Love without hypocrisy
Please read Proverbs 6: 16-19, James 2: 1-4, 14-17 and Romans 12: 9-10 and then pray; God of love and goodness, direct my feet into the path of your commands, and strengthen me to live a life of sincere and faithful love, through Jesus Christ, our King of love, Amen.
Romans 12: 9 from the NIV:
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.
Last week were thinking about the gifts given by the Holy Spirit to each member of the Church, the body of Christ. Paul is calling the Church in Rome to action – to the promotion and use of gifts within their fellowship. The gifts listed in Romans are very practical ones – and include serving, encouraging, teaching, leadership, contributing to the needs of others, showing mercy to the poor and needy. We also heard of another list of gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11. That list included supernatural manifestations of the Spirit. But in Romans, Paul’s eye is more on the practical gifts. It is very interesting to see that in both Corinthians and Romans – the description of gifts and their use is immediately followed by teaching on love. (I Corinthians 13, Romans 12: 9-13):
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging symbol. (1 Corinthians 13:1)
Let love be sincere. (Romans 12: 9a)
All gifts must be exercised with genuine love for others. Love must control and direct the use of all gifts within the community of the Church. Gifts are given to build up the body of Christ in love, grace, and strength. They are not given to inflate the egos of the individuals who use them. They are not given to be used thoughtlessly or selfishly. Love is the most important quality that needs to shine brightly in the Church community as gifts are shared, whether it be in Corinth, Rome, or Abbeydale. Remember the words of our Lord Jesus concerning the pre-eminence of love in the Christian community;
A new command I give you. Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (John 13: 34-35)
We now consider this first bullet point: Love must be sincere. In the GNB another word is added for emphasis: Love must be completely sincere. In other older translations, you with find; Love without hypocrisy. This is a more precise translation. The King James version has; Love without dissimulation. The Greek word used here by Paul is anypokritos which means without hypocrisy or without play acting, without attempting to fool. There can be no play acting or pretence when it comes to love. Love must be sincere – as the NIV translates the verse. This obviously infers that there can be insincere love, hypocritical love, pretend love. It is possible for someone to come across to others as loving, but in truth, they are not loving. How do we distinguish the difference between sincere and insincere love within the Church or anywhere else for that matter? True love is based on action. It is demonstrated practically. Insincere love is unmasked by the fact that it is just words – with a complete absence of action. Verses from John’s first letter help us to understand this clearly;
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers (and sisters). If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. (1 John 3: 16-17)
Consider also the famous parable told by Jesus of the good Samaritan, which contrasts the inaction of the priest and the Levite, to the merciful and generous action of the Samaritan. The priest and the Levite are shown to be hypocrites. It is the Samaritan who demonstrates sincere love. (Luke 10: 30-37, Romans 12:9a) This highlights another important point relating to sincere, non-hypocritical love which is stressed in James’s letter. Sincere love not only acts; it acts without favouritism. Sincere love is not picky or choosy! Sincere love never discriminates. (Read James 2: 1-4, 14-17) Love which is insincere reveals a dead faith. Faith which is alive glows with practical love. An illustration from our own congregation when our two Romanian friends arrived.
We cannot solve the all the manifold practical problems of the whole world, but we can and we must display sincere love when a challenge comes into our midst and requires prompt action – requires love that is practical and demonstrates true care and kindness. And it must be love without discrimination – because all people, every single individual is made in the image of God. All are equally valuable and precious. Christ died for all. He laid down his life for Jew and for the Gentile (in Rome). He laid down his life for people both rich and poor. He laid down his life the African, the Indian, the Asian and the European, the S American, the whole world. (1 John 2:2)
Moving on to Paul’s second bullet point which arises from the first point about sincere love. Hate what is evil. Some translations use the even stronger word – Abhor! Abhor what is evil. Don’t you find it interesting that the exhortation by Paul to love is immediately followed by a strong exhortation to hate? The point is this – and it is a point that is often either played down or totally dismissed by the modern world. You can only be a person of true and sincere love if you hate and abhor evil. Love and evil cannot co-exist. God is love – the Devil is evil. So, there is a strong call to disciples to hate and resist and stand against evil. This is part of your calling and the calling of the Church.
Job was clearly one of the most outstanding characters in the Old Testament. How is this outstanding individual described? “In the Land of Uz there lived a man who name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. (Job 1:1, 8) This man is meant to be seen as a model for other godly people, including you and I. Psalm 97:10 states: “Let those who love the Lord hate evil.” Proverbs 8:3 states that: “To fear the Lord is to hate evil.” 1 Corinthians 13: 6, the great chapter on true love states; “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.” In the Lord’s prayer, Jesus urges his disciples to pray that they might be “delivered from evil.” Later in Romans 12:17: “Do not repay evil with for evil.” Jesus’s compassionate ministry often focused on driving out evil.
The Word of God tells us what is evil and what evil God hates and judges. I have already touched upon one evil – the absolute evil of racism. Racial discrimination, and racial hatred is evil. What once took place in American society was evil. What once took place openly in S African society was evil. This evil can lurk within any heart. It must be hated and abhorred and resisted – but not with evil. There can be no racial discrimination in the Church. Jew and Gentile in Rome must love and respect each other sincerely, not just the believers in their own native group. The Church in Rome would have been ethnically cosmopolitan, but it was called to be one body in Christ. (12:5) Brotherly love and mutual honour must override all differences. (12:10)
When thinking about evil against the backdrop of the personification and prince of evil – Satan – it does help to read the bible and see what God declares to be evil in his sight. What God hates – his people of sincere love must also hate! This is why I chose that short bible passage from Proverbs for one of the readings. What are the six things God hates, the seven that are detestable to him? (Proverbs 6:16) If you were to try to list things God hates, what would be on that list?
- Haughty eyes are on the top of the list. The arrogance and pride of men. Men who think they are a god and who believe they can do just as they please – despite the damage that does to many others who are made in God’s precious image. Men who blaspheme God. Human pride is hated and will be judged by God! (Psalm 10:2-11)
- A lying tongue. God hates lies. The devil is the father of lies. Lies breakdown love and trust. Lies demean and kill human societies. This includes lying and deceitful propaganda. There cannot be any lying in the community of the Church. We must always seek to speak the truth in love. (John 8: 44-45, Ephesians 4:15, 25) One body allows nothing else.
- Hands that shed innocent blood. Murder is heinous in God’s eyes. Taking the life of one made in His image comes under His judgement. (Psalm 11:5)
- A heart that devises wicked schemes. Scheming to commit adultery. Scheming to defraud the vulnerable. Scheming to exploit and crush the poor. Scheming to make money illegally….
- Feet that are quick to rush into evil. People who rush to join the angry mob. People that rush to rash and unjust conclusions about others. People that rush to steal and loot during a crisis.
- A false witness who pours out lies. God hates lying in courts. I swear by Almighty God to tell the truth….and then out pour lies? One of the strongest condemnations that comes from the OT prophets was injustice in the courts – especially injustice against the poor. (Amos 2:7, 5:7)
- A man who stirs up dissension among brothers. God hates it when someone deliberately goes out of their way to stir up strife within a local community, a country, a church. There is a lot of this type of provocation going on in our nation right now. Some communities are on the brink of exploding like a volcano – and some people would love to see this happen. They stir the pot.
Paul in Romans is urging harmony, love, and mutual care within the Church. Hate what is evil. No lying, no pride, no stirring the pot of dissension or factions. You are one in Christ. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honour one another above yourselves. Devotion to love. Devotion to care. Devotion to mutual respect. Devotion to humility and humble serving. How different to the world. No wonder Paul earlier has instructed the Church “not to be conformed to the pattern of this world but to be transformed by the renewal of the mind.” (Romans 12:2) The Church must be demonstrably different, full of love, avoiding, resisting, abhorring all forms of evil. The Church is a close-knit family. The family of the living God with redeemed precious sons and daughters. Brothers and sisters who know God as Father. Acting like his children, His offspring. God is love – and his love must be seen in His people. God hates evil and wickedness; so, must his children within Jesus’s body and bride. God is good and his people must therefore cling tightly and determinedly to all things good.
Cling to what is good. Just as someone might cling on to a fence post at the edge of a dangerous cliff, or cling on to the hand of someone in desperate need and in danger of perishing, the Church must cling on for dear life to good, and to what God has proscribed as good in His Word. A quote often attributed to Edmund Burke helps here; The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. We must as Christians cling to and fight for what is good and for what God has declared to be good. And sincere love is good – it is very good. This is the challenge we must take away with us today. “Let us not become weary in doing good” writes Paul in Galatians, “for at the proper time will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9) We must honestly ask whether we manifest and demonstrate true love, true goodness, true friendship, which as Jesus says involves doing what he would himself did – the action he took – laying down his life for his friends. (John 15:13, 1 John 3:16)
As we come to share together in Christian family love and devotion around the table of our Lord today, let us come with that desire that our love for God and his people might be sincere, without even a hint of hypocrisy.
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honour one another above yourselves.
And may God impress this Word and challenge about sincere love upon our hearts not just today, but every day, so that the Church here might be continuously built up in love and in the life and power of the Holy Spirit. Amen!
Revd Peter J Clarkson (17.8.25)