2. Our Changed Relationship to One Another – Part 1 [Sincere Love] Romans II Series [14] Romans 12:9

3. CHANGED RELATIONSHIPS: A RESULT OF GOSPEL-CENTERED LIVING 12:1-2Our Changed Relationship to God [= consecrated body and renewed mind] 12:3-8Our Changed Relationship to Ourselves [= sober judgment on using spiritual gifts] 12:9-16Our Changed Relationship to One Another [= sincere love in the family of God] 12:17-21Our Changed Relationship to Our Enemies [= overcoming evil with good]

4. CHANGED RELATIONSHIPS: A RESULT OF GOSPEL-CENTERED LIVING 12:1-2Our Changed Relationship to God [= consecrated body and renewed mind] 12:3-8Our Changed Relationship to Ourselves [= sober judgment on using spiritual gifts] 12:9-16Our Changed Relationship to One Another [= sincere love in the family of God] 12:17-21Our Changed Relationship to Our Enemies [= overcoming evil with good]

5. CHANGED RELATIONSHIPS: A RESULT OF GOSPEL-CENTERED LIVING 12:9-16Our Changed Relationship to One Another 1.V. 9 The Overriding Principle of Our Relationships [Sincere Love] 2.Vs.10-11 Relating to One Another in Love [General Attitude & Approach] 3.Vs.12-13 Reacting to Circumstances in Love [Patience, Generosity, & Hospitality] 4.Vs.14-16 Reacting to People in Love [Good Will, Sympathy, Harmony & Humility]

6. SINCERE LOVE AS THE OVERRIDING PRINCIPLE OF OUR RELATIONSHIPS 1)WHY is love so important in our changed relationships?  Our response to the love of God (Romans 1-11) must be our love for one another [mirroring AGAPE]. 7Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent us his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sin. 1 John 4:7-10

7. SINCERE LOVE AS THE OVERRIDING PRINCIPLE OF OUR RELATIONSHIPS 1)WHY is love so important in our changed relationships?  God’s will for our new life in Christ [12:1-2] is that we love one another. 34"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:34-35

8. SINCERE LOVE AS THE OVERRIDING PRINCIPLE OF OUR RELATIONSHIPS 1)WHY is love so important in our changed relationships?  Love is the ultimate priority and the sum of the Christian life. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing… And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:2,13

9. SINCERE LOVE AS THE OVERRIDING PRINCIPLE OF OUR RELATIONSHIPS 1)WHY is love so important in our changed relationships?  Love is the ultimate priority and the sum of the Christian life. 8Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 1 Peter 4:8 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. Colossians 3:14

10. SINCERE LOVE AS THE OVERRIDING PRINCIPLE OF OUR RELATIONSHIPS 1)WHY is love so important in our changed relationships?  Love is the ultimate priority and the sum of the Christian life. 13You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. 14The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Galatians 5:13-14

11. SINCERE LOVE AS THE OVERRIDING PRINCIPLE OF OUR RELATIONSHIPS 2)WHAT is sincere/genuine love?  The original Greek word for genuine/sincere [anuopkritos] means “without hypocrisy”: putting up an act [duplicity].  True love [agape] is NOT about feelings but about will for the best of others—therefore, sincerity is not about feelings but about will.  Two ways of hypocrisy in love are: [1] Deceiving Others [external duplicity]: faking love outwardly—because of selfish or ill motives. [2] Deceiving Ourselves [internal duplicity]: distorted love internally—because of dishonesty and confusion about our motives and love.

12. 17If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:17-18 Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Colossians 3:12

13. SINCERE LOVE AS THE OVERRIDING PRINCIPLE OF OUR RELATIONSHIPS 3)HOW do we keep our love sincere/genuine? Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. (v.9 ESV). Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. (v.9 MSG)

14. SINCERE LOVE AS THE OVERRIDING PRINCIPLE OF OUR RELATIONSHIPS 3)HOW do we keep our love sincere/genuine?  True love is essentially about loving God’s holiness—i.e., what is best for us.  This holiness in love also reveals insincerity in loving others. True love is not merely weak but strong. True love is not tolerance but forbearance. True love is not lukewarm but fiery; true love hates—with intensity—what is evil; true love clings to—with intensity— what is good. True love does not choose safety but take risks with vulnerability.  Therefore, we are to follow Christ’s example in loving others with holy desires for others.

15. Love may forgive all infirmities and love still in spite of them: but love cannot cease to will their removal. C. S. Lewis

16. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR OUR EVERYDAY LIFE 1.Make a commitment to BUILD YOUR RELATIONSHIPS ON SINCERE LOVE.  Make sincere love your operating principle in all relationships.  Love from the center of who you are! 2.Put off ALL HYPOCRITICAL WAYS in loving others.  Do not deceive others with fake love.  Do not deceive yourself with distorted love. 3. Run for dear life from EVIL—hold on for dear life to GOOD.  Hate what is evil.  Cling to what is good.

17. To Love Is to Be Vulnerable To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give it to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully around hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket--safe, dark, motionless, airless—it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. - C. S. Lewis