Let love be without hypocrisy... Over come evil with good

Romans 12 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

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. ² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

³ For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. ⁴ For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function,⁵ so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. ⁶ Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; ⁷ if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; ⁸ or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

⁹ Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. ¹⁰ Bedevoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; ¹¹ not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;¹² rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, ¹³ contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.

¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. ¹⁶ Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. ¹⁷ Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. ¹⁸ If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. ¹⁹ Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.²⁰ “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” ²¹ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Many today say that the church and believers should be more tolerant and accepting of the world and its culture. They say that Jesus associated with the sinners and outcasts and so should we. It is true that we need to and should associate with sinners as Jesus did. In fact we should do it just as He did. When asked about His association with them In Luke 5:32, He said:  “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”  Like Jesus, our association with sinners should not be to embrace their sin, but rather to call them to repentance. Today’s text begins saying:  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. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.   Worship then is more than singing to or about God. It is more than praying and praising, worship is living for God and serving Him. We are to associate with the world, but we are not to be conformed to the world. James 4:4 says:  You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.  1 John 2:15-16 says:   Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.  Yet in John 3:16 Jesus says:  “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”   Again, Paul says: do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.  To whom are we to prove what God’s will is? It is to the world; to the outcasts and sinners; to the ones that God so loves. If we tolerate, accept and embrace sin, how will they know that which is good and acceptable and perfect?  In Matthew 5:14-16 Jesus says:  “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

Christians are often called hypocrites because they do not accept, tolerate and embrace sin. In today’s text Paul says:  Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.  Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor;  not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;  rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer,  contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.  In truth, we are being hypocrites if we do embrace rather than abhor what is evil. Romans 6:23 says:  The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.   Knowing that sin will cause death to those we associate with, how can we tolerate and embrace that which will kill them? Even more, how could we embrace the very thing that cost Jesus His life?

The thing is, while we are not to embrace sin, neither is it our place to judge or condemn sinners. In Matthew 7:1-5 Jesus says:  “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”   Jesus also calls us hypocrites if we judge the sin of others. As the text says, we are to abhor what is evil and cling to what is good. That is the evil in our own lives, that we might shine the light of Christ and demonstrate the love and grace of God to the world. Today’s text says:  Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.  “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.  We overcome evil, not by focusing on what is evil, either in our own lives or the lives of others, but rather by focusing on God and His goodness. We are to bless people. Romans 5:8 says: God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.   That then is the way we too should demonstrate the love of God to the world, recognizing that He loves them while they are sinners and died for them, that they could be redeemed. Living as light in the world, we should demonstrate the love of God to the world. We should feed them and give them a drink. The burning coals we heap on them are not to cause them pain or suffering, but rather they are like those from Isaiah 6:1-7:  In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.  Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.  And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.” And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.  Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined!
Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs.  He touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is  forgiven.”   The demonstration of God’s love and grace, feeding and giving a drink to our enemies, is in the hope that they will be cleansed of their iniquity, that their sins will be forgiven.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit thank You for Your love and grace; for redemption and forgiveness. Thank You for enabling me to live free from sin. May I truly love without hypocrisy, neither embracing or judging the sin of others, but demonstrating Your love and grace, by living as light. May the burning coals of Your sacrifice on the cross be the salvation of all who see the demonstration of Your love.  Amen.