This morning I want us to start with a Peanuts comic strip.
1. One day Linus said to Lucy, “I’m going to be a doctor when I grow up.”
2. Lucy replied, “You a Doctor! Ha! You could never be a doctor! You know why? Because you don’t love mankind. That’s why!”
3. Linus defended himself, saying, “I do love mankind….it’s people I can’t stand.”
B. That cartoon illustrates the challenge that we face as people who are trying to obey God and be more like God.
1. The Bible makes it clear that we must love people specifically, and not just love humanity in general.
2. God’s will for us is to love people in real and concrete ways, not just love them in some abstract, vague way.
3. I like the old story of the man who found his children’s tracks in his freshly poured cement and he came into the house and let loose at the kids with an angry tirade.
a. His wife quickly interrupted him asking, “Don't you love the children?”
b. He replied, Of course, I love the children in the abstract, but not in the concrete!”
4. This reminds me of old saying:
To live in love with the saints above—Oh, that would be glory.
But to live below with the saints we know—Oh, that's a different story!
C. Today, as we return to Romans 12 in our series from Romans, and we return to this last section of the letter that is much more practical, we will notice a real change in Paul’s approach.
1. Rather than the long, well-developed sentences with theological arguments that we have been used to in Romans, we will notice that the sentences in this section are much shorter.
2. Almost every sentence contains a command, and in many no verb can be found.
3. We will also notice the subject seems to change with every verse; sometimes every phrase.
4. The whole section gives the impression that it is a random series of commands with little structure or common theme.
5. But I think that a closer examination and consideration will cause us to conclude that there is a unifying theme and purpose to this section.
D. So, what is Paul trying to do in this section?
1. Last week as we started into chapter 12, we focused on the way that Paul helped us see that the only logical response to the mercies of God is to lay our bodies and lives on the altar of sacrifice to God.
a. This offering of ourselves involves a transformation that includes a rejection of worldly ways through the renewing of our minds.
b. This leads to a right view of ourselves in God’s sight and a right relationship and use of our gifts for the good of the body of Christ, the church.
2. Today, as we examine the rest of chapter 12, we will see that this offering of ourselves to God will require an expression of real and sincere love toward others.
a. If you have been a part of this congregation a while then you know that we have tried to make it clear that love is the guiding principle for everything with regard to obeying God.
b. Love is the most important factor in our walk with God.
c. Jesus put love for God and love for others at the center of what is most important.
d. We have tried to keep that central in our teaching by using as our mission statement: Loving God, Loving Others, Loving Truth.
3. But “love” can be a vague and relative idea.
a. So, one of Paul’s purposes in this section is to move love out of the realm of the abstract into the realm of the concrete.
b. In the rest of chapter 12, Paul gives us many specific attitudes and behaviors that constitute what real and sincere love looks like.
c. This expression of sincere love would have been a blessing in the diverse church at Rome made up of Jews and Gentiles, and it will be a blessing here in our diverse church at Wetzel Road.
E. So, let’s begin the discussion of what sincere love looks likes where Paul began.
1. 9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Detest evil; cling to what is good. 10 Love one another deeply as brothers and sisters. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not lack diligence in zeal; be fervent in the Spirit; serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer. 13 Share with the saints in their needs; pursue hospitality. (Romans 12:9-13)
a. Did you notice the shortness of the sentences and the many different subjects addressed.
2. Verse 9 begins, “Let love be without hypocrisy…”
a. The NIV says, “Love must be sincere,” and the ESV says, “Let love be genuine.”
b. One of the interesting things about the way that Paul wrote this verse in the Greek is that there is actually no verb in the sentence.
c. What that means is that it is like the first words of this verse are the title or heading for the section: “Unhypocritical Love” or “Sincere Love” or “Genuine Love.”
d. It’s not wrong that the English translations have supplied a verb, but it does obscure the idea that these words seem to be a heading for the rest of the passage.
e. Obviously the love that God wants us to have should be sincere, genuine and without hypocrisy.
f. But what constitutes that kind of love? Glad you asked, because everything that follows gives definition to what our love should look like.
3. In the second part of verse 9, Paul says that sincere love “detests evil, but clings to good.”
a. We can be prone to think of love as a “ooey-gooey” emotion that erases any sense of right and wrong, but that’s far from true Christian love.
b. We must hate evil and turn away from it, but we must love what is good and be “glued to it.”
c. As we seek to love all people with God’s love, we must appropriately respond to the good and evil we see in their lives.
d. We must reject their sin, but we must not reject them.
e. We must hate the evil that damages their lives, and hinders their relationship with God, but at the same time we must look for the good and encourage them to grow in the good.
4. Verse 10 features two commands that focus on the “one another” relationship among believers.
a. The first command is to be devoted to one another as brothers and sisters.
1. There is really just two words here: philostorgoi and philadelphia.
2. Both words have the phil root which applies to loving relationships among family.
3. As a spiritual family, the church is to exhibit the intimacy and tenderness toward one another that mark the best earthly families.
b. The second command is to “outdo one another in showing honor.”
1. The Greek word actually has a sense of competition about it, so “outdo one another” is a very accurate translation.
2. The sincere love we should have for each other is one that would make us put other believers and their needs ahead of our own.
3. This reminds me of the Goofy Gophers named Mac and Tosh from the Looney Tunes cartoons that always insisted that the other go first.
5. There are six commands in verses 11-12 have the same structure in the Greek and point toward the fact that sincere love must “keep on keeping on.”
a. 11 Do not lack diligence in zeal; be fervent in the Spirit; serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer. (Rom. 12:11-12)
b. Loving people can be hard work and it’s easy to get tired of expressing our love and doing loving things – even for the people who are closest to us.
c. But these verses remind us of the need to depend on God to supply spiritual fervor from the Spirit and that there is power in prayer.
d. As we try to have sincere love for others, especially those who cause us pain and suffering, God can give us hope as we pray regularly and diligently for others and for ourselves.
6. In verse 13, Paul reminds us that sincere love ministers to the needs of others.
a. “Share with the saints in their needs; pursue hospitality.” (vs. 13)
b. The needs of others are often basic ones like: food, clothing and shelter.
c. Hospitality was especially needed in the first century because motels and restaurants were few and far between, and traveling missionaries and ordinary believers depended on the kindness of other Christians while traveling.
d. Sometimes we confuse hospitality with entertaining – certainly both can be an expression of Christian love, but they are different in some respects.
e. When we “entertain” others in our homes, we may prepare a lovely dinner and serve it in special style, displaying our culinary skills, expensive china, or social graces.
f. Hospitality, in contrast to that, might focus on people in their needs and so we might use our home and our resources to give someone a place to live and food to eat while they go through a difficult time or until they get themselves on their feet.
g. Sincere love seeks to minister to people’s needs.
F. As Paul moves into verses 14 through 16, we notice a shift in subject matter.
1. Paul shifts his focus from relationships with other believers to the way sincere love can be shown to non-Christians.
2. Paul wrote: 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud; instead, associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own estimation. (12:14-16)
3. Paul’s commands in verse 14 remind us of Jesus’ famous teaching from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5.
a. Paul shows more dependence on Jesus’ teaching in this part of Romans than he does anywhere else in his letters.
b. Like Jesus, Paul calls on us to turn the other cheek, displaying a love for others that goes far beyond the normal boundaries of human love.
c. Blessing those who persecute us is not natural or normal.
d. It requires a kind of sincere love that is divine, rather than human in its source.
4. In verse 15, Paul reminds us that sincere love requires that we learn to identify with others in both their joys and their sorrows.
a. Weeping with our friends and loved ones when they weep is natural, but weeping with our enemy when they weep is unnatural and requires a godly perspective and power.
b. Rejoicing with those who rejoice, whether they be friends or foes, is the harder of the two.
c. Watching enemies prosper and be successful can be a hindrance to our faith in God.
d. But even rejoicing with friends and family when they receive a blessing that we don’t have and are still trusting God for can be very hard for us.
e. For instance: what if a friend or family member gets a promotion, but you are still waiting for one; or they enjoy good health and you do not, or they get a new house, or get married, or have a baby, and you are still waiting for all these things.
f. You see why it can be hard to rejoice with those who rejoice, and why we need God’s sincere love to help us do that.
5. Paul’s command in verse 16 to “live in harmony with one another” summaries the overall thrust of these verses.
a. And perhaps the greatest obstacle to living in harmony with others is pride and most of verse 16 speaks to the problem of pride.
b. Sincere love and a haughty, prideful spirit cannot go hand in hand.
c. Humility and sincere love help us to remember that God loves and values everyone.
d. We must never see ourselves as above or beyond anyone.
e. We must remember that the ground is level at the foot of the cross.
G. At the end of Paul’s brief outline of the shape of sincere love, Paul returns to our proper response to mistreatment and persecution.
1. Paul wrote: 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Give careful thought to do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes. 18 If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for God’s wrath, because it is written, Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord. 20 “But If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For in so doing you will be heaping fiery coals on his head.” 21 Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good. (12:17-21)
2. Notice again Paul’s reliance on the teaching of Jesus.
a. Jesus calls His disciples to a kingdom ethic of non-retaliation and Paul renews the call.
b. But the followers of Jesus are to do more than avoid retaliation, Paul adds that they must positively do what is right in the eyes of everybody.
c. But we notice in verse 18 that Paul qualifies the extent to which believers are to try to conform their behavior to the expectations of unbelievers.
d. Paul says, “if possible, as far as it depends on you…”
e. In so doing, Paul says that we try to live at peace with others, but that we can’t seek the approval of unbelievers at the expense of God’s moral demands.
3. In verse 19, Paul returns to the theme of non-retaliation and instructs believers to not seek revenge.
a. The reason we must not seek to take revenge into our own hands is because that is God’s territory, God’s business.
b. Vengeance belongs to God, because God is perfectly just and God will not allow evil to go unpunished.
c. And just as Paul did in verses 17 and 18, he followed up the prohibition of verse 19 about not exercising revenge with a positive command to do good to those who have wronged us.
d. Paul quotes from Proverbs 25:21-22 to make his point.
e. The proverb suggests that doing good to those who have done evil to us will “heap burning coals on their head.”
f. When we treat others in the nasty ways they treat us, we look just like them and we give them reason to justify their behavior.
g. But when we show love and kindness to those who have mistreated us, we cause them to be ashamed of their actions and we cause them seek to understand why we would respond that way.
4. Paul wrapped up this section with an appropriate bottom line: “Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.”
a. Although we are redeemed, beloved citizens of heaven, we still have to live in this world that is dominated by evil.
b. We must constantly battle against the tendency to conform our behavior to this world and the tendency to want to battle evil with worldly weapons.
c. We will never overcome or conquer evil using evil, but we can overcome and conquer evil with good.
d. The greatest example in history of someone overcoming evil with good is what our Lord and Savior Jesus did on the cross.
1. Just think of all the injustice and mistreatment Jesus suffered throughout His ministry, His trial and conviction, and throughout His crucifixion.
2. But as Jesus hung on the cross, His prayer for His persecutors and tormentors was: “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing”!
3. When the apostle Peter looked back on what Jesus suffered, Peter wrote: “When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.” (1 Pet. 2:23)
4. How’s that for an example for us to follow?!
H. Booker T. Washington, founder of the world-famous Tuskegee Institute in Alabama understood these principles.
1. As a black man growing up in the segregated South, he knew more than his share about hatred, prejudice and unfair treatment.
2. But as a Christian, he also knew that a man is not judged by what he goes through, but by how he responds to it.
3. He expressed his credo in one powerful sentence: “I will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.”
4. Is it any wonder that we remember Booker T. Washington as one of the greatest Americans this country has ever produced?
5. We can’t always stop people from hating us, but we don’t have to hate them back.
6. We can’t always make people love us, but we can always love them.
I. We have moved quickly through Romans 12:9-21 and we have touched on many aspects of what it means to have sincere love for others.
1. I have not attempted to go into detail on any of these aspects of love.
a. Some of these aspects of sincere love could easily warrant an entire sermon or a whole sermon series to address them comprehensively.
2. My goal today has been much like Paul’s goal – to give a brief overview of what sincere love looks like.
3. No matter what problems we face – whether they be between Jews and Gentiles in the church, or between friends and family members, or between enemies – what is needed is more true, genuine, sincere love – God’s love.
4. One time when the late, great E. Stanley Jones preached on the subject of love, a frustrated church leader reported that he had saturated the congregation with the teaching on love, but one man was causing trouble and threatening to split the church.
a. The frustrated church member wanted to know what he should do since love didn’t seem to be working.
b. Preacher Jones replied, “Increase the dosage.”
c. Increasing the dosage of love is always God’s prescription for dealing with unlovely people.
J. Dr. Richard C. Halverson wrote a piece that sums up this section of Paul’s letter: “There are many ways to fight....You may fight with your fists...but what does it prove - even if you win? It certainly doesn’t prove you are right...it just proves you have more muscle, or can duck better...or maybe you’ve got a harder skull. In fact, chances are the guy who uses his fists knows he’s wrong – that’s why he resorts to muscle instead of brains...he bluffs his way through life with a strong arm instead of intelligence.
“A man may fight with words...even win the argument. But what does that prove? Except that he is smarter with the king’s English - more adept at language. Or maybe it just proves that he is a loud mouth!
“Love is a way to fight, too! Love is a mighty force - the mightiest force in history! This does not mean that love never loses - it often loses on the short-term basis...but it always wins ultimately! Jesus loved...and they put Him on a cross - crucified Him like a common criminal. The man who fights with love must be prepared to lose - temporarily! He’ll be invincible in the long run - but he must be willing to suffer setbacks. That’s why only strong men can fight with love. Weak men don’t love - love requires strength, courage, fortitude! Weaklings must use fists - or arguments - or guns. But they are no match for love! ‘Love outlasts anything.’ ”
1. In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he wrote: Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love - but the greatest of these is love. (1 Cor. 13:13)
2. Let’s make sure our love is sincere, that we outdo one another is showing love, and that we overcome evil with God’s love that is so good!
Resources:
Romans, The NIV Application Commentary, by Douglas Moo
The Ultimate Weapon, by Dr. Richard Strauss
True Love, by Dr. Richard Strauss
The Agape Factor, by Ray Pritchard
Hot Coals: Loving Those You’d Rather Hate, by Ray Pritchard
