A THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION FOR NUMYFP SUMMER INSTITUTE

GO N.O.W. (Nurture, Outreach, Witness)

By Rev. Samuel Yun

ROMANS 12:9-13

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love.
Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor,
serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s
people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

The Gospel Summary

One day Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment is – what is the most important rule
above all others. Of course, the one asking this question was not necessarily intent nor sincere
in actually wanting to know. He was trying to trap Jesus into saying something that would
religiously or politically incriminate Jesus. According to Jewish tradition, there were 613
commandments that good and faithful Jews were supposed to abide by. The only problem was
that no one was able to keep all 613 commandments perfectly. And of course, within the
political realm, loyalty to Caesar and Caesar alone was the sole standard. Being the spiritual
genius and master that He was, Jesus gave the most perfect answer: “the most important
commandment,” He said, “is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind.”
Jesus was quoting from Deuteronomy – the Shema – another important Jewish tradition that
references God as the only God (“Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is One”). But He didn’t stop
there. “The second is like this – and love your neighbor as yourself. All of the law and the
prophets are summed up in these two.” And with that, as Jesus often did, He left His inquisitors
speechless.

Love God, Love People. According to Jesus, this is the Gospel summary. 613 commandments
boiled down to two! All too often, Christians find themselves in a complicated context of “do’s”
and “don’ts” finding themselves either confused or oppressed by an impossible system of
regulations. They end up being shaped more by “religion” than by the actual “relationships”
that Jesus declared was central to following Him. I can’t help but hear Jesus speak into my heart
time and time again when I tend to make my faith too complicated: “Keep it simple, Sam.
Figure out how to love God and how to love people. Doing one will naturally lead to the other.”

I learned a long time ago that one way to understand this Gospel summary is to picture a
horizontal line that connects us to God. We need to be in direct relationship with the God who
loves us so much that He gave His one and only Son Jesus. And even as full and amazing as this
gift of grace may be, there is more to our faith. We also need to picture a horizontal line that
connects each of us to one another. That’s where we fulfill our calling to be in community – to
have compassion for one another – to love, forgive and meet the needs of even the stranger. It
is in the intersection of these two lines that we begin to see the full picture of the cross – Jesus
sent down to us as an atoning sacrifice, His arms stretched wide in a moment of redeeming all
brokenness and division among people. Love God, Love People. Herein lies the fullness of all of
the Gospel. There is nothing more, nothing less.

Paul’s Interpretation: Make It Sincere

We can understand then why Paul, the first Century chief ambassador of the Gospel, wrote and
said the things he did. To the church in Rome and to all the early Christians (and even now to
us), he writes:

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love.
Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor,
serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s
people who are in need. Practice hospitality. (Romans 12:9-13)

We cannot underestimate this call for sincerity. I don’t think I need to go into too great of an
explanation of the observation that there are many things we do in our lives of faith without
real heart or intention. We do things for the sake of doing things. We follow rules and
regulations because they are part of the religious system. We go through the motions, but
without the emotions. But for Paul, like Jesus, the living out of the true Gospel always begins in
the heart. You can’t fake love. Fake love is false love.

In other translations, that word “sincere” is also translated “genuine” or “without hypocrisy”. I
find that last version especially profound. Jesus condemned the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. A
word study on hypocrisy will reveal that it literally referred to “actors on a stage” or “to play a
part or pretend”. In this sense, Paul seems to be saying that the love that we live out as
Christians should not be just acting or mere pretend. In Greek theater, the actors on the stage
often wore masks in order to play different parts. In other words, hypocrisy in its most intense
manifestation is when people wear masks to cover their true selves or true intentions.

Sincerity for the Christian becomes the commitment to take off our masks, to have no hidden
agendas and to love with reckless abandon. It makes sense that we can only truly love God and
love others if we bring our whole selves into the equation. We know that God loves us just the
way that we are. If we in any way lessen that love by being something or someone we are not,
then we diminish the love of God in us that gives us the capacity to love others fully as well.

Love In Action

So, how do we actually practice this? How do we live out the summary of the Gospel in our
lives? A simple breakdown of Paul’s message to the church in Rome leaves us with the
following:

1. Hate Evil, Love Good – We need to be absolutely committed to stand against anything
and everything that comes to try and destroy the love that God has offered to us. In
John 10:10, Jesus says, “The thief comes to kill, steal and destroy. I have come so that
 you might have life and have it abundantly.” It goes without saying, but there is a lot of
evil in this world. Especially for young people, there are many things at work that kill the
spirit of goodness and joy that was intended. Peer pressure, bullying, online distractions
– just to name a few. When we see evil in action, that is when we need to kick into
overdrive with our sincere love. Stand up for those who are oppressed and outcast just
as Jesus did. Lift your voice against all manifestations of injustice. Fight for what is right
and never ever remain complacent in the face of darkness.
2. Devotion and Honor – We need to be absolutely committed to each other. We should
love each other not because we are so loveable, but because we are – each and every
one of us – so in need of love. There is no perfect time or situation for love. We love
because God first loved us. Devotion demands discipline. Love is something we do day
in and day out – it is faithfulness that goes the distance. I love Mark Batterson’s
definition of faithfulness: “Faithfulness is long obedience in the same direction.”
Devotion when coupled with the spirit of honor, lifting up the other above yourself, will
produce all sorts of fruit. We need to declare a fast against narcissism and selfishness
and find opportunities in every moment to serve.
3. Passion – We need to be absolutely committed to a dynamic life of faith. Lukewarm
Christianity is a cancer that’s destroying the current and future vitality of the Body of
Christ. Paul says that we should never be lacking in zeal and to be sure to keep our
spiritual fervor. I believe people are hungering to put their faith into something that
actually has power. In the first Century church, the Body of Christ grew by leaps and
bounds. The reason? They understood the power of the resurrection in their lives. And
Christianity exploded! We need to reignite our passion and zeal for Jesus. We need to
show our excitement through our times of worship as well as in our inaction with the
un-churched. If we cannot show the world the power of Christ, who will?
4. Joy, Patience and Faithfulness – We need to be absolutely committed to a lifestyle that
is dictated by our joy in Christ and not by our reactive response to our circumstance. The
joy and patience that Paul writes about are things that come alive on the inside. Even
when we go through struggles and pains and challenges, we have the hope that the best
is yet to come. The Bible says that “the joy of the Lord is our strength” (Nehemiah 8:10)
and that God inhabits the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3). What this means is that the
joy that we commit to living in and the peace that comes from living in such joy
ultimately ushers in the very presence of God and produces strength in our hearts.
5. Help and Welcome People – We need to be absolutely committed to sharing our hearts
and homes with those in need. The early church exploded in growth when believers
were committed to living out the Jesus ethic of welcoming the stranger, the outcast, the
sick and the foreigner into their midst. When we see a need in someone, we cannot look
away. When we witness those that are lonely and longing for community, we need to be
radical in our hospitality and welcome. Especially for young people who live in the
context of the “in’s” and “out’s”, we need to be ruthless in fighting against exclusion and
apathy.

The Bottom Line: Jump Into the 21st Century

Two thousand years later, these words of the Apostle Paul and Jesus’ summary of the Gospel
find its relevance and incredible impact today. When we tune into the news, we see so many
heartbreaking and discouraging stories of people taking other people’s lives. War, violence, and
all sorts of -isms run rampant. Too many times, our young generation hide behind their social
media platforms. They are hiding because they are afraid. They are hiding because they are
lonely. They are hiding because they are not sure if they can actually make a difference.

But today more than ever, I believe the voice of young people have incredible potential and the
power to actually change the world. They will do this not by force, but by love. They will do this
not by making themselves great, but by making themselves less. They will do this by being
absolutely committed to God’s ways in a world that is broken and looking for light. They will do
this by knowing that they are loved beyond imagination – and such love cannot be contained.

Love God, Love People. That’s all that matters. And that is what will change this world.