We are skipping over five verses in this chapter because they are parenthetical to the theme of this series. I am trying to examine some of the characteristics which make Christians different from non-Christians. And when we bring two dozen Christians with these traits together into one of the Lord’s churches, then that ecclesia should be different from other churches which are not of the Lord. You might say, “But the subject of these verses take us into the heart of the church,” and you would be right. Ministering, or pastoring, teaching, and exhorting are important parts of the Christian ministry. But the real strength of a church is in the spiritual character of the members, not the minister or ministries. Time after time, when a strong pastor dies or leaves, his church quickly deteriorates, because the people are not as close to the Lord, or as spiritual, as they ought to be. It was his church more than it should have been.
The gifts described in verses 4 to 8 are not gifts which the Lord expects to see in all of us as individuals. But self-sacrifice, non-conformity, transformation, humility and sobriety should be a part of the character of every child of God. And these are some of the things which will be found at the heart of the revival for which I am praying.
The more perceptive among you may have wondered whether I should be teaching these things. Shouldn’t we have an expert in self-sacrifice, humility and sound-mindedness to teach us self-sacrifice, humility and sobriety? Perhaps we should, but sadly, if we wait for the real expert, it will eventually become too late. As long as churches are made up of people like us, and have leadership like us, they will be less than ideal. As long as this church has a mere human under-shepherd then you’ll need to be on toes. As long as we have human emotions and minds of flesh, there will be the danger of imbalances in thought word, deed and devotion.
And herein is the reason why Paul has given us these verses in the first place. We all need these exhortations, because we are constantly falling short. The Holy Spirit lead him to remind the saints in Rome, and Corinth, and Ephesus about the details of living a spiritual life. Every believer, and therefore, every church, have a hard time staying properly focused. And we are constantly being confronted by things which squeeze a little pride out of us, making us think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. And there are those things which we know we ought to eject from our lives, sacrificing them for the Lord, but our flesh wants to hang on to them.
In verse 9 Paul refers to LOVE.
He brings up this subject because we love to love the wrong things and hesitate to love what we should love or how as we should love. Why don’t we “present our bodies a living sacrifice… unto God” as we should? Isn’t it a problem of love? As imperfect as they are, we grow to love the flesh in which we live our lives. We may share it with our spouse, but to actually give it away entirely to the Lord, is a bit more difficult. We love our flesh more than we love the Lord. Why aren’t we as non-conformed to this world as we ought to be? Again, isn’t it due to our love of certain aspects of the world? Why aren’t we as humble as we ought to be? Isn’t some variety of love a part of the equation?
Paul says, “Let love be without dissimulation,” adding, “Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.” I’ll get to more specifics in a moment, but notice at this point that Paul doesn’t get specific. He doesn’t say “brotherly love,” “familial love,” “love for the truth,” or “love for God.” It is just “love.” Before addressing more specifics, he gives us a verse of generalities. What can be more generic than “love,” “evil,” and “good.” Verse 9 a sort of elementary school class. Before we can be kindly affectioned one to another, and before we can properly honor one another, we must learn the principles of genuine love.
And that kind of love cannot be practiced with dissimulation. What is this not so common word: “dissimulation?” When was the last time you used that in your Scrabble game? When have you ever used that word in a text to your friend? Does your phone know to automatically insert it into your text after you’ve entered the first five letters?
While we’re at it, why don’t we use more of the vocabulary of the Bible in our day-to-day lives? One reason Bible publishers are getting rich in our dumbed-down society, printing their new versions, is because people aren’t being encouraged to understand the Bible they already have. We really don’t need a Bible that is easier to understand. Because we love the Lord, we need to put in the effort to understand the Bible we were given when children. We need to be willing to sacrifice the ease of a small vocabulary for the sake of a Biblical vocabulary. We need a Bible that is read, studied and received by a regenerated mind that is lead by the Holy Spirit. We don’t need “better” Bibles, because there won’t be a “better” one. We need better hearts and minds. Lazy and flabby minds require condensed and elementary school Bibles. And along with the decay in language, so often along goes doctrine and the truth of the Bible.
Anyway, “dissimulation” means the same as another unfamiliar Bible word: “unfeigned,” and both are translated from the same original. “Dissimulation” is related to “dissimilar” which speaks of two things which are not the same. And “unfeigned” refers something which is not pretended. “The woman feigned to be shy.” In other words, love without dissimulation is genuine, real love. It is common in this world for people to put on their masks and pretend to be what they are not. It is particularly common in religion and even in God’s churches. We call those people “hypocrites.”
Paul is saying, “Don’t be hypocritical when it comes to love.” We can be hypocritical, feigning love for God, by singing songs of praise that we don’t mean. The man sings, “O, how I love Jesus, O how I love Jesus, O how I love Jesus, because He first loved me.” And the next day we hear that man cursing his neighbor, kicking his dog and criticizing Sunday’s sermon. He sings, “So precious is Jesus, my Saviour and King, His praise all the day long with rapture I sing.” What he really means is: on Sunday morning at 11:00 Jesus is precious, but I won’t think of him for another 168 hours. We can be hypocritical with dissimulating love toward the brethren. Is that man’s smile genuine or is he wearing a mask? When we love someone but distance temporarily separates us, we think of that person, and we miss him. By that standard, do we really love that brother, and do we miss him when we don’t see him on Wednesday? And do we pray for him? Do we want the Lord’s best for him, even perhaps at the expense of ourselves? Do we love purely and intrinsically from within, or is our expression of love out of duty or an external habit? We are supposed to love God’s Word, but if we can’t be bothered with it at home during the week, then our love is dissimulated. And we are to love the Lord enough to obey His word even to the point of loving the unsaved.
Paul doesn’t get specific at this point. But I will say that love is busy and pro-active, seeking for ways to express itself. The word “charity” in I Corinthians 13 is the same word Paul uses here, and what does he say there? “Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked…” In other words, non-dissimulating love will not be easily dissuaded from actively giving and sharing, even when that other person’s thanksgiving isn’t as emotional or intense as we think it ought to be.
Non-dissimulating love means that we will ABHOR that which is EVIL.
The word “abhor,” as you know, speaks of detesting utterly and absolutely. It is hatred to the fourth power. But how can we justify hating some things when I Corinthians 16:14 tells us to do everything in love? Can a person abhor in love? As paradoxical as it sounds: Yes, depending on what or Who is hated. Take chastisement as an illustration. Why does God chasten His children – you and me? Hebrews 12:6 tells us that He does so, not simply because He is sovereign or holy, abhoring evil. God disciplines His children because he abhors sin in the people He loves so specially. “Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.”
And as children of God, we are supposed to love Him reciprocally, meaning we should abhor what He abhors. But again, I point out that Paul’s statement is rather generic – “Abhor that which is evil.” It is easy to hate abortion, murder, and most of the sins of the other guy, and our evil society. The sins of polygamy, the sins of the pedophile, the sin of sodomy. But what about your sins? The ones that you committed this afternoon? Your anger; your snippiness. True love abhors trivial sins and not just the major varieties – venial sins, not just the mortal sins. And love abhors the evils which are so common we almost forget to see them – pride, laziness, wastefulness
What does the Lord think about our lack of faith? Our lack of praise? Our lack of prayer? Love hates the passive sins as much as the active ones. “Therefore to him that knoweth to do right and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” What has God’s Word commanded, urged or exhorted you to do this past week that you didn’t do? What has the Holy Spirit convicted us to do, but we pushed it aside? It is sin; it is evil. Christians should stand out in a crowd “Abhoring that which is evil.” What about the sin of not abhoring that which is evil, or not cleaving to good? We are exhorted to abhor our lack of abhorance.
But why should we abhor evil? Well, there is fact that we are commanded to abhor such things. That is simple enough. And then there is all that evil has accomplished and shall yet accomplishing. But above them all is the relationship that evil has to the Lord.
Let’s say your grandfather gave you his 150-year-old, pearl-handled colt revolver. You have an appreciation for beautiful handguns, and there is a personal history in this piece. You love that gun and vow to keep it forever in remembrance your grandfather. But one day a thief breaks into your house and finds that revolver along with a tiny stash of cash. Then as he is preparing to leave, one your children surprises him. He turns, and not knowing if your gun is even loaded, pulls trigger. Now your son lies dead in a pool of blood running from wound caused by your gun and your ammunition. Terrified, the man throws down the weapon and runs off as quickly as he can. Could I entice you to throw away that valuable, historical family heirloom now? It has slain your only son.
Love abhors that which is evil, because it is evil. And remember that your evil sent the Saviour to Calvary, where He died to deliver you from evil. You should hate evil because your evil was instrumental in the death of the dearest of all Friends. That is one thing that true love does, hates evil. True children of God, should be different from the world when it comes to sin. And we should be different from the wine-addicted Episcopalians and beer-guzzling evangelicals too.
And then true love also CLEAVES to that which is GOOD.
Is “good” simply the opposite of “evil”? It is that, but it is so much more.
We can begin our definition with a statement by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 19:16-17 – “Behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God.” This may be a generalization of a generalization. But doesn’t this teach us first of all to cleave to the Lord – the One who is good? And then it tells us to cleave to those things which epitomize God and His Son. In other words, what Jesus did was good, so “Go thou and do likewise.” His prayer life; His service to others, His quickness to forgive; His abhorance of evil. It pays to study the earthly life of our Saviour.
And what is it to “cleave”? Here is one of those words which has evolved considerably over the last 400 years. Today it means: to split something, especially along a natural line or grain. “George took the large axe his father gave him, using to cleave wood for the fire.” That is today’s meaning. But when the King James Bible was first prepared the meaning of “cleave” was almost the opposite. It referred to gluing to something; sticking to something. After Paul’s sermon on Mars Hill, Athens, “certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.” Paul is telling us to super-glue ourselves to the Saviour and to that which is good. To the good Word of God for example.
And again, what should be our motivation for applying that glue? Let your love for that which is good be demonstrated without dissimulation – without hypocrisy. The world should know that you are child of God through your love, hatred and stick-to-a-tive-ness. Maybe our witness would be better received if we were more loving. Maybe our message on repentance would be better heard if people could see that we really do abhor evil.