Love in Response to the Grace of God
Love in Response to the Grace of God
A sermon preached on Romans 12:9-21 by Ps Sunday Phiri.
Click here to listen to the sermon.
Good morning. I welcome you this morning to our Sunday morning service. My name is Sunday Phiri, and I serve as one of the pastors here at Kitwe.
Let me start with a story. A man removes his fifty kwacha or one hundred kwacha and gives it to a boy. “Go and buy a biscuit,” he says, “or go and buy what you want.” The boy is happy. He wants to go immediately to buy the biscuit or the ice cream. Then his mother stops him. “Pethias, stop. Come back.” She asks him, “Did you say thank you to Uncle Tawanda?” The boy says, “No, I did not.” The mother says, “Say thank you to Uncle Tawanda.” The boy says, “Uncle Tawanda, thank you.” Then he goes.
But the question is: why the trouble of stopping the boy? Why not just let him go and buy his biscuit? Why did the mother have to stop him and demand that he say thank you to Uncle Tawanda? Why did she do that? For what purpose, for what sake? Because it is normal. That is what you should do when someone helps you or gives you something — you need to say thank you. You need to respond. You cannot behave as if nothing has happened. So the mother demanded that the boy say thank you, because Uncle Tawanda had helped him, had given to him. It is your duty, your responsibility, to say thank you — to respond to that gesture.
So in this passage, that is what Paul is calling the Jewish believers, the Jewish Christians, to do: to respond. To respond to the grace of God. To respond to the mercy of God. He is calling them not to live, not to act, as if nothing has happened in their lives.
Christians, we need to respond. We need to make noise, because we have received the mercies of God, because we have received the grace of God. Do not be quiet as if the Lord has not blessed you, as if the Lord has not served you, as if the Lord has not been good to you. He is calling them to respond to the goodness of the Lord, to respond to the mercy of God — because at one point they had no hope. At one point they were sinners without God in this world, and in Romans chapter eight God had to adopt them as His children. Paul is telling them: respond to what God has done for you. Respond to the goodness of the Lord. Respond to the mercies of the Lord.
That is the same calling Paul gives us today. Christian, the Lord has been good to us. The Lord has been gracious to us. The Lord has redeemed us. The Lord has delivered us. The Lord has saved us. The Lord has blessed us in many different ways. And Paul is calling us this morning to respond to the mercy of the Lord, to respond to the grace of God.
So this morning we are going to consider three questions: the how question, the what question, and the whom question. We begin with the how question: how should we respond to the mercies and the grace of God? In what way should we respond to the mercies of God? I have entitled this sermon “Love in Response to the Grace of God.”
How Should We Respond?
From chapter one up to chapter eleven, Paul describes how the Lord has saved us, how the Lord has shown us His grace, how the Lord has shown us His mercy. Then in verse twelve he begins to instruct us how to respond to the grace of the Lord in our lives.
Number one — verse nine. Paul says, “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” Paul is saying we should respond to the mercy and grace of God with love. We should respond to the goodness of God with love.
What kind of love is Paul talking about? There are many kinds of love. There is romantic love, family love, and friendship love. Romantic love deals with attraction — when I am attracted to someone, I will love that person; if I am not attracted, there is no need to love them. Family love deals with attachment — because he or she is my blood relative, I will love them; and some say, if we fight, why should I even love him? He’s not my blood. Friendship love is based on something held in common — I am a musician, so let me befriend a musician; I am of one social status, so let me befriend someone on my level.
But that is not the kind of love Paul is talking about here. Paul is talking about agape love — the love of God, the love that is selfless. The three loves I mentioned — romantic, friendship, and family love — are all conditional. If I am not attracted to you, there’s no need to love you. If we do not have anything in common, it’s fine even if I don’t love you. But agape love is unconditional. It is a choice you and I make to love — not because we have something in common, but because it is a sacrificial love. You seek the well-being of someone. You seek the good of another person. That is the love Paul is talking about here.
We should love sacrificially, not because we are benefiting from it. Today we love because we want to gain, because we want to benefit from each other — we befriend each other expecting something in return. That is not the kind of love Paul is talking about. The love Paul commends is the love we give without expecting anything back. Do we love because we want to get something? Because we want to be seen? Because we want to benefit? Or do we love because the Lord has commanded us to, because we want to see someone grow?
The love of this world says, “I love you so that you love me back.” But the love of God says, “Love so that when you love that person, that person will be able to love another person” — not so they love you back. That is the love in Scripture. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. God did not give us His Son so that we might give something back. There is nothing we can give to God in return. That is the kind of love God expects us to have as Christians — to love others with a pure and clean heart, without expecting them to love us back.
Paul continues with the idea of genuineness, or the absence of hypocrisy. Other versions render it “love without hypocrisy.” Today we are living in a fake world. Go to social media — the life displayed there is not real life. You take a picture, run it through an editing app, and it creates something spectacular. We are living for images, for status, for position — not living genuinely.
But Paul says we should be genuine. These days, when you are genuine, people may despise you or look down on you. If you want to make it in business, some say, don’t tell the whole truth — bend a little, or you won’t make it. Don’t be real, don’t be honest, the world says. But God says the way we respond to His mercy and grace is to be real, to be honest, to be genuine — even in our love.
We think that if we are genuine, if we are real, people will think we are weak, cowards, failures. So to keep up appearances, we create an image of doing well, even when in reality we are not okay. You greet someone — “How are you, my brother? How are you, my sister?” — “I’m okay, I’m fine.” But deep in their hearts they carry anger, doubt, fear, and sin eating away at them, because they don’t want to appear weak.
Paul is saying Christianity is not about faking yourself; it is about being genuine. God wants us to be true, honest — even if the world tells us to guard our image, our name. If you have issues, be honest: “My friend, my brother, I’m struggling with this. Please help me.” Don’t keep up an image.
The word used there, “genuine,” is rendered in other versions as “without hypocrisy.” A hypocrite in that time was one who wore a mask for the purpose of entertaining people, for performance, or for profit. Paul is saying: take off the mask. Be real. Be you. Don’t pretend.
Even in the way we love each other, we need to be real. Do we love each other genuinely, or for a show, for entertainment, so we can gain something? Paul is not saying love each other perfectly — that is impossible, because we are sinners. We will fight; we will have conflict. Paul is saying love each other genuinely — from deep in our hearts, so that even after a disagreement you can go to that person and say, “My dear friend, I still love you.” That is loving genuinely.
That is our first point — the how. Our love should be genuine. Our love should be sacrificial.
What Should We Love?
Now we move to the second point: what should we love in response to how God has been good to us?
Verse nine again: “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” Paul is saying we should love what is pure. We should love holiness. We should love purity in response to God’s grace.
The Lord has blessed you, has redeemed you — therefore respond, rejoice. How do we rejoice in the goodness, the mercy, and the grace of the Lord? By living a pure, holy life. Like the boy who was given money to go and buy something — he rejoiced, he was happy. That is the response Paul calls us to: to love holiness, to love purity and godliness in our lives.
Do we love purity? Do we long for it? What do we desire in our hearts? What do we give our eyes to, our mouths to, our ears to? Does it honor God? Paul says, “Abhor what is evil” — in other words, hate anything that does not reflect the character of God. Be like Joseph: he did not reason with temptation; he fled. If you find yourself in an environment dangerous to your spiritual health, don’t say, “I’ll just pray in tongues and it will disappear.” No — run, flee. That is holiness. We don’t say, “I can manage.” We flee evil. As James says, resist the enemy and he will flee from you.
That is how we respond to the Lord — not merely with lip service, saying “Lord, I thank you,” but with our actions: by living a holy life, by loving genuinely, by being honest. When we do that, we are saying to the Lord, “I thank you for your grace, for your love over my life.”
Paul says, “Cling to what is good” — cling to anything that reflects the character of God: holiness, love, purity, deep in our hearts, not merely as lip service. If we are not living a holy life, if we are not loving each other genuinely, then we are hypocritical and ungrateful people — acting as if the Lord has done nothing in our lives. Like the boy who wanted to go without saying thank you.
This is also what happened to Adam in the Garden of Eden. He sinned, and the Lord came to him: “Adam, where are you?” Adam said, “Lord, I am here among the trees… this woman you gave me.” That is being hypocritical — instead of being honest and saying, “Lord, I have sinned against you,” he tried to hide, to paint a picture, to wear a mask as if nothing had happened. That is often what we do — pretend nothing has happened. But the Lord says: be grateful by living a holy life.
Whom Should We Love?
Our last question: whom should we love in response to God’s grace?
Up through verse thirteen, then verses fifteen and sixteen, Paul says: “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.” And in verse fifteen: “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.”
Whom should we love in response to the grace of God? First, our brothers and sisters in the Lord — the saints, the church.
Paul says, “Love one another with brotherly affection” — build relationships with each other. Check up on each other. When did you last call a fellow believer just to ask how they are doing? When the service ends, don’t leave without greeting or talking to someone. Ask, “How are you doing? What can I pray for you?”
“Outdo one another in showing honor” means build each other up. Do not tear each other down. Encourage and compliment each other. If your friend looks nice, tell them. If your friend is hardworking, say so. Do we do that, or do we feel jealous of each other instead?
“Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord” means don’t be lazy — be a hardworking person, because if you are lazy you have nothing to contribute to your brothers and sisters. Be hardworking so you can give to the needs of others. And as Christians we should avoid a consumer mindset and be active in the local church. The church is not a stadium where we sit in the stands cheering others on while they play; we are all players on the field. Ask, “How can I serve? Where can I serve?”
“Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” Christianity is not easy. We need each other — to be reminded of the hope we have in the Lord when things get hard, that this world is not our home, heaven is our home. And be constant in prayer — not just saying “I’m praying for you,” but actually praying with your brother and sister.
“Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality” means be generous, as the Lord has been generous to us in giving His Son. And “seek” hospitality — take the step yourself rather than waiting for someone else to open their heart or home to you. Open your heart. Open your home.
“Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep” means be sympathetic — when something good happens to a friend, rejoice with them; when they mourn, mourn with them. Attend funerals, weddings, graduations, birthdays. Do life together as a family.
“Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight” means seek peace rather than always seeking to be right. What matters is not your opinion but living in harmony with your brothers and sisters in the Lord. Don’t be choosy about who you associate with — associate even with those in low positions.
So whom should we love? Our fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord. But Paul does not stop there. In verse fourteen, and again from verse seventeen through twenty-one, he says:
“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them… Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord. To the contrary, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Paul is saying: love your enemies, in response to the grace of God. Our enemies might be within the church — perhaps we’ve had a falling out — Paul says love them. Our enemies might be outside the church — Paul says love them too. It is not easy to love an enemy, but Paul says it is possible, because of what God has done for us.
Christ did not die for His friends, for good people, for godly people. He died for enemies — people like you and me. We were enemies of God, yet Christ died for us so that we might have eternal life. That is why He tells us to love our enemies — because He knows it is possible, since He loved us while we were His enemies. Romans 5 says the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. We have this love; therefore we have no excuse to say we lack the strength to love our enemies.
Paul says: bless those who persecute you, do not curse them; do not seek vengeance, for vengeance belongs to the Lord; if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if thirsty, give him something to drink.
The worldview of this world tells us that to defeat our enemies we must go with machetes, with guns, with punishment. But Jesus, to defeat His enemies — who are you and me — did not come with weapons of war. He came with the weapon of love. He defeated us with love.
When I think about that, what makes me bow down, what makes me weep, is the love of God — asking myself, who am I that this God should die for me? What did He see in me? When I examine myself, I see nothing but the love of God. It is the love of God that won my heart.
I don’t know if you’ve heard the story of Elisabeth Elliot. She was married to a missionary, Jim Elliot, who went to share the gospel with a tribe and was murdered by them. When the news reached her at home, what did she do? She said, “I’m going there to share the gospel.” When she went, the people realized she was the wife of the missionary they had murdered. They were shocked — they expected her to come with weapons, the way the world expects. Even in movies: a boy’s parents are killed, and when he grows up he hunts down and kills those who murdered them — and we call that victory. But the victory we see in the Bible is love. Elisabeth Elliot went and showed them love, and many gave their lives to Christ, because she defeated them with love, not with weapons.
Christians, let us go into the world and defeat our enemies with the weapon of love. When you love your enemies, Paul says, you will heap burning coals on their heads — they will be troubled, confused: “I wronged that person, yet she loved me.” We judge our enemies by loving them, not by punishing or avenging ourselves against them. God first loved us.
We are not doing any of this so that God will bless us. We do not come to church so that we receive blessings. We do not pray so that God might favor us. We do not give so that we receive a blessing in return. No — we do this because the Lord has already saved us, already blessed us. It is our response to His grace.
Amen. May the Lord bless you.
Let us take a moment to contemplate the goodness of the Lord in response to His word.
Closing Prayer
Gracious God in heaven, we thank you for your grace and for your goodness upon our lives. Lord, who could not love you for your goodness, your grace, and your mercy over our lives, where you have been good to us. We pray that in the many ways we have failed to be grateful to you — by not living a holy life, by not loving our brothers and sisters, even by not loving our enemies — Lord, forgive us. Help us to be a people who respond to your grace, to your goodness over our lives. Help us to go into the world and defeat our enemies with the weapon of love, and help us to love each other genuinely. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.