8 Minute Read

  1. Love Genuinely
  2. Love Affectionately
  3. Love Generously

Romans 12:9–13 (ESV) 9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

  • Love Genuinely.
  • Romans 12:9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.
  • What are we at all if we are not genuine.
  • How to love? – Genuinely
  • 1 Corinthians 13:1–13, (ESV) 1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
  • Love is crucial
  • Love isn’t a thing to aspire to, it’s an essential core ingredient.
  • Spurgeon said once, a sermon without Christ is like a loaf of bread without flour – “No thank you, sir.”
  • The life of a Christian, their service, prayers, etc, if without love – missing the main ingredient.
  • Love is unrelated to giftings: Abilities to speak, or Knowledge.
  • Strange, it’s also unrelated to you’re level of commitment
  • 1 Corinthians 13:4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
  • Patient with each other.
  • Kind. Your mom taught you basic manners, who knew they were spiritually relevant.
  • No envy or boasting, I’ve seen a lot of both in the church, haven’t you?
  • Arrogant? Opposite of Christianity, opposite of Christ.
  • Never rude.
  • In the church – never insisting on its own way, I’m not the final authority.
  • What this plays out as is seeking a council. Actually desiring input.
  • Genuinely loving someone means you are heartbroken by their failures.
  • Rejoicing in wrong doing is disgusting. Repulsive.
  • Rejoice when truth happens,
  • Love is hopelessly optimistic.
  • Love is patient and love enduring all things are bookends.
  • 1 Corinthians 13:8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
  • Romans tells us to love genuinely.
  • Corinthians tell us to love unceasingly “Love never ends..”
  • Love will one day see everything. Loving genuinely means when every whisper, public statement and private thought is finally and universally revealed, or “fully known”, you and I won’t be embarrassed by our statements we’ve made public or the thoughts we’ve had in private.
  • That’s what it means to let/allow love to be genuine.
  • 1 Corinthians 13:13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
  • Love is the greatest commandment, and the second.
  • Matthew 22:36–40 (ESV) 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
  • Love our God – with all your heart – allow me to insert the thought that includes genuinely.
  • Love our neighbor – as yourself – you genuinely love yourself.
  • Romans 12:9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.
  • Genuinely is obviously without hypocrisy. Love with hypocrisy is not love at all, is it?
  • Love Affectionatly
  • Romans 12:10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
  • Love Genuinely, Love Affectionately.
  • Being affectionate to someone is love, aimed toward them.
  • Affectionate in speech, kind,
  • Care for brothers and sisters. It’s ok to tell people you love them.
  • It’s OK to show people that you love them as well.
  • Affection physically, give them a hug.
  • Romans 16:16 (ESV) 16 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.
  • 1 Corinthians 16:20 (ESV) 20 All the brothers send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.
  • 2 Corinthians 13:12 (ESV) 12 Greet one another with a holy kiss.
  • 1 Thessalonians 5:26 (ESV) 26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.
  • 1 Peter 5:14 (ESV) 14 Greet one another with the kiss of love.
  • Church in South Florida, all the kisses
  • That church thrived for a minute because the people were genuine.
  • But it eventually failed, because the pastor was not authentic.
  • 10 times more concerned with the outward appearance and numerical growth, not concerned with the individuals, and growth of depth, character.
  • Affectionate also in charity, give them grace that they don’t deserve.
  • Out do one another in showing honor.
  • Story of Henry and I at KFC (Kentucky).. no after you sir.
  • Competitive people here? Showing Honor. - What a thing to compete in.
  • Husbands are called to love their wives, wives are called to respect their husbands. (Honor, both ways)
  • Romans 12:11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.
  • Don’t do anything half-measure
  • Ecc. What your right hand finds to do – do it with all your might!
  • You are not a slave meant only for duty.
  • Romans told us earlier that you are an adopted family member, who has the incentives of the whole enterprise succeeding.
  • How can we not take seriously the opportunity set before us, Charlie Kirk said, “to make heaven full”
  • That’s your job. You notice it, how do you know it’s not yours
  • Zeal! Umph.
  • Fervent carries with it the meaning of boiling.
  • Erupting, can’t contain. Serve the lord that way.
  • Romans 12:12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
  • Rejoice in hope, meaning delighted and inspired, by what you don’t yet see presently.
  • Faith is the substance of things hoped for. The substance of things unseen.
  • Hebrews 11:1–2 (ESV) Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation.
  • Hebrews 11:39–40 (ESV) 39 And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better for us…
  • That means, it’s not what you are seeing that inspires you to action, it’s what is possible. Or Promised.
  • Patient in… tribulation, is a heavy word,
  • Patient with big things,
  • Patient with outsiders who hate you and are willing to attack you.
  • Be patient because vengeance is His.
  • Constant…
  • meaning hard times doesn’t exclude our obligation.
  • Hard times make me want to pray less and request more grace.
  • We should be praying more during those times, not less.

Love Genuinely, Love Affectionatly,

  • Love Generously
  • Romans 12:13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
  • Give.
  • Contribute willingly.
  • Saints. Our own.
  • Needs of the saints, not whims.
  • 1 Timothy 6:18 (ESV) 18 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share,
  • Hebrews 13:16 (ESV) 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
  • 2 Corinthians 9:12 (ESV) 12 For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God.
  • Hospitality. How we treat the stranger, aimed toward also reaching those outside our clique.
  • Matthew 25:35 (ESV) 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
  • Hebrews 13:2–3 (ESV) 2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. 3 Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.
  • Seek, actively, always looking out for an opportunity.

Love Genuinely

Love Affectionately

Love Generously

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