The Love Without Hypocrisy

In one paragraph

Pastor Ray preached from Romans 12:9-21 on what unhypocritical love actually looks like in practice, using the passage as a kind of Romans version of 1 Corinthians 13. He framed the message around three positions he plans to return to in coming weeks: willing obedience, reluctant obedience, and outright disobedience to what God calls us to do. Pastor Ray opened by describing two ditches on either...

Read together

1. Romans 12:9-21 the primary text for the sermon on love without hypocrisy, willing and unwilling obedience, and repentance
2. Proverbs 6 listed six things the Lord hates, including haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet quick to rush into evil, a false witness, and one who stirs up conflict
3. Amos 5:21 God says through the prophet Amos that He hates empty religious festivals and assemblies
4. Isaiah 1 from about verse six downward, God says the same thing about empty religious festivals, seven hundred years before Christ
5. 1 Corinthians 13 compared Romans 12:9-21 to it as the Romans version of the love passage
6. Proverbs 25 source of the instruction to feed your enemy if he is hungry and give him water if he is thirsty
7. Romans 2 God's kindness leads to repentance, directed at religious people who thought they were better than those listed in Romans 1
8. Romans 7 Paul's lament that he does what he does not want to do and fails to do what he wants to do, which prompted the sermon

Talk about it

1. Ray described two ditches on either side of the Gospel Road: legalism and licentiousness. Which ditch do you think you personally are more prone to wander toward, and what does that look like in your everyday life?
2. Ray pointed out that God hates certain things, and that love and hate are not opposites in Scripture. How does it change your understanding of love to hear that sincere love for what is good requires hating what is evil?
3. Ray talked about willing obedience, reluctant obedience, and outright disobedience. Can you think of a time when you were reluctantly obedient to something God was calling you to do, and how did that turn out?
4. Ray shared the story about Dennis and admitted he had 'baptized' his desire for revenge in his own mind, telling himself and others a more acceptable version of what he was really feeling. Have you ever done something similar, and what did it take for you to see it honestly?
5. Ray read from Romans 12 that it is the kindness of God that leads us to repentance. How has experiencing God's kindness, rather than fear of judgment, actually moved you toward repentance in your own life?