Love without Hypocrisy
Love without Hypocrisy • Sermon • Submitted
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· 15 viewsLove without hypocrisy is not a façade or a painted-on action. All of this sincere love passage is meant to be applied to our relationships with other believers, but some of it applies to relationships with unbelievers.
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Introduction: The Queen Mary’s Smokestacks
Introduction: The Queen Mary’s Smokestacks
“The Queen Mary was the largest ship to cross the oceans when it was launched in 1936. Through four decades and a world war she served until she was retired.” Then she was anchored in Long Beach, CA, where she served as a floating hotel and museum.
During her conversion into a hotel, “her three massive smokestacks were taken off to be scraped down and repainted,” but as they were being removed, they crumbled right there on the deck. You see, “nothing was left of the 3/4-inch steel plate from which the stacks had been [made]. All that remained were more than thirty coats of paint that had been applied over the years. The steel had rusted away.” [1]
The smokestacks had the appearance of being whole, but there was nothing below the surface. The title of the message today is “Love without Hypocrisy,” and our text in Romans 12 says just that. Follow along as I read Romans 12:9-21.
Romans 12:9-21—9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Detest evil; cling to what is good. 10 Love one another deeply as brothers and sisters. Take the lead in honoring one another. 11 Do not lack diligence in zeal; be fervent in the Spirit; serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer. 13 Share with the saints in their needs; pursue hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud; instead, associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own estimation. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Give careful thought to do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes. 18 If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for God’s wrath, because it is written, Vengeance belongs to Me; I will repay, says the Lord. 20 But If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For in so doing you will be heaping fiery coals on his head. 21 Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good. (CSB)
Transition: Love without hypocrisy is not a façade or a painted-on action. All of this sincere love passage is meant to be applied to our relationships with other believers, but some of it applies to relationships with unbelievers.
Sincere love goes below the surface.
Sincere love goes below the surface.
Romans 12:9—Let love be without hypocrisy. Detest evil; cling to what is good. (CSB)
What is hypocrisy? Hypocrisy is wearing a mask which hides who you really are. Hypocrisy is acting in real life. Have you ever wondered if good actors ever lose who they really are? Have they pretended to be so many characters that they don’t really know who they are anymore? If you were friends with a famous actor or actress, would you wonder sometimes if they were being real with you?
Many church members are good actors, too. Someone says, “How are you?” We say, “Oh, I’m fine,” when we’re not fine. I’ve been an actor at times, too, a hypocrite. Oftentimes, people are afraid that they won’t be accepted or loved if others really knew them, warts and all, so they play a part. They put on a mask to be accepted and loved by friends, acquaintances, or even family members.
When love wears a mask, it’s just a surface level love—really just a feigned love, a false love which has the appearance of caring but exists only to build up the reputation of the one showing it. Insincere love is actually an evil thing—a fake love.
As I was reading this passage this week, I wasn’t sure that I’d be preaching from here, but I was thinking about it. As I pondered, I started thinking, “This passage seems really similar to the Love Chapter in 1 Corinthians 13.” I’d never really compared the two before and had usually seen this passage as a hodgepodge of succinct commands that God was giving to us. However, as I thought about it, I could see how most or all of the commands which followed the love command were just showing what a love without hypocrisy looked like. In that moment, I knew where I needed to preach.
Romans 12:9 says, “Let love be without hypocrisy. Detest evil; cling to what is good.” An insincere love looks for what it can get out of others, but sincere love looks for how it can bless, honor, or give to others. Sincere love rejects evil and clings to the good—like a magnet repealing evil while at the same time clinging to the good.
Insincere love is an evil love because it merely has the appearance of love. It’s evil masquerading as love. Sincere love is sincerely good.
Sincere love goes below the surface to a family deepness. Romans 12:10 says, “Love one another deeply as brothers and sisters.” This is what love without hypocrisy does—loves deeply as brothers and sisters. I love my sisters. We don’t see each other much (maybe that’s why we love each other). I especially don’t see my sister in Louisiana very much, but there’s a deepness to my love for my sisters that’s not rivaled by much else besides my love for Michelle and my girls and my love for my parents. We were taught to love one another early on and have continued in that practice for our lives long. We’ve also not taken advantage of each other which reflects a mutual love without self-serving interests.
Paul says that sincere love is deep like a family kind of love. Does that describe your love for your brothers and sisters in Christ?
In Romans 12:10, Paul also says, “Take the lead in honoring one another.” Sincere love doesn’t wait to be honored. It steps out and honors others whether or not honor comes back to them. Are you loving others because they’re loving you, or are you taking the lead to honor before you’re honored?
Sincere love serves. Look at Romans 12:11. It says, “Do not lack diligence in zeal; be fervent in the Spirit; serve the Lord.” A love that goes deeper than a false surface-type love will seek to serve the Lord which will include serving others, too. Genuine love is not self-seeking but is serving and doesn’t give up serving. It’s diligent. It’s fervent and spiritual. How are you serving others?
Notice next how sincere love digs below the paint to love deeply. Let’s read Romans 12:12. “Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer.” Sincere love finds hope and rejoices in it, and holds on to it patiently while wading and waiting through the hard times.
Love hopes. Love perseveres, and love persists in prayer. Love without hypocrisy persistently prays for others. Sincere love prays for others when no one is around to see you pray for them. Sincere love is not praying for accolades. Sincere love prays because it cares for others. How are you praying for others? How sincere is your love?
True love that dives under the surface gives. Let’s read Romans 12:13. “Share with the saints in their needs; pursue hospitality.” Genuine love is not satisfied with simply greeting others and wishing other believers well. Genuine love digs into its pockets and carves out time to meet needs whether for friends or strangers.
Sincere love blesses others.
Sincere love blesses others.
Romans 12:14—Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. (CSB)
What does it mean to bless someone? The word here is where we get our funeral term eulogy which is a speech in which we say good things about a recently deceased person. Our natural inclination is to get back at, hold a grudge, or at least dislike those who persecute us. Jesus and Paul both tell us to do good to our persecutors. That’s sincerely loving people.
“Well, I’d like to tell them what I really think about them. Or I’d like to completely ignore them and not have anything to do with them.” Paul says, “Bless and do not curse them.” Blessing means that we actually are good to those who persecute us. We can’t ignore them. This is not an American church love. This is a Jesus love which does hard things in hard times to hard people. It blesses those who don’t deserve to be blessed. It withholds curses from those who deserve curses. I’m having a hard time with this passage.
Illustration: Pastor “Stephen Olford tells of a Baptist pastor during the American Revolution, Peter Miller, who lived in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, and enjoyed the friendship of George Washington.” Someone else who lived in Ephrata was “Michael Wittman, an evil-minded [man] who did all he could to oppose and humiliate the pastor.”
“One day, evil Michael Wittman was arrested for treason and sentenced to die. Pastor Peter Miller traveled 70 miles on foot to Philadelphia to plead for the life of the traitor.
“‘No, Peter,’ General Washington said, ‘I cannot grant you the life of your friend.’
“‘My friend!’ exclaimed the old preacher. ‘He’s the bitterest enemy I have.’
“‘What?’ cried Washington. ‘You’ve walked 70 miles to save the life of an enemy? That puts the matter in a different light. I’ll grant your pardon.’ And he did. Peter Miller took Michael Wittman back home to Ephrata—no longer an enemy, but a friend.”[2]
How well are you blessing your enemies?
Romans 12:15—Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. (CSB)
Genuine love comes alongside others and walks with them through the joys and pains of their life. Genuine love reaches out. God’s deep love doesn’t lock itself away from others but ventures out of comfort zones to minister to the hurting and celebrate with the happy.
Romans 12:16—Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud; instead, associate with the humble. (CSB)
Harmony in the church is a blessing, and those who love sincerely seek peace in the body—not peace at any expense, but as far they can.
Sincere love doesn’t show favoritism. Genuine love treats people of high or low position the same. God’s deep love views believers of wealth and poverty as equals in the church because sincere love is not acting in order to get from others. Genuine love acts simply to bless others.
Paul says, “Do not be wise in your own estimation.” People who are wise in their own estimation are oftentimes not wise in other people’s estimation. Sincere love values other people’s minds and opinions, not just their own. Of course, this doesn’t mean that we turn against Scripture out of deference to others.
Sincere love overcomes evil.
Sincere love overcomes evil.
Sometimes people do evil to us. We can retaliate with evil or with goodness. Paul says, “Do not repay anyone evil for evil.” That seems pretty Christianly, but it can be really difficult in real life. Our natural bent can be to shout back or to hit back, but retaliating with evil only escalates the situation unless you’re God. However, an overcoming love blesses when wronged.
Then Paul says, “Give careful thought to do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes.” How can you please everyone? Genuine love does not merely think of self but of others. Sincere love says, “I’ve been wronged. Someone has done evil to me, but I’m going to respond in a way which will not turn people away from Christ or the gospel. I’m going to respond honorably.” Some of our problem is that we sometimes react too quickly. We’re not patient in affliction, but genuine love is patient. Genuine love overcomes with good.
Then Paul gives a disclaimer. Christians, you can’t control how others respond. You can only control what you do. Look at Romans 12:18. “If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” Sincere love seeks peace. It doesn’t always get it, but it seeks it.
Illustration: “In [his book] Rhythms of the Heart, Phil Hook writes: My mother and I did not ‘mix.’ I chose a typical teenage solution to the problem—silence. I’d leave for school in the morning, come home to eat, and then leave again. When I was finally home late at night, I read books. Each night, my mother would come downstairs and ask me if I wanted a sandwich. I grunted my assent, and she’d cook egg and bacon sandwiches for me night after night until I left home for good. Years later, when our relationship was mended, she told me why she had made all those sandwiches. She said, ‘If you would ever talk to me, it was while I made that sandwich.’”[3]
Sometimes love is a sandwich. It’s a selfless act to mend a relationship and to bring harmony out of division.
As I mentioned earlier, true love, God’s kind of love, “retaliates” with good not evil. When you know and believe that God the Father knows your trouble and loves you, you just have to trust Him in the middle of the craziness and difficulty which you’re dealing with. You do as Jesus did when He was mistreated. You entrust yourself to Him who judges justly (1 Peter 2:23). You trust the Father to work all things out for the good of those who love Him and who have been called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). Listen to Paul in Romans 12:19-20.
Romans 12:19-20—19 Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for God’s wrath, because it is written, Vengeance belongs to Me; I will repay, says the Lord. 20 But “If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For in so doing you will be heaping fiery coals on his head.”
I’ve thought of this at times as the Christian’s revenge passage. Really. You want to get back at someone? Be good to them. However, sincere love doesn’t see it that way. Genuine love for an enemy purposes to bring the enemy into a right relationship with the Father. Our purpose is not to make our enemy miserable. That’s the Holy Spirit’s job. Our job is to see our enemy as a person for whom Christ has died—a person whom Christ loves and then love them and leave the judging to God. Sure, we may pray for relief or deliverance from our situation. However, sincere love overcomes but not with a vengeful fake love.
Lastly, look at Romans 12:21. “Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.” Paul closes this passage like he opened it—talking about good and evil. Evil can only be conquered by good, and our sin—our evil—can only be conquered by the Good One—Jesus Christ Himself. We have done evil against God, and I’m glad that God didn’t just leave us to our ourselves to die and spend eternity in hell. He sent His Son Jesus to live the perfect life that we could never live and die the death that we all deserve to die. Then He came back to life on the third day to prove that He’s the Lord and will save anyone who is willing to submit to Him as Master. If you’ve never surrendered your life to Jesus, you can be overcome by good today.
Now, we all fall short in loving people sincerely. Your closest family members can verify that. Sometimes I wait to be served instead of honoring others first. I get tired and lose fervor and diligence, but sincere love doesn’t give up. Sometimes I retaliate with my words, but Jesus never retaliated. He entrusted Himself to the One who judges justly (1 Peter 2:23). When Jesus was dying on the cross, He prayed for forgiveness for His enemies (Luke 23:34). He’s love’s definition in a human body.
I fail so miserably, but His Spirit is in me. His Spirit is in many of you, so we have the power to love even in the most difficult times because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is sitting in your seat (1 John 4:4).
Closing: “Missing” Shovel
Closing: “Missing” Shovel
In Ernest Gordon’s Miracle on the River Kwai, Scottish soldiers were “forced by their Japanese captors to labor on a jungle railroad,” and eventually the Scottish soldiers “had degenerated [in]to barbarous behavior.” However, one afternoon something happened:
“A shovel was missing. The officer in charge became enraged. He demanded that the missing shovel be produced, or else. When nobody in the squadron budged, the officer got his gun and threatened to kill them all on the spot.… It was obvious the officer meant what he had said. Then, finally, one man stepped forward. The officer put away his gun, picked up a shovel, and beat the man to death. When it was over, the survivors picked up the bloody corpse and carried it with them to the second tool check. This time, no shovel was missing. Indeed, there had been a miscount at the first checkpoint.
“The word spread like wildfire through the whole camp. An innocent man had been willing to die to save the others! …The incident had a profound effect.… The men began to treat each other like brothers.
“When the victorious Allies swept in, the survivors” who were just human skeletons by then, “lined up in front of their captors … (and instead of attacking their captors) insisted: ‘No more hatred. No more killing. Now what we need is forgiveness.’”[4]
Jesus gave His life for you, and if He has saved you, then follow Him by sincerely loving those whom God places in your life—friends and enemies.
[1] Larson, C. B. (2002). 750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers & Writers (p. 259). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.
[2] Larson, C. B. (2002). 750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers & Writers (p. 327). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.
[3] Larson, C. B. (2002). 750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers & Writers (pp. 313–314). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.
[4] Larson, C. B. (2002). 750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers & Writers (pp. 318–319). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.