Title: Without Hypocrisy
I know it’s been a few Sundays since we’ve been in Romans, with Mallorie sharing two weeks ago and Jamie bringing us the Word from Ephesians last week. As we get back into Romans, let me remind you that now is the time when Paul is shifting his letter to the very practical matters at hand.
Essentially, in Chapter 12 he begins to answer the question “What does being a Christian look like?” Over the next two Sundays we will look at five verses that deal with how a Christian ought to behave, and as we highlight eight characteristics of the good Christian, I want to challenge us this morning to take a very serious look at our own current spiritual walk with Christ.
Last week we heard Jamie preach the idea that Paul’s greatest prayer and wish for the church at Ephesus was that they would know God and journey to deepen their relationship with God. Today we will be discussing, for those who claim to know God, how one’s life ought to look. Much like the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians, this passage is a great self-evaluator for our own lives (if we allow it to be…) As well as for the evaluation of our Church body here at Heritage.
(Read 12:9-13) Pray.
“Let love be without hypocrisy…”
We all know how much Jesus hated hypocrisy, and everything that we will look at today refers back to this first concept that Paul is introducing to us with his opening words. To know what Paul is really talking about, we must first understand what, exactly, hypocrisy is.
Simply defined, hypocrisy is when what you say you believe, and what you do are not the same thing. Notice I did not say that hypocrisy is when what you believe and what you do are not on the same page. Hypocrisy is essentially mis-representing yourself and your intentions. We are called to be ambassadors for the Kingdom of Christ. For us, hypocrisy is claiming to be a subject of Christ the King, and then doing things that misrepresent God’s will in our lives.
Let us therefore look at the first three of eight things that Paul instructs concerning the conduct of a Christian.
1. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is Good.
I have, for the last few weeks, had the wonderful opportunity on Wed. Nights, after concluding our studies here at the church, to meet with a great group of young men from the area for accountability. The main focus of our accountability is this very thing. We encourage, admonish, one another to abhor what is evil, and cling to what is good.
Now these young men are all about 10 years younger that I am, and as we talk about our constant war with sin, they have asked me what I have done to have success against sin. I told them what I will tell you know: Every day before I even leave my bedroom I pray two things: One: “Lord place a hedge of protection around me or you host, that when temptation comes, you will guard my heart from it”
Two: (more importantly): “Teach me to hate what you hate, that I would not desire sin.”
We are called not just to chose obedience of sinning. We are called to hate sin. And to cling, as if to a very breath of life, to cling to what is good.
One thing that our Sunday School class took away from Kuligan’s book Ten Things I wish Jesus Never Said is this: when Jesus says “if you right hand causes you to sin, cut it off” he is telling us to deal ruthlessly with the sin in our lives.
2. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence.
Remember, first of all, Paul is talking to believers. So these instructions referencing, “one another” pertain to the fellowship of believers.
Paul uses an “A” “B” combination here to say that not only should we love each other in this fellowship as family, not only should we give preference to each other over ourselves, but that in doing so, we should not lag, or procrastinate in our speed to serve each other.
(Story of two rooms with the 4 foot long chopsticks and “learning to serve each other”)
How many of us are, by nature, procrastinators? How many of us would say this: “Often I’ve know what to do, but waited to do it, and then it was too late.”
The sin here is not seeking God’s counsel, you know what to do, it was not in preparation, you were capable of doing it. No, the sin here was in the lagging in diligence.
Not only must we seek to know what we ought to do, but once we know, we must then do it!
3. Fervent in Spirit, serving the Lord
Today we will close with this idea that we are called to be “Fervent in Spirit” as we serve the Lord. This instruction from Paul calls into accountability our attitudes in action. Not just that we know the right things to do, not just that we do the right things in a timely manner, but that we also do them with right attitudes!
Remember what we said hypocrisy was? Misrepresenting your intentions. Have you ever thought of this: When you are doing something you are called to do as a believer, but you don’t like that thing, and you do it out of duty and diligence, you are being a hypocrite.
Pastor Ben, isn’t that a bit harsh? Sure you do things as a minister out of a sense of duty and not delight. Yes I am guilty of this. And what I am guilty of is not delighting in what the Lord delights in.
Often what the Lord calls us to do is difficult indeed. Nobody likes to be disciplined, and most do not like to the disciplining unto another. But if I, as a pastor, am called to discipline a brother or sister, I do not delight in that act, per se, but I do delight in knowing it is my Lord’s will and that if I didn’t do it, His Sprit will make me more miserable that I was to begin with!
Put more simply: We are called to have spirits that delight in doing God’s will. When we don’t our prayer needs to be: “Lord teach me to hate what you hate, and teach me to love what you love.”
Pray.
Q&A