Trans’d Love
Romans 12:9-13
Emmanuel Christian Church 7.30.23
INTRODUCTION: God wants to “trans” the world! From it’s current broken, distorted and sinful condition- back to the original created order He named “good”.
Romans 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
God’s Word tells us that one of the greatest forces for that TRANSformation is “Love”.
1 Corinthians 13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Now, to be sure, the world has a VERY different understanding of “trans’d” love! But if you look at it very closely, it has more to do with self- love than it does for love of God, and love of others- which by the way, is what Jesus said is the whole point of God’s law!
Matthew 22:37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
In our text from Romans this morning, we find this bold command from God:
“Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.”
Now, that might not sound like such a bold statement in and of itself, but the words that come before it, and the words that follow after it provide us a much needed DEFINITION of this “trans’d” love as well as a practical DEMONSTRATION of what it looks like.
PROPOSITION: To know what this love is, and to know what this love does is the first step in putting it into practice. And IF we practice that kind of love one to another, we will make a powerful argument before the watching world as to what REAL “Trans’d” love is all about!
Let’s look at it in it’s context:
Romans 12:9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
“Love MUST be SINCERE” (Without Hypocrisy)
- The ESV calls this “genuine” love, other translations call it “true”love. This might lead us to think that we’re talking about some kind of emotional, sentimental- even romantic love.
- But the Greek word used here is really the word from which we get our English word “Hypocrisy”! Then, it adds a prefix to that word that means “without”. There you have it- WITHOUT HYPOCRISY.
- So we don’t get confused, Paul goes on to give us a very clear definition of what this love really is:
1. It is a love that “hates” actually, detests evil.
2. It is a love that “clings” (think “superglued”) to what’s good. 3. This sounds a LOT like something we’ve heard before:
1 Corinthians 13:4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Consider the two lists in that great statement about love:
GOOD:
Patient Kind Unenvious Humble Yielding
EVIL:
Irritable Rude Resentful Arrogant Insistent
That first list reminds me of another Scripture:
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
APPLICATION: It’s pretty clear to me that the difference between the first list and the second list is as simple as this: List #1 is a love that is focused on God and other people, List #2 is a love that is obsessed with self.
Genuine love, true love, love that is without hypocrisy is focused on God and others and is empowered by the Holy Spirit Himself. It’s the kind of love that...
Loves Like Family!
- “Philostorgos” is the word translated “devoted”’
- The kind of love that natural family members have for one another.
- Without Condition “I love you.” NOT “I love you IF...” - With Commitment “I will NEVER stop loving you”
APPLICATION: So what does that kind of natural family love look like within the fellowship of the church?
It looks like faithfulness to the fellowship, even if something is not to one’s personal taste or preference. It is a faithfulness that says, “Instead of moving on to greener pastures, I’m going to stay here and be one of the one’s who waters the grass, mows the lawn and makes things more beautiful!
It looks like commitment to the fellowship that sees church membership not simply as a name on an organization’s role, but as one’s own role in the life of a living breathing, body of believers in Christ. A commitment that would no more walk out on the fellowship than a parent would abandon a child.
This kind of faithfulness and commitment has been out of fashion for some time now, but it’s beginning to make a resurgence! Don’t you want to be part of something truly beautiful like that? So, “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.”!
So what does that LOOK like? Well, let’s look at...
What Love DOES:
“Honor one another above yourselves.”
- “CHERISH” is the WORD
- 1 Peter 3:7 is the PICTURE
APPLICATION: The best way to “honor one another above yourselves” is to fully embrace “humility”. When you do that, you’ll give up on the need and expectation to be recognized and “thanked”. You’ll be free to, as the Scripture says, “rejoice with those who rejoice”. And, when someone else chooses to honor you- you will be able to receive it with humility and satisfaction.
- Refuse to be a spiritual slow-poke!
- “Failure to thrive” can happen to those who choose to remain spiritual
infants!
APPLICATION: 1 Peter 2:1 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
“keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.”
- “HOT” not lukewarm! Remember what Jesus said to the church the
Laodicea?
Revelation 3:16 “...because you are lukewarm — neither hot nor cold — I am about to spit you out of my mouth. “
- A SLAVE (not just a servant) for GOD. Not an “employee” but “property” of God.
APPLICATION: The path to accomplishing this command is as simple as our complete surrender to the Lordship of Jesus. Why would anyone want to do that? GRATITUDE.
1 Peter 2:24 (Jesus) himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.
“Never be lacking in zeal”
“Be joyful in hope”
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- A purveyor of a POSITIVE ATTITUDE. Who has the “Joy” these days?
Christians are the only ones for whom “joy” is even possible!
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- Not crushed by present circumstance, but fueled by confident hope in
the future God has promised!
APPLICATION: Here’s where “joy” comes from: Romans 5:2 “...we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
- REMEMBER 1 Corinthians 13: “Love BEARS ALL THINGS”?
- Literally, a foundational supporter - a “rock solid” kind of Christian!“faithful in prayer”
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- Walking through each day in conversation with God about everything
and everybody- and being unafraid to let people know you’re praying
for them!
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- The combination of REMEMBERING and responsively PRAYING.
“patient in affliction”
“Share with God’s people who are in need”
- CHARITY begins with the Body of Christ.
- The church family, just like your biological family.
“ Practice hospitality.”
- Literally, “kindness to strangers”.
- If you meet a fellow Christian for the first time, they are no longer
strangers, but “family members” and should be treated as such. - Hebrews 13:1 Keep on loving each other as brothers. 2 Do not
forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
CONCLUSION: The world’s idea of “Trans’d” love is like the country song: “Lookin’ For Love In All The Wrong Places”! God delivers the genuine article- and He does it through us. Honoring, Passionate, Serving, Hopeful, Patient, Prayerful, Generous and Welcoming.
