Romans 12:9-10
[9]Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good.
[10]Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.
“Love” is one of the most common, yet misused and misunderstood words in the English language. On the bookshelf, “love” is synonymous with “romance” and seldom used without a sexual connotation. On television, love is depicted by programs like “Love Boat.” Commercials tempt the audience to pay for a call to a “love connection,” where companions can be matched or where romantic secrets are told.
Love is a subject of vital importance, not only because of our fuzzy ideas about what love really is, but because love is a matter of highest priority:
“But now abide faith, hope, and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13).
Even Christians have a very fuzzy grasp of the meaning of love. The lyrics of all too many contemporary Christian songs use the word love in a way that falls far short of that which the Bible defines and describes. “I love the way you love me” are the words of one song. The meaning seems to be, “I love the warm, fuzzy way you treat me and make me feel so good.” Toyota’s television commercial says the same thing: “I love whatcha do for me—Toyota.” No mention is made of God Himself, of who He is. There is no mention of the chastening of the Lord as a manifestation of His love for us (see Hebrews 12:3-13). There is no mention of our subordination or service, to God or to others.
Love is the heart-felt affection of the Christian in response to the love God has shown toward us, especially in the gift of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Love is an affection which prompts the Christian to action. Love is first and foremost directed toward God and then toward others in an order of priority: God, family (especially our mate), fellow-believers, our neighbor, and even our enemy. Love subordinates the interests of the lover to the one who is loved. Love inspires our deliberate, diligent, self-sacrificial service to others, which is intended for their good, at our expense.
THE IMPORTANCE OF BROTHERLY LOVE
Brotherly Love Cast Out Fear
Any man you fear, you do not love. The bible says Love casts out fear 1 John 4:18. The converse is also true: Fear casts out love. Concentrate on a man’s good points, not his bad points. Remember the old story about the woman who could not see anything wrong with anybody. They just pushed her and pushed her. They said, aye, what would you say about the devil? The old lady said, Well, he is persistent. It is a good practice to look for good in people. It is easier to find good in people you love than in people you do not love.
Love Compels Us
You and I are under compulsion to do what love bids. My wife could come home every night with a list of all the things I did wrong that day. We could spend half the night confessing, forgiving, and going over that list. But we solve that list by letting love cover a multitude of sins. We have to do this in order to live together. Love compels us.
We know what to say to send a person into orbit, don’t we? The people we love the most, we hurt the most. We get on each other’s nerves. We call it a personality conflict. I am slow and you are fast; you are quiet and I am loud; I am ready to go and you are late. All of us are imperfect. Galatians 6:4, 5. We all have burdens to bear.
Many a time a brother makes a mistake, and we say, that is all right. Why? Because we love them. Here are Man A and Man B. They both make the same mistake. We accuse one and defend the other. Why the difference? The difference is not justice; the difference is not guilt. The difference is I love one and I do not love the other. We shoot a man we do not love and accept and defend a man we do love.
Love Covers a Multitude of Sin
Peter says, Love covers a multitude of sins. Love buries the hatchet. Someone may say, I will shut up; at least the congregation is big, I can avoid you and you can ignore me. You can sit on that side of the building and I can sit on this side of the building. Anytime you go, I will not, and when I go, you will not. We have only ended a hot war. We have traded a hot war for a cold one. Love goes further.
It Promotes Unity
For a husband and wife to have unity, unity has to mean more than their pettiness and little hurts. A man and woman enter marriage. That is a big contrast. A man and woman, in spite of all those differences, create a home. How? Because love covers a multitude of sins. Take any two sinners on earth and put them in Christ. If unity is their goal, they can overrule all their likes and dislikes and work together in the Lord. That is what the Book is teaching. Let us not be so picky. Let us not go around ruffling feathers. Go back to the text. First, when we talk about love covering sin, remember that statement is not isolated. We cannot just reach into the Bible; pick out something, however good, and run off with it. What goes with verse 7? Sober mindedness. Peter said, be ye therefore sober.
First, get your head straight. Second, if you find out you are not getting along with a man, soberly evaluate and hit the floor on your knees. When we stop praying for people, we have trouble. The harder it is to get along with people, the harder we need to pray for them. Peter says, Have a fervent love. He did not just say love, he said fervent love. Do not let it get lukewarm and drift into coldness. Third, use hospitality (4:9). That word hospitality always shows up in odd places. If you do not like a man, go eat with him, go fish with him, go and play with him. Peter said, without grudging.
CONCLUSION
The church is God’s laboratory of life. When love covers sin, there is nothing to hide. It is covered. If it is covered, there is nothing remaining to hide. It is gone. You cannot see it. When there is nothing to hide, there is nothing to fear. Our worship, our fellowship ought to reflect brethren at home, relaxed and free in the Lord. At that point people who are living in sin are easily exposed and repentance and forgiveness quickly takes place because we have nothing to fear and hide. May God bless us in Jesus Nam – Amen.
