This passage presents me with a cou­ple of problems. First: how do I tackle it? There’s just so much in it. One approach might be to entitle the mes­sage — ‘24 Things God Wants You to Do!’ That might be useful. However, I fear that before I finish you might have lost count — and I would be ex­hausted — or vice versa — or both! Our approach then will have to be more general; taking a helicopter view.

My second problem with this passage is that I fail in all these areas myself. It’s not as though I come to you to say that I have climbed this Everest and exhort you to come up and join me. I preach these exhortations as one who is standing at the base of the moun­tain and can see the great distance I have yet to travel. But this is the way I want to go. I know them to be true; I know them to be for my benefit; I know them to be for God’s glory. I want to do them. What I am therefore saying is this; ‘Come and let us en­courage one another as we seek to climb together the mountain of godli­ness.’

Let’s remind ourselves that Paul is writing to Christians; to people who have received mercy from God (12:1). Don’t think for a moment that by doing these instructions you are working for your salvation. No! Rather, if you obey these instructions you are work­ing out your salvation. It’s often been said that while we are saved by faith alone — it’s by a faith that is not alone. These instructions are marks of the ‘new life’ in all who have been born again.

We could treat this list as a spiritual check up; a spiritual thermometer: a yardstick to show us how we are go­ing. ‘How are you going?’ ‘What is your Christian life like?’ This list will challenge each of us differently. We all perform differently. We all have strengths and weaknesses. But none of us I’m sure can ‘tick all the boxes.’ These instructions seem to be from a scatter — gun, and in rapid fire. They appear to be random in character with little or no connection with each other. But a number of commentators sug­gest that there is a coherence of sub­ject: the theme appears to be ‘love’, as stated in verse 9. If we compare this section to a necklace, love is the string and the exhortations are the beads. If we compare this section to a cake, the cake is love and the ex­hortations are the ingredients of love. Love is the queen of Christian graces. Jesus illustrated and emphasised it. He said,

A new commandment I give you, that you love one an­other, just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.John 13: 34-35

John said, ‘this is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our broth­ers’ (1 John 3:16). The apostle Paul reminds us that love is the greatest thing (1 Cor. 13). We are exhorted more than 50 times in the epistles to love. Let’s see what genuine love does — and doesn’t do.

1. True Love is Genuine and Dis­cerning (9)⤒🔗

Love must be genuine. It must be sincere. It must be without hypocrisy. It must not be a ‘put on.’ It’s not like face paint. It’s not about being polite and courteous and smiling kindly at each other. It’s not about superfi­cial niceties. Inviting people to drop in any time, then being horrified if they do. Love must be real; it must be true. True love is not sentimen­tal. It discriminates. It knows the difference between right and wrong. ‘It must hate what is evil and cling to what is good’. You cannot love if you do not hate. The psalmist says, ‘O you, who love the Lord, hate evil!’ (Ps. 97:10). Love is like a battery. It has a positive and a negative terminal for the current to flow. In Biblical think­ing love cannot be separated from hate. We see this demonstrated clearly and often in the life of our Lord. He was the friend of sinners. No one loved as He did. But no one hated as He did. He hated hy­pocrisy, falsehood, deceit and evil more than anyone (cf. Matt. 23 and John 2:13f). Jesus love blends tenderness and sternness. Tender­ness alone, with no indignation, would be falsely tolerant and make His love weak and spineless. Sternness alone, without tenderness, would make His attitude harsh and cruel, and give it a false intolerance.

There are those today who urge us to emphasise the love of God — without judging. But the love of God cannot and does not overlook sin or the judgement that it de­serves. God’s love is discerning and discriminating.

There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.Proverbs 6:16-19

Loves knows the difference be­tween right and wrong; it clings like glue to the good and hates evil.

2. Love Means having a Brotherly Affection (10)←⤒🔗

‘Be devoted to one another in broth­erly love.’ The word for love used here is ‘philadelphia.’ It’s the kind of love and affection that binds families together. It’s a lovely thing to see siblings loving one another. It’s refreshing to see families that love being together. It’s a lovely thing, too, to see it in the church. Though we are not blood related, yet the church is a family of brothers and sisters and fathers and mothers, united in Christ. The church is the one place where we should feel comfortable and find acceptance and find friends without fear of hurt. There ought to be many Davids and Jona­thans in the church. Paul is calling on us to show family love; and to respect and heap honour on one another, ‘esteeming others more highly than yourself.’ Love envies not. We sometimes sadly hear (and hear of) believers bad mouthing others. We wouldn’t tolerate it in our own family. It’s no less acceptable in the church.

3. Love is not Slack in Serving the Lord (11)←⤒🔗

Paul was no slacker. He hadn’t a lazy bone in his body. He served the Lord with eagerness. He exhorts us to serve the Lord with similar zeal, dili­gence, eagerness, and fervency. Un­fortunately being described nowadays as zealous is a dubious description. It has connotations of being a religious fanatic or a terrorist!)

‘Fervent in spirit’ might be trans­lated, ‘keep on the boil.’ ‘Keep bub­bling.’ (Fervent = boil or burn). The church at Laodicea is a warning. It was lukewarm. God was going to spit them out (Rev. 3:14-17). The prob­lem was that the love of the world had overtaken their love for God (cf. 1 John 2: 15). They had gone off the boil in their service for God. They had lost their fizz. Perhaps you have lost some of yours?

Richard Baxter in his book ‘The Reformed Pastor’ (1656) wrote (especially to elders) as an antidote to lethargy, these words;

whenever we feel ourselves grow dull and careless, hear these arguments of Christ. 'Did I die for them, and wilt thou not look after them? Were they worth my blood and are they not worth thy labour? Did I come down from heaven to earth to seek and to save that which was lost; and wilt thou not go to the next door or street or village to seek them? How small is thy labour and condescension as to mine? I debased myself to this, but it is thy honour to be so em­ployed. Have I done and suffered so much for their salvation; and was I willing to make thee a co­worker with me, and wilt thou re­fuse that little that lieth upon thy hands?'

4. Love is Joyful in Hope (12a)←⤒🔗

Christians should be joyful people. What is the secret of our joy? Our circumstances? Our feelings? Our health? No. ‘We rejoice in hope of the glory of God’ (5:2). We have a great hope that enables us to rejoice in every circumstance. We are confi­dent of our Lord’s return and the glory that will follow. We are confident that the Lord Jesus is working all things after the counsel of His own will. Any present sadness that has entered our lives is not because God had a lapse of concentration ,allowing the devil to jump in and mess things up. No! ‘We know that for those who love God all things work together for good’ (Rom. 8:28). This knowledge is to shape our affections. Think of the ‘F’ family; Mr Fact; Mr Faith and Mr Feeling. Imagine they are walking in line along a ledge. As long as Mr Faith keeps looking ahead at Mr Fact he will be steady. If Mr Faith looks behind at Mr Feeling he will fall. The moral of the story is; keep your head screwed on and your eyes fixed on Mr Fact — the Lord Jesus, who never changes.

5. Love is Patient in Affliction (12b)←⤒🔗

We all need patience! Teachers, driv­ers, shoppers, parents, husbands, wives, and so on. Nothing is as cer­tain as trouble or affliction if we follow Jesus. We need to endure it pa­tiently. Paul did. Jesus did – espe­cially on the cross. Without that pa­tience we will be fruitless and frus­trated Christians who will have squan­dered the gift of suffering.

6. Love is Faithful in Prayer (12c)←⤒🔗

Paul calls us to faithful and persistent prayer (cf. Luke 18:1). Devote your­self to it. Be constant in it. Pray with­out ceasing. Spurgeon said, ‘a prayerless soul is a Christ-less soul.’ Mat­thew Henry said that, ‘those who live without prayer live without God in the world.’

7. Love is Generous to God’s Peo­ple (13)←⤒🔗

‘Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality’ (ESV). Many fellow believers suffer and are in need. Do what you can about it. Be generous. Support organisations like the Barnabas Fund. Search for opportunities to use your home. Show hospitality; constantly have extra folk in the house (cf. Heb. 13:1­-3).

8. Love is not Selfish (15-16a)←⤒🔗

‘Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.’ Empathise. Sit where they sit. Don’t be a Doc Martin! Love is not aloof from other people’s joys or pains. Love identifies with them, sings with them and suffers with them. Love enters into their laughter and tears and feels solidarity with them whatever their circumstance. Part of our perversity means that we find it easier to weep with those who weep, than to rejoice with those who rejoice. ‘Live in har­mony with one another,’ reads literally, ‘think the same things towards one another.’ Have the same concern for all. Guard against the spirit of favouritism.

9. Love is not Snobbish or Con­ceited (16b)←⤒🔗

Paul exhorts us not to be snobs. Don’t think too highly of yourself. ‘Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.’ Don’t think that you are always right! Take an inter­est in ordinary people — make them your friends. Don’t be a hob-nobber. Don’t be a social climber. Never get to the point where you think you are ‘too good’ for certain sorts of people. Remember Jesus was the friend of sinners.

10. Love is Willing to Sacrifice Rights (17-21)←⤒🔗

Verses 14, 17-21 deal especially with our relationship to those who hate us. (We will always have them). We are as far as possible to live peaceably with all. A Christian must be a peace initiator and peacemaker. Our attitude to others must not be dictated by their atti­tude to us, but by the command of Christ who said, ‘love your enemy’. Retaliation and revenge is no part of our vocabulary (17, 19, and 21). We should never say, ‘they hurt me so I can hurt them back.’ To be sure there is a place for the punish­ment of evildoers — but that is in the law courts (as we see in the next chapter). Retaliation is natural — it may even seem just — but leave it to God.

Here Paul reminds us that our lives are cross-shaped. We take up the cross daily and deny self (Luke 9:23). We sacrifice our ‘right’ of re­venge. We do not conform to the world. ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord’ (19). Will not people walk over us? Maybe. Show­ing such love to our enemies will re­sult in heaping burning coals on their heads. It will bring a burning sense of shame (20). It may even result in their conversion? This is the way of the cross. ‘Such is the masterpiece of love.’

What a comprehensive picture of Christian love. Love is sincere, discerning, affectionate, and re­spectful. It is both enthusiastic and patient, both generous and hospitable, both benevolent and sympathetic. It is marked by both harmony and humility. Christian churches would be happier com­munities if we all loved one an­other like that.Stott

So, how are you going? Perhaps the best thing we can do is to take time and read this passage again — slowly and thoughtfully.