WWUTT 1336 Let Love Be Genuine (Romans 12:9a)

Romans 12 9 says, let love be genuine. When you think about that instruction it's really impossible to do if not for the transforming power of Jesus Christ 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 for questions and comments send us an email to when we understand the text

Here's your teacher Pastor Gabe. Thank you Becky we come back to our study in Romans chapter 12 and I'm gonna start today reading verses 9 through 21.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome let love be genuine abhor what is evil hold fast to what is good love one another with brotherly affection out do 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 bless those who persecute you bless and do not curse them rejoice with those who rejoice weep with those who weep live in harmony with one another do not be haughty but associate with the lowly never be wise in your own sight repay no one evil for evil but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all if possible so far as it depends on you live peaceably with everyone beloved never avenge yourselves but leave it to the wrath of God for it is written vengeance is mine

I will repay says the Lord to the contrary if your enemy is hungry feed him if he is thirsty give him something to drink for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good we're picking up where we left off last week with the instructions that Paul had for the body of Christ for the church there in Rome but of course as we know these instructions apply to any body of believers how we are to be with one another the love that we show to each other as a community of Saints worshipping with each other caring for one another but this extends beyond even how we are to be with one another's in the faith we also have instructions here on how we are to be as followers of Christ in the world how should we treat those that we would consider to be enemies of the church well

Paul gets to that especially in verse 14 where we pick up today in verse 9 this is continuing with the instructions that Paul had for serving one another in the body and using the gifts that you have received the the particular spiritual gifting that you have from the

Holy Spirit to edify the body of Christ those were the instructions we had more in verses 3 through 8 where we have in verse 9 this is still in the instruction on on how we are within the church let love be genuine abhor what is evil hold fast what is good and you see how that concludes when you get to verse 13 contribute to the needs of the

Saints and seek to show hospitality so that's still within the context of the church then when you get to verse 14 you have bless those who persecute you bless and do not curse them now are we going to have people who persecute us in in the church like people in the church persecuting us in the church is that going to happen yes yeah that will happen but i think that the the context here is more in the sense of as a follower of Christ you are going to be hated because you love

Jesus so how are you to behave toward those who hate you because of the godliness that you are pursuing bless those who persecute you and do not curse them rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep verse 15 is not like in the context of talking about sinless lost people in this world weep with them or rejoice with them now this is talking about how you do not suffer persecution alone the entire body of Christ goes through this so in those moments when one is being persecuted weep together in those moments where one rejoices to see someone in the world who has lost come to faith rejoice together that's kind of the context in which that's given i'm going to come back to that again later i'm kind of jumping ahead a little bit because our focus for now today and tomorrow is going to be verses 9 through 13 and then we'll talk about that often used verse rejoice with those who rejoice weep with those who weep there's a certain context that's being talked about there but like i said we'll come back to that later verse 9 again let love be genuine this is right after paul has instructed the church to consider others needs ahead of your own and he follows that up with let love be genuine so this is this is a heart issue that he's confronting here in other words don't just care for others to be seen on the outside have a heart that genuinely cares for other people remember what jesus said about giving to the needy in matthew chapter 6 in the sermon on the mount he says beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them for then you will have no reward from your father who is in heaven thus when you give to the needy sound no trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets that they may be praised by others truly i say to you they have received their reward that's extremely condemning for jesus to say that if all they are after is the recognition of other people they got that and that's all the reward they're going to get but jesus goes on matthew 6 3 but when you give to the needy do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your giving may be in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you even here jesus is confronting a heart issue so giving to others showing love to one another is not about being seen on the outside it's not about just doing something that can be demonstrated externally it's having a heart that genuinely cares for other people and that's what paul is saying in a less rebuking manner but that's what paul is saying in in romans 12 9 let love be genuine let it be from your heart you're not just doing this to be seen by others to gain the recognition of other people but you have a heart that genuinely cares for other people now on its face this is impossible to do i could impose this upon you i could just tell you hey love other people and without anything else behind that i would really be imposing law upon you and there's no way for you to follow that in any genuine manner you could you could try it with all your hearts and and never actually get there never actually have a heart that cares for other people i keep doing all of these works that can be demonstrated on the outside but do i really have a heart that genuinely cares for other people this is something that only comes from god this is a transformation that happens by a blessing of the holy spirit of god and it's it's why we need christ in order to genuinely love god and genuinely love other people and paul is not giving these instructions here in romans 12 in a vacuum again this comes after all of the doctrine that he's laid out in the first 11 chapters in understanding that we've been justified by faith in our lord jesus christ jesus who died for us who rose again from the grave so that whoever believes in him will have everlasting life we are given a new heart not one that is that is still stuck in the sins and the passions of our flesh that we inherited from our father adam that's a doctrine that paul laid out back in romans chapter 5 but we've been given a new heart we have now become slaves unto righteousness no longer slaves to the passions of our flesh but we are slaves to the righteousness of christ and with a new heart in christ jesus poured into our hearts by the holy spirit that doctrine laid out in romans 8 we are we we no longer desire the ways of the world but we desire the ways of our father who is in heaven so this kind of transformation only happens by the holy spirit i could say to anybody let love be genuine but they have no ability to carry that out unless their heart has been changed by christ let's consider how paul puts this in philippians 2 because he really starts out the same way here pointing right back to christ he does so in romans 12 as well but again in the context of romans you have all the doctrine laid out in the first 11 chapters philippians is a much shorter letter but when he tells the philippians to consider others needs ahead of their own look at where he goes from there let me start in philippians 2 1 so 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 now let me stop there for a moment because once again that's impossible you can't do that on your own you cannot have that level of sympathy for another person that you would actually be of one mind with them you can't do it and when you look at worldly psychology and sociology and things like that imposing that upon other people telling people to be empathetic to to feel what others feel all these other kinds of things that can't be done that's basically on a on a pagan level almost that we have some sort of shared spirit with one another whenever you hear from modern psychology these impositions of being empathetic toward one another it is impossible for you to feel what someone else feels you can't do it even when you go through the same experiences that they go through you still don't know exactly how they feel we are all wired differently we all have different idiosyncrasies and things like that how one event affects you does not affect another person the exact same way you can have a general idea i think but you cannot possibly feel what another person feels so having this one mindness that paul is calling the church to is impossible for us to do if we were to just take it on its face like that and we were to try to do that in and of our own flesh we would never actually get there so where does paul point to when it comes to having the same mind well he's done it previously in philippians one he's pointed to christ but he comes back to it again here even in this passage so let me pick up in verse three philippians 2 3 do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit but in humility count others more significant than yourselves look each of you not only to his own interests but also to the interests of others have this mind among yourselves which is yours in christ jesus who though he was in the form of god did not count equality with god a thing to be grasped but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even death on a cross therefore god is highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so that at the name of jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that jesus christ is lord to the glory of god the father do you see what he did there he told the church to be of the same mind in humility to count others more significant than yourselves and then where does he point to in order to have that he points to christ verse 5 have this mind among yourselves which is yours in christ jesus so these things that he said earlier back in verse 2 having well verse 1 having the same affection the same sympathy being of the same mind the same love in full accord and of one mind you can't do that in and of your flesh i would be imposing law upon you if i were to just tell you to do that and it is a law that you cannot carry out in and of yourself but if you have the mind of christ if you have the holy spirit poured into your heart if the the heart of stone has been taken out taken out and god has given you a soft heart a new heart cleansed and washed by the holy spirit of god that is able to keep his statutes and walk in his rules then you are able to carry out this instruction to look not only to your own interests but also to the interests of others have this mind among yourselves which is yours in christ when we cling to christ when we are all together in christ then we are of the same mind then we can truly sympathize with one another then we can to the glory of god consider others needs ahead of our own there are many attempts by otherwise christian people people who would say that they're followers of christ there are many attempts by them to show love to one another and they never actually get there because the pattern of love that they follow is a pattern that's been set for them by the world they're taking the world's definitions of love they're following the world's instructions in regards to philosophy sociology and psychology on how you care for another or sympathize or empathize with other people and it's if it's not love according to how god defines it in the bible then it cannot be genuine love it's it's not people loving genuinely they may have good intentions but it's all for not if it's not according to what god has said in his word consider something that i just read today i just saw this article this morning it's about saddleback church in california that's rick warren's church rick warren the author of purpose -driven life and uh purpose -driven church he is not having church right now saddleback is shut down because of covid that's that's really the the reason for it more than anything else it's the fear of everything that has circulated regarding covid it's not because the governor has shut down saddleback church rick warren has done this totally on his own tonight saddleback is hosting an online gathering welcoming the black members of their church and their spouses to join but if you are of any other ethnicity you are not invited if your spouse if you're a black person and your spouse is white then your white spouse can be a part of this service but if you're not married to somebody who is black or you're of any other ethnicity you can't be allowed to participate in this online gathering here's the announcement as rick warren sent it out on friday and the service is supposed to be denied and the announcement is it's the way saddleback does things it's got rick's picture on it and the whole deal anyway he says if you are an african -american and or black member of saddleback and spouses no matter your ethnicity you are invited to a special zoom gathering and then he gives the date and time and all of that with me pastor anthony miller and dr anita phillips racial trauma expert and host of the in the light podcast our worship team has also arranged for a one -of -a -kind gospel experience we want this to be a safe space for our black brothers and sisters to heal and be fed mentally emotionally and spiritually by their church family heading into the new year and then he gives the link to register and all that stuff for everyone else in our church family i invite you to pray that god will use this night to begin the healing process that leads to true fellowship in our church family and that god will begin the ministry of reconciliation in all of us as we head into new waters in the new year i love you and miss you every day pastor rick okay so you have a service that is inherently designed to segregate it even names the people who are allowed to attend and who are not allowed to be there and consider all of the worldly language the worldly terminology that was in there as well racial trauma expert safe space and when you're hearing about receiving healing and being fed mentally emotionally and spiritually what are you talking about here these black people are going to get together for this service and basically complain about what they believe to be systemic racism coming from white who would otherwise be their brothers and sisters in the lord this is not genuine love this is love on worldly terms by worldly definitions and it will divide further cannot unify anybody because it is not in christ remember that when jesus was hung on a cross by the romans who put them there jesus looked at these gentiles and prayed father forgive them for they know not what they do that is not an attitude i have ever heard from these woke preachers when this critical race theory and intersectionality sort of sociology and politics has made its way into the church it only divides people further it can never bring us together it is not genuine love when we're reading here in romans 12 9 let love be genuine we're talking about a love that is defined by god a unity that can only be attained by having the mind of christ and paul goes on to say abhor what is evil hold fast to what is good and we're going to explore that second half of the verse a little bit more tomorrow let's conclude with prayer heavenly father i pray that we would be wise to the ways of this world those things that seek to divide us as paul will even warn about later on in romans 16 17 watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught avoid them for such persons do not serve our lord christ but their own appetites and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive help us to not be naive help us to be wise to your ways especially what we have written in your word and then through this we are wise to the ways of the world anything that would be contrary to what it is that you've written down for us in the pages of scripture let our hearts and minds be filled with the testimony of christ and his apostles that we may love one another in a genuine way the way that christ has loved us who humbled himself may we humble ourselves to build one another up in jesus name we pray amen pastor gabe keeps a regular blog sharing personal thoughts alerting readers to false teachers and offering commentary on the church and social issues you can find a link to the blog through our website wwutt .com