How the Gospel Makes Us a Community of Love

The scripture reading comes from Romans chapter 12.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

Please follow along on the screen, the bulletin, or your own Bible.

Starting in verse 1, we read,

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God,

to present your bodies as a living sacrifice,

holy and acceptable to God.

Which is your spiritual worship.

Do not be conformed to this world,

but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,

that by testing, you may discern what is the will of God,

what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Then in verse 9, we read,

Let love be genuine,

abhor what is evil,

hold fast to what is good,

love one another with brotherly affection,

outdo one another in showing honor,

do not be slothful in zeal,

be fervent in spirit,

serve the Lord.

This is the word of God.

Great.

Thank you, Joyce, for reading to us this morning.

And good morning, everybody.

It's great to see you all today.

Thank you.

I think nobody really knew what to say there, right?

You were like, do we say something?

Do we not say something?

Well, if you're new, my name is Kevin,

and it's great to have you with us today.

Now, for those of you who aren't new,

you'll know we are working through the book of Romans,

Romans 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12.

And Romans 12 is this amazing passage in the Bible.

It starts off with these very famous words,

by the mercies of God.

And it comes off the back of 11 chapters

of amazing gospel teaching.

11 chapters where Paul has just been explaining

the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus,

and what it means,

and the good news of Jesus,

and the hope of Jesus,

and the profound love of Jesus,

and the fact that God saves people like us.

And then he starts off, chapter 12,

with these words,

in view of God's mercies,

or by the mercies of God.

But the problem is,

Christianity is not just meant to be doctrine

that we believe in our head.

Christianity, or being a Christian,

is not just about believing certain propositional truths.

It's about actually having the life,

and the nature, and the character of God

so shape and change our lives,

that we become a different kind of people.

Okay?

So I want to show you a photo.

Let's see if we can get this photo up on the screen.

There should be a photo.

There we go.

This photo is devastating.

It's a meeting of the Ku Klux Klan,

which, if you don't know what the Ku Klux Klan is,

it was an ultra-right-wing,

extremist,

very evil kind of brotherhood

in America,

in the American South in 1920s

to about the 1960s or so.

And so this is a meeting of the Ku Klux Klan,

but do you notice the sign that's behind him?

What does it say?

Jesus saves.

Jesus saves.

Now, that is great gospel doctrine.

Jesus saves sinners, right?

That is the truth.

That's what this church is built upon.

Jesus saves.

Jesus saves.

But what this photo shows us

is that you can believe great gospel doctrine

and not have it penetrate your life

or shape your life at all.

You can believe gospel doctrine in your head

and still live out the values of hell

rather than the glories of heaven.

And what Romans 12 is trying to show us

is that it's one thing to believe

the wonderful doctrine,

that Jesus saves.

Jesus died on the cross.

All the great stuff we were singing about earlier.

But what Romans 12 wants to show us

is how that actually shapes

and transforms our lives

and our relationships

so that we start to look like Jesus

rather than live out the values of hell.

And so one way to think about Romans 12

is that it actually describes

how the gospel shapes

our various relationships.

And so in verse 1 and 2

describes how the gospel shapes

our relationship with God.

It says,

Therefore, by the mercies of God,

present your bodies as a living sacrifice,

holy and acceptable.

This is your spiritual act of worship.

Don't be conformed to the ways of this world,

but be transformed into the image of Christ.

And then in verse 3 to 8,

Chris explained this last week,

it shows how the gospel shapes

our relationship to ourselves.

It says,

In view of God's mercy,

don't think of yourself more highly than you ought,

but think of yourself with sober judgment.

Right?

Consider yourself a team member

with gifts of grace

to contribute to the team.

And then in verses 9 to 16,

Paul shows how the gospel

shapes our relationships

to the church family,

to the way we relate to one another.

And then in verse 17 to 21,

Paul's going to show

how the gospel shapes

our relationship to our enemies,

to those who persecute us

or cause life to be difficult.

And then in chapter 13,

Paul's going to show

how the gospel shapes

our relationship to the government

and to the state.

Okay?

So that's kind of,

chapter 12 shows

how the gospel shapes

all these areas

and relationships in our lives.

Now today,

we're going to focus on the middle one.

How the gospel shapes

our relationships

to the church family.

And today,

we're going to look at

just three verses,

verses 9 to 11,

and then next week,

we're going to pick up 12 and 13.

And so,

look at what Paul says here.

In verse 9 to 11,

I appeal to you therefore,

brothers,

by the mercies of God,

verse 9,

let love be genuine,

abhor what is evil,

hold fast to what is good,

and love one another

with brotherly affection,

outdo one another

in showing honor.

Do not be slothful in zeal,

be fervent in spirit,

serving the Lord.

We live in an age

where we as a world

and a society

are very confused

about the nature of love.

Everywhere we go,

we are bombarded

with words and images

and messages

about love.

Whether it's on the MTR line,

whether it's an advert

that you see,

a song that you listen to,

images, words, songs,

everything is bombarding us

and appealing to

a certain nature

or notion

of what love is.

And it's a kind of love

which essentially

is based on two things.

It's based on feelings,

how I feel about something,

and it's orientated

towards the self.

And so that's why

people say,

I know that I love you

because of how you make me feel.

Right?

And we hear people

talking about things,

saying like,

I guess I've fallen out of love

or we're no longer compatible

or it's not working

for me anymore.

But the Bible's going to tell us

that our relationships,

both romantic

but also platonic,

are to be shaped

by a kind of love

that is far more robust

and far more profound

than that.

That's a very superficial

and a very fragile

understanding of relationships

and of love

and of commitment.

And so despite

the flood of imagery

and the songs

and the memes

and the messages

and all the stuff

that's going on,

like undernourished kids

in a candy store,

we as modern society,

although we are bombarded

with love all around us,

we are actually

deeply starved

of the kind of robust,

radical,

transformative love

that God designed

us to both experience

and also to demonstrate

towards others.

I think we've got a picture,

another picture up here.

Okay, do you know

what this is?

This looks like a cake,

but it's not actually a cake.

Actually, this is a picture

of heaven on earth.

Okay?

Not really,

but this is amazing, right?

This looks like Kathy Tom

has been in the kitchen

at work.

This is not just one layer

of chocolate,

not just two layers,

this is five layers

of chocolate awesomeness.

Okay?

For bakers,

when Jesus says,

maybe on heaven

as it is,

maybe on earth

as it is in heaven,

this is something like

what he was thinking about.

Okay?

Five layers

of chocolate cake.

In the passage

we're going to look at

today,

Paul is going to give us

12 layers

of what a community

that is shaped

by the love of God

looks like.

And jokes aside,

what the passage

we're going to look at

is in some ways

a small picture

of what heaven on earth

is really meant

to look like.

When Jesus said,

pray like this,

let your kingdom come

that you will be done

on earth as it is in heaven.

Jokes aside,

he wasn't talking about

Kathy Tom's chocolate cookies.

He was talking about

a community of people

that are so shaped

by love

that earth looks like

or the church

would look like

an outpost of heaven.

And so that's what

we're going to look at

today in our passage.

And what you're going to see

is that the love

that Christ talks about

is not feelings based,

it's not orientated

towards the self.

It is sincere,

it's principled,

it's others focused,

it's family,

it's a picture

of heaven on earth.

And so look at how

Paul starts off with this.

He says this,

let love be genuine.

And that's the big idea

for today's passage.

The big idea of today's passage

and today's message

is this,

that in view of God's

radical,

robust,

transformative

love and mercy,

let us become

a kind of church

that is radically

and generously loving too.

Okay, that's what the passage

is going to call us to today.

So let's look at how

he starts.

Verse 9,

Paul says this,

let love be genuine.

Let love be genuine.

The Greek word here

for genuine

is the word

a-lipokritos.

A meaning without,

nipokritos

from where we get

the word hypocrisy,

without hypocrisy.

Now I'm sure

most of us know this,

in the ancient world

to call somebody

a hypocrite,

or the word hypocrite

wasn't a derogatory term,

it wasn't offensive.

A hypocrite was the name

for the Greek actors

who acted on stage

by wearing a mask,

right?

So they'd go on stage,

they'd wear a mask

and play a certain character,

kind of think of like

Beijing opera, right?

You put on a mask,

you play your character,

at the end of the show,

you put your mask down

and you go home,

your genuine self.

And the actors

that played this character

were called

the hypocrites.

And it was a word

that then became

a moral word

and took on the nature

that we use it

as today.

Paul is saying,

his point here

is that because

of God's grace

to people like you and I,

the church should be a place

where we no longer

wear masks,

we don't come to church

for two hours

on a Sunday,

say our Christian lines,

play the game,

and then go home

and be our genuine self.

Actually,

because of God's love

for us,

the church should be a place

where we remove our masks

and where we can love

one another

and receive love

as our genuine self,

who we genuinely are.

Now,

of course,

that's scary

and of course

that's messy

because what that means

is that if I come

with my genuine self,

you're going to have

to experience

the real me,

not the Instagram version

of me,

okay?

And that might be complicated

and that might be messy,

but it's also beautiful.

Now,

here's the one challenge,

right?

No church

is going to have

a big sign outside

saying,

we don't love people,

we don't care about you,

we just want to use

and abuse you,

take advantage of you,

come and join this church,

okay?

If you ever find a church

that says that,

here's some free advice,

you might want to look

for another church,

okay?

That's not a healthy church.

But here's the thing,

no church is going to say that,

but that church

might be better

than the kind of church

that says,

welcome,

we will love you

and accept you

like a family

and then when you're

on the inside,

you find there's backbiting,

there's backstabbing,

people come on Sunday

and they wear

their Christian smile,

but inside they're

harboring bitterness

and resentment.

Maybe it's better

to find a church

that's honest

about how unloving it is

than a church

that is playing

the hypocrite.

And so what Paul

is saying is,

by the mercies of God,

because of God's

great love for us,

the church community

should be one that

can genuinely

be authentic

and sincere

and love authentically.

So what does it look like,

let's look at the contrast,

to be insincere?

What does an insincere

church look like?

Well,

on the one hand,

insincerity is obviously

projecting an image

that the outside of you

doesn't look like

the inside of you,

right?

So you come to church

and someone says,

how are you?

And you say,

yeah, I'm good,

I'm good,

doing well, thanks.

But actually inside

you are dying.

Or it's talking to somebody

and saying,

hey, how are you doing?

Hey, I'm really sorry

to hear that.

I'm going to be praying

for you.

And actually you have

no intention of praying

for them at all,

right?

Or maybe it's coming

to church and we sing

the songs and we take

communion,

but our hearts are

actually really hard

towards God.

And so what's going on

there?

All of that is a form

of wearing a mask.

It's a form of self-love

and not an authentic love.

But there's actually

another kind of hypocrisy.

Do you remember

Jesus' famous words

in Matthew 7

where he says,

do not look at the speck

or do not say

to your brother,

let me take the speck

out of your eye

when you've got a log

in your own eye.

He says,

you hypocrite.

First take the log

out of your own eye

rather than taking

the speck out

of your brother's eye.

And what Jesus is saying

there is that

there's a kind

of hypocrisy,

there's a kind

of self-love

that minimizes

my own faults

or covers over

my own faults

and magnifies

the faults of others.

So let's say,

for instance,

one day Chris comes

to me in the office

and he says,

hey,

Kev,

the way you responded

in that staff meeting

was a bit strange.

Are you okay?

Or hey,

we've spoken

that that's not

the culture

we want to set here.

And you responded

like this.

Can we talk about that?

And I say,

what do you mean?

Didn't you do

the same thing

last week?

Or Jeremy?

Jeremy did the same

thing last week.

Well,

what am I doing?

I'm minimizing

my own faults,

magnifying someone else's

to reflect the attention

on me.

What am I doing?

I'm wearing a mask.

It's self-love.

It's self-love.

And so,

Jesus says

that Jesus calls us

to become the community

that loves one another

without masks,

genuinely,

sincerely.

Jesus says,

by this will all people

know that you are

my disciples

if you have love,

genuine love

for one another.

And that's an amazing

thing because if you

think about it,

every church has

unique characteristics

about it, right?

You go to a church

like us

and maybe we're

a little low-key

and not particularly

fancy

and, you know,

we do our thing.

And then you go

to another church

down the road

and you find

the pastor is

very cool

and he knows

how to talk

cool and dress

cool and you think,

wow, this is a great church

and the music's like this.

And maybe you go

to a third church

and they're more

contemplative

and meditative

and high liturgy.

and Jesus says

that actually

all those things

are not

that important.

If you want

to go to church

where the music

is phenomenal

and there's smoke

machines and lights

and buzzing stuff,

that's okay.

If you want

to go to church

where there's more

hymns and it's

traditional and liturgical,

that's okay.

But the defining

feature of the church

is Jesus,

is not the music

or the dress code

or how you speak,

it is their genuine

love for one another.

By the mercies

of God,

let your love

be genuine,

sincere.

Now,

of course,

that's the first thing,

okay.

Now,

we mustn't confuse

genuineness

or sincere love

with just niceness

or politeness,

okay.

The kind of loving

community

Jesus envisaged

is not one

that's simply sweet

and just nice

all the time

but one that's robust

because look at

what Paul says next.

Look at verse,

is it still verse 9?

Still verse 9,

I think.

He says,

abhor what is evil

and hold fast

to what is good.

Now,

the word abhor

means to loathe

something,

to detest something,

kind of like

to hate something.

Paul,

and the word

to hold fast

is actually the word

used elsewhere

in the New Testament

for sexual intimacy,

for marriage,

to be united

to one another.

And so Paul says,

in view of God's mercy,

be genuinely loving,

hating what is evil

and holding fast,

uniting yourself

to that which is good.

But in the Greek language,

this is actually

all one sentence.

There's one train

of thought here.

So he's saying,

let your love be genuine

by detesting what's evil

and holding fast

to what's good.

There's a connection there.

And think about it

this way.

What Paul is saying here

is that a community

that's genuinely loving

will also hate

that which is evil

and destructive

and detrimental

to the well-being

of the community.

So think about it

this way, right?

How many of us here,

if your sister

or your mother

or your wife

or your daughter

is threatened,

how many of us

would say,

oh,

that's a pity.

I hope that doesn't

happen again.

If there isn't

something inside of you

that gets riled

when somebody threatens

a family member,

we'd question

how much you love them.

Or let's say

your mother

is diagnosed with cancer

or your child

is diagnosed with cancer.

It is not something

inside of us

that gets angry at that.

Well, we'd question

how much we genuinely

love our family members.

And Paul's saying

the same thing.

Because of our love

for one another,

when there's something

that threatens

the well-being

of the community,

there should be

something inside of us

that responds to that.

It says,

no, that's not right.

We need to talk about that.

In fact,

one commentator says

it's not just

this inward feeling.

He said it's an intense

inward rejection

of all that is wrong.

It's a repudiation.

So it's not just

this passive saying,

oh, that's really not good.

That really,

I hope that doesn't happen.

It's actually a rejection

of the evil

that's threatening

the well-being

of the church family.

In other words,

the gospel doesn't confuse

robust love

with gentle tolerance.

Does that make sense?

So in our culture,

we tend to think

that we live in a culture

that says love

is all feeling-based.

But the New Testament

actually says

that the kind of love

which causes community

to flourish

is robust.

So think about it

this way.

Imagine you are,

you go camping

with a friend

and you see a snake

slithering

towards your tense friend,

your friend's tent,

okay?

Your tense friend,

right?

You see a snake

slithering towards him.

You don't say,

oh, well,

I guess it's none

of my business.

Oh, you pick up a stick,

you scream,

and you shout,

and you maybe even

risk a little bit

of danger.

You do some crazy things

that you wouldn't

normally do.

You've got to get

that snake away,

right?

In the same way,

when we see danger

moving towards

our church community,

we don't just say,

oh, well,

I guess it's none

of my business.

Because of our genuine

love for one another,

we move towards each other

and say, hey,

this might be

a difficult conversation,

but I love you so much.

Can we talk about this?

A few years ago,

I have a very,

very dear friend of mine,

very, very close friend.

And I,

for some reason,

this friend of mine

is married,

he's got kids,

and there's another family

that are good friends

of theirs.

And they used to do

a lot together

and go on holidays together

and that kind of stuff.

And I,

for some reason,

I don't know why,

just felt like the guy,

my friend,

his relationship

with the wife

and this family,

something just felt not,

I was feeling

uncomfortable about it.

Just felt like

they were too close.

And for months,

I was wrestling with this.

And one day,

I plucked up

every ounce of courage

I could find

in my being.

And I've got to tell you,

it was one of the hardest things

I've ever done in my life.

And I said,

hey, bro,

this is going to be

a difficult conversation.

But do you mind

if we talk about this?

I feel awkward

and uncomfortable

when I see you

relating to this lady.

Can I ask you

just to

be very aware of that?

And he was very gracious

and he just said,

hey, thank you.

And

that was all.

And it was all fine.

And I honestly thought

that relationship

might come to an end.

I thought he might hate me

and never want to see me again.

And I didn't want to do that.

And I didn't want to have

that conversation.

But because I love him

and I love his family

and I remember thinking

to myself,

imagine in five years time

this guy comes to me

and says,

hey, my marriage is over.

I'm leaving my wife and kids.

I would,

I don't know what I'd do

to myself.

Friends,

Jesus says

that genuine love

means we abhor,

we loathe

when we see the cancer of sin

moving towards our community.

We pluck up the courage

and out of gentleness

and humility

we say,

can I have a conversation?

Can we talk about this?

And the truth is

maybe there was nothing there.

I don't really know.

And maybe one day

I'll get to heaven

and I didn't need

to have that conversation.

But maybe I did.

Genuine love

moves towards one another

like that.

And so,

what this means

is that

contrary to popular notions

of love,

the kind of love

that God calls

the community to exhibit

is principled,

not just feelings based.

It's not just based

on personal preferences.

You know someone loves you

when they're willing

to go against

personal preferences

for the sake of

what's good

and right

and wholesome.

And so,

just by the way,

for those of us

that are single here,

if your boyfriend

or your girlfriend

ever says,

hey,

if you love me

you'll sleep with me

or if you love me

you'll go away with me

or you'll move in with me,

they don't love you.

They're putting

personal preferences

above what's good

and right

and good for you

and your relationship.

genuine love

puts principle

above just

personal preferences.

Okay?

Abore what is evil,

hold fast,

fight for what is good.

Now,

some of us

might think,

oh my goodness,

all this talk

makes me nervous,

right?

Because now,

if I join a church

like this,

everyone's going to be

analyzing my life

and scrutinizing my life

and everyone's going to be

coming and pointing out

all sorts of things

in my life.

And that's not

the case at all.

Remember Jesus' words?

First,

let's look at our own hearts.

We don't want to become

a community

where everyone's

pointing the finger

at everyone else.

That's not the kind

of community we are.

And here's why.

Because Paul says

we're a family.

We're a family.

Look at his words

in verse 10.

He says,

love one another

with brotherly affection.

Now,

Paul actually uses

two words here

that are

in Roman context,

Greek culture,

were deeply

family related.

The first one

where he says

love one another

is actually the word

that describes

a parent's love

for their child.

It's that deep delight

that a parent takes

in their child.

You know,

if you have young children,

if Fiona and Chris,

you guys are at the stage

or there's a whole bunch

of others,

Chris and Justin

at the back there,

your kids can just

have a terrible day.

They're screaming

and they're grumpy

and they're fighting

with you.

And then they go to sleep

and they're asleep

in their crib

and you look at them

and you think,

oh,

aren't they so beautiful?

Right?

And you think,

can you just,

did you forgot

what just happened

an hour ago?

It's that parental

deep delight

that you have

in your kids.

Paul says,

delight in one another,

love one another

like the parents

love for their children.

And then he uses

this other word,

oh, by the way,

family is messy, right?

It is grumpiness

and there's tiredness

and there's challenges.

Every family is messy.

But parents still

love their children

despite that.

Friends,

you know the church

is messy.

There's grumpiness

and there's tiredness

and there's challenges

and there's temper tantrums

in the church.

But Paul says,

we're a family.

Delight in one another

nevertheless.

And then he uses

another word,

the word Philadelphia

for brotherly affection.

And literally just the word

that siblings,

the love that siblings

have for each other

that is forged

over a long period of time

of going through

all sorts of battles

and life together.

You know that if you've got

a sibling

and you've grown up,

your sibling is the kind

of person that

you can just go to their house,

you don't need to say anything,

you can just flop down

on the couch,

you can go to their fridge

and just open up their fridge

and they know how you feel

even without using words.

Do you know what I mean?

Paul says that's the kind

of relationships

that the church should have

that are forged

over a long period of time

of working through

challenges together

so that actually

you're so natural,

you're so just yourself

with each other

that you don't need

to put on a pretense.

It's the kind

of family relationships

where you delight

each other naturally.

You know,

some families,

you need to have

a bunch of rules

on the wall, right?

So in this family

we talk kindly

to each other,

we make our bed,

we take the plates

through to the kitchen

afterwards,

we don't put feet

on the couch,

all those sorts of rules.

But actually a great family

is one that doesn't have

to have those rules

on the wall,

they just know

how to love each other

naturally.

Paul's saying,

delight in one another

with that kind

of brotherly affection

so that we don't come

to church and say,

rule 7.3

of the Watermark Constitution

says,

you will arrive

at church at 10.30,

right?

Actually just out

of love for one another

we know how to behave.

Okay,

that's the third thing.

Fourth layer

of our cake

is this,

and actually this is

going to be the last one,

is this.

Paul says,

a church that's

shaped by the gospel

is selfless

or self-forgetful.

Look at what he says here.

He says,

outdo one another

in showing honor.

Now,

this is one of those phrases

that you read over

in your Bible

very quickly,

especially in a list

of 12 commands.

Okay,

there's 12 commands

in this passage.

You read the list

of 12 commands.

Love one another genuinely,

abhor this,

love this,

do this,

outdo one another

in showing honor,

be fervent,

blah, blah, blah,

and you read over it

and it just goes

straight over your head.

But just think about

that for a second.

Imagine a church community

that is committed

to outdoing one another

in honoring each other

all the time.

And what that means

is prefer to honor

one another

than being honored.

Come to church

with a mindset

that says,

how can I serve

and esteem somebody else?

How can I lift

somebody else up

rather than

how can I be esteemed?

How can I be lifted up?

It's the kind of community

where you're putting time

and effort

and energy

into thinking,

how can I lift up

somebody

and encourage

somebody else

rather than always

looking to be encouraged

and built up yourself?

Outside of the gospel,

we've all got to fight

for every bit of honor

and recognition

that we can get.

But that kind of culture

necessarily excludes

one another.

It tramples people.

It abuses people

and it hurts people.

How many of us

in the workplace,

there's a culture

of a dog-eat-dog culture.

You've got to get

on top of people.

It's super competitive.

And if you're not on top,

you're getting left behind.

But how many of us

have felt marginalized,

used and abused,

trampled on

and excluded?

Paul's saying,

what would it look like

for the church

that is shaped

by the radical love

of Christ

to be a church community

that so honors

one another

that we're lifting

and building

one another up

rather than seeking

to be honored?

Paul says that

in the gospel,

Jesus Christ bestows

on us an honor

and an identity

that is so securing,

so undeserved,

so reassuring,

it leads to what

Tim Keller calls

a kind of self-forgetfulness

where you just naturally,

it transforms us

from being honor seekers

to being honor givers.

And notice here

that the honor

that Paul calls us

to give

is not based on

giftedness

or personality

or position

in the church

or position

in society,

it's an honor

that's given

based on the fact

that we are blood

bought by Christ,

that Christ is

the head of the church

and the head

of our family.

And so friends,

imagine each church,

each Sunday

we arrived at church

thinking,

how can I honor,

how can I esteem,

how can I encourage

somebody today?

Imagine throughout the week

there's a myriad

of text messages

that are going

across Hong Kong,

messages,

scriptures,

prayers,

as we seek

to honor

and encourage

one another.

What a beautiful church

and picture

to be part of.

And Paul goes on here

and he says,

do not be slothful

or lazy in zeal,

but be fervent

in the spirit,

serving the Lord.

And Dallas Willow

said this,

he said,

the opposite of love

is not hate,

but laziness.

Think about that

for a second.

The opposite of love

is not hate,

but laziness.

And that's so true.

And so Paul says,

don't be lazy

in the way

that you serve

one another

because actually

that's selfishness.

And so practically

that might mean

coming to church

or CG

even when you

don't feel like it

because you know,

hey,

this isn't about me,

this is about

serving the family.

Friends,

this is the kind

of church

that the gospel

creates

where the mercies

of God

form a gospel

community.

Now,

one last thing

before we close.

It is possible,

it's possible,

Chris actually

reminded me

of this week.

It's possible

for us

to know

all this kind

of behavior

and to

try and manufacture

a counterfeit version

of all these

characteristics.

So it's easy

to think,

hey,

Christians,

I know we should

be loving

and so we

act loving.

Christians

should be

genuine

so we

act genuine.

It's easy

to try

and act

out these

characteristics

without having

a gospel

shaped

transformed

life.

And so

what that

means is

that the

church

will be

formed

but will

look like

this

but in a

counterfeit

version.

And we

all know

a counterfeit

version

just sucks,

right?

If you ever

try to take

a bite

of a

counterfeit

piece of

cake,

foam cake,

it's not

going to

satisfy,

right?

There,

there,

there is,

I was thinking

about this

last night,

have you ever

gone to

Madame

Two Swords

and you

see

Ed Sheeran

or someone,

have you ever

tried a

relationship

with that

person?

They might

look good

from a

distance but

it's not

going to

really,

you're not

going to

have much

of a

relationship

with them.

So how

do we

become the

kind of

community?

Let me

explain what

I mean by

that.

We can

come to

church and

you can

just be

harsh and

judgmental and

arrogant and

then we

say,

hey I'm

just speaking

the truth

and love.

I don't

want to

wear a

mask,

I want

to be

real.

I see

the cancer

in your

life,

I see

the snake

slithering

towards your

door and

because I

love you,

I want to

tell you as

it is.

So we

just become

this harsh

judgmental

community,

right?

It's a

counterfeit

version.

Or maybe

we go around

just puffing

everybody up and

encouraging people

all the time,

bless you

brother,

you are so

wonderful and

we just

become this

kind of

cheesy,

superficial,

mutually

affirming

community that

doesn't need to

actually know how

to speak the

truth and

love.

Or maybe we

come to church

and we're all

just grumpy

and lazy

and moaning

and we say,

I just want to

be genuine.

I don't want to

wear a mask,

I don't feel like

being here,

I don't like you,

this is who I am,

just deal with it,

right?

And so we put on

this counterfeit

version of being

genuine.

So how do we

become the kind

of community that's

genuine and

authentic,

sincere,

without hypocrisy,

which has the

courage to call

sin what it is,

and yet at the

same time is

still full of

brotherly affection,

honor,

and genuine

love?

How do we

become that

kind of community?

And the

answer is that

we've got to

be formed,

on the

biblical language,

rooted and

grounded in

the immeasurably

awesome,

robust,

transformative

love of God

for us.

you've got to

be so

shaped and

rooted and

grounded in

God's profound

love for us

that it

transforms us

from the kind

of people that

are self-focused

towards those

that are others

focused.

It transforms us

from the kind

of people that

are always looking

towards ourselves

to the kind

of people that

are willing to

give genuine

love away.

Paul starts off

and he says,

by the mercies

of God,

by Christ's

profound love

on the cross

for us,

be this kind

of community.

And so,

remember this

famous verse

in 1 John

1 John 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4?

John writes

this,

he says,

we love

because God

first loved us.

Oscar,

you might need

to help

Elliot there.

this is

parental love,

brotherly affection.

Shame.

I don't know

what to say.

Paul says this,

Paul says,

we love

because God

first loved us.

Now,

I always thought

that that meant

we love God

because he first

loved us.

And that is

true in a way,

but actually

what this verse

is talking about,

we love one another

because God's

profound love

has been poured

into our hearts.

Because John

goes on to say,

we love

because God

first loved us,

therefore no one

can say,

I love God

and hate his brother.

How can you say,

I love God

whom you haven't

seen,

if you dislike

and hate your

brothers and

sisters whom you

can't see?

So John is saying,

we love one another

because God's love

has first been

poured into

our hearts.

The apostle Paul

says it like this

in Ephesians,

be kind to one another,

tenderhearted,

forgiving one another

as God in Christ

forgives us.

Therefore,

walk in love

as Christ

has loved us

and gave himself

up for us

on the cross.

Friends,

when the depths

of Christ's

profound,

robust,

transformative love

grips and shapes

my heart,

it will cause

a kind of

self-forgetfulness

which enables me

and empowers me

to love those

around me

and those in the

community.

And so what this

means is unless

our hearts are

constantly shaped

and melted

and informed

by God's love

for us,

our relationships

with each other

will always tend

towards the self.

And if you think

about that,

that's why the

gospel needs to

constantly be

informing our

hearts,

week in and

week out.

We can't just say,

you know,

once upon time

in 1989,

I heard the gospel,

it was amazing,

my heart was broken

and I became a

Christian.

Well,

1989 is wonderful

but what about

2021?

This week,

my life needs

to be shaped

by the mercies

of God

so that this week

I am able to

love those

that sometimes

I find it hard

to love.

Friends,

when the love

of God shapes

our hearts,

it causes us

to become

this kind

of community.

And so the key

to loving genuinely

is to be so secure

in Christ's radical,

robust,

transforming love,

it frees us

to become

these kind

of people.

And so friends,

do you find yourself

needing to be

honored?

You find yourself

always thinking,

how can I look good

in front of others?

Friends,

the irony is

the more you look

to be honored,

you will never

be satisfied.

The answer is

you've got to look

to Jesus,

the one who

became so dishonored

and so shamed

on the cross

in order to give

you a name

and an identity

and an honor

that will never

be taken from you.

Friends,

look to Jesus.

Friends,

do you find it

hard to love

and delight

members of the

church family?

Do you find it's

hard to cross

the barrier

across cultures,

socioeconomic groups,

sometimes easier

just to be aloof

or to stay

within your friends

or your preferences?

Friends,

you've got to look

to the one

who though

he was God,

he left the comforts

of heaven,

crossed the ultimate

divide,

came to earth,

took on humanity,

took on our servanthood

and went to the cross

for us that we could

be included

in his family.

Friends,

do you sometimes

find it easier

to tolerate

just sin

and wickedness

to keep the peace

rather than to

graciously go to

a brother or sister

and say,

hey,

can we talk

about this?

Friends,

you've got to

come to Jesus,

the one who took

upon himself

all the evil,

all that is disgusting,

all that is abhorrent

in the world,

all that is broken

in our lives

in order that God

would hold fast

to us

and never let us go.

Come to Jesus.

Friends,

when people in church

let you down

or disappoint you,

when people overlook you,

when you've served

and you've served

and you've served