Romans 12:9-13
Last week, based on what God has done through Jesus Christ in the world and in us as individuals, God told us to use our gifts to worship him as individual members of the church.
We’ve been studying what God has done through Jesus in the world and in individual Christians for over a year-and-a-half as we’ve worked through Romans; and here, in 12:9-13, we encounter something different from anything we’ve studied so far: a dramatic change of pace. We have gotten used to big ideas slowly developed over several paragraphs. Now we’re hit with 13 commands and no elaboration. Romans was lobbing grenades, now it’s firing a machine gun.
This passage is an avalanche of ideas for how to worship God by offering our bodies as a living sacrifice in response to what God has done through Jesus. They are all connected to the idea of practical worship, but each can stand alone.
Today we’ll start with the first one; and we’ll get no further because it is a deeply powerful command that, if we have ears to hear, should stop us dead in our tracks. Let love be genuine.
Five Reasons to Think Seriously about Love
1. Love fulfills the law. Romans 13:8-10:
Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
According to Matthew 22:36-40, all 66 books of the Bible, everything God has said to us hangs on love. Remember that scene in Cliffhanger? The one where the woman is pulling herself along a cable stretched between two mountain peaks and her harness starts to unravel? Love is the harness in which Christianity rests. If our love begins to unravel, everything is in danger of falling.
2. Love is above all. Colossians 3:12-14:
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
For a Christian, forgetting love is like forgetting your pants. It doesn’t matter how nice your shirt and shoes look when you arrive at work… You’re not wearing pants!
1 Peter 4:7-8:
The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.
3. Love validates all Christian ministry. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3:
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love identifies us as Christian. John 13:34-35:
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
5. Love is what confirms us as Christians. 1 John 4:7-8:
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Now, with all this in mind, we turn to this profound command: Let love be genuine.
Let love be genuine
The world hasn’t a clue what love means. It projects love as mere sexual attraction, soft fuzzy warmth or vague fluttery emotional feelings.
Biblical, Godly love has muscle. It requires all of you. It costs blood, sweat, tears, resources, energy, time. It is concrete, practical and real.
Christian love is desiring and acting for the benefit of others, regardless of their disposition toward you. This doesn’t mean that you like them, that you enjoy their company, that you trust them around your kids or that you invite them on your family vacation. It means deeply personal sacrifice for their benefit, even if they don’t love you back. As 1 John 4:9 says,
In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
Matthew 5:43-48:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7:
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Christian love is practical patience, kindness, humility, malleability and forgiveness. It is heartily hoping and working toward the best for people, even while enduring the worst in people.
And here’s the kicker: Christian love must be genuine. This means our love for people must be unfeigned and sincere. This means that pretended love is no love at all. It may keep peace; but it does not please God nor benefit others. There is no place in the church for actors. God is not content to change our behavior toward others, he will not stop until he changes our heart orientation toward others; not just our actions; but our desires in regard to other people.
What do we do now?
Whom do you pretend to love while secretly hating? To whom do you act warm while feeling cold? Picture their face(s) and hear this inescapable fact: You may not pretend to love this person or these people. Christians are not allowed to act warm while feeling cold. Christians are not allowed to say one thing while thinking another. This is deception and it is sin. God is not concerned with the appearance but the truth.
Which is worse: honest hatred or dishonest hatred masked as love?
Addressing our disingenuous love may mean some painful conversations, terrifying confessions of sin, humiliation, the tearing open of some scabs, letting go of some long-held bitterness and forgiving some very real sins against you. Are you ready to love? The entire law hangs on this. This is more important than all else. It is the great pre-requisite to any Christian ministry. This is what identifies and confirms us as Christians.
I’m confident that the Holy Spirit will guide us in these things; but I also know it can be complicated. If you’re unsure how to proceed, there is wisdom in a multitude of counselors. Seek wise counsel before moving forward if you’re unsure of what to do. But if the Holy Spirit is convicting you of something clear and specific, you need to act now.
Start here:
Be forgiven by Jesus. Jesus said that he who is forgiven little loves little. Let the full weight of your own sin rest on you for a bit. Feel it. Remember it. Then allow Jesus to remove it with his mangled, blood stained hands. It is because we have been forgiven much that we’re free to love much.
My wife and I have often talked about how fun it would be to come into a ton of money and be able to help people when ever we wanted. This is exactly what we have in Jesus. Rather than receiving a wealth of money, we’ve received a wealth of grace, forgiveness and love. Now we’re free to dole it out whenever we want to people who are starving for it.
Perhaps the Holy Spirit has revealed to you people whom you’ve loved insincerely. If so, I invite you to repent, repent, repent. Not in some foggy, general sense. Write their names down. Pray, pray, pray for God to change your heart toward them. And don’t stop until you would gladly die for them. Then get off your knees and live for them. This is Christianity.
Discussion Starters
- How was your week? Share the highs and lows.
- How do you think the average person in America would define love?
- How would you define love? How is the Christian conception of love different from the world’s? (See the verses referred to in the sermon recap above.)
- In what ways does fake love sneak into church life? Why do we sometimes pretend to love?
- How can we obey this command to let our love be genuine? What are some practical steps?
