back to index2018-01-28 Qualities of Biblical Love Part 1
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We're going to be reading verses 9 and 10, but it's within the context of the whole rest 00:00:25.120 |
Heavenly Father, we want to praise you and thank you for sustaining us, for interceding 00:00:35.520 |
on our behalf, for being patient with us, for being our hope, our goal. 00:00:43.680 |
We desire, Lord God, that all these things that we are studying, that we are singing, 00:00:48.280 |
that one day would be actualized, Lord God, in your coming. 00:00:52.000 |
And to that end, help us to put our hope, our desire, our energy, our lives, Lord God, 00:00:58.800 |
in passionate pursuit of the things that honor you for eternal things, Lord God, not things 00:01:06.700 |
We pray that your word would remind us again of the importance of what it means to love. 00:01:11.920 |
Help us, Lord, within the context of your grace to actually apply and to tangibly live 00:01:20.040 |
May your grace be sufficient this morning, in Jesus' name we pray, amen. 00:01:24.480 |
Alright, so as we jump back into the book of Romans, chapter 12, again, to give you 00:01:29.400 |
the larger context, he begins in verse 12 because there's a major transition that takes 00:01:34.040 |
place in chapter 12 where he says, "In view of God's mercy, to present your bodies a living 00:01:40.040 |
So he's talking about 11 chapters of summary of what God has done for us. 00:01:44.040 |
Basically, it's a detailed message of the gospel. 00:01:46.800 |
And he needed to do that because the imperative, the commandments that he's giving us starting 00:01:52.400 |
from chapter 12 is going to be placed on top of that foundation. 00:01:57.880 |
So without that foundation, everything that he commands here, it can easily just become 00:02:04.480 |
So in appeal, based upon this mercy and grace, he says that our reasonable response ought 00:02:11.800 |
to be a living sacrifice to God, that not just a part, not just certain portions of 00:02:18.080 |
our life, but all of it should be a living sacrifice. 00:02:22.200 |
The first thing that he says in verse 2 is to not to be conformed to this world, but 00:02:29.280 |
So again, a practical application of what it means to live a life as a living sacrifice 00:02:35.520 |
in verse 2, not to be conformed, but be transformed. 00:02:38.680 |
And then the application in which we are to live our Christian lives, he gives a context 00:02:43.640 |
of that in verse 3 to verse 8, within the context of the body of Christ. 00:02:52.140 |
The gifts that he's given, generosity, whatever gifts that we've given, he has given us the 00:03:00.240 |
And to offer our physical body as a living sacrifice, first and foremost, happens in 00:03:06.000 |
So, Christians cannot be attached in a personal relationship with Christ if we are not physically 00:03:11.940 |
attached to the physical body of Christ, which is his local church. 00:03:15.880 |
And that's the context that we were talking about in verses 3 and 8. 00:03:20.320 |
So the verses 9 through 21, he's giving us that if we are to live our lives, the specific 00:03:27.880 |
gifts that he's given us, within the context of the body of Christ, verses 9 through 21 00:03:33.680 |
is the explanation of biblical love that needs to be the foundation and the motivation and 00:03:38.760 |
the fuel that causes us to be able to live a life worthy of the gospel. 00:03:45.720 |
So verses 9 through 21, Apostle Paul is going to give rapid fire commandments, which ultimately 00:03:54.840 |
And so he gives anywhere from 21 through 24 different descriptions or imperatives that's 00:04:00.200 |
going to describe for us what he means by love, what he commands in this practice of 00:04:07.320 |
So what we're going to do for the next maybe about 4 or 5 weeks, we're going to just go 00:04:12.080 |
Today we're going to go through verses 9 and 10, about 5 different descriptions of how 00:04:16.560 |
to apply the gospel in our lives, specifically in love. 00:04:22.640 |
And then we're going to work through all of it to the end of verse 21. 00:04:26.640 |
And I think if you've been a Christian for any period of time, I don't think I need to 00:04:30.480 |
remind you just how important and foundational this is. 00:04:34.920 |
The practice of love, the commandment of love, Jesus said, is the essence of who we are. 00:04:41.040 |
Jesus says in John chapter 13, "The world is going to identify you by this love, as 00:04:49.800 |
So our very identity, the whole reason why we've been saved is to practice this love. 00:04:54.760 |
In fact, Romans chapter 13, 8, he says, "Oh no one, anything, except to love each other, 00:05:00.840 |
for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law." 00:05:09.360 |
Think about all the commandments of keeping the Sabbath holy, about cleanness, uncleanness, 00:05:15.040 |
And he says all of that, all the commandments in the New Testament, all the commandments 00:05:19.280 |
in the Old Testament, all of it, his ultimate goal is to cause us to love. 00:05:26.360 |
That's the reason why he told us to keep the Sabbath. 00:05:28.840 |
That's the reason why he told us not to covet. 00:05:31.040 |
That's the reason why he wanted us to be holy. 00:05:36.520 |
Galatians chapter 5, 14, "For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, 'You shall love 00:05:46.040 |
Everything that we've been learning up to this point, everything that he has done, ultimately 00:05:53.340 |
First John 4, 7, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever 00:06:01.020 |
So if we are confessing Christians and we are followers of Jesus Christ, the identifying 00:06:07.480 |
mark of a Christian, again, in First John says it is love. 00:06:11.680 |
So I don't have to repeat to you, if you've been a Christian for any period of time, this 00:06:17.560 |
is not deep theology that you have to go to seminary to exposit. 00:06:22.080 |
You don't have to sit under the expository preaching for years to be able to figure out 00:06:26.380 |
that that's the core of what God calls us to be. 00:06:30.020 |
You can be a brand new Christian and read through the gospel even one time, and you'll 00:06:33.720 |
understand that Jesus is pointing us to the practice of love. 00:06:40.080 |
Having said that, there is no other commandment that is more burdensome than this commandment. 00:06:48.120 |
If you've ever tried to practice biblical love, there's nothing more draining, there's 00:06:54.000 |
nothing more that will suck the life out of you than to practice this biblical love. 00:06:59.680 |
Some of you guys may say, "Well, I don't know if that's the case for me." 00:07:03.480 |
You have to understand that the commandment to love is not a commandment to be better 00:07:10.400 |
It's not a commandment to be a better son, to be a better husband, to be a better wife, 00:07:18.040 |
But when he said the identifying mark of a Christian is to love as I have loved you, 00:07:27.080 |
So the biblical love, that's why in the title I said not just love, but biblical love, what 00:07:32.080 |
Jesus said was love, how he practiced love, and what he ultimately is commanding us of 00:07:38.160 |
See, the love that oftentimes that we practice in the church is no different than the love 00:07:45.080 |
To be good friends, you know, and you hear this command, "Yeah, I need to love, and 00:07:49.160 |
it's the greatest commandment," and then we think of these friends that maybe I've 00:07:53.040 |
ignored, you know, maybe I need to be better to my wife or my husband. 00:07:58.580 |
You can go to, you can go to, you know, a Buddhist temple. 00:08:01.920 |
You can go to an atheist meeting and they'll tell you the same thing. 00:08:04.280 |
You want to be a good human being, be good to your friends, be good to your family. 00:08:12.080 |
He's calling us that and beyond that as he loved us. 00:08:17.920 |
And the Bible tells us that his love was demonstrated in that while we were yet sinners. 00:08:22.640 |
People that we wouldn't normally love, people that we are not naturally motivated to love, 00:08:28.180 |
people that we would just by second nature keep them at bay. 00:08:32.900 |
To practice the kind of love that the world does not practice, if you've ever made any 00:08:40.420 |
attempt to love the way Christ loved, you know that that is the greatest burden. 00:08:50.840 |
If you've had any trouble doing quiet time, being disciplined, memorizing Scripture, all 00:08:55.640 |
of these things at times are hard, keeping pure, all of these things are difficult, but 00:09:01.800 |
if you've made any attempt to love the way Christ has loved, you know what a tremendous 00:09:10.440 |
It can literally suck the life out of you because it is not within us. 00:09:16.060 |
We are not naturally given to love people that are difficult to love. 00:09:20.460 |
As soon as the honeymoon period of any church or any relationship falls apart and we begin 00:09:26.680 |
to realize just how difficult it is to love sinners, our natural defense mechanism will 00:09:37.820 |
So when God calls us to run to difficult people, it is draining. 00:09:44.560 |
And this is the very reason why the Scripture says in 1 John 4, 9, "We love because He first 00:09:59.480 |
You and I, the kind of love that God calls us to practice, it is in response to what 00:10:06.440 |
And that's why even in chapter 12, it says, "In view of this mercy." 00:10:09.840 |
See even though that may seem like a passing statement or a statement that just kind of 00:10:14.480 |
connects us to what He's about to say, that's the key. 00:10:18.280 |
The key to every imperative from chapter 12 on is the "therefore," "in view of this mercy." 00:10:24.920 |
Because the only way that you and I can practice this love is if we have personally been loved 00:10:32.560 |
That's why Paul says in Philippians chapter 2, 1-2, he's dealing with a very difficult 00:10:37.480 |
situation with these two prominent women who are not getting along. 00:10:44.520 |
In fact, I've realized the study through Philippians this last time as I was going through my quiet 00:10:49.400 |
time, I realized the whole letter is saturated with his concern for this church that's divided. 00:10:56.560 |
And the key reason why it was divided is because of these two ladies. 00:11:00.640 |
So he actually later on begs the church, "Hey, you guys get involved and help these two women 00:11:05.680 |
And so I realized so much of what Paul is saying all throughout the letter is really 00:11:11.480 |
These two prominent ladies who probably love the Lord in this model church, and it is in 00:11:17.320 |
that context where Paul tells them in Philippians 2, 1-2, he says, "If there is any encouragement 00:11:23.220 |
in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 00:11:29.840 |
receive my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord 00:11:36.360 |
Before he calls them to unity, he says, "Have you been encouraged by Christ?" 00:11:41.000 |
Now obviously he's not saying that here's a bunch of Christians and then there's a few 00:11:45.020 |
of them who've been encouraged, a few of them who've been fueled by the Holy Spirit. 00:11:53.300 |
So he's not calling out a few extra Christians to follow this principle. 00:11:58.720 |
He's saying, "Those of you who claim to have been encouraged by Christ, been comforted 00:12:03.840 |
by His love, you've participated in the Spirit, and any affection and any sympathy from Christ, 00:12:20.680 |
Basically what he's saying, "If you're a child of God who's singing about the affections 00:12:24.680 |
of Christ and His unconditional love for you, then you do the same thing as Christ did and 00:12:33.720 |
So he's calling us based upon the fuel that God gives us by His love. 00:12:39.440 |
And that's why it's so important for us why corporate worship is the key to our spiritual 00:12:46.020 |
Because if you're not being fueled by the love of Christ, everything else that you do 00:12:49.940 |
by your own strength will only suffocate you. 00:12:52.780 |
It'll only feel like religion, more burden, more things that we need to do. 00:12:58.700 |
So what he is going to tell us here in verses 9 through 21, if we apply that by our own 00:13:04.600 |
strength, at the end of our study, at the end of five, six weeks, you're going to come 00:13:12.980 |
And some of you who've never practiced it may be motivated, and let's try it. 00:13:16.320 |
And then there's a bunch of you who've tried it, and you've been a Christian for a while, 00:13:18.860 |
and say, "Yeah, that sounds good on the pulpit." 00:13:28.220 |
So that's why, even though we're going to be going through all these imperatives and 00:13:31.260 |
these commandments, that the key to all of this, the fuel and the energy that's going 00:13:36.680 |
to fuel all of us is back in chapter 1, chapter 12, when it says, "In view of His mercy." 00:13:45.360 |
And it is so important for us why, again, we need to connect over and over again, and 00:13:50.800 |
why we sing sometimes the same songs with the same lyrics over and over again is because 00:13:55.200 |
ultimately that's our fuel for why we do what we do. 00:13:59.180 |
So today we're going to be looking at these five imperatives, the five descriptions of 00:14:03.460 |
biblical love, and then we'll move on to the next ones in the following weeks. 00:14:07.620 |
The first principle He gives us, biblical love must be genuine. 00:14:17.340 |
The Greek word behind that is "anor kratos," which again means nothing, but literally it 00:14:29.220 |
The first thing He tells us about biblical love that we ought to practice is not to be 00:14:36.300 |
And some of you guys may know that the word hypocrite was a description of an actor in 00:14:43.140 |
Today, if somebody was acting, and because of all the budgets that they have, and you 00:14:48.100 |
hear stories of people dressing up as different characters, and whether it's a supernatural, 00:14:54.460 |
you know, superhero or whatever, and they would take half a day putting up makeup, and 00:14:59.500 |
Well, during the time of Christ, the way they did that was they would dress up, and then 00:15:06.860 |
And so these actors who lived in acting out playing somebody else were called hypocrites. 00:15:13.900 |
And so that is the language that is being used, saying that our love must not be hypocritical. 00:15:21.500 |
He says, "The church must not turn itself into a stage where our love is being practiced 00:15:31.260 |
First Peter 1.22, it says, "Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth 00:15:35.100 |
for a sincere, brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart." 00:15:43.020 |
Now all of that to say, he's calling us to practice agape, unconditional love. 00:15:50.180 |
Because the kind of love that you and I naturally practice is the kind of love that the rest 00:15:55.940 |
We love because there's something to gain from loving you. 00:16:03.420 |
And if you've ever received love with strings attached, it's a tremendous burden. 00:16:09.260 |
Somebody might give you a gift, and then immediately you feel burdened because now you've got 00:16:14.700 |
You know they're watching and say, "Well, I gave you this gift, and what are you giving 00:16:17.740 |
Because if you don't match what they've given, at some point it's going to turn ugly. 00:16:22.180 |
It's going to turn to, 'I love you, I love you, I love you, you jerk.'" 00:16:25.860 |
Like eventually it turns into that when there are strings attached. 00:16:29.400 |
So the first thing that he calls us to is unconditional love, to love people that are 00:16:39.200 |
And the reason why he calls us to do that is because this is the kind of love that he 00:16:45.920 |
It is not with strings, and it is not burdensome. 00:16:50.640 |
He loved us, not because he thought, "You know what? 00:16:54.160 |
I'm going to save these people, and they're going to all come and worship me, and that's 00:17:05.040 |
But how many of you in your salvation have paid God back with your awesome worship? 00:17:13.540 |
How many of you came to God, and now you're living your life, and God is up in heaven 00:17:24.400 |
You know, most of us, if we're honest with ourselves, probably wondering, "Why did 00:17:32.000 |
Because you know yourself, and I know myself. 00:17:36.680 |
If God did not love us without strings attached, without pretense, without hypocrisy, we wouldn't 00:17:47.060 |
And so because he loved us without pretense, he calls us, this biblical love, to love without 00:17:57.400 |
So it is our nature, it is our calling, it is our duty, and it is our privilege to be 00:18:06.640 |
So we love because he first loved us, not because I expect something from you, not because 00:18:10.680 |
I want to transform you from one to something else, but simply because it's an overflow 00:18:18.120 |
That's the first and probably the most important aspect of biblical love. 00:18:27.000 |
Or is the love that we practice no different than the world? 00:18:30.080 |
We practice love, but it may not be biblical love. 00:18:33.360 |
Secondly, biblical love must abhor what is evil. 00:18:45.640 |
You might be asking, like, you know, we're talking about biblical love, and then all 00:18:51.360 |
See, again, if we're not careful, we may hear, say, "Well, God called us to love," and it's 00:18:59.760 |
There's a lot of non-Christians who hear the gospel message as God loved us and he tells 00:19:04.160 |
us to love, and whether they believe in Jesus or not, that's beautiful. 00:19:09.560 |
If you're an atheist, you're a Buddha, I mean, that's beautiful. 00:19:11.760 |
God's calling a community of people to be sacrificial and love, a community of love. 00:19:17.120 |
God loves, so we love, and then we begin to project what that love is in our own idea. 00:19:21.200 |
You know, one of the biggest frustrations that I have within the church, I would have 00:19:26.320 |
debates oftentimes with people who say, "You know what? 00:19:30.040 |
This is what God says," and I say, "Well, what does it say in the Bible?" 00:19:34.760 |
They're always quoting the Bible very vaguely, but they can't find it where it is, and they're 00:19:40.700 |
And I'm trying to tell them it's not in the Bible, and that's the problem that we have 00:19:46.160 |
We have an illiterate Christian community that kind of heard bits and pieces of different 00:19:51.200 |
messages, and we've heard that we ought to love one another, but then we start to contextualize 00:19:58.480 |
And so the love has become relative based upon what is palatable to me, to my generation, 00:20:03.200 |
to my friends, and then, if we're not careful, it has nothing to do with biblical love because 00:20:08.520 |
the biblical love calls us to love unconditionally, but it also calls us to hate what is wicked. 00:20:16.560 |
Love is not, the biblical love is not a blind sentimental affection for anything and everything. 00:20:26.240 |
In Matthew 6:24, it says, "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one 00:20:31.120 |
and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other." 00:20:41.260 |
He doesn't just describe, say, you know, be devoted to God and then ignore these things. 00:20:45.180 |
He says, no, our love for God must be so strong that there must be hatred toward these temptations. 00:20:51.140 |
Again, in Romans 1:32, he said, "The whole reason why the judgment of God is coming is 00:20:57.460 |
because they have tolerated and accepted what is wicked." 00:21:01.180 |
In Romans 1:32, "Though they know God, decree that those who practice such things deserve 00:21:06.920 |
They not only do them, but give approval to those who practice them." 00:21:12.120 |
There are certain things that our generation has been pushing and saying, well, if God 00:21:15.680 |
is love and you guys actually practice love, how can you possibly say these things about 00:21:22.040 |
Because they've created in their own mind what love should look like. 00:21:26.720 |
But biblical love calls us to love God righteously and to hate wickedness. 00:21:32.820 |
He has called us to practice this love without pretense in the context of people who hate 00:21:48.580 |
How much of our lukewarmness at times creeps into our lives and our passion for Christ 00:21:56.460 |
and the things of Christ creeps into our lives because we justify all kinds of sin in our 00:22:02.900 |
Whether it's my life or someone else's life or a good friend's life, and we allow 00:22:09.980 |
it, and we become very comfortable with it, and then bad company corrupts good morals. 00:22:17.660 |
David, the author of Psalm 101, he says, "I will not set before my eyes anything that 00:22:35.300 |
That sounds a lot like Jonathan Edwards' resolution. 00:22:41.140 |
He is resolved to not look at anything wicked. 00:22:49.060 |
Again, in Matthew 5, 29-30, he says, "To what degree should we hate sin?" 00:22:56.340 |
He said, "If your eye causes you to sin, what does he tell us to do? 00:23:03.340 |
And then he says, "If your hand causes you to sin, what does he say? 00:23:10.260 |
He's calling us to hate sin to the degree that it's better for us to be maimed and 00:23:16.620 |
enter the kingdom of heaven because of the consequence of that sin. 00:23:20.340 |
That this is how much God hates sin, because of its consequence. 00:23:24.540 |
That the only remedy for this sin was to send his only begotten son. 00:23:28.660 |
Do you think a God who hated sin to that degree would have covered us with the blood of Christ 00:23:35.340 |
and said, "Well, now since you're covered, now I'm okay with it over here on this side." 00:23:39.540 |
The same God of the Old Testament who is holy, holy, holy is the same God of the New Testament 00:23:47.100 |
And that's why in Hebrews chapter 12, verse 34, it says, "Consider him who endured from 00:23:51.860 |
sinner such hostility against himself so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted. 00:23:57.060 |
In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your 00:24:02.820 |
You have not resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 00:24:08.180 |
How much of our tolerance towards sin is completely unbiblical. 00:24:16.220 |
It may be the kind of love that the world practices, but it's not the biblical love 00:24:21.620 |
Not only are we to practice this unconditional love, we are called to practice this unconditional 00:24:27.620 |
love without pretense in the context of people who are also hating wickedness. 00:24:34.420 |
Thirdly, biblical love must hold fast to what is good. 00:24:41.140 |
In some of your translations, it says to cling or to cleave. 00:24:45.140 |
The root word behind this clinging is to be glued. 00:24:52.540 |
Some of you guys may remember, you know, years ago when super glue first came out. 00:24:57.020 |
First service people told me that that glue still exists, right? 00:25:00.380 |
Super glue, you know, prior to that, we had Elmer's glue, we had rubber cement, we have 00:25:04.140 |
other glue, but super glue came out and it was literally super, right? 00:25:07.860 |
And the way that they had the commercial was they had this construction guy wear this hat 00:25:12.100 |
and then he would put the super glue and then he would go to maybe the third or fourth floor 00:25:16.220 |
with a metal beam and he would attach his hat and then he would wear his hat and he 00:25:20.380 |
would put all his weight on that and he would hang and then it wouldn't break off. 00:25:24.740 |
And it was a great commercial, you know, because a glue, that glue was so powerful that his 00:25:31.860 |
full weight couldn't detach it and super glue, I don't know how strong it was now, but it 00:25:36.540 |
was the strongest thing that I've ever seen, you know, literally. 00:25:39.700 |
I mean, I think at some point I saw super glue in every family and I don't know about 00:25:43.980 |
you guys, but everybody I know glued their fingers shut by accident using that glue. 00:25:50.500 |
The Bible talks about our clinging to God, not just casually coming to Him because we 00:26:00.140 |
I don't know about you, I don't naturally drift toward Christ. 00:26:02.500 |
I don't wake up in the morning, if I do nothing, at the end of the day I'm praising God. 00:26:08.460 |
My mind, I don't know about you, has a tendency to drift toward the things that are negative. 00:26:14.060 |
You know, I could have ten things going right and one thing going wrong and that one thing 00:26:21.300 |
And next thing I know, my worldview is dictated by what's happening in my heart. 00:26:27.140 |
And my heart naturally does not drift toward God. 00:26:29.660 |
So, to me, quiet time isn't, well I got to do quiet time because that's what a good Christian 00:26:34.460 |
does and I got to set a good example for the church. 00:26:39.620 |
Because when I don't saturate my mind with God's Word in the morning, right, and I know 00:26:44.940 |
some of you say, "Well, it doesn't have to be in the morning." 00:26:52.420 |
The reason why I say morning is better is because if your mind is not saturated with 00:26:58.060 |
the Word of God, you naturally drift toward the things of the world, naturally meditate 00:27:02.260 |
and focus on the things that causes you to see the world in a different light. 00:27:06.100 |
So, I need to have my mind and my heart be dictated in the morning of the things of God 00:27:13.220 |
so that the way I view the world is because of what I'm clinging to. 00:27:18.740 |
In 1 Peter 2, 2-3 it says, "Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk that by it 00:27:26.820 |
If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good." 00:27:30.500 |
All of you guys who have experience or maybe some of you nurses, you know when a child 00:27:34.260 |
first comes, comes out of the womb, you know, some of them are crying, but you know, some 00:27:39.620 |
of my kids when they came out of the womb, they were sucking, you know, wanting food. 00:27:49.060 |
You know, in my mind I'm thinking like, did Esther read something to him? 00:28:02.980 |
All of this that God innately put in us, an instinct to live. 00:28:09.660 |
And that child, even from the moment that he is born, knows that he needs food to survive. 00:28:17.340 |
God created us to have an instinct to survive and to live. 00:28:22.740 |
And so, Peter is using that as a description. 00:28:25.900 |
He's not talking about just casually drinking. 00:28:27.700 |
He's not talking about, you know, just, "Oh, and I'm hungry." 00:28:31.460 |
He's talking as an infant, not as an adult who's had a full meal and, you know, just 00:28:35.900 |
kind of eating because you're tired of the same food. 00:28:38.460 |
As an infant longs for this pure spiritual milk that you may grow up to salvation if 00:28:44.740 |
indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. 00:28:48.500 |
This biblical love that he calls us to, calls us to cling to, to be glued to the things 00:28:57.060 |
You and I cannot, by our own strength, to practice this love that Jesus practiced on 00:29:04.780 |
When you're not motivated, when you're not moved, and you're not broken by the love 00:29:11.680 |
Try to love somebody who is hurting you just by your pure will. 00:29:22.920 |
So he calls us to abhor what is evil, to be glued to the things that are good. 00:29:29.000 |
In 2 Timothy 2.22, it says, "So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, 00:29:34.600 |
love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart." 00:29:39.240 |
Not only are we to cling to what is good, to be glued to what is good, he calls us to 00:29:43.240 |
do it with other people doing the same thing. 00:29:46.880 |
You know, oftentimes I hear within the church, people will say, "You know, it's hard to 00:29:51.080 |
fellowship with people because nobody is pursuing God, nobody's doing this." 00:29:58.720 |
But I really want to encourage you because I hear it so often. 00:30:02.520 |
If that's what you perceive, I challenge you to initiate. 00:30:07.640 |
If everybody who perceives that, initiate it, a huge chunk of that problem will be solved. 00:30:15.480 |
Instead of watching, saying, "What's wrong with those people? 00:30:23.040 |
And if that's not the case, "You know what, I initiated and they just seem, they have 00:30:26.440 |
no interest and they're just kind of doing their own thing, they're resisting," then 00:30:34.520 |
Really cling yourself, attach yourself with people who you're going to be fed and run 00:30:41.080 |
To be committed and to be resolved to deliberately fellowship instead of complaining about the 00:30:46.020 |
fellowship that you are not getting, be active in pursuing genuine fellowship. 00:30:50.820 |
Cling to what is good, cling to other people who you can do this with. 00:30:55.280 |
In Philippians 4-8 it says, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever 00:30:59.760 |
is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable. 00:31:03.040 |
If there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." 00:31:09.280 |
And this is the reason why, again, I encourage you in the morning, be in the Word, even if 00:31:15.600 |
it's just one verse, to meditate, to cling to, to think about. 00:31:22.120 |
You know the story in the Old Testament about Jacob and Esau. 00:31:26.880 |
Jacob and Esau's story, if you understand it without understanding the larger picture, 00:31:35.440 |
Because Jacob's the younger brother, Esau's the older brother, he's the manly man going 00:31:46.280 |
He's sitting with his mommy playing, I don't know what he was doing, but he wasn't out 00:31:51.800 |
So Esau comes back, he's famished, and Jacob is, you know, he's scheming. 00:31:59.160 |
And he says, "Well, if you give me your birthright, I'll give you my stew." 00:32:09.900 |
And this guy is like, "Well, give me your birthright." 00:32:23.180 |
And as a result of that exchange, he loses his birthright, him, his children, his grandchildren, 00:32:29.360 |
and for generations to come, he doesn't get his birthright. 00:32:33.120 |
In fact, in Hebrews chapter 12, 16, this is how Esau is described. 00:32:38.560 |
He says that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright 00:32:45.760 |
He doesn't simply say, "Oh, that was a mistake." 00:32:47.880 |
"Oh, he should have gotten his priorities right." 00:32:50.120 |
He calls what Esau did wicked, unholy, immoral. 00:32:56.560 |
What was it about Esau, what did he do that made this action so detestable in the eyes 00:33:03.040 |
You have to understand that this was no normal family, that his grandparents, his parents' 00:33:11.520 |
And his whole reason why his family was where they were doing what they were is because 00:33:15.160 |
God made a promise to his ancestors that, "I'm going to bless you and your children 00:33:21.640 |
and for many children, and through you, the whole world is going to be blessed." 00:33:28.480 |
This is not just about cows and farms and land. 00:33:35.060 |
And so at that moment, when he was famished, he weighed the odds and said, "No, I'd 00:33:42.000 |
rather have the food than this promise of God." 00:33:45.480 |
What was wicked was not that he didn't see the value of these cows and these goats and 00:33:52.080 |
He lived for today and not for the promise of God. 00:33:56.720 |
How much of the decision-making in our day-to-day life is dictated by our flesh rather than 00:34:06.120 |
How much of our friendship is dictated by who makes us happy today rather than people 00:34:10.600 |
who are that we're running with for eternal things? 00:34:15.000 |
What he called wicked was he didn't see the value of God's promise. 00:34:19.700 |
He sold the covenant promise that was made with his family for a bowl of soup. 00:34:26.400 |
And so what Esau did is exactly what he describes in Romans, that they clung to what was wicked 00:34:36.640 |
So God calls us, this biblical love that he calls us to is unconditional, is agape love. 00:34:44.340 |
We uphold what is evil and we are glued to what is good. 00:34:47.320 |
Fourthly, biblical love must be with brotherly affection. 00:34:51.480 |
There's two words, similar words that is used, love and brotherly affection are both family 00:34:58.880 |
It's philo-storge, so some of you guys who know the Greek words behind it, phileo and 00:35:02.920 |
storge, brotherly love and family love mixed into one word. 00:35:07.240 |
That's the word that's translated for love one another. 00:35:09.840 |
And then as brotherly affection is Philadelphia, again where we brotherly love one another. 00:35:15.720 |
So the fourth principle that he gives us in the way that we practice love, that we practice 00:35:19.940 |
love to the extent that we would love our family members. 00:35:27.080 |
Jesus himself says on the cross in John 19, 26-27, when Jesus saw his mother and his disciples 00:35:32.800 |
whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold your son." 00:35:39.560 |
That his death and crucifixion when we've been adopted to his family, we have all become 00:35:48.720 |
Then he said to the disciples, "Behold your mother." 00:35:50.720 |
And from that hour, the disciples took her to his own home. 00:35:54.240 |
They didn't look at Jesus' mother and say, "Well, now your son is gone. 00:36:00.400 |
You've all become family members in the church." 00:36:02.560 |
And I know that it takes some time for us to be sanctified to really be able to see 00:36:10.040 |
that these aren't just brothers that we just happen to go to the same church. 00:36:18.000 |
And that's why Paul says in 1 Timothy 5, 1 and 2, "Do not rebuke an older man, but encourage 00:36:25.320 |
Treat younger men like brothers, older women like mothers, younger women like sisters. 00:36:32.360 |
So the standard in which we ought to be called to love one another is, do we love our brothers 00:36:41.000 |
And oftentimes, sometimes, you know, I have to use that standard in the way that I treat 00:36:48.480 |
And there are times when maybe I may be tempted to do this or tempted to do that. 00:36:52.640 |
You know, even as we carry out church discipline, I have to ask myself, would I do this to my 00:37:00.880 |
And that's the standard that he calls and he says, "Love your neighbors," what? 00:37:15.980 |
The practical standard we practice is they're our brothers, they're our sisters, they're 00:37:20.320 |
We become family members in the body of Christ. 00:37:23.040 |
Fifth and finally, biblical love outdoes one another in showing honor. 00:37:29.160 |
Biblical love outdoes one another in showing honor. 00:37:31.480 |
Philippians 2, 3, "Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more 00:37:39.240 |
Imagine what the church community would look like when we're actually competing with one 00:37:46.520 |
And the worldly concept of what it means to be honored is shunned at the door. 00:37:53.120 |
And when we come to church, our greatest passion is to outdo one another in honor. 00:37:59.640 |
How much problems in the church, how much divisions and how much discord in the church 00:38:04.040 |
would just naturally be solved if the brothers and sisters in the church were determined 00:38:11.320 |
every time they come to honor and love more than ourselves? 00:38:16.600 |
How much of family relationships, even with our children, our friends, coworkers at church, 00:38:24.220 |
how much of the discord and the problems that we have is because we're all trying to one 00:38:33.720 |
In fact, the passage in 1 Corinthians 13, 1 and 3, I mean, this is a go-to passage because 00:38:37.840 |
Paul basically is telling this church that this is your main problem. 00:38:43.320 |
You're divided, you have chaos in the church, communion, all of these things are happening 00:38:50.080 |
And that's why he says, "If I speak in tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I 00:38:58.140 |
He says in application in chapter 14, some of these people were coming out and speaking 00:39:03.080 |
tongues in public and he said, "Well, it's causing a lot of confusion." 00:39:06.400 |
And maybe they were saying, "Well, it doesn't matter because I have this freedom to do whatever 00:39:10.080 |
And he challenges them, "It's better that if you prophecy or if you do things that's 00:39:17.280 |
And he says, "So if you practice tongues without love, all it becomes is utterance, it's noise, 00:39:28.200 |
If you have prophetic powers and have not love, it's nothing. 00:39:32.880 |
And that's exactly what was happening in the Corinthian church in chapter 14. 00:39:36.440 |
People were standing up and saying, "You know, I have a prophetic utterance." 00:39:39.440 |
And they were all standing up at the same time. 00:39:42.440 |
And then one person would stand up, another person would compete with him, and it was 00:39:49.040 |
Even the way that they were having communion. 00:39:51.400 |
Instead of being concerned about the people who didn't have money, they were coming and 00:39:54.480 |
said, "Well, you know, we brought this so we should be able to eat this." 00:39:57.060 |
And it was causing all kinds of problems in the church. 00:40:00.360 |
And he condemns them, saying, "What you are practicing is not communion. 00:40:09.040 |
But it is not communion that you are practicing. 00:40:14.600 |
In fact, it says, "Even if you have faith that can move mountains, and if you have not 00:40:20.560 |
Do you remember in Acts chapter 9, Philip comes and evangelizes, and this Simon the 00:40:26.520 |
sorcerer, this magician, he also converts and becomes a Christian. 00:40:30.880 |
Peter and John come and they begin to lay hands and the Holy Spirit begins to fall. 00:40:34.960 |
And Simon watches that and says, "Wow, that would be awesome if I could do that." 00:40:39.240 |
And he was thinking about probably what he was doing before he became a Christian. 00:40:43.600 |
You know, even as he was practicing maybe fake magic, he has never had that kind of 00:40:48.840 |
And all of a sudden he sees it in Peter and John, you know, and says, "Well, how much 00:40:55.240 |
Peter responds in rebuke and he says to him, "May your money perish with you because 00:41:00.640 |
you thought you could buy the gift of God with money." 00:41:10.000 |
If God wasn't love, you and I wouldn't be here. 00:41:15.960 |
If all he was was powerful, if all he was was almighty and omniscient. 00:41:25.160 |
We'd be living every single day in terror because he can use that power to squash us 00:41:36.240 |
He says if God gives us power and faith to move mountains and if it's not in love, it 00:41:42.800 |
is a destructive power that will be used to squash other people, to glorify himself, to 00:41:49.920 |
be on the mountain and say, "Look what I've done. 00:41:51.480 |
If you mess with me, this is what's going to happen to you." 00:41:53.720 |
He says even if you have the gift of faith to move mountains without love, it's not good. 00:42:04.320 |
If you have generosity, if you have all the knowledge, you've read all the theological 00:42:09.360 |
books and you're the go-to guy to explain the hypostatic union of Christ and his incarnation 00:42:16.520 |
and the different hermeneutical principles of dispensationalism, of covenant theology, 00:42:20.600 |
and you've learned all of these things and you're the PhD and you're writing commentaries 00:42:28.000 |
All of that is just a tool to glorify yourself. 00:42:32.560 |
All of that becomes a resource to point out how stupid other people are. 00:42:37.200 |
And all it does is cause divisions in the church. 00:42:39.520 |
And don't get me wrong, all of the things that I mentioned are things that we ought 00:42:43.520 |
to be pursuing, that we ought to be interested in because it is scripture. 00:42:47.800 |
But he says if you do this without love, it actually does more harm than good. 00:42:52.720 |
How many churches and how many friendships have been split over non-consequential things 00:43:05.160 |
Even generosity, you can give to the poor and without love, it means nothing. 00:43:16.080 |
If you give your body to be burned and yet have not love, it's nothing because even sacrificing 00:43:21.400 |
our own body, we can do it to glorify ourselves. 00:43:25.960 |
That we can be venerated after we die so that we can have a better place in heaven for whatever 00:43:31.120 |
the reason he says if it is not out of love, it does no good. 00:43:46.840 |
Love trumps everything that we have, even martyrdom. 00:44:02.120 |
How important is it that as our church, that not just one of many priorities, not just 00:44:07.080 |
one of many disciplines, but it is the discipline. 00:44:12.620 |
It is the thing that he has called us to, every single one of us. 00:44:35.140 |
Because when we fell from God, the author of life, this is what we lacked. 00:44:52.340 |
So first and foremost, as we, again, that's our first part in biblical, practicing and 00:45:00.560 |
My encouragement, and again, you know, we're going to explain this in our members meeting, 00:45:05.080 |
but the theme of our goal this year in 2018 is to live worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:45:14.000 |
And living worthy just doesn't mean like being good singers and hearing theology and studying 00:45:21.400 |
But in the end, we want to be more than just hearers of the word, but to be doers. 00:45:26.860 |
You can sit here and listen to these sermons, say, "I agree with that." 00:45:32.080 |
It's beautiful to talk about the love of Christ. 00:45:35.060 |
But if that's where it ends, you said, "Good." 00:45:38.360 |
But even the demons believe that and they shudder. 00:45:44.720 |
So our goal this year is to propel, compel one another, sharpen one another, right, to 00:45:51.600 |
consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 00:45:55.760 |
That this love, this biblical love that he's telling us is actually physically being practiced 00:46:02.080 |
Let's have the praise team come up and take some time to worship. 00:46:05.020 |
And again, I really want to encourage you as we talk about this, don't make applications 00:46:10.740 |
into these big things that you can't really measure and say, "I want to be a better Christian. 00:46:18.020 |
What is something specific that you can apply today? 00:46:21.340 |
What is something specific that you can apply and then you can look back and say, "Well, 00:46:25.780 |
And to make tangible applications that you can measure and say, "You know, I really want 00:46:30.340 |
to apply this biblical love that God has given me," and to really pray in those lines because 00:46:34.980 |
that's sort of where we want to take our church this year. 00:46:38.380 |
So let's take some time to pray as our worship team guides in these.