Have you ever thought about your death? Maybe your own funeral? Imagine you passed away but were able to be an invisible spectator at your own funeral. What would people say about you? Maybe, better yet, what would you want people to say about you? And folks, when life is all said and done, I believe you would want them to say primarily two things. You guys ready for this? Number one, that you loved God more than anything else in this world. And number two, that you loved your neighbor as yourself. And you know where I get that. That's the first and second greatest commandment. You won't wish that you had a nicer car, a bigger house, a better job, more money, or had spent more time at work. I can guarantee you that. You wish that you had loved God and others with a more sincere, genuine, self-sacrificing kind of love. And as we continue our study in the book of Romans, we'll see that our passage this morning, Romans 12, nine through 16, is really a practical how-to guide on loving one's neighbor. At first glance, it might seem like these verses are just a grab bag of disjointed, disconnected exhortations from the Apostle Paul, but after a closer examination, we see here that these verses, when fleshed out, show what real love looks like in the Christian life. Whose life? Well, my life. Your life. what it should look like. Furthermore, Paul very clearly dispels the false notion that love is primarily an emotion. Make no mistake, love is first and foremost an action, not a feeling. Are you guys clear about that? I know Hollywood has done a fantastic job in trying to teach us that it's an emotion primarily, but it's not. That means that you can love the unlovely, you can love the unlovable, and through the wisdom, strength, and power of the Holy Spirit, you can even love, are you ready for this? You can even love your enemy. Because that's what God calls us to. Paul's thesis here is quite simple. Here it is. Love without action is really no love at all. Did you get that? That's the overarching thesis of this section of scripture. Love without action is really no love at all. No matter what you call those strong emotions you might feel, if they are not put into action, then it's not real love. One commentator called Romans 12, nine through 16, Paul's recipe for love. and noted that it seemed to have 12 ingredients. I think he's right. So let's examine those 12 ingredients together and see how we're doing in this most important area of our lives. Let's begin by getting a bird's eye view and reading all eight verses together. And as always, please join me in standing. Out of the greatest respect that we can possibly have for the reading of God's most glorious word. Romans 12, nine through 16. Paul writes this. 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 do not curse. 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. May God bless the reading of his word. You may be seated. So if this is Paul's recipe on love for believers, the first ingredient that Paul mentions here is that our love must be, you ready for this? Sincere. Kind of fits together with our psalm that we looked at this morning. Remember, who may ascend to the Lord's holy hill? He who has a what? A pure heart. Right? Look at verse nine once again. The first part. It's number 1A, true love is sincere. Let love be without, next word. hypocrisy. And the words that Paul uses here are somewhat unusual, since they're not linked to anything in the previous context, and there's no verb really in the original Greek. As a matter of fact, in the New American Standard, the words let and be are both italicized, which means that they are not a part of the original text. Now some of your translations might say, love must be sincere, or let love be genuine, But the literal translation here is this, love without hypocrisy. That's the literal words, the Greek words, love without hypocrisy, or sincere love. And the word for hypocrisy originally referred to, you'll like this, originally referred to an actor. At that time, the Greek actors wore masks to portray the varying emotions of the character that they were playing. Thus this word came to mean acting out a part instead of being truthful. But Christians should wear no masks. Our love should be sincere and definitely without hypocrisy. Unfortunately, we're all too familiar with hypocrisy. Either we've been guilty of it ourselves or we've suffered at the hands of hypocrites. It always hurts when the mask of the hypocrite is removed and we see that person for who they truly are. It's usually when they talk bad about you, speak ill of you, behind your back. For example, listen to the following letter. Dearest Jimmy, no words could ever express the great unhappiness I've felt since breaking our engagement. Please say you'll take me back. No one could ever take your place in my heart, so please forgive me. I love you, I love you, I love you. Yours forever, Marie. P.S. and congratulations on winning the state lottery. You see, hypocrites see relationships for what they can get out of them, while those who truly love focus on what they can give and how they can benefit the other. Now, the word for love that Paul uses here is the well-known Greek word agape. It's interesting to note that this particular word was not used very often in Greek daily life until it was first begun to be used by believers in order to describe God's love for us, our love for Him, and the love that we're to have towards one another. And this makes perfect sense for true agape love is not possible outside of the living God working in our lives. Think about it. Agape love is marked by its sacrificial nature and giving itself for the benefit of another. It's based on a conscious choice and not fleeting emotions. Thus it continues through the thick and thin of life, through the good times as well as the bad, through sickness as well as health. This is the kind of love that Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 says, he ends this, the great treaties on love by saying, love never, you remember, fails. Now he says to the believers in Rome and also to us today right here in Lake Stevens, don't just act like you're loving. Don't play the part of a hypocrite. Let your love be genuine, sincere, without hypocrisy. Now before we move on, I want you to notice something here. Nowhere in this passage does Paul tell us to judge whether or not someone else's love is sincere or hypocritical. Does that make sense? He doesn't say be on the lookout for hypocritical love. It's very common for people, even people who've grown up in the church, to walk away from scripture, walk away from the church, turn their backs on the Lord on the basis of hypocrisy that they claim to see in believers' lives, correct? People say it all the time. Why don't you go to church? Well, church is full of? Thank you very much. But this passage shows that each of us is responsible to see that our own love is genuine, sincere, and without hypocrisy. That's what Paul's saying. God holds us responsible for our own genuineness, not you for your spouse, not you for your son or your daughter. He will judge the genuineness of others. That's not our prerogative. And so my dear brothers and sisters, my dear young people, my question for you this morning is this, do you love sincerely? Do you love without hypocrisy? Look well to your own hearts, for you will be held responsible and accountable for them, amen? And notice that this is the first ingredient. The very first one in this chocolate chip cookie bowl of what real love looks like, right? The second ingredient Paul lays out for us here is also found in verse nine. Let's look at what he writes here at the end of the verse. He says, abhor what is evil, cling to what is good. So the second ingredient to genuine love is that it must be discerning. Folks, think about that for a moment. Genuine love hates evil. Paul says it right here. It abhors it. It doesn't see how close it can get to the proverbial line without actually stepping over, but it hates, it loathes, it detests evil. And evil's all around us today, is it not? It's never been more apparent. You cannot love evil and love God at the same time. Because evil is everything that is antithetical to God, that is things, everything that is contrary to his nature. Listen to Psalm 97 10, says that those who love the Lord are to hate evil. He says it that way there. Excuse me. Proverbs 1 7 tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom or knowledge. Then in Proverbs 8, 13, God defines that the fear of the Lord as hating evil. So if you wanna know what at least one part of the fear of the Lord, it means also to hate evil. Folks, as God's children, we need to love what God loves and what? Hate what God hates. One author I read said, don't ever get over being shocked by evil. Don't ever get over being shocked by evil. You start finding yourself okay with movies and music, television shows, things that promote that, then there's something wrong. You're sliding, believer. We've all heard the saying that love is blind. Now it's true that love doesn't focus on outward appearances, but God says that our love needs to see clearly. True love needs to discern between good and evil, right and wrong, righteous and unrighteous. Otherwise, we will end up loving things that we ought not to and getting into relationships we should never be in. Biblical love should cause a believer to have a strong abhorrence, a strong hatred of all that is evil, specifically in connection with the object of that love. So the last thing biblical love would do is to tempt the one love to sin. Does that make sense? Folks, our love needs to be discerning. Not only do we need to hate evil, but Paul concludes verse nine by telling us to cling to what is good. Abhor evil, cling to what is good. And that refers to all that reflects the nature and character of God. For that is the definition of what is good. So young people, ask yourself this this morning, and really I don't care what age you are, what gender you are, do you abhor what is evil? And something ungodly comes up on the little screen that you have in your pocket, are you fascinated by it? Are you captivated by it? Perhaps immune to it? Both those extremes are wrong. We are to abhor what is evil. I know many of you also love to read, but when a book starts going down a wrong path, do you have enough strength of character and ultimately love for the Lord to close that book without finishing it? If someone were to look at the titles on your bookshelves or in your library of DVDs or in your playlist, would they immediately be able to see that you love the things that reflect the character of God and hate the things that reflect the character of his arch enemy? The third ingredient in our recipe of true love is found in verse 10. Verse 10 says, be devoted to one another. and brotherly love. Now here Paul uses a different Greek word, and it's the word Philadelphia. Does that word strike a bell in your mind? This word is made up of two Greek words joined together, phylos, which means tender affection or fondness and devotion, and adelphos, which is usually translated as brother, or more literally, one born of the same womb. So the word Philadelphia literally translated means tender affection for those born of the same womb. It's a great word. Hence the city of Philadelphia is supposed to be the city of brotherly love. We all know that, right? Now if you know anything about the modern city of Philadelphia, I've been there a couple times myself, then you know that that's not overtly apparent. But it's easy to understand why the early Christians adopted this word to describe Christian love, because if you're a Christian, then you're born again. And that means you've been born of the same womb, so to speak, through the new birth that the apostle John talks about in the third chapter of his gospel. you must be born again. There it is. So to be born again is an act of God whereby eternal life is imparted to the believer. It's a great definition. Also carries with it the idea of becoming children of God through trust in the name of Jesus. That's also true. And since we're children of God, that also makes us brothers and sisters in Christ, and thus God commands us as brothers and sisters in Christ, here it is, we're back to our text now, to be devoted to one another in brotherly love. This means that I am responsible to love everyone who belongs to the family of God. I owe each and every one of them tender affection and brotherly love. Now there's no doubt that's not always easy to do. I totally get that. I live in the real world just like you all do. Even in our earthly families, we have to learn to love one another biblically. Parents, it's easy to love those small children. But just wait. the harder trials in life come towards the end of our lives, do they not? Again, as he makes us more and more like Christ. And now God, through the apostle Paul, winds the horizons to include all of our heavenly family and commands us to be devoted or committed to one another in brotherly love. And any breach of that command is nothing short of sin. Perhaps an illustration of this kind of devoted love can be seen in the story of two men from World War I. Two friends had enlisted in the army together, and they trained together, were shipped overseas together, and fought side by side in the trenches of World War I together. And during an attack, one of the men was critically wounded and unable to crawl back to his foxhole. The field was filled with barbed wire, all kinds of obstacles, and was under deadly enemy crossfire. It would be suicide to try to reach the other man, yet his friend decided to try. But before he could get out of his own trench, the sergeant pulled him back inside and ordered him not to go. It's too late, he said. You can't do any good, and you'll only get yourself killed. But when the sergeant wasn't looking, The man climbed out of the trench and went after his friend. A few minutes later, he staggered back, mortally wounded, with his friend now dead in his arms. And the sergeant was both angry and deeply moved at the same time. What a waste, he blurted out. He's dead and now you're dying. It just wasn't worth it. With almost his last breath, the dying man replied, Oh yes it was, Sarge. When I got to him, the only thing he said was, I knew you'd come, Jim. Beloved, do you love other believers with that kind of a tender, self-sacrificing love that doesn't give up on one another? Paul, under the divine guidance of the Holy Spirit, says that genuine love means being devoted to one another. Now the fourth ingredient for biblical love is also found in verse 10. It says this, give preference to one another in honor. True love must show preferences. Number 4A in your outline. So how is brotherly love demonstrated? Well Paul explains it right here at the end of verse 10. He says this, give preference to one another in honor. And the idea here is to really outdo the other person in giving preference to them. Paul wants you to lead the way in showing honor to your brother or sister. In other words, look for ways to honor believers before they honor you. Recognize other believers' gifts and accomplishments before they recognize yours. Defer to other believers before they defer to you. I hope you know what deference means. Deferring to that other person. Hey, we could choose restaurant A or restaurant B. Well, you choose. What would you most like? Now that goes against our natural bent. Our natural tendency is to think of ourselves before anyone else. And why is that? It's simple. Goes all the way back to what we've all inherited from Adam and Eve. And that is a sin-filled nature. It's in our DNA. That's how we came out of the womb. But when we are truly born again, God makes us aware for probably the very first time of that natural tendency. Then he gives us a new heart, new desires. He gives us the strength to fight against those self-centered tendencies. A great parallel passage discussing this type of mindset is in Philippians 2. It's in verses three and four. Paul writes this, do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourself. Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. So why do we struggle to give preference to one another in brotherly love? Why? Again, I've got one word for you. Starts with an S and ends with an N. And there's an I in the middle. All right? Helping you guys out here. That's the one word answer. It's not until we come to the foot of the cross that we understand who we really are, and that is worthless sinners who have been saved entirely by God's good grace. Think about it. All that we are right now is solely because of God's grace. And all that we ever will be in the future is only because of His grace. When we learn to live in light of his grace in our lives, we'll also then be able to reach out to others in honor instead of just thinking about ourselves. Now the fifth ingredient for true love is found in verse 11. Let's keep moving on. Again, this is a, again, it seems like these are all disjointed, just a kind of a grab bag of exhortations, commands. You take a wider lens view and it's like, ah, he's really just describing love on a practical basis. So here's the fifth ingredient of true love. It's found in verse 11. Not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. I like the way the ESV puts verse 11. It says, do not be slothful in zeal. Be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Another translation says, never be lazy in your work, but serve the Lord enthusiastically. Oh, that's good. I think we all need a swift kick in the derriere every once in a while, don't you think? The Greek word that Paul uses for fervent, listen to me, literally means to be hot, to seethe, bubble and boil over. That is how God calls us to be. It was used to describe water boiling or metal glowing, that glowing orange-yellow view of what metal is when it's taken out of the fire. So in the context of a Christian service, fervent means to be full of energy, to be on fire with zeal and enthusiasm. So folks, there is a real warning here against settling into comfortable, shallow ruts in our spiritual lives. Maybe they're deep ruts. One commentator noted that religious enthusiasm is often derided as nothing but excessive emotionalism and a sign of fanaticism. But even though people might call us Bible thumpers, I've been called that before, religious wackos, don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. Long ago, a friend told me this. He said, Carrie, always, always consider the source. In other words, consider the source of who's saying those things and why they're saying them. Satan and the unbelieving world are always going to say negative things about those who take God's word and their relationship with the living God seriously. They don't like that. I wouldn't expect anything different. Even many so-called believers or so-called Christians don't like it when God's people take Him or His Word too seriously. And why not? because if a person is zealous for God, that means they are fervent, they are glowing red hot, they are on fire for Him, then it makes that half-hearted, lukewarm Christian look bad, and no one, quite frankly, likes to look bad, do they? But Paul says this, serve the Lord with zeal and boiling intensity. My dear friends, that's how you're supposed to be serving Him. This is something we don't see nearly enough of. Perhaps you've heard about the man who was asked if he thought ignorance and apathy were the two greatest problems of human nature. His answer, I don't know and I don't care. Well, that's not the type of attitude that we're to have in the church of the living God. The world will not be impressed with half-hearted, lukewarm disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. And not only is the world not impressed with such lackluster Christianity or belief, but more importantly, God is not impressed either. Do you realize that? God is not okay when we sit back on our laurels. Don't forget what Jesus said to the church in Laodicea, Revelation 3, 15 to 16. And don't think this is taken out of context. This was spoken to, written to a real church. He says, I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. Do you think the Lord takes this seriously? You bet he does. My dear brothers and sisters, let us not be lukewarm, but rather be diligent, fervent spirit, and enthusiastic in our love and service for others. And all God's children said what? Amen. Let's look at the sixth ingredient, which is found in verse 12. It says this, rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer. Now, biblical hope is not based on speculation, but rather on absolutes. Biblical hope is really a confident assurance of what will occur in the future. I hope you all have a great hope for heaven someday. A great hope of standing before the Lord and hearing those wonderful words, well done, my good and faithful slave. Enter into your master's, what? Rest. Thus behind these three phrases, rejoicing in hope, go back to verse 12, persevering in tribulation, devoted in prayer lies the hope, really, of our Lord's return. One commentator put it like this, while we wait for Jesus to return from heaven, we must be patient in hard times, constantly praying and rejoicing in the hope of better days to come. Amen. My dear brothers and sisters, I know you're tired. I know you're tired. I know you are because I am. But I truly believe that our Lord's return is right around the corner. Our world looks exactly like God said it would right before His return. So don't give up. Don't let up. And may our Lord and Savior find us all faithful when He returns. Charles Haddon Spurgeon used to say this. He was a famous preacher from the 1800s. He said, by perseverance, the snail reached the ark. Yes, he did. Yes, he did. Samuel Johnson claimed, great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance. You bet. Are you gonna stick it out, or are you gonna give up? Folks, true love perseveres because no matter how difficult a situation might be, we have an everlasting hope that gives us the courage and the strength day after day to keep going forward. Keep carrying on, amen? Now verse 13 reveals the seventh ingredient to true love. Let's look at this verse together. The first part of verse 13, contributing to the needs of the saints. There are three key words here to Paul's instruction that we need to briefly look at. First, we need to understand to whom our love should be generously shown. And Paul answers that very clearly when he says, to the needs of the, what? The saints. The saints is a clear reference to who? all the believers out there, right? All true Christians. So if you're born again, you are a saint. Now while we need to do good to all men, as Paul says here, we also need to see we have a special responsibility towards those who are in our own family. Does that make sense? That truth applies to both our physical family as well as our spiritual family. I find that in 1 Timothy 5.8, Galatians 6.9-10. The next key word here is needs. All too often we think of a need as nothing more than a selfish desire. But real needs are things like food, clothing, and shelter, correct? Paul said as much in 1 Timothy 6 verse eight, he said this, if we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. Again, he was living in Israel. I would add to that shelter, right? Those of us who are living in western Washington in February 2025. Then in 2 Thessalonians 3.10, he said, if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to what? Eat. Brothers and sisters, I believe we have a genuine responsibility to meet the real needs of truly needy people, but that does not include the sluggard. Proverbs 21.25 says, the desire of the sluggard puts him to death, for his hands refuse to work. Folks, there's a huge difference between someone who is not able to work and someone who refuses to work. The former should be helped and the latter should not be. Now the third key word in this phrase is contributing. It's interesting to note that this word actually comes from the form of a Greek word, maybe you'll recognize this Greek word, koinonia. You've no doubt heard it before. It's from where we get our word communion or fellowship. Same thing, when we celebrate communion in a few minutes here, that's what we're talking about, same Greek word. And quite simply, it means to participate or share in. On the one hand, this word means sharing in the hurts and heartaches of others. On the other hand, it means opening up our wallets, opening up our checkbooks in order to help alleviate the genuine needs of poor believers. An important aspect to understand about contributing is that it is voluntary and not forced, or at least it shouldn't be forced. Paul sets up that principle, or sets down that principle, excuse me, in 2 Corinthians 9. Listen to verses 6 and 7. Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. We just, as elders, memorize that verse together. So where does the motivation to participate in relieving the legitimate needs of others come from? Don't forget, we're still talking about the ingredients of true love, right? Genuine, biblical love. That's the motivation to meet the needs of others comes from a genuine, heartfelt love that God places in the lives of other believers. Or in a believer's life. This kind of love was very apparent in the early church. Just go back and read the book of Acts. You see it all over. Acts 2, Acts 5, Acts 6. Folks, this is without a doubt a true measure of your Christian love. So ask yourself, what are you doing to meet the needs of your brothers or sisters in Christ? What are you doing to do that? Do you give off the top or the bottom of your paycheck? Oh, I just don't have any money this month. Well, maybe if you hadn't spent it all first on yourself, maybe you would, right? Your answer to those questions undoubtedly says something about the state of your soul. And those aren't my words, those are the words of the Apostle John. Listen to what John says in 1 John chapter three. He says, but whoever has the world's good and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? In other words, there's reason to suspect that maybe something's wrong there. Then he says this in verse 18, little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. Love without action is really no love at all. I mean that. The next ingredient of true love is also found in verse 13. It logically flows out of contributing to the needs of the saints, look at this. It's part B here, Romans 12, 13b, practicing hospitality. The Greek word for hospitality is made up of a compound Greek word. Again, philo, which means kind affection, we saw that. Or love in xenos, which means stranger or foreigner. Thus, the Greek word for hospitality literally means what? Love for strangers. That's what hospitality means. Hospitality was a priority for the early church. Think about it. Back when the New Testament was written, there were very few inns, and if they did exist, very few inns or hotels, motels, whatever you want to call them, right? And those that did exist were often dirty and dangerous places. A passing stranger might just go to the public town square and spend the night there. Thus hospitality meant inviting someone in off the streets to share a meal with you and provide them for their needed lodging. Now there are many biblical examples of people who showed such hospitality. You'll remember Abraham and Lot. Abraham and Lot opened up their homes to strangers who passed by and entertained angels in the process, remember that? First it was Abraham, then it was Lot in Genesis 18 and 19. Another example was the widow provided lodging to the prophet Elijah in verse Kings 17. Lazarus, Mary, Martha all provided lodging to our Lord in Luke 10. Second Timothy, Paul commends Annesiphorus for his hospitality in Second Timothy chapter one. John in his third epistle commends Gaius for his hospitality, third John five through eight. Being hospitable is also one of the qualifications for an elder. 1 Timothy 3 verse two. And it's also one of the qualifications that Paul outlines in the fifth chapter of that same book for being a widow worthy of later being supported by the church. She needs to have shown hospitality. Does that make sense? That's where true religion comes in. is found. Now even though there are many hotels, motels, and restaurants out there today, that in no way alleviates our responsibility as believers to show genuine hospitality to one another when we're given that opportunity. This is something that each one of us needs to be diligent about doing because it's a very practical display of Christian love. Maybe that means taking care of an elderly relative or somebody who no longer has that ability to take care of themselves. But there are many who need to take this command to heart and learn to open up their homes and practically show their love for their brethren. The typical American treats his home as his what? Oh, his castle. I knew you were gonna say that. Because that's what we've been taught. reserved exclusively for their own use and their own pleasure, but God says that everything that we have in this lifetime is only on loan from him for a short time and a short season. We're simply all nothing but stewards, and we will be held accountable to that stewardship someday. Folks, our homes belong to the Lord, amen? Amen? Thank you. And he expects us to open them up for others. He wants us to pursue hospitality because that is a very practical display of Christian love for one another. Now the ninth ingredient is found in verse 14. It says this. This one's a toughie. Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse. If you're a Christian, then know for certain that you will be hated, you will be mistreated, you will be misunderstood, you will be lied about, gossiped about, and slandered in this lifetime. Why? Simply because we've aligned ourselves with the living God, and the God, the small g God of this world hates that when we align ourselves with the true Lord. Sometimes those attacks come from those closest to us, the members of our families, the members of our own churches. Sometimes it will be an old friend, dismayed at how religious you've become. Sometimes it will come from your employer or your employees. But if you truly want to live godly in Christ Jesus, then know for certain, because this is what the Bible says, know for certain that you will suffer persecution in this lifetime. There's no escaping it. The foundational principle that we find here is that we are to be kind to everyone, including to those who would be our earthly enemies. Jesus said something similar in Matthew 5, verse 44. He said, but I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Folks, this is the opposite of what our natural, sinful flesh wants to do, correct? I don't know about you, but my natural flesh wants to roll up the sleeves, right, and get ready to rumble. So how can we obey this commandment? Well, let me give you a couple of practical suggestions. First, remember that Jesus said at the beginning of his famous Sermon on the Mount what he said. He said this, verse 10, chapter five, blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness. What's that first word again? Blessed. Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Again, verse 11, blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven is great for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Oh, that's good. Beloved, the only way we can obey this command is to be absolutely convinced in our own heart and mind that whatever happens here and now is not really about us. Do you realize that? It's not really about us. It's about Him and His glory, His honor, His praise. Thus, if your goal in this lifetime is to please God and be like Jesus, then people will persecute you for being his faithful disciple. And when that happens, you can genuinely rejoice because you're bringing glory to him. A second suggestion comes from a commentator who offered this simple solution. He said, when faced with someone who has mistreated you, ask God to do for them what you want God to do for you. Well, that's good. Seek the blessing from them that you want God to do for you. And finally, do not, do not, do not forget that our Lord is sovereign. For whatever reason, he has allowed this circumstance to come into your life, and he wants to use it to bring you closer to him. Therefore, as hard as that might seem, thank God, who always knows what's best for us, including even the pain, the suffering, the Greek, the heartache that we experience in this lifetime, amen? He knows what's best, and he knows how best to grow us. The 10th ingredient is found in verse 15. Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. Have you noticed basically all these ingredients could be a whole sermon in and of themselves. I get that. But we're just taking the next chunk of this section and hey, these are one right after another God's inspired word to the Romans 2,000 years ago and to us today. Verse 15 says rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. Folks, that is what real love does. It shows sympathy. It gets involved. It doesn't stand on the sidelines of life when others are going through difficult times, but it jumps into both their joys and their sorrows. Is life filled of both? It is. One author put it like this. A sorrow shared is but half a trouble. A joy that's shared is a joy made double. A lot of us have grown cold and calloused over the years. The Bible actually says that. But realize this, that the love of many will grow cold in the last days. We see that. Natural affections are gone. We've been hurt, we've been taken advantage of so many times that we've developed a thick and callous skin towards others. So now we just keep everyone at arm's length. And you know what, that happens to pastors all the time. They've been hurt so many times. They think, I have often heard this, say there's a better way to make a living, right? But I can't do anything else until the Lord calls me out of this. But they've been hurt so many times that it's natural for people to want to do this, don't let anybody in. But that's not the right response. In order to be a pastor, in order to be a believer who survives in this lifetime, you need to have thick skin and a soft heart. Thick skin because those barbs will come, right? And they need to fall off. But that soft heart needs to never turn into a hard heart. We need to genuinely, honestly enter into the lives of others. We need to enter into both their times of joy and their times of sorrow. And folks, the only reason that we can truly show sympathy towards others is because of the heart changes that has occurred in our own lives. As a believer becomes more focused on living for the Lord, there's a corresponding change from being a self-centered to being God and others centered. God opens our eyes to this fact. It's only because there have been a genuine change of heart that we can truly rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. One very practical way that we can fulfill this command, are you ready for this? Is to attend both weddings and funerals. I'm sure that sounds like a really odd way to apply this verse, but think about it with me. Both weddings and funerals provide excellent opportunities for us to show our genuine love and support for those who are experiencing great times of joy or great times of sorrow. Pretty much doesn't get better or worse than one of those in life. So folks, when our brothers and sisters are going through such life-changing times, we should be there having, right, H-A-L-V-I-N-G, putting in half such life-changing sorrows and doubling the joy by sharing it with them. And once again, all God's people said what? Amen. I'll see you at the next funeral. The next wedding. The 11th ingredient that we, is that we must live in harmony. Look at the first part of verse 16. It says, be of the same mind toward one another. The Greek here literally says, think the same things toward each other. Think the same things. Does that mean that we're all to think alike? Is that really what Paul's saying? And the answer is certainly not. It can't possibly mean that since it would be impossible this side of heaven. He just got done talking about spiritual gifts, right? And how we're all different. Rather, as someone wisely noted, and I'm gonna quote now, the word harmony implies a beautiful symphony, a collection of instruments playing on the same page at the same time. They don't sound alike and they don't play the same notes. So it is in the body of Christ, we don't all look alike or act alike or sound alike. And we certainly don't always think alike. The church, both local and worldwide, is enriched by a variety of different opinions. But there's harmony amid the cacophony of sound, That sounds, when we understand that the things that unite us are greater than the things that divide us, end quote. Very, very well said. That's exactly right. As believers, we're a concert. Just as St. Augustine put it so many years ago, he said this, in essentials, unity, in non-essentials, liberty, and in all things, Charity, another word for that old English word for charity is love. It's one we find in the King James Version. Final ingredient that Paul mentions for true love is perhaps the most important of all. True love, come back to this once again, is humble. We've touched on this a lot lately, haven't we? Paul's been saying a lot about this. Look at the last part of verse 16. Do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Folks, I've done a lot of counseling over the years, and no matter what the situation, pride has always been found there somewhere in the equation. Paul's exhortation here could not be clearer. He says this, don't be wise in your own thinking. Don't get a big head. Stop thinking about yourself and begin thinking about others. And folks, as I mentioned recently, that's really what true humility is. True humility is not thinking badly about yourself, what? It's simply not thinking about yourself. Next Paul says that we are to associate with the lowly. In other words, he's saying don't think that you're better than anyone else or that others are below you or that you're cooler than other people around you. Folks, to my shame, I admit that's often how I acted in junior high, high school, and somewhat in college. As an unbeliever, I always thought that I was better than others. I can understand that in the world. My dear brothers and sisters, that type of thinking and acting should never, ever be found in the family of God. There should never be any cliques in the church. Jesus never thought like that. He never acted like that. He associated with everyone, including tax collectors, prostitutes, and drunkards, remember that? Remember the scribes and the Pharisees are like, how dare your master? He eats with prostitutes and tax collectors, right? How can that be? Jesus said, I do not come to call the righteous, but the sinner to repentance. Don't forget, he reserved his harshest words, his greatest criticisms for those who thought that they were better than everyone else. Scribes and the Pharisees, the religious leaders. Now the last phrase that we find in verse 16 is a command for us not to be wise in our own estimation. Christians are never to have conceit or feelings of superiority toward their fellow believers. Remember, James 4.6 says that God is opposed to the proud, but gives what? Grace to the humble. Folks, if we're humble, truly humble, then we'll never look down on anyone, but rather we'll look up to everyone. And that's exactly what the Lord would have for each and every one of us. Now, in conclusion, My dear, dear brothers and sisters, as we come to the end of our passage, let me just say that our lives, our families, and our churches would be much better, much happier, much more Christ-like places if we took this God-given recipe to heart and really loved one another as God intends us to love. And our witness to this fallen world would be much more effective than it is right now. As you all know, talk is, thank you. Most people can talk a good talk when it comes to love. However, when it comes to living it out, they often fail miserably. When the late E. Stanley Jones preached on love, listen to this, a frustrated pastor reported that he had saturated, here's that pastor in that hard heart, right? He had saturated his congregation with love, but one man was still causing trouble and threatening to split the church. What should he do since love just didn't seem to be working? You ready for this? The late E. Stanley Jones gave this simple advice, increase the dosage. Increase the dosage. Folks, in light of this passage, I think that was great advice. So what do you do when your husband or your wife isn't treating you in a loving way, men, ladies? Don't wait for them, but you increase the dosage, correct? What do you do when your brother or sister won't speak with you? You increase the dosage. What do you do when your name is maligned, when you're mistreated and slandered? You increase the dosage. So beloved, how do we begin to apply a message like this? Well, there's all kinds of ways. Let's give you a couple tips. First, consider memorizing these eight verses. Second, begin praying through each one of these exhortations. If they were given 2,000 years ago and the church in Rome needed it, certainly we need it. Ask the Lord to begin showing you specifically where you've fallen short. Ask him for forgiveness, then thank him for that forgiveness in the same breath. We ask for forgiveness and then we thank him for that forgiveness, right? And then what does he say a righteous man does? He falls seven times and he does what? He gets back up. So get back up. Third, take one of these exhortations and really make it your daily meditation and prayer. Start with the members of your own home and work out from there. Folks, it's easy to ask God to help us to be more loving, all the while being very general and unspecific. But if we are going to grow in this area, then dare I say we must be specific. A great counselor friend of mine once said this. Are you ready for this? No one ever grows in fuzzy land. When you keep things fuzzy and general, yes, I should love the church more. You're right, Pastor Kerry. God bless you. You'll never grow, right? All it is is generality. No one ever grows in fuzzy land, so pray about it. Ask God to give you the wisdom this week to really put these commands into practice and the many different relationships that he brings across your path. And don't forget the most powerful testimony that we could ever have. Jesus said, is love for one another. Do you realize that? That's the most powerful. He said it in John 13, 35. Let me close with this verse. Jesus said, by this all men will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. And all God's people said, amen. Father, we thank you. Once again, for needed exhortation, Lord, I pray that none of us would shy away from it, none of us would run away from that, none of us would avoid this, but we would welcome your word, your timeless word in our lives. And Lord, this is definitely a needed exhortation in our time. Can you say this is what the end times are gonna look like? It will be marked by a, that love is, has grown cold and natural affections of people will grow cold. If we look around us, that's what we see each and every day, Lord. It's only increasing. Lord, we don't know when you're gonna come back, but we do wanna be found faithful. I pray that for myself, my dear, dear brothers and sisters, everyone here and all those online, Lord, help us to love like you loved and that we truly, all people would genuinely know that we truly do know and love the living God because of the love we have for one another. Pray that for myself, for my family, this church family. Pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.