In the sermon 'Heaven on Earth' by Jason Dohm, the focus is on Romans 12:1-13, emphasizing the transformation of believers through the renewal of their minds and presenting themselves as living sacrifices. The sermon underscores the importance of genuine love, which involves abhorring evil and clinging to good, as essential elements of fulfilling God's law. Christians are encouraged to cultivate characteristics such as diligence, fervency in spirit, and a heart of service, viewing all work as service to the Lord. The sermon highlights the communal aspect of Christian life, urging believers to express love through hospitality and sharing resources, seeing their possessions as entrusted by God for the benefit of others. The ultimate goal is to create a 'world of love' within the church, reflecting heaven on earth, where love is sincere, and every action serves to honor God and support fellow believers.

Our sermon text for this week is Romans chapter 12 verses 3 through 13, but I will start reading from verse 1. I beseech you Therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. For I say through the grace given to me to everyone who is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think but to think soberly as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body but all the members do not have the same function so we being many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another.

Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them. If prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith. Or ministry, let us use it in our ministering. He who teaches in teaching, he who exhorts in exhortation, he who gives with liberality, he who leads with diligence, He who shows mercy with cheerfulness. Let love be without hypocrisy.

Abort what is evil, cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another, not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer, distributing to the needs of the saints given to hospitality. Jesus said, in this manner therefore pray, Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Imagine that. The will of God being done here Like it's done in heaven. How is it done in heaven? Completely, thankfully, joyfully, unbrokenly. Is that a word?

So the title of the sermon is Heaven on Earth. God actually wants his people to taste heaven on earth. Christians can bring down a little bit of heaven by presenting themselves as living sacrifices and doing the will of God. The more we do the will of God, the more we taste heaven. The more we bring heaven to earth.

Remember, everything that is now under this banner where we are in Romans. Here's Paul hung the banner. In view of the mercies of God because of how merciful he has been, is being, will continue to be as long as we're alive and on this earth. Because of all that, present your bodies as a living sacrifice. Well that sounds great, but what does that look like?

What would it be like to do the will of God so that we're bringing down a little bit of heaven to earth. Well, it starts with how believers relate to each other. Might not end with that, but it absolutely starts with how we in a little local church relate to each other. And we have much to learn and really much to learn for our own joy. It shouldn't take too much enticing to get us to pay attention to Paul here.

There's so so much good at stake for all of us. Let's pray. God, I love reading the Puritans when they say over and over and over, almost all of them say, Heaven is a world of love. Heaven is many things, but maybe we'll find it more than any other thing to be a world of love. How we relish the thought of being in heaven.

And I thank you that your design and intent and purpose is that we would taste some of it here. It wouldn't all be reserved to be experienced in heaven, but that we could know something of it here, and especially among the people of God. And I pray that you would use this text to help us taste of it. And that our tasting of it would make us long for more and more, to strive for more and more of it here. While we're still here among many sorrows, we would know a little of heaven in Jesus' name, amen.

All right, we'll break the text in two more or less today, starting with verses 9 and 10. So I'm going to reread Romans 12 verses 9 and 10. Please follow along and I'll talk about it. Paul writes, Let love be without hypocrisy, Abhor what is evil, Cling to what is good, Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love. In honor giving preference to one another.

Here in these two verses Paul speaks of genuine love for the brethren. So if you're taking notes on the handout, filling in blanks, brethren fills in the blanks. Genuine love for the brethren. Paul says three things before us in verse 9. Love, a boring evil, and clinging to good.

Please don't think of these things as three separate things. Like there's love and then there's a boring evil And then there's clinging to good. No, these three things couldn't be more interrelated, so they really do belong together. This isn't just a random pushing out of different things, But Paul is giving us three things that are really tightly interrelated. Paul will say in chapter 13 verse 8, meaning we haven't got to chapter 13 yet, so he hasn't said it yet, at least to us in our preaching through of Romans, He's going to say it soon.

He will say in chapter 13 verse 8, He who loves another has fulfilled the law. When you love another person, you have fulfilled the law in that instance. And A few verses later in chapter 13 verse 10 he says, Love does no harm to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. We think of the law as a list of don'ts. Don't do all these things and do's.

You have to do all these things and that is it is true that the law tells us what to do and what not to do but if you don't see that see past that to what it really is, it's really love. It's telling us how to love God and how to love people. So it's such an inadequate view to stop short by just saying it's just a list of do's and don'ts. The do's tells us what God loves and we need to learn to love those things. The don'ts tell us what God hates and we need to learn to hate those things and to stay back from those things.

So an element of love is to abhor evil, to hate evil. That's part of love. And an element of love is to cling to good, to grab hold of good. That is part of love. In Psalm 97 verse 10 the psalmist says, you who love the Lord hate evil.

The psalmist is addressing people who love the Lord. He says, if you love the Lord, hate evil. That's all the things that he hates. If you love him, if you're a friend of him, then learn to hate evil. As the Puritans do write over and over and over again, Heaven is a world of love.

The will of God is done perfectly and comprehensively there. So heaven is a place where everyone looks on evil with horror. That's actually what the Greek word means as being translated abhor evil. It's to look on something with horror. Like I can't even look at it.

It's too terrible. They even gaze on to abhor evil is to look on it with horror. Heaven is a place where everyone is glued to what is good. That Greek word being translated, cling to what is good, actually means to be adhered to, to be glued to. So in the world of love, in heaven, everyone looks on evil with horror and is glued to what is good.

Ask someone in the world, describe a world of love. Try to take them into the language of the Puritans and ask someone in the world to describe a world of love. Here's what you're going to get. Every day is Valentine's Day! We just watch the Hallmark Channel on loop!

And there you ask them to describe a world of love, they're thinking of a highly emotion-driven love and of romantic love, and they leave it at that. Of course, real love, biblical love, does include emotions. Does anyone want love that's not emotional? Not me. Count me out.

I want a love that engages, fully engages the heart. Just don't stop there. I do want love that includes romantic love. Just don't stop there. A world of love is not a world where Hallmark Channel is on loop, where it's Valentine's Day every day.

That's only such a small part of love, but the world ends it there. Ask a student of Romans to describe a world of love and they might start with something like a place where everyone is so concerned about advancing the interests of others that everyone hates what is evil. Because after all the things that are evil, they kill our real interests. In the Lord, none of our real interests are served by evil. They kill our real interests.

Ask a student of Romans to describe a world of love and they might start with something like a place where everyone clings to what is good. No one there will turn loose for a second of the things that are good because after all good in the Lord, good is what serves our interests. Good is never against the our interests in the Lord. Good is always serving our interests in the Lord. So love and abhorring evil or looking with horror on evil and clinging to good, being glued to good, all go together.

These are elements of love. Paul starts with this. Let love be without hypocrisy. Paul doesn't say that because there is such a thing as genuine love with hypocrisy. Pretending to love when you don't actually love is just an act.

That's what that's what hypocrisy is. Pretending when it's not real. Wearing a mask. It could seem like love if you're just acting. It's not real love.

So there's not a version of real love with hypocrisy. So Paul says it because humans are so prone to act like they love when they really don't because of all the advantages to be gained. Think of all the advantages to be gained if people think you're love. People think you're loving. It's great for your reputation.

It's great for your relationships. I think you love me. I respond differently to you. I think differently of you. I think well of you.

I do different things for you. If you're play-acting love towards me and I take the bait. There's all sorts of advantages to be gained. Here's what Calvin says. John Calvin says this, It is indeed difficult to express how ingenious almost all men are to pretend a love which they really have not.

Hence Paul declares here that love is no other but that which is free from all dissimulation, free from all play acting. Real love, Paul is declaring here, real love is free from play acting, the real love. There's a counterfeit version of everything. There's a counterfeit version of this. And it's hypocrisy, it's play acting.

And Calvin says, Almost all men are ingenious to pretend to love when they don't. We're geniuses at it. Imagine that. In verse 10, Paul paints the target for us. What are we aiming at, Paul?

Aim at this. And he gives us three things. Number one, be kindly affectionate to one another. So now he's describing love without hypocrisy, genuine love, the real version not the counterfeit version. Paul, what's it like?

Number one, be kindly affectionate to one another. Kindly affectionate is the translation of a single Greek word. So the translators need two words to say what the Greek word means, and they've rendered it kindly affectionate in our Bibles. You go to the Greek lexicon, you find the primary meaning is the mutual love of parents and children and wives and husbands. Just take a second to digest that.

The mutual love, love in both directions between parents and children, right? That parents love their children and children love their parents and husbands and wives. Husbands love their wives and wives love their husbands. The secondary meaning is loving affection, prone to love, loving tenderly. So this is, translators have a tough job, they try to take a word and if they can they bring it over to one English word here they couldn't so they brought it over into two, but when you expand it by looking at the Greek lexicon you get something that is a lot more rich and deep than you can even bring over in two words.

The mutual love of parents and children and wives and husbands and secondarily loving affection, prone to love, loving tenderly. Now add to that lovely Greek word, one another, a two-way street that exists all around. I have that for you, you have that for me, but not just for me, for her too, and for him, and you for him, and you for her, and on and on and on. We have almost endless permutations in the room. Two-way, but everybody, so it's not just two-way, it's how many ways, I don't know, we'll put our mathematician on it.

How many permutations? That lovely Greek word, that tender love, like parents have for their children, children have for their parents, husbands have for their wives, wives have for their husbands, but it's all of this together and there's no unrequited love. Meaning love that's not returned. Isn't that terrible? I love you but you just don't love me back.

There's none of that in what Paul is describing here. It's always returned. Love given is always returned in what Paul is describing. He is trying to bring us into a little world of love. Number two, with brotherly love.

So number one was be kindly affectionate to one another. Number two is with brotherly love. Have you noticed siblings have a unique kind of love? They may pick at each other, but let someone from outside pick on one of them and see what the pack does. You ever notice that?

Like I can pick on my little brother but don't you even think about it. All of us will be on you. Isn't that how it works? Siblings have a unique kind of love. Love between brothers and sisters where you belong to each other because of the family tie.

You can't not belong to each other. The band can't break up because you're brothers. You belong to each other. There's a family tie. You can't dissolve it.

You love each other and you're stuck with each other and you're not even mad. You're stuck with each other. Paul wants us to have this kind of love for each other. A kindly affectionate love for one another, but that fits this unique kind of family love where you're stuck with each other and you're not even mad with brotherly love. Number three, in honor giving preference to one another.

It's that kind of love. In honor, giving preference to one another. Meaning, I would rather you get honor than I get the honor. I would rather you be at the front of the line for honor than me be at the front of the line for honor. The best place I think to go for a fuller explanation of this is Philippians 2.

So if you like, turn to Philippians 2. Very familiar territory. Philippians 2, I'll be reading Philippians 2, 3 through 7. Listen to this. Philippians 2, 3 through 7.

There Paul writes, let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself let each of you look out not only for his own interests but also for the interests of others let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation Taking the form of a bond servant and coming in the likeness of men Jesus's life and death is the ultimate example of what it means to prefer another in the giving of honor. He actually took on our shame to put us at the front of the line for honor. Imagine that. This goes even further than what Paul is talking about in our text in Romans. But it's the ultimate example of it.

Selfish ambition and arrogance is banished. Selfish ambition and arrogance is not welcome in this kingdom. It is banished. And we value others as better and more worthy of having their interests advance than our own interests. Now imagine a world where everyone in that world is saying, no you first.

No you first. No, no, no, no. You first. No, you first. Imagine a world where everyone's saying that.

Paul actually doesn't want us to imagine that world. Paul wants us to at least have a little version of that world in our church. I hope you want that too. I hope that sounds like a wonderful world to you. It's wonderful to think of one person like that, but think of a whole group of people like that.

A whole local church body like that where Everyone's disposition is, no, you first. I'd rather see you honored than have honor. That's a lovely world. A final word before we move on. Last week we spent most of the week in 1st Corinthians 12.

It was about the functioning of the body, the different members together, and the Gifts, the functioning of the gifts in the body. 1 Corinthians 12 is followed by? 1 Corinthians 13, thank you, you math majors. 12 is followed by 13. What is 1 Corinthians 13?

The love chapter. Body, life, gifts, followed by love. What do we have here in Romans 12? Romans 12, 3-8. Body, life, gifts.

Romans 9, love. That is no coincidence. The functioning of the body and the functioning of the gifts is about love. It is not about efficiency. It is not about effectiveness.

It is not about the trains running on time. It is about love. God has put different members functioning differently, but all the functions, all the members needed, giving all the members different gifts for the profit of all. This is not about effectiveness. It is effective.

He hasn't given us work to do, so maybe it's a little about effectiveness, but fundamentally it is about love. It's about love. It is about us loving each other and growing and being built up because we're loving each other in different ways at different times. Listen to how Paul transitions from body life and gifts into the love chapter. So this is the very last verse of 1st Corinthians chapter 12.

1st Corinthians 12 31 right before the love chapter. He says, but earnestly desire the best gifts and yet I show you a more excellent way. Love. So, body life, amen, yes. Functioning.

May it be efficient. May it be effective. But this is about the better way, love. So in 1 Corinthians 12 and 13, so it is in Romans chapter 12. All right, moving to the next section, verses 11 through 13.

Hopefully you're back in Romans chapter 12. Follow along as I reread 11 through 13. Paul continues, not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer, Distributing to the needs of the saints, given to the hospitality. Does anybody else get lost in lists?

I get lost in lists. Which part are we talking about again? I think we're up to 12 or 13 different things here. Which one are we talking about? So we'll be subdividing because I do think there's a very logical groupings and that it goes by verse.

Whoever did the verse divisions I think did us a favor here because they really do seem to be grouped in the way that the verses are divided. Here in these three verses we have characteristics to be cultivated in the life of the believer. So on the handout, cultivated, fills in the blank if you're filling in blanks. Characteristics to be cultivated in the life of the believer. In verse 1, Paul told believers to present our bodies as living sacrifices.

In verse 2, Paul told believers to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. So we're offering ourselves back to God because of His mercies as living sacrifices, and we're being transformed as our thinking is transformed, our minds are renewed and it leads to transformation in our lives. What does that mean in concrete terms? That's abstract. Being a living sacrifice, being transformed, that doesn't give you anything concrete or specific.

Now Paul gets to concrete and specific. Let's take this verse by verse, since each verse seems to be a grouping. Verse 11, not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Let's take those three together. Here I think we have two sides of the same coin.

To not be lagging behind in diligence is to be careful and eager to be diligent, which is to be fervent in spirit. It's saying the same thing in two different ways. If you're not lagging in diligence, then you are fervent in spirit. Just depends on which way you're coming at it from. My translation, ready to get after it, ready to get to it, ready to get on with it.

I think this is what Paul is talking about. This is a disposition that is Ready to get on with it. I think this is what Paul is talking about. This is a disposition that is ready to get on with it. Okay.

You are tasked to put together a work crew to get a big job done. Somebody points you. You're the one. You've got to put together a work crew to get a big job done. Somebody points you, you're the one.

You've got to put together a work crew to get a big job done. It needs to get done right and you don't want it taking forever. So you're formulating in your head the team that gets it done right and gets it done in a timely fashion. You're actually looking for people who don't lag in diligence. If you lag in diligence, as I'm formulating the work crew in my mind, you ain't on the work crew.

You're actually looking for people who will plunge themselves into the work with a fervent spirit. The people who come to mind who plunge themselves into the work with a fervent spirit, As you're formulating the team in your mind, you're populating their names because they get after it. They get on with it. Then Paul adds this, serving the Lord. Why does Paul add that?

Not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Is Paul just carving out religious activity for this kind of disposition? Well, when you're serving the Lord in religious stuff, they make sure you're diligent about it and that you have a fervent spirit. Is that what he's doing? No way.

Listen to this famous verse, Colossians 3 23, most of you have it memorized. Colossians 3 23, whatever you do, Do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance for you serve the Lord Christ. Whatever you do, you serve the Lord Christ. So do it heartily. That's why he says it.

He's not carving out religious activity to say, make sure to be diligent when you're doing the religious stuff. It's all religious stuff. In the sense in which Paul is talking about it, there's no non-religious stuff because we live our lives before God. He bought us with the price, the blood of His Son, and so He owns us. He owns us when we're doing housework.

He owns us when we're doing housework. He owns us when we're doing yard work. He owns us when we're caring for children. He owns us when we're working for money. He owns us all the time.

There's not non-religious work from that standpoint. Paul is training us to think of all our work as serving the Lord. Why? Because all our work is serving the Lord. It's true.

Whatever you do, you're serving the Lord. So do it heartily. That's all that Paul is calling for in our text. Do it heartily. This helps us shake off the notion that this thing doesn't matter or that thing doesn't deserve a wholehearted effort.

You ever come to those things? This thing doesn't matter unless it's service to God. Unless behind the housework is service to God. If it's just housework, it doesn't matter. But it's not just housework in Christian homes.

It's not just caring for children in Christian homes. It's not just working for money in Christian homes. There's always something behind it because we're owned by Him. So everything is to Him. So everything is worth doing heartily.

If it's worth doing it all, it's worth doing heartily because in a sense it is worship. In a sense it is religious work. Thinking that my chores in the house, I got a bunch of them, I Jason Dome have a bunch of chores in the house. Thinking of my chores in the house as actually being able to see beyond it, that it's actually serving the Lord, helps me shake off the notion that this thing doesn't matter or that thing doesn't deserve a wholehearted effort. Keeps us from thinking that way.

Listen, professing believers, you may be the person who the person putting together the work true doesn't care if you come or not. Or maybe even secretly hopes you don't come because you'll just slow the rest down. If that's you, understand that that is so inconsistent with your profession. And you need to grow. Christians are serving the Lord in everything we do.

So don't lag in diligence. Be fervent in spirit. Can I use a horse riding term? Be chomping at the bit. What does that mean?

The bit is the metal piece that goes in the horse's mouth and it's for the bridle and it allows you to restrain the horse. There's no way you'd ever get that horse to stop if he doesn't want to stop unless you have the bit. The bit is the key to restraining. When a horse doesn't want to be restrained, they don't chomp on that bit. They're letting you know.

I'm ready to go. I want to go and I don't want restrained and let's go. We should be like that. Christians should be like that. It is a shame.

It is a shame when Christians are have a reputation of being soft and have a reputation about being slack at work, slack about how we work. Verse 12. Rejoicing in hope. So that was a set. Verse 11 was a set.

Not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Verse 12 is another set I think. Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer. What is hope? Hope is a confident expectation.

It is a wishful thinking, not as the New Testament uses it. Hope is never used as wishful thinking. So we often use it that way, so I almost always make that clarification when we stumble upon hope in a passage just so we get it clear in our thinking. We're not talking about wishful thinking here. When we see hope in the New Testament, what it means is a confident expectation.

It hasn't happened yet, but I know it's going to happen. Above all people on earth, believers have confident expectation of God's care in this life and then through all eternity. Is He going to care for me in this life? I don't have to pin that on wishful thinking. He is!

He said he will, he will. He always has, he is today, and he always will. And then the good stuff. The really good stuff. Yes, He'll care for me in this life.

I know it's true and it only gets better. This is the confident expectation of the believer. So on one hand, we don't have to wait for good things. After all, His mercies are new. Every morning We can experience them.

Even a tremendous hardship we experience in them. But on the other hand, we know that our best things are still ahead and we have a confident expectation. We're not just making up heaven because it helps us get through the day on earth. No, no, no. We know that we know that we know that the God who gave us our lives is ruling over heaven and has promised to take us there and He will take us there.

We look at the cross and we know that if God didn't spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all that He won't withhold anything from us as he gives us Jesus. So the link to patient in tribulation is so obvious. We have this hope that we're rejoicing in. God, it's so wonderful, I'm rejoicing that I have these confident expectations in this life and the life to come so I could be patient in tribulation you see the link when you have these confident expectations that you're rejoicing in when life circumstances become very difficult and life circumstances can become very difficult, you can be patient. Unbelievers have to have their best life now.

They think this is their one shot and they're not going to throw away their shot. They have to have their best life now. Believers know that God will care for them and shepherd them through their difficulties and then take them to a world of love. So believers can afford to be patient. Unbelievers can't afford to be patient because they think, the clock's ticking, this is all I get, we've got to go, go, go, today's got to be good, tomorrow's got to be better.

Believers know it might not go like that and that'll be okay. God can sustain me and even cause me to flourish in the middle of tremendous hardships and then heaven is waiting. I can be patient. I can wait on him. Again, the link to continuing steadfastly in prayer is obvious.

Here's what John Calvin says. John Calvin says, Paul not only stimulates us to prayer, but expressly requires perseverance. Keep on praying. For we have a continual warfare and new conflicts daily arise to sustain which even the strongest are not equal unless they frequently gather new vigor. That we may not then be wearied the best remedy is diligence in prayer.

Is that true or not true? We need to frequently gather new vigor because the warfare never ends. That is so true! The warfare is constant. You might end one battle.

When you end one battle you might have three waiting on you. Is that true or not true? That's true. Okay. If that's true, then we need to frequently gather new vigor.

How do we frequently gather new vigor? We continue steadfastly in prayer. We look to God for it. We keep going to Him for it. We cast our cares on him because he cares for us, we do it in prayer.

Hope, patience and hardship, persevering prayer. Verse 13, our final verse. I think another couple that go together. Distributing to the needs of the Saints, given to hospitality. You're a believer, God gives you resources.

Those Resources are a trust. God has entrusted them to you, given them to you as a stewardship. The resources come with a responsibility to use them in a way that is consistent with the wishes of the giver. So my money is my money, but not my money. My things are my things, but not my things.

And my house is my house, but not my house. They are mine, meaning God really does entrust resources to individuals. He has entrusted things to me and they haven't been entrusted to you, so is my money my money? Yes. Are my things my things?

Yes. Is my house my house? Yes. And no. And no.

Entrusted to me, but with a responsibility to use them in a way consistent with the wishes of the giver. I mean, do we have a written record? We have a written record. The wishes of the giver. Verses 3 through 8.

I get to share in your gifts. Your gifts are your gifts. God gave them to you, not to me. But God gave them to you for me and for the rest, for the profit of all. So I get to share in your gifts.

In a sense, your gifts are mine. They were meant for me. Verse 13, I get to share in your needs. I get to share in your gifts. I also get to share in your needs.

Your needs are mine. Your gifts are mine and your needs are mine. And you get to share in my gifts and my needs. My gifts are for you, my needs are for you too. We sharing it all together.

We are a family. We are stuck with each other and we're not mad about it. I'm glad I get your gifts and I'm glad I get your needs. There are two texts of scripture which I think throw light on this. The first is Galatians 6.10.

In Galatians 6.10, Paul says, Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. So, Do we only do good to believers? No. As we have opportunity we should do good to all, but there is a priority on brethren. Especially to those who are of the household of faith.

We see that here. Do we only distribute to the needs of believers? No. As we have opportunity we should do good to all but we prioritize the family, The spiritual family. The second text, passage of scripture that I think throws light on this is 1 John 3, 17 and 18.

Listen to 1 John 3, 17 and 18. John writes, But whoever has at this world's goods, sees his brethren need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. Here we are, back to love. What does love have to do with the distributing of stuff?

Everything! Your hearts tied to your stuff. If God entrusts you this world's goods and you see a brother who has a need, but you shut up your heart and you won't let go of the goods, how does the love of God even abide in you? Asks John. John says it can't be all talk.

Has to be indeed. Has to be in truth. If it's real, it'll be indeed and truth, not just in word or in tongue. True love has concrete, tangible, practical expressions. You can do the same concrete, tangible, practical thing without love for sure, but real love has these concrete expressions.

Finally, two helpful quotes on hospitality. The first is by Tony Merida, who is probably in a pulpit preaching a half an hour from here. So this is actually out of Rob Ventura's commentary, but he's quoting a pastor who's right down the road, Mago Dei. Tony Merida says this, and don't you hear this quote and like it and then leave for a Mago Dei, Don't you dare. Tony Merida says this, be intentional about inviting others into your home and into your life.

Use your home to bless others, to bless those in the church and to bless people in need outside of your church with wisdom and compassion. Isn't it true to open your home is to open your life? Our neighbors and people in the community have found it so strange when we've opened our home to them. So strange. And this has been part of our life for so long that we find it strange that they find it strange.

We're just asking you to dinner, but it is a big deal because I think they get if you're opening your home you're opening your life. There's more here. You really do want to share of yourself in your hospitality. Be intentional about inviting others into your home and into your life. Use your home to bless others, to bless those in the church and to bless people in need outside of your church with wisdom and compassion.

It's a way to impart wisdom and compassion to people inside the church and to people outside the church. Amen to that. The second quote is from Rob Ventura himself. I love this. He says, as we exercise this grace, he's talking about practicing hospitality as a grace, as we exercise this grace we are generally to think basic, not ballroom.

Crock-pot, not caviar. 35 minute meal preparation time, not three days. So amen. Basic, not ballroom. Crock-Pot, not caviar.

That should be us in our hospitality. You know what? If it has to be ballroom and caviar, you'll never do it. Who has three days to get ready? We should just open our homes and be warm and bring in dominoes.

You would do it more often if you could just bring in dominoes and be nice to them you would do it more often then do that applications she's going to end it here This is what gospel transformation looks like. Again, that quote that I quoted the last two Sundays, I'll only take a snippet of it over here. Away with vague notions of spiritual transformation. Away with the vague notions. These are not vague notions.

These are so concrete. I love it. I'm going to end by reading the text again. So this is our text for today, verses 9 through 13. Let love be without hypocrisy.

Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love. In honor, giving preference to one another. Not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit serving the Lord.

Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer, Distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. This is as concrete as it gets. This is what gospel transformation looks like. God, I pray that you would transform us, that you would produce the fruits of the Spirit in our lives that manifests themselves. These fruits work their way out into simple things like opening our homes to each other and to outsiders.

Let the transformation of our lives be concrete and practical. I pray that you would over time create a little world of love here. It would be so sweet and helpful to us. It would help us to grow as we love each other in these ways. Pray for it in Jesus' name, Amen.