and they always seem to be in front of me. Not
that I feel like Rodney Dangerfield or anything,
but they always seem to be there in front of
the line where I'm trying to go. I saw a man
yesterday, and his car had held up traffic I
don't know how far, probably miles it looked
like, not literally, but a long way over on Fairview,
and he was walking back, trudging through the
snow with a little can of gasoline. And I thought
to myself, oh my, watch your gas. You know, it's
possible to have a car and to have it in good
shape, nicely polished, new tires on it, AM FM
stereo in it, have the bags all packed and the
family in the car packed and ready to go on vacation,
but you've got to have the gas in it, don't you?
The gas is pretty important. If you're an athlete,
you can get into a beautiful gymnasium with a
nicely laid floor. You can have the backboards
there and the goals are ready and the stands
are full of fans clapping their hands and cheering
and you can be well equipped and prepared to
play and yet you've got to have the basketball,
right? That's a pretty important piece of equipment
when it comes to a basketball game. Well, as
important as gas is to an automobile and a basketball
is to a basketball game, so is love. to the exercise
of spiritual gifts. In fact, every time that
spiritual gifts are mentioned, it is always in
the context of love. Isn't that interesting?
God knows that it's not enough for us to have
the capability, the Spirit -given ability to
do certain things in serving Him. But we have
to do it with the right motive. We have to deal
with the heart of love. Let me illustrate what
I'm talking about. Turn back to 1 Peter chapter
4. We'll begin in verse 8. He says, Above all,
keep fervent in your love for one another, because
love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable
to one another without complaint. As each one
has received a special gift, employ it in serving
one another as good stewards of the manifold
grace of God. And then he mentions some of the
gifts that God gives. And so here in the context
of the gifts, we find keep fervent in your love.
Love covers a multitude of sins. Turn back a
few pages to Ephesians chapter 4. He begins in
verse 1 of this practical section of the epistle
by saying, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord,
entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the
calling with which you have been called, with
all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing
forbearance to one another in love. being diligent
to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond
of peace. Then he speaks about our unity. And
in verse 7 he says, But to each one of us grace
was given according to the measure of Christ's
gift. He goes on to talk about spiritual gifts.
And so once again, in the context of love within
the body, he speaks about our service. And then
to 1 Corinthians chapter 12 to perhaps the key
passage in the whole New Testament regarding
spiritual gifts, the charismata, the grace gifts
given to us by the Holy Spirit to serve in the
body. There are a couple of lists within chapter
12 and notice how he concludes the chapter. Earnestly
desire the greater gifts. Now please understand
he is not saying that to individuals. as though
we are to personally seek out certain gifts.
We've already learned in this chapter, if we
read it, that the Holy Spirit bestows the gifts
sovereignly on whom he will. But what he's saying
here is a church, as a body of people, we are
to earnestly desire to seek out, to emphasize
the greater gifts and not the lesser ones. That
was an exhortation to the Corinthian church,
which had a tendency to exalt the gifts that
were lesser. and yet more spectacular, and to
de -emphasize the gifts that were more important.
And then he says, and yet I show you still a
more excellent way. In other words, I want to
talk to you now, he says, about how to exercise
these gifts we've just talked about. And then
in chapter 13, he lays out before us this beautiful
writing. This expression, this exposition of
what love is. And so again, we see the spiritual
gifts and love together in the very same context.
Please note that. But let's go back to our text
for today, which is in Romans chapter 12. Last
week we looked at verses 6 through 8, dealing
with the spiritual gifts as they're found in
this context. After talking about them, he goes
right on in verse 9 to say, Let love be without
hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what
is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly
love. Give preference to one another in honor.
Not lagging behind in diligence. Fervent in spirit.
Serving the Lord. Rejoicing in hope. persevering
in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing
to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you. Bless and curse
not. Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep
with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward
one another. Do not be haughty in mind, but associate
with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.
We'll stop at that point. Notice again that love
is mentioned in the same context with the spiritual
gifts. Dear people, love is the lubrication which
allows the members of the body of Christ to function
smoothly, harmoniously, and without friction.
The love we're talking about is agape love, God's
love. It is not sentimental love. It is not a
mere emotion. It is not only a feeling. But the
love he is speaking about here is love that is
action. It is deeds. It is words. It's what we
do. Love is that which causes us to give, to
reach out, to help those who have perhaps no
capacity to appreciate it. or to return the favor.
That's agape love. Love is to be our motive for
exercising our gifts. If the reason that I teach
my Sunday school class is because I like to have
people come up to me and pat me on the back and
say I'm doing a good job, that's the wrong motive
for exercising my gift of teaching. If the reason
I do it is because I'm... undesirous of feeling
guilty if I don't, and I have a legalistic sense
of obligation that I have to do it or else, then
that's a wrong motive. Why do you do what you
do? In what way do you exercise the gifts that
God has given you in the body? Let it be done
by love. And he says, let your love be without...
He's talking here about genuine love. The word
hypocrite has a very negative connotation to
us today. Originally it did not have that meaning.
It came out of Greek drama. The actors would
speak to one another in dialogue. That's what
drama is about. And that's where the word hypocrite
originated. It was used of those dramatic actors
in the Greek plays who would carry about with
them their masks. Their masks would express different
emotions, happiness, sorrow, whatever. And as
they would give their lines, they would occasionally
take the mask and put it in front of their face
so the audience would be reminded of the part
they were playing. Now from that background,
the word began to take on the meaning of playing
a part. And it picked up a negative connotation.
And it was Jesus who nailed it down, right? When
he spoke especially to the religious leaders
of his day who were playing a part, and he called
them hypocrites. Hypocrisy is a poison. It is
so powerful that only a drop or two of it can
poison a whole life. Those who are hypocrites
are more concerned about appearance than truth,
more concerned about reputation than reality.
The apostle says here, when you love others,
do not do it as a hypocrite. Do not do things
for the appearance of them. but do it rather
out of a genuine heart of love for people and
for God. Let your love be unassuming, without
hypocrisy. Now this kind of genuine love is described
for us in the verses, the phrases, the clauses
that follow. pithy kinds of statements. First
he talks about love's morality in the rest of
verse 9. He says, abhor what is evil, cling to
what is good. That's the morality of love. You
see, love is not without its dark side. The word
abhor means to bitterly hate. You say that is
a Christian virtue? That's right. He says we
are to despise certain things. That's love's
morality. Notice not people. We're not to hate
people. But we are to hate, to abhor what is
evil. We are to hate sin. The word evil here
connotes that which destroys, that which injures
people. You and I, as those who are controlled
by love, are to bitterly hate those things that
destroy people. I think an example of that is
alcohol. I believe that alcohol is one of the
root sins. root problems in our society. And
I hate it. That's why I believe every Christian
ought to be a total abstainer from alcohol. I
believe that is what honors God. It may be true
that it's not commanded in the Bible, but that
is honored in the Bible. Abstinence is exalted
by God. There's wisdom in that. It has become
such a fierce destroyer. of our society, of our
homes, of our families, of people, that we as
believers ought to despise the stuff and have
nothing to do with it. I have worked in enough
rescue missions to see what alcohol does to people
who are educated and who at one time had every
advantage. I have talked to teachers. I have
talked to doctors. I have talked to preachers.
I have talked to blue -collar workers who once
had good jobs. And time after time after time,
they explained what alcohol did. It destroyed
them. And they lost their homes. They lost their
mates. They lost their kids. And now they had
nothing. They just walked the streets. I don't
know how any Christian can hate something that
is so evil and so injurious and so destructive.
is alcohol. And in the same basket, you find
something like pornography, which destroys, it
injures, it ruins, it mars, it scars. We ought
to hate and despise that which is evil. We would
not love cancer, would we? Of course not. We
hate cancer. The very word we spit out of our
mouths. And we long for that day when some kind
of a breakthrough will occur and we'll have an
answer to how cancer can be cured. But now it's
malignant, it's active, and it destroys people
that we love. And we hate it. This is love's
morality. Jesus hated. You say, wait a minute,
he was love incarnate. That's right, my friend,
but Jesus hated some things. Jesus hated sin.
Jesus hated it because of what it does to you
and to me. He not only loved you, but he hated
your sin and what it does to you so much that
he went to the cross of Calvary and died there.
Absorbed the penalty of sin. For our sake. That's
how much he loves you and hates sin. Jesus spoke
to the hypocrites, the Pharisees of his day,
rebuked them openly because of sin. He hated
the hypocrisy and what it had done to the religion
of the Jews. The verb that is used here is a
compound verb and the idea... It involves separating
yourself from it. That's why some translations
put it this way, shrinking from what is evil.
It means to keep away from it. These kinds of
things we've talked about are like tar babies.
You put your hands to them, and it's very difficult
to extract yourself. So stay away from evil is
what he says. That's why in Thessalonians the
apostle says, avoid every appearance of evil.
However it may raise its head, stay away from
it. Because it destroys, it will injure you.
Is it any wonder that Satan is called Apollyon
in the Bible? The word which means destroyer.
Because you see, he constantly comes up with
potions. that taste good going down to the natural
man, but which are actually destructive and killing
and poisonous. Satan would destroy you. Yes,
you, Christian. Those who are without Jesus Christ,
who've never trusted him yet as Savior, are being
destroyed. Satan would have you, Christian. He
would destroy you if God would allow him to do
it. How do you stay away from that? Just abhor,
hate, despise what is evil. That's love's morality.
But there's a bright side here too. He says cling
to what is good. Not only hate the evil, but
he says glue yourself to what can be characterized
as being good. Be devoted to it. Be attached
to it. Support what is good. That's the other
side of it. Are you doing that? We need to. We
need to encourage that which is good in our world
today as much as we try to despise and stop and
hinder that which is evil. We need to be active
in doing this, folks. If good men do nothing,
evil will succeed. In this realm of things, in
this world system that Satan controls. That's
why we are to so bitterly hate the evil, and
yet with the same devotion we are to cling to
what is good, support it, establish it, build
it up. I had occasion to write another letter
a couple of weeks ago. Periodically, I do this.
There was a television station out of St. Cloud,
Channel 41. Some of you may watch it. Basically,
I think they have some good programs on there.
Some of the ones that take me back to yesteryear.
Fury. Remember Fury? Some of you oldies do. The
Cisco kid, remember the Cisco kid? Him Cisco,
me poncho. A couple of weeks ago, they had a
Saturday night, prime time movie, unedited, R
-rated, which included frontal nudity. This is
not scrambled now, this is just stuff that your
children can turn to on the television, even
by accident, and see. I didn't like that. And
so I wrote the station manager. And I first thanked
him for the good programming they have on the
station. And then I told him about the other,
my concerns about it. People, whether it be by
telephone calls or by letters, to the media or
to newspapers or to individuals, whatever, You
and I are to bitterly oppose and hate what is
destroying our society and people. And we are
to cling tenaciously to that which is good and
supported. Now, of course, this is not what the
world likes to think love is. The world says
that love never condemns. And that kind of thinking
has crept into Christian theology. In some circles.
There are those who say that if you love, it
means that you will never expose, you will never
confront, you will never condemn. And my friend,
that's a lie. That is a lie. Jesus Christ, who
is love incarnate, rebuked and exposed the hypocrisy
of the Pharisees. Why? Because he hated them?
No, but because of what that sin was doing to
them and to God's people, the Jews. They were
self -righteous. He rebuked them openly for it.
And yet he was love incarnate. Love incarnate
also went into the temple and saw people there
who were disgracing God's temple by what they
were doing. They were thieves. And so he overturned
their tables and chased them out with a whip.
That was love incarnate doing that. There is
a time when love exposes, when it confronts.
Oh yes, some people say, but Jesus understands
and Jesus doesn't ever condemn. And very often
the incident that people use to illustrate that
is found in John chapter 8. Just turn back there
a minute. Let's look at this. Because you hear,
may I say it kindly, ignorant people, people
who have not studied the Word, say regarding
this passage that Jesus doesn't confront sin.
Here we have a woman who was taken, that is,
who was caught in the very act of adultery. And
it was set up. We have reason to believe that.
They brought her to Jesus where there was a crowd.
They put her in the midst. In verse 4, John 8,
Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery
in the very act. Now in the law, Moses commanded
us to stone such women. What then do you say?
And the Holy Spirit says that they were saying
this, testing him in order that they might have
grounds for accusing him. But Jesus stooped down
and with his finger wrote on the ground. Wouldn't
you love to know what he wrote? I would. Maybe
it was the Ten Commandments. I don't know. But
when they persisted in asking him, What do you
say? He straightened up and said to them, He
who is without sin among you, let him be the
first to throw a stone at her. That's usually
where people stop, isn't it? You can't condemn
anybody. You can't rebuke anybody. Nobody can
do that unless it's without sin. Jesus says so,
doesn't he? Well, it says that again, he stooped
down and wrote on the ground. And when they heard
it, they began to go out one by one, beginning
with the older ones. And he was left alone and
the woman where she had been in the midst. And
straightening up, Jesus said to her, woman, where
are they? Did no one condemn you? And she said,
no one, Lord. And Jesus said, neither do I condemn
you. And again, that's where most people stop.
And they say, well, here Jesus is condoning this.
Jesus didn't expose her. Jesus was love. And
Jesus was, my friend, very kind to this lady.
But notice that he didn't stop with that statement.
He said, go your way from now on. sin no more.
Now when he said, I don't condemn you, what he
was really saying was, I've come to save, not
to condemn. He's not saying that there's not
condemnation with sin. He's not even saying that
he would not perhaps even condemn her someday
as her judge, but he had come now to save. But
he says to her very clearly, go and sin. No more.
He called it sin, what she had done. You see,
here is love incarnate dealing with, confronting,
exposing sin and calling it what it is, but in
a very kind way. Jesus did not condone. He confronted
her sin. That should be our spirit, too. We do
not hate people. But we do hate sin. We hate
that which destroys people. And we ought to stay
away from it personally and have nothing to do
with it and cling to what is good. A young man
emerging from an evil place accidentally met
his pastor on the street. He stammered for words
and he said, I'm sorry, I had no business being
there. And the pastor kindly but wisely replied
to him, When you came out and I saw you, you
lost only your reputation. But when you went
in and only God saw you, you lost your character.
We need to avoid... Separate ourselves from,
abhor, despise that which would destroy our character.
That which would destroy our spiritual walk with
God. That's love's morality. Don't ever, don't
ever be deceived into thinking that love is some
kind of a wishy -washy compromising thing. It
is not. It is not. Love draws the line. between
evil and good. And it bitterly hates and opposes
evil as much as it clings to and supports that
which is good. That's the kind of love that's
without hypocrisy. The kind of love that never
confronts is hypocritical love. That's not real
love. For if you see your brother involved in
something that will destroy him and you do not
go to him and try to help him, you can't say
you love him. Really, you hate him because you're
allowing him to be destroyed. Let love be without
hypocrisy. Then in verse 10, we have love's loyalty.
He says, be devoted to one another in brotherly
love. Give preference to one another in honor.
He speaks here about the affection that is naturally
expressed among blood relatives. And my Christian
brother and sister, are we not blood relatives?
We should therefore express that delicate affection
mutually as those who cherish one another. a
parent and a child, or a brother and sister once
they've grown up a little bit. There ought to
be that kind of devotion, that brotherly love,
and the word brotherly love here is Philadelphia.
We should be characterized by it loving warmly,
literally it says. In other words, full of tenderness.
Are you a tender -hearted person? Sometimes men
have a hard time being tender, loving warmly.
We need to correct that, gentlemen. There is
nothing unmanly about warmth in expressing love.
I'm not talking about the gloppy syrupy junk
that you get in some places, but I am talking
about the health food. of genuine warm love.
It comes out of a loyalty in the family of God.
And he says that that will produce our giving
preference to one another in honor. That's the
result of this affection. It means that none
will seek his own honor, but is willing to give
honor to others, pushing others into the limelight.
One way to put this, and some translations do,
try to outdo one another in showing respect.
That's the idea here in loyalty. It is seeking
the advance of another, trying to make others
successful, while at the same time shining the
spotlight for oneself. It is with a sad sort
of humor, I suppose, that I watch some of the
television programs that are called Christian,
and the host invites on some well -known person,
and they begin to talk. And you know what happens
so often? It becomes patently clear. very soon,
that the reason that person is brought on is
to help build up the program. The host didn't
put him on to build up his ministry, but so that
that guy could come on and say, my, if it weren't
for your program, if it weren't for what you're
doing around the world, there'd be nothing being
done, essentially. That's not the loyalty of
genuine love. Genuine love seeks to build the
other person up while desiring nothing for oneself.
Give the other person the credit. This kind of
unhypocritical love works behind the scenes so
that other people will become known. So that
if there is credit to be given, the other guy,
the other person, is the one who will be named.
You know, when a person does this, God works,
God develops his character. It produces a burst
of maturity when an individual can come to the
point of saying, Lord, I want to make others
successful. That's why, and it's so ingenious,
that is why God's Word says to us, humble yourself.
And in due time, God will what? Exalt you. But
if we seek to exalt ourselves, we will be what?
Humbled. And oh, God has neat ways of doing that,
doesn't he? When we try to push ourselves into
the spotlight, click goes the spotlight. But
when we humble ourselves and seek to put others
out there in front so that they get the credit,
then God begins to work in our lives and build
our character so that when he sees we're ready
for it, he can push us out into the spotlight.
My friend, never seek greatness for yourself.
Only seek to make others great. And in the process
of that, you will become genuinely great. in
the eyes of God. Now that just happens naturally
when we have love in the family. That's the loyalty
of love. It seeks the welfare, the benefit of
the other. We will close with verse 11, which
speaks about love's energy. Not lagging behind
in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the
Lord. Do you see the energy that is just bubbling
here? He says that real, genuine love is energetic
love. It is that which does not lag behind in
diligence. Literally, the Greek says, in zeal,
not slothful. Do you ever have trouble procrastinating?
I guess all of us do to some degree, don't we?
But spiritually, we are not to be procrastinators.
We are not to put off till tomorrow some good
we may do today. We are not to be characterized
as those who are idle or lazy. The idea in the
word here also involves a certain resilience.
There is a temptation for love to get tired and
worn out because love just gives and gives and
gives and gives, expecting nothing in return.
and often not getting anything in return. And
there comes the temptation, oh, aren't you tired?
You better stop this. You're getting worn out.
And we begin to listen to that, and we begin
to slack off and lag behind in our fervency.
Never, never. Love needs to be resilient. It
needs to stick with it. Love needs energy, which
can be described as diligence. Are you diligent
in your spiritual disciplines? Are you diligent
in your Bible study? What about prayer? Do you
know that the average Christian I heard some
time ago spends less than two minutes a day in
prayer? I would like to think that we are above
average, but I wonder. Are you resilient? Are
you diligent in reading Christian books? I heard
recently that 90 % of evangelical Christians
have never been in a Christian bookstore. I can
hardly believe that, but a publisher told me
that. It was a good survey. 90 % of evangelical
Christians have never been in a Christian bookstore.
Obviously, they've never been to a Christian
college, right? Where you have to go and buy
books, whether you like it or not. Because of
that statistic, we have kept book tables in the
back of our church to expose the people who come
here to what we feel are good books, helpful
books. I hope we can continue doing that in our
new building. We had to cut out the bookstore
area because of trying to cut the costs down.
Maybe we'll find a spot for it. When was the
last time you picked up a biography? You say,
by what? When was the last time you read a story,
a life story of somebody, like Billy Graham or
D .L. Moody or Andrew Murray? Or Harry Ironside.
Say, Harry who? Isn't it sad that our generation
today has lost sight of some of the greats? We
need to rediscover them. What about G .H. Morrison?
When was the last time you picked up a Christian
book and read it through and profited from it?
I'm not talking about the theology book now that
the prof requires. I'm talking about a... a book
for your personal edification. Be diligent in
that. I tell you, people who are now dead have
so much to teach us through what we can learn
about their lives by their writings or the writings
about them. What about your diligence in giving?
Are you lagging behind in what you give? What
about your physical disciplines? What about how
much you eat? What about the exercise that you
give your body? Now I know those are not as important
as the spiritual disciplines, but they are not
unimportant. Our body is the temple of the Holy
Spirit. Fervent in spirit, he says. In other
words, in spirit be boiling. Compares it here
to a steam locomotive. Now well outdated, I suppose.
But in those days, that steam had to be built
up in the boiler in order for the wheels to spin.
I tell you, these days there are some Christians
that don't have enough steam in them to make
a locomotive spit, let alone spin. He says we
are to be boiling in our spirit. One translation
says, be aglow with the spirit. The idea is to
be so filled with the spirit of God that Jesus
Christ radiates from your life. That like Peter
and John, those around us may recognize that
we've been with Jesus. And then serving the Lord
as a slave. One who is a slave directs all of
his efforts toward the will of his master. And
we think of a slave as a very lowly kind of person,
and in one sense that's not inaccurate. But don't
ever forget that there were some slaves in ancient
Greece and Rome who were very important people.
They managed estates. They were stewards of great
properties. They had influential positions, though
they were slaves. What that means is that they
belonged to someone else, and they were concerned
about their boss's concerns. Are you concerned
about those things that are concerned to your
owner, Jesus Christ? You need to direct your
diligence, your fervency. to the Lord's will.
Now for students, that means to be diligent,
to be fervent in your studies. That's your primary
focus now at this point in life. God's called
you to be a student. For the business person,
it means to do your work as unto the Lord. For
the homemaker, it means to go through your daily
routine as unto the Lord, being fervent in spirit
and diligent. For the athlete, it means to enter
onto the playing floor. to do your job there
as unto the Lord. Everything is not found in
winning, but in being a man, a woman of God.
Whatever we do, whether talking on the telephone
or driving the car in the expressway or shopping
in the store or looking at television or reading
a book, we are to be serving the Lord. We need
to be in sync with God's plan for our own lives.
That is... Keeping pace with him. There are some
people who can serve the Lord at a very fast
pace. God's given them that freedom and that
constitution. There are others who are residents
of nursing homes, retirement centers. They can't
do as much as perhaps they once did. But whatever
the pace is that the master says keep, we're
to serve him at that pace. being diligent and
fervent. That's genuine love in its morality,
in its loyalty, in its energy. We'll continue
next week. Heavenly Father, I pray that unhypocritical
love will characterize every one of us who knows
Jesus Christ. May we not play a part May we not
be concerned about appearance, forget truth,
or think only of reputation and be unconcerned
about reality. But may love be genuine in us
so that as we minister and serve you in the body
and function using our spiritual gifts, that
love will produce a fruit that will honor you.
In Jesus' name I pray, amen. It's hard to find
a fitting hymn to close a message like this,
and I didn't. But there is a hymn that says something
that's important, and that's 312. Because you
see, I'm aware that as we talk about unhypocritical
love, God's Spirit is going to be working in
your heart as He does in mine and exposing areas
where we have lacked, where we have not been
genuine. And like the prodigal son who was out
wasting what he had, we may be outwasting our
lives, our gifts, our abilities. And our need,
like the prodigal son, is to come home. So as
we sing about wandering far away from God and
deciding now to come home, if that's your decision,
if that's your commitment today, will you come?
Or if we can show you what it means to be a real,
genuine Christian. We have people who are able
to sit down with you in private. and show you
from the Bible how to be sure that you're saved.
Will you come and give us that opportunity? Let's
stand as we sing together.