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Romans 12 10 says to outdo one another in showing honor. That doesn't mean that loving one another is supposed to be a competition, but rather we're not loving one another only to the extent that they have shown love to us when we understand the text.
This is when we understand the text, a daily study of God's word, that we may be filled with the knowledge of his will. Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.
Thank you, Becky. I apologize for this program being a little bit later today. Busy week, and I had some things come up last night as well. Our VBS is this week at church, Vacation Bible School, so if you've ever invested yourself in a VBS, you know the kind of work that that can demand of you and your wife, because my bride has been working diligently on that as well.
So pray for us in our VBS this week. We're focusing on Galatians chapter five, fruit of the spirit with the kids. Today is the day of the release of the book 40 Mormon Beliefs and What the Bible Says.
That should be on our website, www .utt .com. I say should because it's not there yet, but eventually, at some point today, the link to buy the book is going to be on there. Just head to the website, www .utt .com, click on bookstore.
There's already an image for the book, but the link to purchase is not up there yet. I did an interview with Andy Olson of Echo Zoe. Just yesterday, we recorded the interview, so that'll be up sometime later this week, and it'll be posted on our Twitter and Facebook page.
All right, we're in Romans chapter 12 today. Verses nine through 13 is where we are gonna be reading from again. Always a pleasure to be able to open the word of God with you, so let's come to it. Romans chapter 12, verse nine.
Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil. Hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal. Be fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord.
Rejoice in hope. Be patient in tribulation. Be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. All right, we come back to verse nine, which was pretty much the only verse we looked at yesterday.
Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil. Hold fast to what is good. So as we read in Colossians 3 .9, do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
So we're not to be fake with one another. We're not to put on a show with one another, but to be genuine with one another. Showing genuine love. Caring for one another. And when you ask somebody how their day is going, ask the question in a way that whatever the answer is going to be, you are ready to listen and to pray with that other person, to rejoice with them, if that is what the situation calls for.
So we genuinely display love with one another. We also need to be honest with each other. So not holding things back or trying to pretend that everything is all right, but the church needs to be a place where we can come and express our hearts, our hurts, our deepest needs, our longings.
Let this be the genuine love that we display with one another. Abhorring what is evil and holding fast to what is good, meaning we're promoting good things. And in abhorring what is evil, not promoting evil things, but also calling out one another's sin.
And not doing this in a way that we are being self-righteous or holier than thou, but in a loving way. If we see a person going about a certain direction that they need to be called back to the path of holiness, let us be able to do that with gentleness and respect.
Loving one another with brotherly affection as it says in verse 10. So this kind of love that we display is not just a casual politeness, but we are genuinely interested in those people that we are called to love and grow with in one body and mind in Christ Jesus.
Loving one another with a brotherly affection. There are things that you're gonna do for your brother or sister. Now I'm specifically talking here about a brother or sister in the flesh, all right? So there are things that you're gonna do for them that is not the way that you will behave and treat other people, correct?
You'll probably go out of your way for your brother or sister more so than you would anyone else. And so that should be the case also with those that we fellowship with in the body of Christ. In fact, I'll say, I'll even go this far.
We should have an affection and a longing for those brothers and sisters in Christ that we're growing with in the church that we belong to. We should have a longing for them that is even more than the fellowship that we have with our own brothers and sisters of the flesh.
Now, if you're among the privileged who attends a church with your blood brothers and sisters, they're also your spiritual brothers and sisters, well, good on you. The church that I attend is not that so much.
I mean, we do have some relatives in our church. One of our elders, his son is also a deacon. And so we do get to see families growing up in our church. But my siblings, they all live on the East Coast and most of our families are military.
So they're far away from home. So we don't have a whole lot of like brothers and sisters in our church that are growing up in this together. But if you do, hey, fantastic. As you have grown up with your brothers and sisters in the home and you've shown a particular kind of affection with them, we have a particular kind of affection with the brothers and sisters in the body of Christ.
As Paul said to the Galatians, we need to show love to everyone, but especially the household of faith. So there is a certain way that we extend ourselves to those brothers and sisters in Christ, caring for them first, but then also extending love to those outside the church so that they might hear the gospel, see the love of Christ displayed among those who love Christ and will repent of their sin and come to know the gospel of Jesus Christ.
So we're to love one another with brotherly affection and speaking here specifically about the body of Christ, because those who are not part of the body of Christ are not your brothers and sisters. They are still enmities.
They still have enmity with God. And so they are outside the body of Christ. So we should want to share the gospel with them so that they will be reconciled to God and to his people. The next sentence here is outdo one another in showing honor.
There's a book by Randy Alcorn called The Treasure Principle. And I want to be careful with the way that I do this, because I don't mean to misrepresent Randy. It's been a while since I've read the book.
I love Randy's books. But anyway, he uses this verse, Romans 12 .10, in this way. If there is somebody in the church who gives $1 ,000, somebody else sees that being done and goes, oh yeah, well, I'm giving $2 ,000.
And somebody else sees that being done and says, well, I can beat both of you. I'm giving $2 ,500, all right, outdoing one another in their giving. I don't really think that's the way that this verse should apply.
In fact, I tend to frown upon those kinds of competitions happening in a church, because there are some people in the church that can't give $1 ,000. But what they do give is probably an even greater sacrifice than the people who are able to give thousands of dollars.
So I tend to follow the instruction of the Lord there when he says to give in secret and the Father will reward you. So when it comes to Romans 12 .10, outdo one another in showing honor, here's the way that we should understand this.
More in the line of the way Jesus presented the golden rule in Matthew 7 .12. Whatever you wish others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the law and the prophets. So in other words, we're not extending love to another person only to the extent that they have shown love to us.
Rather, we just pour out love all the more. We're not extending forgiveness to another person only to the extent that they have shown forgiveness to us. We're just forgiving. And we don't show grace to another person only to the extent that they have given grace to us.
We just pour out more and more grace on our brothers and sisters, as we would wish for them to pour out love and forgiveness and grace and mercy on us. So we should be doing that with one another, for this is the law and the prophets, as Jesus mentioned there in Matthew 7 .12.
Meaning that, because Christ, who fulfills the law and the prophets, has shown love and forgiveness and grace to us and has not held anything back. So we should be doing the same. Jesus was asked, what is the greatest commandment?
He said, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. The second is like it, to love your neighbor as yourself. For this is the law and the prophets. All the law and the prophets hinge on these two commands, to love God with everything and to put others' needs ahead of our own.
So let's do that, outdoing one another in showing honor, celebrating each other, lifting each other up. Paul says in Philippians 2, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Lord, as we wrap up this devotional today, help us be energized, encouraged all the more to show love to members of the body of Christ.
Maybe there is somebody in our church that popped into our mind today, either before or during this devotional and we're thinking to ourselves, I wonder how that person is doing. Maybe even haven't seen them in church for the last couple of weeks, or they just, they looked like something was concerning them.
Well, may we have the discernment to know that there's something going on in that person's life and maybe we are the very person that can talk to them, that can let them open up their heart and share what is on their heart and their mind and really find a friend and a love in the body of Christ and a person that has extended themselves out in that way.
So let us show this affection to one another, being personal with one another, getting to know each other, building one another up, rejoicing with each other and weeping with one another if it comes to that.
So Lord, let us grow in these ways, filling one another up with the word of Christ as we go and we ask this in Jesus' name, amen.
Gabriel Hughes is the pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas. Find out more online at www .utt .com.