I love hanging out with these guys because no matter how much we might be we’re not…you know what I’m talking about? Like even though we all might be yellow…we all have our own personalities, we have our own backgrounds…like some of us came from these really good homes were Jesus was preached and the scriptures were read, but some of us came from really dysfunctional families, and some of us went to ivy leagues and some of us never made it beyond high school…and it got me thinking…isn’t this the church? Like if you look around…ok, maybe we might look the same but we all come from different parts right? And the gospel still captures the same and differently. But I soon realized that ok…well this is church then. It’s all of us…but how are we suppose to act? The passage today talks about that…it talks about us, as a body of believers, how we’re supposed to act, how we’re not suppose to act…and what a church looks like.
Love must be sincere
So here we go…this is the first part of this huge, weighty text. This is the key and the foundation for the rest of the passage. Let love be sincere. Well right when we look at it we say “ok…love has to be sincere…um, it has to be real (not fake)” Yeah you can do that but there’s another way you can interrupt this passage in the Greek that says the same thing but carries a little bit more umph behind it. NIV says “love must be sincere”…it can also be translated “let love be without hypocrisy”. And this word “hypocrisy” literally means “without play-acting”. Typically the textbook definition to this word is what? Saying one thing and doing another right? Yeah…but it’s more than that. So in everyday language we’ll define it as this – hypocrisy is pretending to be or act in a manner that is not really how things are.
If we are to live in deep community with one another you and I cannot live in hypocrisy. So hypocrisy is that moment when we walk into the church world and put on the “Christian self”. Do you know what I’m saying? Like we pretend that we’re walking intimately with Jesus, we have this deep connection with him when that’s not the case. So we get around our church group, or we come to some kind of Friday night church activity and despite the fact that our week was horrendous…we pull this 180 and all of the sudden we’re “oh, hey brother…how
are you doing? Oh, I’m fine…how’s life? It’s beautiful…I love Jesus”. And the reality of it all is that life is anything but…like it’s been forever since we’ve really felt near to God, and our children are spinning out of control…and our sins are just owning us in the face. But we still play this church game huh? Yeah…it’s tough huh? Paul goes “yeah…the church cannot be this place…it can’t.”
If we were to be honest, this is totally the game we play right? I mean from day one we’ve learn how to say the right church words, we know how to put on the correct church clothes, and play it off like we have it all together. But deep down inside we know that it’s so far from that. But you wanna know why this is hard? Why this phrase “love must be sincere” is first? It’s because it grates against everything we’ve been told – that you can handle it, you can fix it, don’t show your weakness. And culture tells us “no! don’t expose yourself…” And it’s hard because we have this thing called “pride” right? And especially for guys because I am one of them…I don’t know about you but I have this horrendous pride issue. And you tell me this isn’t the conversations with most guys…”hey, what’d you do this weekend mike?” “went fishing…caught a trout” “what’d you do?” “oh, I went fishing too” “yeah?” “yeah” “get anything?” “yeah…caught me a shark. I mean, I use to catch trout when I was like 3 but whatever.” And pride is why we have such a hard time confessing who we really are. Because we don’t want people to know who we really are. And this…if it’s carried out becomes really really really dangerous. Because what will happen is that when you start pretending that everything is good and fine when it’s really not…is that you’ll numb and silence those voices and put on that fake you. And in order to hide who they are and their weaknesses and their sins…they point out everything that is wrong with other people and they don’t deal with their own junk. Beware of those who always have an enemy. And so we don’t want people to know our marriage is failing, that we don’t know how to read the bible despite the fact we’ve been coming to church for 30 years…So scriptures tells us that in order to walk in genuine community, in order to walk in deep life…you and I cannot pretend. Let love be without hypocrisy. The church has to be a safe place…it has to be a place where it is ok to not be ok. It has to be a place where we can come in and say “dear God someone help me because I don’t know what’s going on in my life”. It has to be a place where we can go “my sin is completely owning me right now and I can’t shake it…help me, please teach me”
So where do you go from here huh? He’s going to say something next that taken outside its context it can be horribly mispreached.
Hate what is evil; cling to what is good
So we ask ourselves…why is this phrase here? Is this saying just hate anything that’s evil? And whatever is good (like candy or fudge) cling to that? Well…read in context he’s going “within the body of the church…there are things that can kill us; there are things that can destroy our unity…beware of such things. I live in the apartments at seminary and most of the complexes are two-ones and I wanna say that a lot of families live there. So in my complex there are several Korean families. And there’s this one family with two little boys…it’s funny because they can’t really speak English so they just assume all Asians are Korean so they just speak to me in Korean and all I can say is “hi”. But they’re usually out playing on the lawn or whatever and one day they were playing and one of the little ones looses his toys into the street and takes off running after it. And I’m just passing them by on my way to my room upstairs when I see this…and in my mind going “I wonder where the parents are”. But out of the corner of my eye I see this car come around the curb and it’s coming down this street. So I drop my stuff and both the mom and I fly toward the child. The car eventually turned but still that really doesn’t matter right? I mean regardless of who you are if you see someone who is in immediate danger you’re going to do what you can and save them. Just like how it would be completely twisted to just watch the kid run into the street and go “well I am holding a lot of stuff and well I don’t want to really break a sweat today…I “hope” that car doesn’t hit them or I “hope” that kid jumps out of the way…in the same way if we see a brother or a sister in danger and just hope for the best how wicked would that be? No…hate what is evil. If you see a brother in trouble you go “dude…c’mon don’t you know the path you’re walking on is leading toward destruction? Get away from that…it’s going to end up bad for you…how can I help you? Do you want me to walk with you until we get over this? And the absolute truth about this is that how in the world are we ever going to know who’s in trouble if we’re not honest about it? When we see someone in trouble we loving call them out on it. You should love enough…and take those we know who are openly walking in sin or getting dangerously close to it and take them to coffee and go “how can I help you?” hate what is evil…and on the flip side cling to what is good. Find the things that can build up your brother or sister and share in that. Like there are some things in my life that if I’m around it or doing it I feel drawn to God. Like eating a good, long meal with friends…because one point in that dinner I’ll just sit back and go “there’s something holy about this moment”. And that’s me…so I seek those out. We eat a lot. And so let’s be honest with one another…let’s not pretend to be someone we’re not…and if we see a brother in danger, let’s love them enough to call them out so they don’t die…and let’s find things that draw us towards God and do them often.
And then Paul goes…but do this in a way where it builds up the body and not because you have to.
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourself.
This idea builds off the previous phrase…these things we do, it’s because you’re family. This word “brotherly love” is translated from the Greek as “Philadelphia” – literally means “sense of love for a blood brother/sister”. When we stop playing this church game and we finally realize that we’re all apart of the same family…if that’s the case, then I am violently for you good. This is how the church operated from day one remember? Turn real quick to Acts 2:42-47. They’re at this place where they do live so intimately that when someone needed a couch because theirs fell apart another person sold their car to buy them a couch. It’s this community where “I am for you and you are for me”.
But let’s be honest here…I think I can do this with some people in this church…but everyone? And surely you can’t argue this point right? I mean…there’s just some people whose personality just doesn’t jive with yours. In fact every time you get around them you kind of want to punch them in the eye. But Paul feels this argument coming on and goes…
Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.
He goes “yeah, remember what I said about them being your family? That’s who they are…remember that you’re no better than they are because you were at once horrible sinners too. You guys are in this together.” And he tells the church “ok…I know this is hard, I know being honest is hard…that confronting someone doesn’t feel good…and there will be people who grate against you…but press on”. Why? Why does Paul go “never be lacking in zeal but keep your spiritual fervor”? Because he knows that this stuff doesn’t happen all at once. Marriage is the perfect example of this. Right? What marriage doesn’t take work? It takes time, money, energy, and thousand cups of coffee…the things that are truly valuable in our life takes time, energy, and effort. This community you’re seeking…if you want to operate in a way where Christ is exalted in your church, you’re going to have to work at it because this doesn’t happen all at once. And he adds this at the end of this phrase “serving the Lord”. As to remind us…”yeah…you’re doing this as to serve the Lord…not yourself”.
Then Paul goes“not only is this going to take time but there are going to be some hard days…”
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer.
He’s going to do this…you guys, you’re going to experience three things out of this journey: one is hope, one is affliction, and one is prayer. I found it interested that Paul says we’re to be joyful in hope…I had always thought that you’re already happy when you hope for something. Paul is going we “hope” because we don’t have it yet. Like if you’re hoping to be married, you’re currently not. Secondly, he says stay patient in affliction. This goes contrary to what a lot of people tell you nowadays. Paul goes…this stuff is coming for you. The weather is not always going to be cool and sunny…sometimes it’ll get to be about 130 in April. Yeah…and this community that you’re fighting for…it’s going to take work. Be joyful…be patient, and be faithful in praying for it. And when all is said and done…
Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
Paul lists two groups here in this last part of the verse…those inside the church and those who are strangers. This is what we already talked about before…Acts 2. There are those in your midst that truly do need your help. But he also goes…”yeah, but don’t forget that what you have is given to you by God so let’s use that to push back the darkness”. And again he pleads with you…you know what you need to do…so do it. James 2:14-17.
I love how he adds this last part in here…hospitality. It’s actually the biblical art of doing dinner. I say “art” because for most of us dinner is shoving a big mac in our faces while we drive to wherever. But if you read in the bible, dinner is this sacred thing where people all gather…and they eat good food, and drink good non-alcoholic wine, and they talk about what Jesus has been doing in their lives. That’s why in Rev. 19:9 it talks about the wedding supper of the lamb…and I can just sorta picture it. It’s this huge banquet room and we’re all gathered around this gigantic table and there’s Kirby queso (because this is how I picture it), and corned beef hash, and don juans, and soup dumplings…and we’re going to sit and eat and tell of the stories of our great God and king. And one by one the stories will start flowing…so like Moses will get up and tell his deal about the Israelites and how God did all these miracles…and then David will get up and then Peter…and down the line – Luther, Calvin, Bunyun, Billy…and then everyone gets quiet and turns our way…and now it’s our turn to tell our story.
So what’s your story huh? How did you live your life? Did just sit back and just play the game? When you saw your brother in trouble…did you help them? Did you realize that those who you were fighting with were in fact your own blood? Did you give up? Did you press on when unity couldn’t be found? Did you use what God gave you to push back the darkness? Were you really acting like a church.
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