But then, on our return trip down Central, we came across some Christians working the streets. This strange group consisted of one guy singing and accompanying himself on electric guitar while two other guys sat in lawn chairs on the other side of the sidewalk listening to him. And as we walked through this noisy sidewalk Jesus gauntlet between the loud guitar and his two man audience, one of the lawn chair guys leaned forward, without hint of warmth or smile, shoved a business card into my hand and muttered something mostly unintelligible about Jesus.Eew! I appreciate the intention, but...
On Wednesday I went home to eat lunch with Maria. I had a lot of difficult, important things on my mind and we were talking about stuff together. She had just come from the gym so I challenged her to arm wrestle. I was surprised at her strength. She actually moved my arm a little bit. Then the conversation went back to the serious stuff for a few moments. But before I could say very much more, Maria stopped me in my tracks saying, “I’m sorry, Dad, but I simply must cut your eyebrow hairs!” And she got up, went and got the scissors and told me to sit down in the chair. As she clipped away the offending hairs, returning to our conversation, it suddenly overwhelmed me how very wonderful it is to have people who sincerely love me.
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 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.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. 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."
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
We’ve been talking for the last month about “being the surprise” in the lives of others around us. We’ve been pondering what it means to truly love and be useful in the world. And yet I wonder how many of us have yet grasped that this conversation is less about what we do in the world than what we are in the world. Do we get that? Doing good in the world is good, but being good in the world is what will ultimately change the world. This experiment isn’t just about finding some good things to do – it is about finding something good to sincerely be.
When the Apostle Paul shared what he did about sincere love in the Romans 12 passage I just read, he sandwiched his rambling sincere love thoughts between an encouragement to present ourselves as living sacrifices and a blunt call to submit ourselves to the authorities God places over us – in Paul’s day that meant submission to some very bad people. Paul shares this glowing stuff about loving sincerely as the meaty center of a sacrificial, submissive sandwich. And I study this passage; I am forced to ask myself how truly ready I am to eat this lunch? Do we really understand the stunningly sincere sort of love Paul is describing? Paul isn’t talking about a kind of love we need to aggressively market to disinterested strangers on the street. Sincere love doesn’t need a marketing plan. Paul isn’t describing a love we need to smartly strategize how to sell. Paul is describing a sincere, miraculous sort of love that sells itself.
Don’t just talk about love. Don’t just argue for Jesus. Don’t just market your brand.
Love people! Sincerely love people! This is our high calling and working hypothesis… As I read and study this passage, it almost seems the Apostle Paul understands most people don’t see the difference between love as an idealistic principle and love as behavioral reality. Paul wants his friends to understand love is something we live, not something we simply talk about. Love people! As impossible and difficult as that often is, we must sincerely love people.
Be holy. Understand your Heavenly Father and His ways so well you will come to hate what is worthy of hatred and cling to whatever is good. Love is fully holy – both hating evil and loving good. Make no shallow mistakes about it – there are two sides to the purity of our love. There is stuff we must reject and stuff we must embrace. Sincere love does both.
One of the most disturbing trends I’ve seen in the church in the last thirty years is the tendency of some Christians working so hard to love their enemies, they end up treating their brothers and sisters in Christ like dirt. In the name of “rooting out Pharisees” and the evils of “organized religion,” they bend over backwards to accommodate even the most ludicrous, sinful nonsense from non-believers and then attack their brothers and sisters viciously for even the slightest offense. One of my very favorite Christian authors has fallen so repeatedly into this trap I have a hard time reading his books any more. Sincere love doesn’t behave that way. Sincere love foundationally hates evil and hungrily clings to all the good it can find.
We are devoted to each other. Don’t just talk a good game; really love people. Wash whatever feet you must, trim whatever creepy eyebrows – sincere love is devoted to others.
Honor each other. We’re not supposed to be primarily interested in ourselves. As Rick Warren so beautifully and famously put it, “This thing isn’t about us.” We long to see others honored because we sincerely love them so much. We are in the business of raising people up.
Be zealous for God. Don’t expect others to keep your spiritual life burning hot. Don’t depend on some pastor or Christian author to lead you to the throne. Fan into flame the gifts given you. Love God sincerely, zealously hungry to serve Him however He allows us to serve.
Be joyous. The world doesn’t need yet another whiny, grouchy cynic. Any idiot can see all the bad things there are in the world around us to whine and complain about. It doesn’t take much intelligence at all to point out all the “true but useless” realities swimming all around us. We are called to be joyous in our hope – an encouragement to whatever room we enter.
Be patient. This life is going to throw some real curve balls and downright knuckle balls our way. Jesus promised us we would suffer and be treated unfairly from time to time. A servant is not above his master. We have an enemy out to get us. Get over it! Accept the fact that affliction is inevitable. Be patient as our LORD was patient. You are not alone in this stuff.
Be prayerful. Depend on prayer as oxygen in your life. Talk to your Father constantly! We have been given the opportunity to spend time with the LORD of the Universe. Why would we not want to take advantage of that? Your Father loves you and longs to spend time with you. Your Father carries your picture in his wallet – sincere love enjoys talking with God.
And for goodness sake, share your stuff! This should go without saying. This world is absolutely not our home and all these wonderful toys are not ours to keep. Sincere love always expresses itself in lavish generosity, towards other believers in particular. The very idea we would be selfish or greedy while others are in need is incomprehensible to a sincerely loving person. Sincere love doesn’t sanctimoniously wait for the government or someone else to take care of neighbors next door. Sincere love isn’t about spending someone else’s money on a need – it is about giving of what God has given me, pressed down, shaken and flowing over.
We are hospitable people. Sincere love makes a home available to others. Sincere love longs to make people feel loved and welcome in its life. Sincere love doesn’t just generously give money and possessions away. Sincere love happily opens the doors of its home to others. Everyone is an honored guest in the life and home of the sincerely loving person.
We are a blessing people. This is the most challenging and difficult I suspect. Sincere love means we genuinely long to bless others, even those who refuse to bless and perhaps even curse us; those who drive us crazy! This is love impossible to manufacture on our own. Sincere love longs good for others, even the bad others. Only God can give us love like this.
Sincere love is sympathetic. Sincere love rejoices with those who rejoice and mourns with those who mourn. We are partying in the good times and sitting down in the dirt with Job when the wolves consume in the bad times. We are with people in the way Jesus was with us.
Sincere love is harmonious. While sincere love may well not often sing the same tired notes the world is singing, it does all it can to sing in harmony.
Sincere love is humble. It does not push itself or draw attention to itself. Love realizes the greatest among us must be the servants of all. Love is hungrier to learn than teach. Love humbly sees the value in all the little things and all the little people. Sincere love sees itself as absolutely one of the little people. Sincere love is humble.
It is forgiving. When we are moving in the sincere love of Jesus, we never forget all we ourselves have been forgiven and so we are always the first to forgive the sins of others. The sincere love of Christ has a very short memory for the wrongs done unto it. It forgives.
It is peaceable. When we sincerely love others in all these other ways, we naturally become a peacemaking influence in the world around us. Our very presence brings peace. Sincere love is not in the fight-picking business – such an attitude is anathema. It is peaceable.
And at the end of the day and at the end of Paul’s long rambling love list, sincere love overcomes. Sincere love overcomes the world around with love. It doesn’t seek to win with votes, money, might, slick wisdom, marketing savvy or brute power. Sincere love overcomes when hate, selfishness, sin and evil can simply no longer stand in love’s warm presence. It overcomes as light overcomes the darkness. Love enters the room and darkness just flees.
Wow! When was the last time somebody sincerely loved you? When was the last time you sincerely loved somebody else? And even more importantly, how in the world do any of us think we will ever become sincere lovers like this without God’s constant help? There is scarcely a day that passes in which I do not fail miserably, in each and every one of these ways, in my efforts to sincerely love. This miraculously sincere love Paul is describing is a love that will constantly surprise the world because this is a love the world simply cannot manufacture.
In Matthew 24:12, when Jesus was describing how people were going to be at the end of time, he said, “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.” As this world moves closer and closer toward the painful birth pangs of the end, sincere love is going to be a rare and surprising commodity indeed. When the reasons to hate become easy to see and all too easy to embrace, sincere love will be harder and harder to come by; harder and harder to find in our hearts. It will never get any easier to sincerely love others than right now.
Yesterday, some high school and college friends of mine went to the State Fair together. I couldn’t go this year because of a funeral I had to officiate up in Ely, but the State Fair has become an annual, greasy, corn dogs in Mecca pilgrimage for the rest of these old friends. On Wednesday, as the coordinating emails were flying around, my friend Tom sent the following email to the group: “My friend & co-worker Gary will be joining us, if there are no objections. And if there are objections, well then he will be accidentally running into us at the Fair. As for when we are meeting, does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care?”
I laughed at his friendly, humorous, utterly presumptuous little note, but it also warmed my heart to glimpse the simple, genuine flickers of sincere love and friendship there. Love behaves that way. Love is unguarded. Love presumes stuff. Love knows others are always welcome to the party. Love knows all the little inside jokes and favorite song lyrics because love really gets to know people. Love is always chuckling a little as it wanders through life…
May God help us love sincerely. May the pure sincerity of our love surprise even we ourselves! May our love sell itself! May Elim Church be a place where sincere love overflows!
Amen.
