Love In Action (Part 2)

Love and what that is, what that looks like, is enough to bring us to our knees, isn't it?

In submission and surrender to who He is.

And this morning I'm so grateful for the Father's love to us.

Welcome to each one again, and um glad you're here with us this morning.

We are in Romans chapter 12.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

If you turn your Bibles to that, we'll begin there in a minute, but just a quick review of what we spoke about last week.

We began in verse 9 of Romans chapter 12.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

And this is where Paul really gets down to the practical outworkings of our faith and how that looks in our life.

And particularly he addresses how we relate to other people around us in this chapter.

And this is where it gets real, you could say, or maybe you would say where the rubber meets the road in our walk with Christ, in our walk with each other.

I would say that this is where we see love in action in our lives and in the lives of others.

Paul addresses this love in action from three different angles here in these verses.

First of all, we have the love that is expressed within the body of Christ.

This is speaking of the same kind of love you and I oftentimes express within our family unit.

A close-knit family feel, if you will.

One where we honor one another and where we are devoted to one another.

This is primarily what we talked about last time when we spoke.

The second layer of this love in action addresses how we relate to those outside of the church.

This category could also include the last one, which is those that we class as our enemies.

Now, we would never say we have enemies, would we?

What we mean by that is those that openly oppose us and actively try to make your life difficult because of what you believe, what you stand for.

This we call persecution in our life.

We've seen that our love must be stripped of pretense and selfish ambitions and agendas in our lives, in our relationships with each other.

Paul says here in verse 9, love must be sincere.

We ended last week in verse 12 where Paul says, Be patient in affliction.

Sometimes I think we would benefit from asking the question, God, what do you want me to learn from this hardship that I'm going through or this affliction that I am facing?

Rather, we often look for an exit ramp to get out of that situation quickly.

We ask for deliverance from what we are experiencing because it's not pleasant to walk through those things.

God may grant you a request to do that, but we miss out on the opportunity or the growth that He was orchestrating in spite of the intentions of our enemy that may bring those things.

May we learn to be patient in affliction.

That's not an easy thing to do.

At least for myself, I don't find that easy to do.

If you have not opened your Bible yet to Romans 12, please do so, and we'll continue with verse 12.

Let's pray before we begin.

God, I just pray that you would cause our ears to hear today and our hearts to understand your word.

And may your truth create a change in our life and an under new understanding of how to walk with you and walk with each other.

It's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

I'm going to actually read verses nine through the end of the chapter here as we begin.

And part of the reason I do that is just for repetition's sake, because this passage here is very important, I believe, and has a lot of nuggets of truth in it.

Let's begin in verse nine.

Love must be sincere.

Hate what is evil, cling to what is good, be devoted to one another in love.

Honor one another above yourselves.

Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor serving the Lord.

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

Share with the Lord's people who are in need.

Practice hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse.

Rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn.

Live in harmony with one another.

Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.

Do not be conceited.

Do not repay anyone evil for evil.

Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath.

For it is written, it is mine to avenge.

I will repay, says the Lord.

On the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him.

If he is thirsty, give him something to drink.

In doing this you will heap burning coals on his head.

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

We'll begin in verse twelve this morning with the phrase there, faithful in prayer.

And this is where we left off last week.

Faithfulness in prayer means maintaining consistent and persistent engagement with God through both difficulty and normal times of life.

You know, it's easy to come to God when we're having difficult times when we're going through a hardship.

But what about times where things seem to be flowing smoothly?

Do we have a routine where we are faithful in prayer?

Prayer needs to not only be done or exercised when we run into difficult circumstances or when we have a need.

But prayer should be in our daily routine of our life.

If you need to schedule it, you know, we're people centered around our schedules.

Go ahead and put it on the schedule.

You may argue and say, well, that's too structured, too rigid.

I want to be spontaneous.

That's great to be spontaneous and go to God in prayer at random times, and we do that.

That's definitely part of our relationship with God.

But this morning I'm leaning a little harder on the faithful and prayer part.

Where prayer is something we do with intention.

We do it with faithfulness, we do it with perseverance.

Turn with me to Luke chapter 18.

Luke 18 · chapter mention

I'd like to read some verses there in Luke chapter 18.

Luke 18 · chapter mention

This is a parable that Jesus shared with the disciples.

The parable is about the persistent widow.

Let's read the first eight verses.

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.

Doesn't that sound like advice that Jesus would like to give to us this morning?

To always pray and not give up.

That's pretty basic, but yet very foundational for us.

Jesus went on to say, in verse 2, In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought.

And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with a plea, grant me justice against my adversary.

For some time he refused, but finally he said to himself, Even though I don't fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually come and attack me.

And the Lord said, Listen to what the unjust judge says, and will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones?

Who will cry out to him day and night?

Will he keep putting them off?

I tell you, he will see that they get justice and quickly.

However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?

We see in this story of the widow the concept of persevering again and again and again, waiting for an answer without giving up.

Do not abandon your prayers when answers don't arrive immediately, or when circumstances grow challenging.

And I notice the verse we ended there in verse eight, what Jesus said.

However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?

When Jesus comes back, will he find you in a place of faith in your life?

1 Thessalonians 5, 16 to 18 tells us, rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

These verses sum up what our response should be to prayer, to what prayer should look like.

God's will for us is to rejoice, pray, and give thanks.

Pretty simple, right?

The challenge is that we ought to do this in all circumstances, not just when things are going how we think they should.

To rejoice, to pray, and to give thanks.

Always remember that.

Another verse we have is in Colossians 4 2.

It says, devote yourselves to prayer, be watchful and thankful.

In this verse, we see the emphasis on intentional discipleship in our life in relation to prayer and how we approach that.

Devote yourselves to prayer, be watchful.

It gives the idea of being at attention, paying attention.

You know, there are some of us that have prayed for many, many years for someone or on the behalf of someone or some situation, begging God to intervene on our behalf.

I'm here to tell you this morning: do not stop, but be faithful in prayer.

Be faithful in prayer.

Do not give up.

Continue to hound the throne room of God and commit to do so until you take your last breath.

You know, we may never see an answer to the prayers we give or offer.

In our lifetime, we may never see the results of those prayers.

But that does not mean our prayers are in vain.

We must trust that our prayers are heard.

And we must understand that our timetable may not be the same as God's timeline.

And those answers may come after we're gone.

Sometimes God teaches us from the faith of a child.

Those of you that have children probably could relate to some of this.

But I remember years ago, and I shared this story once before, I think.

Bear with me if you've heard it.

I remember when the children were younger, we had a cat.

One day it disappeared.

And it was gone for several days.

It was gone for a week.

And after a week, the children one night, as we tucked them into bed, thought it was a good idea to pray that God would return that cat.

And I must say, this father did not even have a grain of mustard seed in my heart that that cat was going to show up again.

Because in all reality, it was probably dead on the road, smushed on the road, or in the field, or eaten by a coyote by now.

But they prayed that God would bring their cat back.

The next morning we get up, and guess what's on the porch?

Their cat was on the porch.

I'm like, Lord, did you resurrect this thing?

For the sake of the kids.

You know, sometimes we need to learn from the faith of a child in our prayers.

To have confidence and faith and trust of a child.

Didn't Jesus say that we need to become his little children?

One other thing that I want us to understand about prayer is that it's not just about intercession or our requests made to God.

Faithful prayer also involves recognizing that if God answered every prayer immediately, we wouldn't develop faith, trust, patience, perseverance, and other qualities that should characterize us as Christians and believers.

The purpose of prayer is also to develop the character within us.

The delay of an answer itself serves as a formative purpose in our lives and for us.

You know, unlike the widow who faced that judge, we as believers encounter a loving Heavenly Father.

And it's within that relationship of love and trust and confidence that we offer prayers to the Lord.

There are many examples in Scripture that show us the persistence, the patience, the trust that we need to have as those did given to prayer.

Jesus was probably one of the greatest examples of this.

The many times Jesus went away to pray into the wilderness.

I think of Abraham, Hannah.

How about Daniel?

Talking about scheduling a time to pray.

It got him in trouble.

And the early church when Peter was imprisoned, all faithful in prayer, as we should be also.

Let's move on to verse 13.

It says here, share with the Lord's people who are in need.

I cannot read that verse without thinking of the verses in 1 John 3, 17 and 18.

There we go.

If anyone has material possessions and see a brother or sister in need, but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?

Dear children, let us not love in words or speech, but with actions and in truth.

And I think I shared that verse last Sunday also.

In these scriptures, we are clearly commanded that our love should be deeper than only the words we speak.

Love directly affects our actions, how we relate to others, especially towards those in the family of God.

Sharing with those in need represents a foundational expression of Christian community.

Giving and sharing with others in need flows directly from our connection with Christ and our relationship with Christ and to one another.

The principle underlying this sharing is reciprocal.

Those who have received spiritual blessings in their life are obligated to minister to those needs of others.

We have been given, so we need to give.

Share with the Lord's people who are in need.

The end of verse 13 tells us practice hospitality.

You know, biblical hospitality centers on our love for others, particularly strangers.

Hospitality also emphasizes servanthood.

More specifically, it involves a willingness on our part to become uncomfortable by adopting a servant's position so that others feel welcome and at ease.

This demands something from us and requires us to view situations from another person's perspective.

Hospitality extends beyond mere politeness towards others.

In the ancient world, hospitality meant graciously receiving alienated persons into one's land, one's home, one's community, and directly providing for their needs.

Biblical hospitality serves multiple functions as we look at it.

Jared, I lost my slide.

You can help me out there.

Number one in biblical hospitality is meeting the needs of the poor and needy.

You know, as we experience hospitality or practice hospitality in our lives, it Causes us to meet the needs of those around us, the poor and the needy.

Number two, it strengthens relational bonds, including outsiders.

Hospitality reaches out, strengthening our connections with each other.

And that does not just include the people in our circle.

This includes people outside of our circle.

And number three, we see biblical hospitality as advancing the gospel message.

You know, I like the order of these points here.

Meeting the needs of the needy, strengthening relational bonds, and then advancing the gospel.

That's a perfect recipe for evangelism in your life.

Hospitality.

This call to hospitality is rooted throughout Scripture, where God desires us as believers to channel, be a channel of his love, enabling communities to offer others a foretaste of God's kingdom through welcome and through care.

Jesus demonstrated this by eating with sinners, healing the hurting, visiting the outcast, and washing his disciples' feet, then commanding them to do likewise.

Hospitality, when practiced authentically, surprises the recipient oftentimes and invites them into your circle.

It gives them a sense of belonging.

I imagine many of you have experienced that from somebody at some point, where they make you feel like you belong.

That is important in our relationships.

Some people have a gift of hospitality, and some of us just need to make more of an effort to walk in it.

But all of us are called to hospitality.

The practice of biblical hospitality effectively builds intercultural bridges.

This is not always an easy one to do, but I believe this is what happens when we engage in hospitality.

Engaging with strangers removes the strangeness and allows hosts and guests to relate as friends.

I think we need to be very careful about adopting current political views about strangers.

We need to see them through the eyes of Christ.

Churches that engage in hospitality with marginalized people demonstrate missional character within the church.

And I believe reflect the heart of God in a very real way.

When we do that, we exhibit greater growth, outreach, community engagement, and cross-cultural connections.

I know sometimes cross-cultural connections can make us uncomfortable because it's out of our comfort zone.

But I believe it's a healthy thing to be involved with.

I see that taking place in different ways within our conference, and I appreciate that.

Hospitality is something that's very close to my heart, and I think it's a direct reflection of the heart of God.

I really want us to catch this this morning.

It's a direct reflection of the heart of God.

One of the most practical ways that we can show the love of Christ is through hospitality.

And I could use a lot of examples, but I'll let the Spirit speak to your life and what that looks for you, what that looks like for you.

Hospitality is also closely connected with evangelism, and we touched a little bit about that already.

There's nothing that will chase someone away from God's love quicker than a lack of hospitality.

And there's nothing more that will draw somebody in to receive God's love than to have our hearts open and to share hospitality with others.

It is of utmost importance that we are quick to step out of our comfort zones to welcome stranger, to welcome strangers in this place.

Do not wait for someone else to fill a need that you see needs met.

If you see a need, you are the one responsible to fill that need.

Hospitality does not stop with these walls.

It reaches into our personal lives, into our workplaces, into our homes.

And may I just say hospitality has nothing to do with how good you can cook, how clean your house is, or how many possessions you own.

And the reason I say those things is we I've been there, I've used some excuses in the past.

You know, when you go somewhere and someone invites you into their space, the thing that you walk away with and remember the most is it the good food, the clean floor?

No.

It's the love and the hospitality you felt, the sense of belonging you sensed while you were there.

That's what you walk away with in those situations.

That's what God calls us to in our lives.

To be hospitable, you need to be authentic.

You need to be loving, you need to be caring, and have a desire to serve.

That's the heart of Christ.

A couple verses I want to share with you as we close here.

Hebrews 13, verse 2.

Hebrews 13:2

Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing so, for by so doing, some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.

You know, when you show care and concern and hospitality to someone, you never know who that is.

There we go.

I did it again, Jarrett.

Don't worry about it.

I don't know what I'm doing there.

If you can pull up the one, 1 Peter, it's the last one.

There we go.

I want to leave you with these words as we think about this in our lives and how it looks in our lives.

Here in Peter, he says, above all, more important than anything else in our lives, we need to love each other deeply.

Because love covers a multitude of sins.

And there's a lot we could say about that.

He goes on to say, offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others.

Why or how?

As faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms.

God has poured his grace into your life.

He desires that each one of us pour out that grace into the lives of others in the form of hospitality, in the form of love.

And this is all in the series of love in action.

It's all part of it.

It's love in action in our lives.

Fundamentally, hospitality centers on how you make people feel.

Just ponder that as you go through your week this week.

How do you make people feel?

Are they experiencing physical, emotional, or spiritual comfort because of your presence?

Because of the input you have in their life.

May that be us.

Want to encourage each one of us, walk in hospitality, walk in love in action in your life.

And just see what doors God opens.

See what people.

You might be surprised what persons He brings into your life that need His touch.

Let's close in prayer.

Lord, we thank you for your scriptures this morning.

We just pray that we would be able to walk in the truth of your word and what you showed us this morning.

Lord, I pray that we would be a people that would show your love, your hospitality, your care in every relationship, every encounter that you bring to our doorstep.

May we be faithful to you in our walk with you.

We pray this in the name of Christ.

Amen.

I think Rollin has a song we're going to close with this morning.

After the song, you can consider yourselves dismissed.