Jello love

 Romans 13:8-14

For many of you here today, this will be your last service at the Beach Fellowship this season.  You’re going to go back to your normal routines and hopefully your regular churches back home, wherever that may be.  And I have somewhat of a heavy heart about that.  We will continue here, on the beach, Lord willing, through sometime in October, and then indoors at the Christian Conference Center through the winter.  Our numbers will gradually diminish, but God has called us to be faithful in season and out of season.  And God helping me, we will continue to preach the gospel to whoever is here.  I hope that some of you who are local and have been fellowshipping with us here this summer, will consider continuing on with us this winter.  I believe that it is the year around support and fellowship that allows us to be able to do this during the summer season.  And so I would ask you to pray about continuing with us throughout this winter.

That being said, I think that this message this morning is fitting for this particular time.  It is a message that does not offer a finale or farewell, but urges a deeper commitment,  a continuing on, to urge this fellowship to keep on keeping on, renewing your commitment to the things of the Lord.  Because just as  summer passes into fall, so this scripture warns us that the day is fast approaching when the Lord will return.  Our time here on earth is passing quickly.  And the time for renewing our faith and our fervency for the Lord is now.

I often feel a kinship in this ministry to that of John the Baptist.  To paraphrase John, I am not worthy to tie his shoelaces.  So I don’t mean that somehow I am comparable to a John the Baptist.  But I do feel a certain stirring in my spirit that we are in the end of days.  As in the case of John’s ministry, he went before the Lord, saying “repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.”  Jesus was coming.  And John was urging the people to repent, to ready themselves for the Lord’s appearing, to be washed and ready.  And I feel a certain stirring in my spirit, as I stand out here in this wilderness, so to speak, as an oddity perhaps, a curiosity to many, but I feel a need to preach, “repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.”  The present age is drawing close.  Jesus is coming back.  And those that claim to be saints of God need to get their houses in order.   We need a revival of repentance.  Of renewing our commitment to be about the business of the kingdom of God.  

We need this wake up call today because the church is wallowing in apostasy.  It is wallowing in self centeredness.  It is wallowing in a shallow, superficial religion that is all about feelings and emotion.  But most of all, it is immersed in a religion that is all about me.  Our religion is self centered.  What God can do for me.  How God makes me feel.  I heard someone on a Christian radio station the other day offering a message that God loves you and wants what’s best for you.  And he just wants to have a relationship with you.   And all of that sounds pretty good.  And then he said, He loves you and wants you to succeed.  To be happy.   And that was it.  That was the gospel as far as this guy is concerned.  Just know God is love, He loves you, wants you to be happy, wants the best for you, and wants to have a relationship with you so you can be successful.  And the problem with that theology is the problem with all false theologies, there is just enough truth in the bait to taste good and get you to swallow the hook as well.

But I want to tell you what Paul makes very clear here in Romans, and that is that the truth of the gospel is following God in obedience.  It’s not about feelings, it’s not some romanticized love affair with Jesus, it’s not about reaching some emotional high that is passed off as feeling spiritual, but the gospel the Bible teaches is  about believing in the truth, committing to the truth, and being obedient to the truth.

My wife and I have had more than a few conversations about salvation and the gospel.  My poor wife has to be the sounding board for my theological debates with myself.  But one of the things I have been thinking about and discussing for a while, is the question, when did the disciples get saved?  At what exact moment did they become born again?  Receive righteousness?  Was is when Jesus called them?  Was it when they followed Him?  Was it when they were commissioned to go out in His name?  Was it when Jesus breathed on them to receive the Holy Spirit?  Or was it on the day of Pentecost when they were filled with the Spirit?  And we spent a lot of time discussing this question, because we are concerned about the salvation of some people that have been in contact with our fellowship.

And as I was studying for this message, I believe that I received the answer to that question.  They were saved, they received righteousness, when they believed in Christ and left everything and followed Him. They may not have known all the doctrine, but they recognized Jesus was the Messiah, that He had the truth, and they were obedient to what was revealed.  They were obedient in faith to the truth that was revealed.  And after that it was a continuing journey of revelation and sanctification.  They may have faltered at times, they even ran away in fear a time or two, but they continued.  They came back in obedience.

See, I can’t see the heart of man.  I don’t know your heart.  But God does.  God said man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.  And David said that  “a broken and contrite heart, O Lord, you will not despise.”  Romans started off telling us how Abraham was saved.  It was when He believed God and followed God in obedience.  And Romans 4:3 says, “For what does the Scripture say? "ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS."  Obedience was the proof of Abraham’s faith.  He could have all the faith in the promise of God in the world, but until he was obedient to the call of God and came out of that land of his father and traveled to where God told him to go it would have been worthless.  And so we see that faith and obedience go hand in hand.

Now the text that we’re  looking at today really must be considered to be a continuation of the application that Paul started in chapter 12.  Paul spent  the first 11 chapters telling us about salvation, the foundations of our faith and the mercy and grace of God that provided for a lost world to be saved from eternal damnation and instead be given eternal life.  It took him 11 chapters to give us all of that in detail.  And then he starts out a new segment, which is what we are still in by chapter 13, of what we do now that we have received grace.

See, grace is so misunderstood today.  We think grace is a license to do whatever we want to do and we get away with it.  We have no more punishment, so we can do anything we want without fear of divine repercussion.   Modern Christianity is sort of like jello.  You know what jello is, don’t you?  It’s neither hard nor soft.  It’s neither liquid nor solid.  It’s too thick to sip through a straw, but it’s too unstable to hold any real weight.  It’s just kind of jiggly.  It looks kind of cool.  And it tastes sweet.  But it has no nutritional value.  If you eat it as a meal, it may make you feel full at first, but then you get hungry again 15 minutes later.

The Christian life is not a jello kind of experience.  No, in fact, in Romans 5:2 it tells us that we stand in grace, and then the next verse says we exult in our tribulations.  In other words, because of sin we were dead, but God raised us up from the dead to stand in righteousness, it’s the gift of God, what we call grace.  We are standing now, as opposed to being dead, only by grace.  But grace is not some kind of panacea for all the world’s ills, no, tribulations are going to be part of the Christian experience. Grace is not some beneficent jello existence where we do nothing, are good for nothing, and nothing bad ever happens to us.   Grace is merely the means by which we are able to become sons of God, fit for the work of the kingdom.

So what is our life supposed to be like now that we have received grace?  Where do we go from here?  What’s next?  Well Paul tells us, actually he urges us, compels us to take the next step in obedience, and that is to lay ourselves down on the altar as a sacrifice to God for spiritual service.  This is the next step.  To take our agenda, our goals, our pride, our selfishness, our fleshly desires and lay them down on the altar and give ourselves to God in spiritual service. Romans 12:1  “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”

Now what I want to show you today in the time we have left is the relationship between 12:1 and 13: 8, 9, 10. We can’t understand 13:8-10 unless we undestand that it is predicated on 12:1.  “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this, "YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET," and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” (Rom. 13:8-10)

Now I preached when we were in chapter 12 about love and I won’t have time to review all that I said then.  But what I will say by way of summary is that the love that Paul is referring to here is not romantic love.  And unfortunately, that is the basis of most of our concept of what Biblical love is like.  We somehow can’t help but think of love in a romantic context.  I think that is particularly true for women.  And I think it becomes somewhat of a stumbling block for men.  One friend of mine once remarked that he had a hard time listening to modern Christian music because he felt like it was the kind of love song you would sing for a woman for a man.  And being a man, he had a hard time singing songs like that.  And he had a point, because most of our concept of Christian love is based on romantic love.

But what this kind of love is, is agape love.   And it’s different from what we tend to think of in terms of love.  It is a selfless love as opposed to a selfish love.   And maybe to be fair to the ladies, the best type of romantic love is supposed to be selfless.

But that is why that Paul started off this section in chapter 12 vs. 1, that the first thing we are to do in response to God’s love for us, in response to His grace and mercy, is sacrifice ourselves on the altar.  We lay self, the me first agenda, my pride, my desires, my passion, my goals, we lay it all down on the altar and offer up our bodies to be used by God for His purposes, and in His service.  See, Christian love is the opposite of selfishness.  And so the first part of obedience now that you have faith in Christ is to present your self love on the altar and now love others the way you used to love yourself.   Now serve others the way you used to serve yourself.  This is the mark of genuine Christianity.

Look at verse 8, love your neighbor as yourself.  I’ve heard a dozen messages or more on that verse, and they all try to explain it like you need to love yourself first, and it’s healthy and natural to love yourself first and then you need to love others like you love yourself.  No, I don’t think that is what the Holy Spirit is saying when you keep it in context with chapter 12.  I think the Holy Spirit is saying when you are really obedient to Christ, you will love the way Christ loved the church, giving himself for her.  Eph. 5:25 “just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her.”  See, Christ gave up His body, His rights, His throne, His will, in order to serve the church and that is our example of love.  And we are called to love one another as we used to love and serve ourselves, now instead we serve the church, we serve one another.

And when you understand that properly, then the rest of 9 and 10 is self explanatory.  If you love your neighbor the way Christ loved the church, you won’t commit adultery with his wife.  If you love your neighbor with a selfless, Christ like love, you won’t murder your neighbor, or the equivalent, according to Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, you won’t hate your neighbor, hate being equated with murder.  If you love your neighbor with a selfless love, you won’t steal from him, you won’t covet his stuff.  Because love is the root of the law.  All the commandments, Jesus said, can be summed up in selfless, Christ like love.  Love God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself.

Jesus said in John 13:34 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”  See, the OT law was summed up in the 10 commandments.  There were 613 laws that came from those first 10.  The first four of those commandments were man’s relation to God, and the second group of six were man’s relation to man.  And what Jesus is saying in the New Covenant is that of the second group of six about our relation to man, they can all be summed  up, not in the negative, as in thou shalt not, but in the positive, do this; love your neighbor as yourself.

You know, maybe we need to stop right here and ask ourselves, “How are we doing so far?”  How are we doing with these two new commandments for the NT church.  Love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself.  And don’t say, “well, I’m not under law but under grace.”  No, we still have an obligation to God’s law.  God’s law is good, it is perfect.  Christ said I didn’t come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it.  In other words, He came to keep it.  And He has given us a new law for us to keep.  And to help us keep it, He has given us the Holy Spirit who is to be our helper, when we rely on Him and submit to Him.

You know, it’s easy to say I love God.  Because if love is just a feeling, just an emotion or just some romantic viewpoint that I have, then who is to judge my feelings?  But it’s another thing to say I love my neighbor as myself.  I give the kind of preference to my neighbor that I used to give to myself.  I no longer live for myself, I live for my neighbor’s benefit.  How are you doing with that one?  Or here’s a better question, how would your neighbor say you  are doing with that one?  How would your office workers evaluate your love for them?  How would your business contacts say you were doing in the love department?  How would your church body say you were doing?  How would your pastor say you were doing in selfless, serving love for others.  How would your family say you were doing.  How would your enemies say you were doing?

Jesus said in John 13:35 "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you  go to church regularly at the big church down the street where everyone can see you. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you put a Christian sticker on your bumper. Bt this all men will know you are my disciples if you play KLOVE real loud in your car.  No, it says "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."  Not just liking people or certain people, but loving people the way Christ loved the church and gave up His life for her.

Verse 11 gives us another imperative, another command.  Look at it,  “Do this…”  Do what?  Do this, love your neighbor, love the church, love your enemies, love God, don’t be selfish anymore, but be selfless, loving others the way you used to serve yourself.  The way you used to give preference to yourself, give to others now as unto the Lord.  Paul’s not making a suggestion.  He’s not giving you a choice.  He says do this.  Do this.

And then he adds the urgency to that command.  “Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed.  The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.  Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy.  But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.”

Peter says it this way in 1Peter 4:1 “Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries.”

Both Peter and Paul are saying the same thing.  The selfish desires and passions of the flesh are incompatible with love.  Grace is not a license to sin.  Love is not a romantic or patriarchal view of a God who just wants a relationship with us at any cost.  No, God wants obedience.  And the command that we are to be obedient to is to sacrificially love one another the way Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.

The time already past is sufficient for your selfish pursuit of the lusts of the flesh and the pride of life.  The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand.  Jesus could come back today.  He could come tonight while you are sleeping.  And suddenly you’re going to find yourself face to face with your Master and Lord. Romans 14:12 “So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.”

Someone once said, that enthusiasm is easier than obedience.  There is a lot of false teaching out there about an easy believeism, a permissive grace, a Christian life filled with earthly rewards.  But listen, I can tell you from experience, the Christian life is difficult.  It is costly.  You’re going to give up some things now, for the sake of gaining the glories of God revealed in eternity.  You’re going to have tribulation.  The Christian life isn’t a cakewalk.  It’s going to require sacrifice.  It requires selflessness.  And that doesn’t come naturally or easily.

But I want to encourage you that one day it will be worth it all, when we see Jesus.  Life’s trials will seem so small, when we see Christ and He ushers us in victorious to all that He has gone on before us to prepare for His bride, the church.  I pray you will be ready when He comes.  You won’t be caught like the 10 virgins, unprepared.  You won’t be caught like the unfaithful steward, with what God entrusted you with buried in the ground, unused.

Listen, you may not be where you should be today.  Perhaps you took inventory and said, no, I’m not living the way Christ wants me to live.  I’ve been living for myself.  For my purposes, my pride, my agenda.  But I want to change. I want to live for Christ, starting today.  What should I do, Roy?  Well to start with, the Bible says that a broken and contrite heart God will not despise.  Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.  Right now, you can call on God and confess to Him your selfishness and pride and ask Him to help you, to cleanse you from all unrighteousness and give you the power through the Holy Spirit to live the kind of life He has called you to live.  Believe in Him, trust Him, commit to Him, and purpose to be obedient to Him, no matter what the cost.  And God will hear you and answer you and count it to you as righteousness.