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Love must be sincere\u2026Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn (Romans 12:15).

One of the earliest pieces of advice I received about being a pastor was this, \u201cThere will be days when you do a funeral in the morning and a wedding in the afternoon. You will need to weep in the morning and rejoice in the afternoon. Your tears and your joy better be sincere.\u201d That advice comes directly from our text for today. Paul is continuing to lay out different ways in which the Christian community loves. Once again, we discover that love is not easy. It is not rooted in feelings but in a decision of the mind to behave in certain ways.

The dictionary defines empathy as \u201cthe ability to understand and share the feelings of another.\u201d We are often encouraged to develop sympathy which is the capacity to share in another\u2019s pain or sorrow. That\u2019s one side of empathy. But as Christians, we need to engage in the other side of empathy, namely, to rejoice when another rejoices. This, I think, is the more difficult side of empathy. Think about it. Paul calls us to rejoice with people who are rejoicing, even if we do not feel like it. Your loved one is dying of cancer and someone else\u2019s is healed. And you rejoice with them. That is what Paul is saying. It\u2019s a rare occasion where I have seen this on display.

We are equipped with a great capacity for giving and receiving love. Even the hardest heart melts before the innocent smile of a child or the antics of puppies and kittens. But this capacity for love, both sides of empathy, is often strangely locked up in the confines of selfishness. This may be because genuine, loving, empathetic involvement is debilitating and costly. To weep when you are more interested in having fun or to appreciate another\u2019s gain when you are suffering loss is hard, but necessary. Doing so helps us overcome our selfishness because it is an act of selflessness. It is sincere love.

The problem with this rejoicing is that someone else\u2019s success often arouses jealousy and envy in our hearts. Jealousy and envy, hatred and malice are our native bents. When we can truly rejoice with someone\u2019s success without envying them, we are demonstrating a transformed mind (12:2).

Not envying those that prosper, but rejoicing with them; being truly glad that others have the success and comfort which we do not; and not despising those that are in trouble, but being concerned for them, and ready to help them: this is to do as God does. He delights in the prosperity of his servants (Ps. 35:27) and is likewise distressed in their distress (Isa. 63:9).

Where there is a mutual love between the members of the church, there will be such empathy. True love will interest us in the sorrows and joys of one another, and teach us to make them our own.

But how do we get there? I think Philippians 4 holds a key, \u201cI know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength\u201d (Phil. 4:12, 13).

When we learn to be content with out lot in life, because we trust God, then we can be an empathetic community.

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