Today’s passage is called “A new lifestyle in Jesus.” What is a new lifestyle in Jesus? Maybe we should ask, “What was Jesus’ lifestyle?”  Jesus’ lifestyle can be summarized in one word: “Love.” This passage gives us  detail on how we should practically live the life of love like Jesus in the church community and also in the unbelieving community that is often hostile to us.  How can we  love others like Jesus? It seems impossible!! We can only when we remember how great the love of God is for each of us personally. 1 John 4:10 tells us, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”  In this world, the love of people grows cold. But in Jesus we can have the love of God for all.

Through this passage, may God help us to struggle to put these words into practice so that we may build up and encourage our fellow believers to live lives of faith and love. May God also help us to struggle hard to love those who persecute us and hate us. May God help us to have the love of Jesus in our hearts in this world without love so that the hearts of  many may be moved to repentance and faith in the love of Jesus Christ.

PART 1. LOVE MUST BE SINCERE (9-13)

 Let’s read verse 9, “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.”  Love is perhaps the most talked about word in the world. Everyday people dream of love or think about love. What do most people think that love is? They think of it as physical love or erotic love. They also think that love is to accept anyone and any kind of lifestyle. But this physical love is not real love in the Bible sense. And this idea that to accept anyone and whatever they believe or live as real love is not real love. Without knowing God’s love, human love is conditional and selfish. It is always saying, “What can I get from it?”

But what is real love? Real love is God’s love as shown in the Bible. It is unconditional or agape love. It is sacrificial love. It is always saying, “What can I give?” 1 Corinthians 13 is the love chapter in the Bible. It is so beautiful that even unbelievers read it at their weddings or have it put on magnets on their refrigerators. It says, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not  envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

Here in Romans chapter 12 verse 1 it also tells us  that our love must be sincere. What is sincere love? It is to hate what is evil and to cling to what is good. Most of us do not associate love with hate. Love and hate are the opposites of others. What kind of hate is this talking about? It is to hate what is evil. That is, it is to hate the evil in their life. The evil in one’s life is their sins. If we love someone, we will hate the sin in their lives that is causing them to be miserable deep inside and to suffer deep inside.  We will hate the sin in their lives that will lead them to God’s judgment and wrath. This is what God’s love is to us shown in Jesus. God hated the sin in our life so much that he had Jesus his One and Only Son killed on the cross.

This shows us that God did not hate us, but hated the sin in us. Jesus suffered the greatest pain and agony on the cross for us. In this way God shows us that sincere love is to give ourselves in order to save others from sin. It is to serve by hating the sin and doing anything to save the sinner. Therefore, from God our Creator who sent Jesus, we learn that sincere love is to take involvement in someone’s life. It takes effort and sacrifice.  Sincere love is to suffer pain for the one whom we love

 We can do this practically by praying for God’s help to lead the one we love to repentance. As we know, it is not easy to lead someone to repentance. It always takes pain because we may cause that person to feel uncomfortable and our relationship with that person might suffer a little while with it. However, we must ask God in prayer how to do it. When we pray to God, God will show us to do it gently and graciously and with patience. When we pray to God about it, God will help us to accept that this sin in their life is causing them inner turmoil.

A good example is Joseph in the book of Genesis. His jealous brothers sold him into slavery and he was taken down to Egypt. Thirteen years later he saw them, only this time he was the Prime Minister of all Egypt and not a slave. When he saw them he did not seek revenge. Instead, he began to lead them to repentance. Joseph knew that because of their sins,  that their consciences had been burdened for over thirteen years. (Gen.42:22-24)  Think about how burdened they had become over thirteen years, knowing what they did was wrong, but trying to ignore it and justify it. When he helped them to repent, Joseph suffered to see them become so troubled. He cried that he had to touch his brothers troubled souls and cause them grief. However, it was the love of God and the hatred of the evil of sin in their life that motivated Joseph. When Judah, the one who had instigated the act to sell Joseph into slavery, repented and took full responsibility (Gen.44:33-34), Joseph was overjoyed (Gen.45:1-7). Through this repentance, Joseph’s brothers could be free from thirteen years burden of sin. Especially, their souls could be restored to God and they could grow to become men of God.
 
 We learn here that the best way to love others is to hate the evil that corrupts their lives. This is to help others to repent of their secret sins and hidden sins so that they may be restored to God in their soul. In the individualistic society that we are living in today, this is quite difficult. We don’t want to touch a person’s private matter. If we see them doing something that is not healthy for their spiritual life or their relationship with God we might not want to say anything because we think that we may be judging them or we may think that our relationship with them will suffer.

But this is not true. If we love someone, we will help them in God’s way. We will be concerned about their relationship with God. Of course, no one wants to be told to repent. And we often don’t want to be the one to help someone to repent. We can say as an excuse, “God will teach him a lesson.” Or we can keep putting it off many times. However, we must overcome our human way of doing things and learn God’s way and renew our minds with God’s word then we can truly help someone with the sincere love of God.

Jesus himself set the best example. Do you know that he loved to the end Judas Iscariot whom he knew would betray him? He also loved Simon Peter to the end, though he knew that he would deny him three times.  In John chapter 13, Jesus showed this love by first washing his disciples feet. This was symbolic of his washing away their sins. Then he offered the bread to them. This was symbolic of his giving his body for them on the cross. In both instances, Jesus gave himself in love in order to save. He came to serve like a servant, and to suffer and die. In this way he gave himself completely and without expectation to get any payment from those who sinned against him.

Jesus said in John 13:34, “A new commandment I give you: Love one another as I have loved you, so you must love one another.” Let’s read verse 10, “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.”  This verse shows us that we must make a commitment to the body of Christ and not to be individualistic. The Christian church is not individualistic, because we are all part of the same family. Each one of us effects each other. If we live selfishly then that makes the church weak. If we devote ourselves to sacrificially loving each other, then the church will be healthy and strong. Devoting ourselves to loving each other is how we each build each other up in Christ. When we honor each other above ourselves we are putting others and their needs ahead of our needs.

Devotion is an action word. Those who devote themselves to others are willing to put their heart and mind into building up and encouraging others. In verses 11-13 we read of many positive ways that we can show love for each other and be a good influence in the church. Let’s read verses 11-13,. “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 God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.”

These words show us that by knowing Jesus’ love, we can be a motivation for others. For instance, we are never lacking in zeal, keeping our spiritual fervor shows we love God  first.  We are encouraged when we see those around us who are always zealous in serving the Lord. Missionary Maria Kim has many sheep. She is never satisfied with the number of sheep because of her spiritual fervor for the Lord. When someone asked her to give her some sheep, she refused and said she wanted to find even more sheep.

Other ways we can influence the church with God’s love is by being joyful in the hope of the kingdom of God. If we look sad most of the time, we can easily make others sad. When we suffer from some kind affliction, we should not complain and moan as if we are wounded. Instead we should bear with it patiently and give thanks to God. We can also show our love for our fellow brothers and sisters  by being faithful in prayer. We should say to them, “How is your prayer life?” Then we should ask them, “What are your prayer topics?” Then we can say, “I’ll remember to pray for you each morning.”  We should not just pray for ourselves.

Sharing with those who are in need and practicing hospitality are also mentioned as ways in which we can positively influence others in the love of God. I remember my first summer as a Christian. I needed a job for the summer and a place to live, since Spring Semester was coming to a close and I had to leave the dormitory. I wondered, “Where would I live? What could I do to make some money?”  God’s people took my problem into their hands and made my problem their own. In love, they prayed for me and something happened. David Brogi’s parents opened their house for me to live for free while I worked on a farm a few miles from their house. I was moved by the prayer of God’s people and God’s simple provision to provide for me everything. And I was moved by David’s parents who allowed a stranger like me to live in their house and eat their own food.

Our ministry has been  greatly blessed because God has used some of us to open our houses to let those who are studying the Bible to come and have common life together. May God help each of us to share and to show hospitality so that we may build each other up in Jesus’ love. Let’s remember that when we were in need, God gave us Jesus so that we could become rich in his love. As Jesus welcomed sinners like us, may God help us to open our hearts and homes to each other for the glory of God.

PART 2  OVERCOME EVIL WITH GOOD (14-21)

We can easily call this part, “The Sermon on the Mount Part 2” because it shows  a great similarity in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. They show us how to overcome living in this evil and cold and godless world that does not know the love of God and to love like Jesus. We want to learn that to bless and to do good in God’s eyes is the way to love unbelievers. In doing so Jesus may change their hearts.

Let’s read verse 14, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.” These words show us that we can expect to be  persecuted for living a life of faith; even for studying the Bible. We should not be surprised if this happens because Jesus himself was persecuted. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gave this direction to his disciples when they are persecuted.

He said in Matthew 5:10-12, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”  When we want to curse someone who does persecute us, we should remember these words. When students angrily reject our 1:1 Bible study invitation, we should say, “God bless you!” When a student syas to us that they don’t believe in God and then rejects our 1:1 Bible study invitation, we should also say, “God bless you!” This is because our reward is in heaven. Jesus himself blessed those who persecuted him. How did he do this? When he was suffering and bleeding on the cross and dying on the cross.  All the people around him were mocking him and ridiculing him he prayed for them, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)

This is the way we can bless those who persecute us. We can pray that God may forgive their sins because they in their ignorance do not know that they are sinning against the Lord and inviting his wrath. This is how we show the love of God. This is how we can win others with the love of God.

Let’s read verse 15, “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.” This is a test of our sincere love towards each other. It is hard to rejoice when someone else is receiving all the attention. It is hard to rejoice with our fellowship coworkers when he or she has more sheep than we do. It is hard to rejoice when he or she overcomes their sin problem and I haven’t yet.

Let’s read verse 16, “Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.”  This verse tells us that we should watch out for pride in our life because it is not a way that can help the body of Christ and following the lifestyle of Jesus. Harmony reminds us of an orchestra that plays well together, respecting each others sound and position. But if one of the instruments becomes proud, say the cello and he says to the violin, “I don’t need to listen to you, I’ll play as fast as I want” then the whole rhythm of the music is ruined and so is the order. Then the whole orchestra sound is terrible.

Pride is selfishness. There is no love of God in our hearts when we are proud. Pride divides and destroys. Instead of being proud, we need to be humble. Jesus himself was never proud, though he had every right to be proud because he was God in the flesh.   Jesus is God incarnate, God in the flesh. His humbling from heaven to earth shows the love of God. It shows he gave himself up for sinners. He chose to suffer and live in a cursed world.  For example,  when Jesus was born, he was not born in a palace in luxury. Instead, he was born in a manger into a very poor family and in a poor country.

Though he is God in the flesh, he did not come to be served. He came to serve. What kind of  people did Jesus associate with? It was with those with whom needed help. He served the lepors, paralytics, tax collectors, beggars, the blind, the hopeless  and the helpless. When the Pharisees and teachers of the law saw this, they said, “Look, he is eating with tax collectors and sinners!”  The Pharisees and the teachers of the law did not associate with those of  low position. They separated themselves because of their pride, thinking they were better than they were. This pride made them useless to God and a great burden to the people. Because of their pride, they could not see God in humble Jesus. They could not love because their pride separated them from humbling themselves to those who were weak and whom they couldn’t get any benefit from. Real love is never proud. Real love is willing to humble ourselves to love those whom we can’t get anything from Let’s read verse 17, “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.”  Verse 17 discourages us from seeking any kind of revenge. It tells us that we should not repay evil for evil.  Yesterday I read in the newspaper a quote by a general in the Israel army about a missile attack that Israel did that killed a Palestinian militia leader. He said about the attack, “We hit somebody very senior. We will hit anyone who tries to hit us.”  Worldly people are quick to seek revenge. Without Jesus in one’s heart, there is always revenge on one’s mind. If we are driving on the Beltway and we don’t have Jesus’ love in our hearts and someone cuts us off, we want to speed up and cut them off also.

If someone hits us one time, we want to hit them back two times. Even if someone said something wrong to us, even maybe by accident, we want to say something back that might hurt them. As we will study in Chapter 13, we should not repay anyone with evil, but with love. This is our debt (Rom.13:8) To love others continually regardless of who they are and what they did.  Verse 18 says, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”

How can we live at peace with everyone, especially those who do not believe and who are hostile to us and to our faith? Verses 19-20 are the answers to this question.  Let’s read verses 19-20, “Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to repay’, 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.’”

What does this mean? It means we need not do anything but accept that God is Sovereign and that he is the Lord and ruler and the Judge. God is the one to avenge, not us. God will take the matter into his hands because God sees everything and knows everything. If we feel we were misunderstood and mistreated and not shown fairness, we should remember: “Do not take revenge my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath” God himself will repay. So we must learn to be still and self-controlled in those difficult times that really test our faith.

We can try to remember Jesus. How did Jesus react? He did not take revenge. 1 Peter 2:23 tells us, “When they hurled insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.” We can go even one step further to show the love of God, sincere love. We can feed them delicious food and give them something to drink. This means we can serve them and treat them well. In doing so, something will happen to them. What will happen? Burning coals will be heaped on their heads. What does this mean? It means that their consciences will be burdened and moved. In that situation, they can only but repent and ask God’s mercy and his forgiveness.

I read of one story about a man of God who was jailed and persecuted because of his faith in Communist Eastern Europe during the 1950’s. When his persecutor,  an army officer beat him day after day, the man of God did not curse him or get angry with him with any vengeful thoughts. Instead, he kept saying to him, “I love you. I love you!” after each beating and torture. Finally, after some time, the army officer felt the burning coals of a condemned conscience and asked him how he could say these things and how he could act like this. After the man of God explained about the love of Jesus, the army officer confessed his sins and became a Christian. He then helped the man of God escape to freedom.

A new lifestyle in Jesus tells us that we are to show Christ’s love by not seeking revenge. Finally, let’s read verse 21, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” In this conflicting world that we live in, we want to do evil when everyone else is doing evil. But Christ’s love for us compels us to want to do good.

In this passage we learned that a new lifestyle in Jesus is to live a life of sincere and devoted love to our fellow brothers and sisters in the church. It is also to love those who persecute us and who do evil to us. May God help us to know the absolute love of Jesus who died for us so that we may win the world with the love of Jesus Christ.