 and what we will see in Romans 12, we will naturally be doing discipleship. What we can do with Romans 12:9-21 is split it up into two outlets of love and discipleship. Verses 9-13 is focused towards our fellow believers and verses 14-21 are focused towards unbelievers. Let’s pray and then we will read Romans 12:9-13
Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor;
not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;
rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer,
contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.
Genuine Love and Clinging to Good
Genuine Love and Clinging to Good
I will admit that this section of Scripture, really 9-21, is a difficult section of Scripture to outline. Each statement could be a sermon or a lesson on its own so obviously we won’t get to dive in quite as deep as we could. Let’s look at the first phrase that Paul writes in verse 9. He says, “Let love be without hypocrisy.” Some translations say, “Let love be genuine.” I think genuine is definitely easier for us to understand. Right out of the gate, Paul says that true Christian love is to be authentic. It’s to be sincere and genuine. It is to be a love that practices what it preaches. Far too often in our Christian lives, we fall into the trap of Southern Christian hospitality and call that love. One of the cruelest and most popular ways that we see a hypocritical love comes from every southerner’s favorite phrase: “Bless their heart.” When we as southerners says bless your heart, what do we mean by that probably 9 out of 10 times. You’re an idiot. If you do something and someone says, “Bless your heart” are they being genuine in that statement? Most the time they aren’t! And Paul was just as aware of this problem as anyone else in Christian history, maybe even more aware! There is a temptation for us as Christians to be unauthentic in the love that we show to other believers. I think that we even see Christians fall into a pattern of, “I know what Christian love should look like, so I’ll play the part and look like a Christian.” But is that genuine love? Is that love without hypocrisy? No! We mentioned it back in 1 Corinthians 13 that true love is not something that is done solely to cross something off of a list. Listen to what John Calvin writes in his commentary on Romans 12:9: “It is difficult to express how ingenious almost all men are in counterfeiting a love which they do not really possess. They deceive not only others, but also themselves, while they persuade themselves that they have a true love for those whom they not only treat with neglect, but also in fact reject. Paul declares here, therefore, that the only real love is that which is free from all dissimulation.” Dissimulation there means that real love can only exist when it is free from every impure motive or pretense. What Paul is telling the Romans and what Paul is telling us is that love or the appearance of love cannot be used as a disguise for impure motives. If we are to be Christians, we need to love with pure motives. To be a Christian means that not only do we love Christ, it means that we love His bride. We love every single aspect of that bride. Think of it like a human body which is what Paul uses in other places to describe the Church. Let’s say you are talking to your spouse and you say, “Honey, I love practically everything about you! I love your eyes, I love your smile, I love your hair, I love your legs, but man I cannot stand your personality. I can’t stand your worldview, I can’t stand your politics and thought processes! In fact, I hate those parts of you! But hey, I love you!” Is that love? No, in fact, that hatred of those few aspects will diminish from the love that you claim to have for the other parts. The same is true of all our fellow believers. One cannot claim to love Christ and hate the church. It’s simply not a possibility. Now this does not mean that it is always easy. Again, that’s something that we’ve talked about a few times in this series. But also like I’ve said throughout this series, your love for others as a Christian is not dependent on the love that the others feel towards you. It’s not a contest to show who loves the other more. You can only control the love within your own heart. What condition would we be in if Christ looked at us before we came to faith and said, “My love for you is conditional and directly connected to your love for me first.” We are in a bad spot if that is the case. Moving through the rest of verse 9, we see Paul tell us that we are to “abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.” Abhor means to hate with an extreme passion. If you abhor something, it means that you despise it beyond what we may associate with hatred. Here we get to a possible tripping point for some people. It is possible to hate, to abhor, and to do it without sin. It’s a matter of direction for the Christian. The Christian that truly loves with the agape love that Paul writes about will have a holy and righteous hatred for every evil thing. As Christians we can hate acts like abortion. How much evil is in the intentional ending of a life inside the womb? Do we really know how to hate that which is evil while still being able to cling towards that which is good? Well, if we look at Jesus, we see that He was the master of this. Jesus was perfect in love but He had a holy and righteous hatred towards that which is evil. Think about what the author of Psalm 45 says in Psalm 45:6-7
Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;
A scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom.
You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You
With the oil of joy above Your fellows.
The author of Hebrews in Hebrews 1:8-9 applies this verse directly to Christ. If we look at the life and ministry of Jesus, we see one that does exactly that: Loves righteousness and hates wickedness. Look at how Jesus exposes the wickedness of the Pharisees, look at how He flips the tables in the temple, all of this is a righteous hatred towards wickedness because these people were keeping people from the Lord. God hates. And I know that for many Christians in the world, we have been painted a picture of a God that is all love that is just yearning and begging for us to notice Him. Donald Grey Barnhouse writes, “The Lord Jesus was and is God, and the Bible is everywhere marked by God’s hatred of all that is evil. When our text, therefore, commands us to hate that which is evil, it is saying that we are to be like our Savior and our God.” One of the clearest statements on God’s hatred of sin, evil, and wickedness is in Proverbs 6:16-19
There are six things which the Lord hates,
Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him:
Haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
And hands that shed innocent blood,
A heart that devises wicked plans,
Feet that run rapidly to evil,
A false witness who utters lies,
And one who spreads strife among brothers.
If we want to live as Christ lived, we not only have to be for righteousness and goodness, we need to be actively against sin and unrighteousness. I’m not a Karl Barth advocate or a fan but I do like some of what he says in his commentary on Romans. He says, “Only the love which is strong enough to abhor that which is evil can cleave to that which is good.” As Christians we must be able to distinguish right from wrong. If we can’t differentiate between the two, how are we going to be able to cleave or cling to that which is good? Any thoughts on verse 9 before we look at 10-11?
Sacrificial Love and Discipleship
Sacrificial Love and Discipleship
Just by way of reminder, Paul says in Romans 12:10–11 “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;” Again in these verses we get to this point where we could take every single statement and spend a lesson on it but at the same time, we won’t spend too much time in these verses. Notice that Paul says that we are to be devoted to one another in brotherly love. We are to have a brotherly affection for each other. What are some attributes of brotherly love that you can think of? It is a love that shares burdens, it lightens a load, it is a love that is there in the good times and the bad times. It is the love that is pure and familiar. We are to be devoted to this kind of love, not specifically with strangers, but with Christians! Part of this love is a love that is sacrificially and gives preference to one another in honor. What this means is that we as Christians should be each others biggest fans. When the church down the street sees hundreds come to faith in Christ and join the church, we are rooting for that happening. As Christians we are to be genuinely appreciative of other believers and put them first. We are to have the hearts of servants. To have the heart of a servant means that we also have a heart and a zeal to do the Work of the Lord and that is what Paul means when he says that we are to be not lagging behind in diligence. Again, that is a key element of discipleship and the Christian life. Are we on fire for the Kingdom of God? Is the advancement of the Kingdom of God the thing that we prioritize the most? Do we recognize that no matter what work we are engaged in, that we have opportunities to make disciples where we are? One of the key phrases in this section is that we are to be “fervent in spirit.” Literally, that means to boil in spirit. This means that we are to be passionate, to produce adequate energy or heat to carry out the work of the Gospel. But it also comes with restraints. There is an appropriateness that is necessary for the work. We aren’t to be out of control and claim that we are on fire with the Holy Spirit. We are to work in an orderly fashion with a great desire to see God’s Kingdom expand. The greatest honor in all creation is that we can be fallen yet redeemed people that the holy and awesome God of all creation chooses us to carry out the work of the Gospel and we should all be on fire for that. We can’t afford to be lukewarm Christians. R.C. Sproul said, “It is the duty of every Christian to press into the kingdom of God, making that the main business of life. The kingdom of God cannot be a secondary interest for a true Christian. We are to be diligent and active in the things of God.” We also need to remember who it is that we are doing this work for. This zeal, this fervency that we have, it is an act of service to God. One of the most important things that we can remind ourselves when it comes to discipleship and Gospel work is that we don’t have to work, we get to work! We give up nothing; the Lord gives us everything! Everything that we do should be done as an act of service to the Lord first. This means that in our homes, in our careers, in our education, we seek to please our Commanding Officer first. It’s all for Him! So I would even ask that as we go to work, as we work in the home, whatever it may be that we are doing, we should ask ourselves: Would God be pleased in this work? Is God being glorified in the effort that I put into this work? Is God being glorified in the mindset that I am bringing to this? As we sacrifice together, as we serve the Lord together, as we serve each other together, as we love together, we are engaging in active discipleship. Paul reiterates this in verses 12-13. Any questions before we get to those verses?
Rejoicing in Love Together
Rejoicing in Love Together
Romans 12:12–13, Paul says we are to be: “rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.” One of the telling marks of the early church was their ability to rejoice in hope and persevere in tribulation. One of my favorite verses in the book of Acts is in Acts 5 when the apostles are standing before the priests and Gamaliel advises the council that they should punish the men and let them go because if this movement isn’t from God, it will naturally die out on its own. The priests bring the apostles in, have them flogged and then we read in Acts 5:41 “So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name.” They rejoiced because they were considered worthy to suffer shame for the name of Jesus. This was such a common factor of the early church. It has been a common factor throughout church history! Look at Foxe’s book of Martyr’s and it reads like a story of glory and triumph! I think of the martyrdom of Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley, two protestants that were put to death under the reign of Bloody Mary in October 1555. As the two great reformers were tied to the stake to be burned, Latimer cried out, “Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.” Here we are almost 500 years later, and that candle still burns. Tertullian, the early church father, is known to have said, “The blood of martyrs is seed of the church.” Martyrdom and persecution in the hands of a sovereign God does not tear down, it makes the foundation stronger. George MacDonald said, “If we knew as much about heaven as God does, we would clap our hands every time a Christian dies.” John Wesley said of Christians: Our people die well. Our people die well because we rejoice in a hope that cannot be taken away. Our security is not in the foundations and power of men, it is in the hand of God Almighty. Paul says in Romans 5:1–2 “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.” Having peace with God through Christ reminds us that the greatest hurdle of our lives has been dealt with. The impossible battle, reconciling sinful men with a holy God, has been won through Christ and because of that, we exult and rejoice in a hope that cannot be taken away. Not just you and not just me, but every single Christian has this truth. Notice that Paul is not talking about singular people, though we are certainly to do this individually. All of us as the Body of Christ are to rejoice in hope, persevere in tribulation, and to be devoted in prayer. We should be lifting each other up in prayer every chance we get. I need your prayers, your brother and sister in the faith needs prayer, the missionaries overseas need prayer. Look at it in this way, as a Christian you have the armies of hell against you. Satan wants to see you fail and Satan wants to see you suffer. Satan doesn’t want you talking to God. Robert Mounce writes, “Most Christians will confess the difficulty of maintaining a regular and effective prayer life. The reason is not difficult to discern. If Satan can keep us out of touch with God, he will not have to worry about any trouble we might cause for his evil kingdom.” Why wouldn’t we crave the prayers of others. I think one of the most humbling things that a Christian can say to another Christian is: “Will you pray for me?” Your asking that brother or sister to help you carry this burden to the Lord. You need them, they need you, you both need to be devoted to prayer. The 21st century church would really benefit from recognizing that if they choose to live a life alone and void of other believers, that they should not be surprised when it seems like life is totally falling apart. Life collapses for the solitude Christian. This is why I think it is so important in like James 1 where we see James urge us as Christians to care for the widows and the orphans so that they do not need to feel what it is like to be solitude Christians. This goes right into Paul’s next command that we are to be contributing to the needs of the saints and practicing hospitality. It’s amazing how all of this builds up on what comes before it. We see a great picture of this in Acts 2:44-47
And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common;
and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.
Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart,
praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Notice that as the early church does this, God Himself is adding to their number day by day. I don’t think this means that they sat back and enjoyed each others company and God just brought people to them without any work on their part. I believe that as the church did the work of the church in all aspects of what it means to be the church, that God faithfully built up that church. God rewards the church that does the work of the church. This is why churches can send their best and brightest as missionaries outside of their own local church and God “replaces” those that are sent. Just look at a church like The Summit and J.D. Greear. Every year they are sending people out to do the work of ministry and they aren’t scraping the bottom of the barrel to be able to do this. When the church is faithful, God will reward that church. It may not always be in number and it may not always be financially, but God has not forgotten that work. It will not go unrewarded or unnoticed. Hebrews 6:10 is a great reminder: “For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints.” Jesus Himself says in the Gospel that even something as simple as a glass of water on a hot day given in His name to our brothers and sisters will not go unnoticed. Christians that practice hospitality, contribute to the needy, devote themselves to pray and rejoice in hope, Christians that through the Holy Spirit endure persecution and are devoted to righteousness and servant heartedness know what it means to love as Jesus loves. Are we doing all of this with genuine hearts? Are we doing this with right intentions? My hope is that every one of us here would be able to live out what Paul talks about in these verses because oh how we need it. Oh how do we need the church to act as Paul commands it in Romans 12. Oh, that we would be content to ask for more grace and power to do that which is impossible to do outside of Christ. Every single person in this room is someone that need to experience the discipleship and love of Romans 12:9-13. How can we see to it that this is done? How can we make sure that we are a church that is actively living this out and seeking out opportunities to do so? I’d love to hear your thoughts and I would also love to hear in what areas we might be struggling in as a body and maybe what areas you are struggling in personally that we as the body could come in and love on you in.
