Zealous Love in God’s House
Romans 12:9-11
Jeremy Bell
February 16
Sermon Recap PDF
I. Let your love for God be genuine
- Genuine love for God flows from our hearts to His. The word “genuine” here is also translated “without hypocrisy.” Love that is true, love that is faithful.
- This kind of love is only possible when we’ve received it from the Lord. We love Him because He first loved us.
- Holding fast to what is good speaks to holding fast to our love for God – which says something about how we come to meet with Him. What does holding fast to what is good look like on Sunday morning as we gather?
Arriving with eager expectation
Singing to God with great joy
Q1. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever – Westminster Shorter Catechism
“We can have no higher goal than to take our place among those who revel – unceasingly, joyfully, wholeheartedly, and eternally – in our great and awesome God.” — Bob Kauflin
Receiving the Word with faith
“Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” — Romans 10:17
II. Let your love for one another be genuine
- Paul provides two descriptions of what genuine love for one another as believers looks like. Notice that he says “one another” twice in one verse. That means we’re to do these things to one another. We’re to love each other with brotherly affection.
Brotherly affection
- Genuine love for the well-being of your brother or sister in the church — like a family kind of love — After all, all genuine believers are family.
- We’ve been born into the same family. We have the same Father. We’ll be together for all eternity
Outdo one another in showing honor
- Showing honor to one another – what does this mean? It means to call to attention the way God is at work in that person’s life. It is to call to attention the grace of God at work in your brother or sister.
- Showing honor is to seek to honor the evidences of God’s grace in another person.
- It is not flattery, because flattery actually has as its goal self-praise. No, this is true, genuine encouragement.
III. Let your love for the world be genuine
“We are to pray as if everything depends on God.” — H.B Charles
Questions for Discussion/Application:
- Consider taking time to read Romans 12:9-11 out loud. What initial insights or observations of the text do you have?
- What does it mean – what does it look like practically, for us to prepare our hearts and minds to arrive at church with “eager expectation”? What practices are helpful to that end? What practices and habits might be detrimental to that end?
- Jeremy reminded us of the importance of timeliness with reference to coming to church. Why does coming on time matter?
- Jeremy reminded us, an application of “holding fast to what is good” that when we come to church, it is important that we sing with joy. He made the point that this is not about personality or temperament, but rather our hearts. Consider looking up and reading these Psalms: Psalm 95:1-2, Psalm 33:1-3. How can we practically apply this biblical call to sing to the Lord with joy in our own lives?
- How is our Sunday corporate worship a reflection of our day by day worship of the Lord? If we lack joy, how can contemplating the gospel help us both with respect to corporate worship as well as daily life?
- We hold fast to what is good by “Receiving the Word With Faith.” How can we effectively prepare our hearts for the preaching of the Word on Sunday?
- The call to let our love for one another be genuine is a call to brotherly affection and to outdo one another in showing honor. What expressions of brotherly affection have you witnessed in our church/in our Care Group that you would want to highlight? What are some practical applications of the call to “outdo one another in showing honor” ? How can we grow in identifying “evidences of grace” in one another?
- Consider taking time to pray, asking God to help us to apply these good reminders to our lives. Let’s also ask the Lord that He would bless us with a fresh outpouring of His Holy Spirit upon our gatherings.