back to index3-1-20 To Know Him and to Make Him Known Pt 4
00:00:03.240 |
If you can turn your Bibles to Matthew chapter 22, okay? 00:00:06.960 |
I promise today is the last day I'm on this text and then I'll be jumping to the book 00:00:22.920 |
"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" 00:00:27.240 |
And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your 00:00:32.640 |
This is the great and foremost commandment and the second is like it. 00:00:37.960 |
And on these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets. 00:00:44.120 |
Gracious and loving Father, we pray for your Holy Spirit to convict us, let your word go 00:00:51.640 |
forth and mold our hearts, our lives, our thinking, and even the things, Lord God, that 00:01:00.800 |
May it be renewed and washed according to your word. 00:01:04.880 |
So we ask, Lord God, that this sacred time is honored before you, that we would genuinely 00:01:11.880 |
May God's word and its power that you have ordained fulfill its purpose this morning. 00:01:20.040 |
How many of you sometime this week saw the video that kind of went viral about this lady 00:01:26.080 |
who was on an airplane and she kind of reclined and the person behind her got irritated and 00:01:38.320 |
Well, you guys aren't hip, you guys aren't social media. 00:01:43.200 |
Anyway, so that video went viral and then there was kind of a big discussion that took 00:01:52.840 |
And then the guy who was sitting behind her happened to be in the last seat in the airplane. 00:01:58.880 |
And because she reclined and he can't recline, obviously, you know, he's a bit cramped. 00:02:04.040 |
And I guess he asked her to put it back up and she did it while he was eating, but then 00:02:09.320 |
she put it right back and then she wouldn't return. 00:02:11.800 |
And then so he got mad and he started banging on her chair throughout the whole flight. 00:02:15.520 |
And so the internet was divided in half where half the people were siding with him. 00:02:23.240 |
Knowing that he can't recline, he's uncomfortable. 00:02:26.680 |
And then the other half were basically saying, "She has every right. 00:02:31.600 |
How many times when we're on airplane long flights do we recline? 00:02:35.040 |
We have a right to do that because it's uncomfortable." 00:02:43.360 |
The question that I have is how do you deal with people that irritate you, right? 00:02:48.440 |
They get in your space, do things that annoy you. 00:02:56.000 |
It may be a neighbor that you live next to, right? 00:02:59.160 |
It may be a friend or certain acquaintances in your life. 00:03:01.920 |
Like they're annoying and it's very irritating to be around those people. 00:03:06.480 |
And as a result, we have a tendency to kind of stiff arm those people. 00:03:09.920 |
We have a tendency to be very strict with our acquaintances, but we don't really spend 00:03:15.840 |
Now, we talked about last week about this agape love. 00:03:20.480 |
At the core of this teaching of agape love is loving people that are difficult to love. 00:03:25.680 |
And then he goes even further and say, "What good is it if you loan money to people who 00:03:32.640 |
And then he goes even further in saying that he loved us while we were ungrateful and even 00:03:40.200 |
So that word agape love is deliberately targeting and loving people that you wouldn't naturally 00:03:50.280 |
It's difficult for us to be even around, even to be around people who annoy us, let alone 00:03:58.440 |
make a conscious decision to love people who are slandering us, who've wronged us, who's 00:04:05.240 |
out to get us, or we may think that they are. 00:04:09.640 |
So this idea of agape love is a beautiful message. 00:04:14.960 |
At the core of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that's why we sing about it. 00:04:23.640 |
But to actually practice this agape love is something beyond what you and I are able to 00:04:31.360 |
That's why, you know, it'd be great if we just talked about love of God and what He 00:04:39.720 |
But the problem with that is the Bible always starts with indicative. 00:04:45.000 |
It always tells us about what happened and what He has done, but it almost always moves 00:04:52.280 |
If you believe the agape love of God, therefore we ought to practice this agape love with 00:04:58.680 |
If you've been studying the book of Ephesians with us, the first three chapters are primarily 00:05:04.220 |
It teaches us about adoption, about propitiation, atonement. 00:05:08.380 |
It teaches us about His predestined love for us, in that even before the creation of the 00:05:19.680 |
So we're, what, in the middle of chapter two, and we have about a chapter and a half 00:05:22.800 |
left before we get to chapter four, but chapter four is coming. 00:05:28.560 |
Chapter four is coming because after that, Paul prays that the eyes of our heart may 00:05:32.640 |
be enlightened so that we may have a deeper sense and understanding of this love. 00:05:37.680 |
And then if you do grasp that and you understand that and you believe that, chapter four, verse 00:05:42.360 |
one, "Therefore I, prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling 00:05:51.680 |
If you love God or if God loves you, therefore. 00:05:54.440 |
So he says, "Walk worthy of the manner of which you've received that love." 00:06:00.680 |
Then in verse two, he describes what that love looks like. 00:06:03.520 |
Verse two, "In humility, in gentleness, in showing tolerance, in love." 00:06:10.440 |
So the primary practice of the gospel that we proclaim to believe is to practice the 00:06:20.120 |
We spent about three and a half years talking about the detailed teaching of the gospel 00:06:26.480 |
Eleven chapters of exposition about what God has done and what he had accomplished, how 00:06:36.720 |
And then at the conclusion of eleven chapters of exposition, he gets to chapter 12 and he 00:06:42.080 |
says, "Therefore, considering all that you have learned, I urge you, brethren, by the 00:06:47.040 |
mercy of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice." 00:06:51.720 |
And then he describes what that living sacrifice looks like in verse nine, "Let love be without 00:06:58.080 |
So the primary application of receiving the love of God, therefore, is to practice this 00:07:10.760 |
I made it through the first service, so I'm going to make it through the second service. 00:07:13.800 |
We're going to jump back to the book of Hebrews. 00:07:28.200 |
So he concludes in chapter 11, here's these people who, because of their faith, they lived 00:07:34.640 |
And then he concludes in chapter 12, "Therefore, considering all the indicatives that you have 00:07:40.200 |
learned," here are the imperatives, "Therefore, since we have so great a crowd surrounding 00:07:46.000 |
us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles, and 00:07:50.880 |
let us run with endurance the race that is set before us." 00:08:02.200 |
To practice this love that we proclaim and believe that was practiced on us. 00:08:09.120 |
Again, Colossians chapter 3, 1 through 2, after two chapters of Christology about the 00:08:15.120 |
supremacy of Christ, he says, "Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep 00:08:19.520 |
seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God." 00:08:25.520 |
Verse 12, "Put on a heart of compassion, kindness, and humility." 00:08:32.000 |
So you cannot be a worshiper of God and just erase the "therefore"s that comes after it. 00:08:38.680 |
Because he says, "This is what God has done, and if you believe this, therefore, now practice 00:08:48.520 |
I can literally open up any text in the New Testament and the Old Testament and preach 00:08:58.680 |
So even this morning, if you hear this message and you start to think of it in your head, 00:09:09.980 |
But if you try to apply it even a little bit this week, I'm pretty sure you face frustration 00:09:20.600 |
Because you know how difficult that is to practice, even to just be around annoying 00:09:31.080 |
To actually pursue somebody in this agape love who doesn't deserve it, there is nothing 00:09:38.200 |
more sanctifying to a born-again Christian than the practice of this agape love. 00:09:45.760 |
Agape love is at the core of killing our pride. 00:09:50.200 |
A proud man will never approach somebody because he has to humble himself. 00:10:01.200 |
Because at the core, our natural reaction is to run away from danger. 00:10:05.720 |
So if somebody is causing harm, is slandering you, it is our natural reaction to run away 00:10:15.920 |
But the practice of agape love, it challenges and it kills a self-centered life. 00:10:23.600 |
Agape love, it kills a comfort and safety-driven life. 00:10:28.200 |
Where again, our natural desire is to run to safety, is to hide. 00:10:33.240 |
But agape love challenges us to go sometimes in places of danger for the purpose of someone 00:10:41.320 |
But this agape love is also the reason why you and I are here. 00:10:47.000 |
Not only does it kill our pride, a self-centered life, a life-seeking comfort and safety, it 00:10:58.320 |
And why it is the agape love that kills the fear of death, that gives us the strength 00:11:08.520 |
Again, easy to talk about, but difficult to practice. 00:11:22.640 |
If you have somebody that you've been having a hard time forgiving, and they've been deliberately 00:11:30.040 |
saying things to hurt you, I mean, not just to forgive them, but to actually love them. 00:11:40.240 |
It ruins your day, it ruins your appetite, it ruins fellowship. 00:11:44.280 |
It ruins even probably as you're listening to the sermon now. 00:11:48.640 |
Because there's a turmoil, there's a fight going on in your own heart, because you know 00:11:55.160 |
But there is no truer evidence of a born-again Christian than when the Holy Spirit convicts 00:12:07.360 |
Because only people who are the recipients of this agape love would even consider practicing 00:12:14.720 |
It is the greatest evidence of a follower of Jesus Christ. 00:12:22.160 |
By this, all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another, 00:12:31.280 |
So I want to finish this sermon, so I'm going to get to number two. 00:12:41.200 |
Because not only is this commandment like loving God, you cannot love God and not love 00:12:45.320 |
people, but two, it says we are to love our neighbors. 00:12:50.200 |
Now if you just read it, it's like, yeah, I mean, you probably memorized this first, 00:13:13.760 |
When that person is punching your seat because they're irritating, we don't think of them 00:13:21.840 |
So it's very easy to say God loves the world, I'm going to love the world. 00:13:29.160 |
I mean, technically, you can say somebody who lives next to us, but that's not what 00:13:35.000 |
He says in the Gospel of Luke, when a lawyer comes, he says, "Who's our neighbor?" 00:13:38.360 |
And he describes an individual who basically was robbed and beaten. 00:13:42.040 |
So he's not talking about just somebody who lives next to us, he's talking about people 00:13:49.120 |
In fact, the biblical understanding of neighbor is whoever's next to you is your neighbor. 00:13:58.160 |
I mean, that could be somebody who lives next to you. 00:14:02.320 |
It could be your husband, it could be your wife, it could be your own children. 00:14:06.760 |
The people who are the closest to us are our neighbors. 00:14:09.800 |
Here's a reason why he says to love our neighbors. 00:14:14.880 |
Because when we get convicted about these things, we can say, "You know what? 00:14:17.120 |
I'm going to love the world as God loved the world." 00:14:25.160 |
He says in 1 John 4.20, "If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is 00:14:32.560 |
For the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has 00:14:39.600 |
When I read that, at least the first time I read that, it's like, loving God is actually 00:14:49.160 |
Most people will admit, "I mean, God, what did he do? 00:14:52.920 |
I mean, he loved us, he sacrificed his only begotten son, he suffered on my behalf. 00:15:04.380 |
So many people say, "I love God, but I hate people." 00:15:13.960 |
If you can't love the people that you can see, how are you going to love a God that 00:15:32.240 |
He's talking about an agape love that is tangibly practiced. 00:15:37.240 |
And if you can't practice with the person sitting next to you, how are you going to 00:15:40.520 |
practice that with somebody that you can't even see? 00:15:42.720 |
Let me give you an example of how often this gets applied. 00:15:47.520 |
You know, whenever we get convicted about evangelism or world mission, you know, we 00:15:59.100 |
And so we prepare and get ready, and then we go way to the other part of the world to 00:16:04.160 |
share the gospel and sacrificially love them. 00:16:07.400 |
You know, we're willing to eat food that we don't like in order to love these people. 00:16:12.800 |
But then we don't practice the same thing here. 00:16:16.800 |
He said, "If you don't practice the love of Christ here, if you don't share the gospel 00:16:21.200 |
with people who are here, who you can speak the same language, share the same culture 00:16:26.240 |
from your own home, where you're with seven, eight, nine, ten hours a day, how are you 00:16:31.320 |
going to love people way over there that you don't even speak the same language with?" 00:16:36.600 |
In other words, his first calling for us to practice his love is with the people who are 00:16:47.520 |
That's why they say the qualification of an elder is to make sure that he's a good husband, 00:16:52.360 |
that he's a good father, because the proving ground, first and foremost, is with whoever 00:17:02.200 |
It's easy to practice love from a distance, in theory, because all we have to do is say 00:17:16.080 |
In Matthew 25, 35-40, Jesus says, "For I was hungry, and ye gave me something to eat. 00:17:21.600 |
I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. 00:17:25.880 |
Naked, and you clothed me, and I was sick, and you visited me. 00:17:31.240 |
And the righteous will say, "When did we do that?" 00:17:33.200 |
And Jesus says in verse 40, "He who has done it to the least of my children has done it 00:17:37.720 |
In other words, the love of God was expressed to the people that was in need around us, 00:17:49.240 |
But a lot of times, the way we practice love is in theory, how we feel. 00:17:59.200 |
He said, "First and foremost," he says, "to love our neighbor." 00:18:03.040 |
And our neighbor oftentimes is our very wives, is our husbands, is our own children, is our 00:18:17.760 |
And then at church is the people who you're sitting next to. 00:18:20.360 |
He said, "If we don't practice the love with the people who are right next to us, how will 00:18:27.640 |
How will we practice this love with a God that we cannot see?" 00:18:33.000 |
We are to love not in word, but in deed, in action. 00:18:37.720 |
That's why in Hebrews 10, 20-25, Apostle Paul, I think it's Apostle Paul, but whoever wrote 00:18:44.040 |
this book, he says, "Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering." 00:18:51.760 |
In other words, he's been telling us about who Jesus is and what he has done. 00:18:57.080 |
Hold fast basically doesn't… it doesn't just mean like, "Oh, just continue to feel 00:19:02.960 |
He's saying, "If you genuinely believe this, like hold fast means to make it yours. 00:19:09.560 |
Hold fast without wavering for he who promised is faithful and let us consider how to stimulate 00:19:24.920 |
"To loving our neighbors," he says, "to consider." 00:19:27.600 |
Meaning that we don't wait passively to practice love. 00:19:33.340 |
We don't wait until somebody annoys us and says, "You know what? 00:19:43.560 |
Let us contemplate and plan to practice this. 00:19:51.240 |
You know the word for stimulate in Greek is a very strong word. 00:19:54.760 |
A more accurate translation of that word would be to provoke. 00:20:00.280 |
Typically when we use the word provoke in English, provoke typically has a negative 00:20:15.440 |
Somebody did something to get a very strong emotional reaction. 00:20:20.080 |
But that's the same word that is used here to describe somebody who is deliberately contemplating 00:20:27.160 |
and carrying out how my behavior is going to provoke you to do the same. 00:20:34.720 |
And he says not to do this passively, but to actively contemplate. 00:20:50.100 |
Typically people don't take the assembling seriously because the typical thinking is 00:21:06.880 |
Typically when we don't value assembly is because we are self-centered. 00:21:13.040 |
But he says to consider, to think carefully, plan out to provoke others to love in good 00:21:20.560 |
deeds and not forsaking the assembly of other people, not being self-centered as is the 00:21:28.760 |
And all the more as you see the day drawing near to provoke. 00:21:35.480 |
I remember back in college I was doing quiet time in this passage and I was taught that 00:21:41.440 |
whenever I do quiet time that I need to make a practical application, which we should always 00:21:49.600 |
If you read the Bible and you never get to the therefore, you never practice what you're 00:21:55.920 |
And a lot of knowledge ends up after all it does is puff you up. 00:21:59.600 |
So I sat there and I made a how can I deliberately provoke other people? 00:22:05.400 |
As some of you guys know, my spiritual gift is not encouragement. 00:22:10.560 |
Some of you guys who are snickering know who I am. 00:22:20.440 |
In fact, I wanted to name one of my kids Barnabas. 00:22:23.920 |
Because I wanted one of my kids to be son of encouragement. 00:22:34.480 |
And even when I'm trying to be encouraging, people get hurt. 00:22:44.720 |
So in my limited imagination, I went out and bought a bag of lollipop. 00:22:53.840 |
And then whenever I ran into somebody or felt the need to encourage, 00:22:57.840 |
since my words are usually useless in encouragement, 00:23:11.480 |
How can I provoke other people to be encouraging, to love other people? 00:23:27.080 |
When you see a newcomer, you don't turn your eyes. 00:23:31.520 |
Because of typical people, because it's awkward. 00:23:37.000 |
But some of you, I notice, you go out of your way to be welcoming. 00:23:53.600 |
I see strangers and people who are new, people that you're not comfortable with. 00:23:57.200 |
And not because they're your age and you have similar things to share with them. 00:24:02.280 |
And the word hospitable basically means to love strangers. 00:24:07.280 |
Hospitality isn't inviting a lot of your friends over to your house. 00:24:10.800 |
The word hospitality means to bring people who are not like you, 00:24:14.600 |
who are strangers, who are outside of your comfort zone. 00:24:17.480 |
And I see some of you who are very provoking. 00:24:20.680 |
That's what it means to provoke, that your behavior in your life is provoking 00:24:28.200 |
You know, I know some people in this church who are very intentional with their 00:24:35.480 |
You know, aside from the tithing and the gift that they give to the church, 00:24:38.640 |
they have, there's people in our church who've set aside thousands of dollars just 00:24:45.200 |
And so whenever there's a need, they're the first ones to call or email and say, 00:24:54.480 |
See, those are the type of things that he's talking about to provoke other people. 00:24:58.440 |
That by our behavior, by our life, intentionally, that it causes other people 00:25:05.440 |
You know, when we went to India this winter, out of the 15, I think there was 00:25:15.400 |
You know, for the first time in any of our mission trips, we had more couples at the 00:25:20.720 |
And the reason why that was so encouraging to me is because a lot of these couples, 00:25:24.520 |
deliberately, they come out because they want to use their marriage to glorify God 00:25:32.520 |
And so, you know, we had one couple who just got married, and the very first trip 00:25:36.920 |
that they took outside of their honeymoon is they wanted to use their money and time 00:25:41.800 |
to use what God has given them to provoke other people and to make sure that it's 00:25:47.680 |
Because typically, obviously, when you get married, you want to travel, 00:25:50.920 |
you want to eat good stuff, and that's just how we are. 00:25:55.760 |
But these young couples, and again, it wasn't just one. 00:25:57.880 |
We have other couples in our church who wanted to make sure that early on in their 00:26:02.960 |
marriage that they wanted to establish Christ at the center. 00:26:07.040 |
And just being with them provokes me, that they want to be deliberate with their youth. 00:26:14.400 |
One of the things that I always think about that provokes me to want to do better and 00:26:20.720 |
to make the most of every opportunity, I remember years ago, back in college, 00:26:24.360 |
a group of us went up to Oregon to share the gospel. 00:26:27.360 |
And we were out this one particular park, and it was filled with people, 00:26:31.080 |
and there was this little tiny bridge that went over the stream. 00:26:34.640 |
It's probably the best place to go to kind of relax and look at the scenery. 00:26:40.240 |
I saw this old man that was standing up there. 00:26:42.480 |
He told me later on that he was about 86 years old. 00:26:49.480 |
So he was leaning on the bridge, and he was just hanging out, just watching. 00:26:52.560 |
So I decided to go over there and share the gospel with him. 00:26:56.000 |
And so I started going over the bridge illustration about, you know, 00:26:59.960 |
"All have sinned, fall short of the glory of God." 00:27:01.400 |
And it took me about 10 minutes to go through. 00:27:03.840 |
Then after I was done, you know, I was expecting him to, "Okay, you know, 00:27:09.800 |
Instead, he grabbed my hand, and then he reached into his pocket, 00:27:20.600 |
So immediately, I thought, like, "Why did you make me, you know, 00:27:27.360 |
And he said, "I just wanted to see how good you were." 00:27:32.640 |
So we started talking, and then he said, "The reason why he was there is 00:27:37.440 |
because he doesn't have the strength to walk around like me. 00:27:41.960 |
He used to do that, but once he got to a certain age, he couldn't. 00:27:44.800 |
So he didn't want to be stuck in his nursing home. 00:27:46.960 |
So he comes out, and he stands on that bridge because that's the best place for 00:27:52.560 |
And usually, people will come sit there and look at the scenery. 00:27:55.360 |
And when they come, he would strike up a conversation. 00:27:58.840 |
And then he would take out a Bible track and share with them." 00:28:03.480 |
Man, that was provoking, you know, because evangelism is one of the 00:28:07.840 |
I know next Saturday, we have an evangelistic team going out and 00:28:12.120 |
And our tendency is because we don't like being rejected, "Oh, it's too hot. 00:28:22.240 |
We have all kinds of reasons why we can't do this, we can't do that. 00:28:25.320 |
But here's this man, you know, having a hard time even walking, 00:28:28.840 |
just standing there, leaning, and waiting for somebody to come. 00:28:32.440 |
Even 32, 33 years later, I'm still talking about this guy because I was 00:28:39.800 |
I was so provoked by this old man who was just standing there, 00:28:48.920 |
See, that's what he means when he says, "To consider, to think, 00:28:54.680 |
consider how we may provoke one another on toward love and good deeds." 00:29:01.360 |
You know, I was reading this week, you know, with the coronavirus going 00:29:06.280 |
crazy and, you know, a lot of people are concerned, you know, 00:29:11.560 |
You know, the epicenter of this is Wuhan, that city where it started. 00:29:15.000 |
And there are over 11 million people, and they're all kind of spread out, 00:29:18.160 |
and the streets have been completely cleared, nobody is outside. 00:29:22.160 |
Then I read about this small underground church, wanted to make the best 00:29:27.800 |
And so they're taking the mask that everybody is looking for, 00:29:34.200 |
And while everybody else is hiding in the building because they didn't want 00:29:40.920 |
We want to protect our children, we want to protect, you know, 00:29:45.480 |
But this church is out on the street with these masks and passing it out to people 00:29:51.600 |
who are in need and using that as an opportunity to share the gospel with them. 00:29:57.040 |
While everybody else is running back into the building and protecting themselves, 00:30:01.240 |
these people are risking everything and they're out on the street sharing 00:30:07.360 |
Because it is natural human response to want to be safe, want to live, 00:30:16.960 |
But it is a God-paid love that causes us to live differently than the rest 00:30:24.040 |
Ephesians 5, 15 to 16, "Therefore, be careful how you walk, 00:30:26.960 |
not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time because the 00:30:39.560 |
Thirdly, we are to love as we love ourselves. 00:30:46.000 |
Maybe we can practice this God-paid love when my needs are taken care of, 00:30:51.880 |
when I'm safe and I use the money that I have to make sure that everything in my 00:30:58.240 |
And then with leftovers, possibly I can begin to think 00:31:05.080 |
It says, "No, we are to love as we love ourselves." 00:31:11.840 |
You know, the God of this age, Satan, God of this age, Satan, 00:31:19.480 |
the primary deception, primary temptation, primary rebellion 00:31:30.920 |
In fact, years ago, and I shared this before, years ago, 00:31:33.960 |
I was trying to do a study on Satanic Church and what they believe. 00:31:41.680 |
If you go to a Satanic website or website of Satan, or I don't know how to describe 00:31:54.600 |
If you look at the front page, their primary creed is, 00:32:02.240 |
So, some of you guys who have extra time today, go look it up, right? 00:32:09.560 |
You're going to have to look that up yourself. 00:32:14.000 |
Their primary doctrine is, "Do whatever makes you happy." 00:32:27.520 |
Before there was this #MeToo movement, there's always been #MeFirst. 00:32:57.960 |
She has a song called "Greatest Love of All." 00:33:04.080 |
I'm really shocked you guys don't know who Whitney Houston is. 00:33:10.840 |
Anyway, Whitney Houston was a superstar of our generation, and she has a song called 00:33:18.520 |
Many of you may have sung this at karaoke or something, right? 00:33:21.760 |
Without really understanding what you were singing. 00:33:25.280 |
"I decided long ago never to walk in anyone's shadows. 00:33:28.320 |
If I fail, if I succeed, at least I'll live as I believe. 00:33:32.440 |
No matter what they take from me, they can't take away my dignity because the greatest 00:33:39.440 |
I found the greatest love of all inside of me. 00:33:46.120 |
Learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all." 00:34:11.280 |
You can practice love with other people, but you first. 00:34:17.280 |
In fact, the Bible describes end times, the primary description of the end times. 00:34:23.080 |
And when it describes end times, we're talking about a sin of mankind that has 00:34:29.680 |
And the natural conclusion of man's rebellion, right before Christ comes and 00:34:38.120 |
2 Timothy 3.1, "But realize this, that in the last days, difficult times will come, 00:34:45.840 |
Now, let me stop there before I even read anything else because everything else is 00:34:50.920 |
He says, "The primary rebellion of mankind, when it has reached its full fruit, 00:35:02.440 |
It doesn't say worshiper of Satan, idol worshipers. 00:35:07.400 |
I mean, yes, there's sexual perversion that's all connected to this, 00:35:11.000 |
but the primary thing is, if it makes you happy, why is it so bad? 00:35:28.400 |
And he said, "That's exactly how the end times is described. 00:35:30.960 |
Lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, 00:35:34.640 |
ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossip, 00:35:38.640 |
without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, 00:35:41.360 |
reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God." 00:35:47.240 |
The book ends of how this is described as lovers of self and lovers of pleasure. 00:35:56.920 |
And when that is expressed in the church, they have a form of godliness, 00:36:01.760 |
although they have denied its power, avoid such men as these. 00:36:05.760 |
The reason why people hold on to a form of godliness where there is no power is 00:36:09.200 |
because what they're ultimately seeking is reputation. 00:36:17.000 |
So as long as they have a reputation of being godly, as long as they have a 00:36:20.040 |
reputation of being faithful, that's all they're seeking for because 00:36:28.080 |
So even though there's no power in it, it doesn't matter because they're 00:36:36.040 |
But in Romans 12.10, it says, "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. 00:36:44.600 |
Romans 12.10, "Love one another brotherly at ESV. 00:36:54.080 |
You know, our natural inclination is to compare and complete. 00:36:58.320 |
You buy a nice house, you go to your friend's house, their house is better. 00:37:03.960 |
And all of a sudden, your house isn't good enough. 00:37:07.280 |
You got a nice Toyota Camry, you're feeling good about it, 00:37:11.800 |
You come to church, somebody's riding a Tesla. 00:37:17.720 |
That's our natural tendency, to compare and to compete. 00:37:20.240 |
He says, "If you're going to compare and compete about anything, 00:37:29.160 |
If you see somebody loving other people saying, "Oh, yeah?" 00:37:42.880 |
"Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. 00:37:48.120 |
So this "me first," it contradicts everything about this agape love. 00:37:55.120 |
It is not "me first," it says "them first" in Philippians 2.1-4. 00:37:58.440 |
"Therefore, if there's any encouragement in Christ, if there's any consolation 00:38:02.160 |
of love, if there's any fellowship of the Spirit, if there's any affection 00:38:08.800 |
In other words, if there's even an iota of love for God, if there's even a tiny 00:38:15.440 |
bit of faith that you believe that God loved you with a love. 00:38:23.680 |
"Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, 00:38:29.440 |
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit. 00:38:34.240 |
But with humility of mind, regard one another as more important 00:38:38.320 |
Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the 00:38:44.360 |
You know, the definition of a good community and a bad community is 00:38:50.200 |
A good community is a community filled with people who are deliberately seeking 00:38:59.560 |
And so you have a church that are gathering together, contemplating how I'm 00:39:03.720 |
going to provoke other people toward love and good deeds. 00:39:06.880 |
A bad community is a room filled with people waiting for others to provoke them, 00:39:17.640 |
And again, when you have a church filled with people self-seeking, 00:39:28.080 |
And you got a church filled with these people, you have a bad community. 00:39:33.600 |
And eventually, that community falls apart because they begin to forsake their 00:39:44.080 |
That is the definition between a good marriage and a bad marriage. 00:39:49.840 |
Like I said, easy to talk about, hard to practice, but at the core of good 00:39:54.960 |
marriage, I mean, you can go to a bookstore and you can find hundreds of books, 00:39:58.360 |
maybe thousands of books to have good marriage. 00:40:15.000 |
If there is any affection, if there's any love, if there's any compassion, 00:40:19.800 |
if there's any connection with God, make my joy complete, right? 00:40:25.440 |
Make my joy complete and have the same mind of Christ, who being equal with God 00:40:31.160 |
in every way, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 00:40:37.080 |
Not only did he not touch his glory, he humbled himself, became a man. 00:40:41.320 |
Not only did he become a man, he humbled himself even further than that, 00:40:44.160 |
was crucified on the cross, most humiliating thing, most painful thing 00:40:48.480 |
that a man, even the humblest of man, could have experienced. 00:40:52.000 |
He said, "The highest of the being experienced the lowest of humiliation, 00:40:57.440 |
all so that you and I can have eternal life." 00:41:01.200 |
If there's any connection to that, he says, "Therefore." 00:41:07.640 |
Therefore, practice this love that we sing about, first and foremost, 00:41:14.480 |
A good marriage is two people who are together, sacrificially loving each other. 00:41:22.000 |
To love somebody that you may be sharing the same bed with and you're constantly 00:41:42.080 |
And so, the application of redemption in our lives is to practice this 00:41:52.240 |
And then finally, he says that we are to love as the ultimate and final goal 00:41:59.240 |
Romans 13:8, "Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another, 00:42:02.200 |
for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law." 00:42:09.960 |
Because, you know, in a church, I mean, our schedule is so packed. 00:42:14.360 |
You know, we have Bible studies, we have prayer meetings, we have counseling, 00:42:17.480 |
we have, you know, we have service team meeting, logistics meeting, 00:42:20.440 |
we have children's meeting, and we have enough to keep us busy every day 00:42:27.440 |
And in and of itself, there's nothing wrong with any of that. 00:42:30.160 |
All of these things are efforts to build up the kingdom of God. 00:42:34.240 |
But if we forget the primary purpose and primary goal of why we do this is to 00:42:41.040 |
elevate the love of Christ, then you missed the whole point. 00:42:45.320 |
Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 1 to go back to Ephesus and fight with these 00:42:50.120 |
false teachers, to teach them not to teach false doctrine, 00:42:54.680 |
but in the context of commissioning him to this spiritual battle, 00:42:58.440 |
he reminds him in 1 Timothy 1, 5, "But the goal of our instruction is love." 00:43:04.920 |
The goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart, good conscience, 00:43:11.240 |
So if the goal of even preaching right God, even fighting against wrong doctrine, 00:43:17.120 |
is love, then that has to be the litmus test that we examine everything. 00:43:29.920 |
Before we talk about discipline and how many people are coming to church or how 00:43:34.880 |
many times I share the gospel, before we examine any of that, 00:43:38.040 |
the first and foremost that we need to examine is, is this love in me and am 00:44:01.080 |
If you go out of this room, say, "Yes, I mean, agape love is beautiful," 00:44:11.280 |
I can think about four or five people that I need to put up with, you know. 00:44:22.000 |
I mean, you're going to be wrestling back and forth, and it may be a good battle, 00:44:30.640 |
Because the strength to love other people is not in us. 00:44:39.920 |
That only those who have seen the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ in response 00:44:54.360 |
And that's why the book of Ezekiel, it says, "In the new covenant, 00:44:58.320 |
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you, 00:45:00.680 |
and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." 00:45:12.880 |
And that's why our heart needs to be turned to flesh. 00:45:16.760 |
So let me take a step back here and ask you a basic question. 00:45:29.520 |
And that may be a strange thing to answer with a bunch of people who come to church 00:45:32.640 |
and hear me every Sunday, but that really is the fundamental question. 00:45:48.800 |
Is the agape love that you sing about and talk about, is it in theory? 00:46:00.080 |
Until we meet this resurrected Christ, this is not an imperative 00:46:10.840 |
Until we are broken over our own sins, until we see the depth of our depravity, 00:46:17.440 |
and until we see the glory of what it meant for Christ to die for us, 00:46:22.640 |
and the hope that we have in His name because of it, and as a result, 00:46:28.200 |
we desire to declare His glory with that same love. 00:46:36.280 |
Have you assumed all your life because you attended church, 00:46:39.000 |
your parents were faithful, that you were baptized at a certain age, 00:46:42.800 |
that you gave and you were serving, maybe you were a leader at a church 00:46:53.680 |
Are there genuine fruits of this in your life? 00:46:58.280 |
My prayer is that not a single person in this room, not a single person 00:47:04.760 |
in this room knows this Christ in theory, holding onto a form of godliness 00:47:18.040 |
You know, as I conclude, maybe asking like, "You know, 00:47:21.560 |
you said you're going to be talking about knowing Him and making Him known. 00:47:30.200 |
Because until the love of Christ is what propels us to declare His glory, 00:47:35.160 |
all we are doing is regurgitating information, just like a good sales 00:47:42.480 |
Somebody told us what to say, and I'm going to take this script and I'm going 00:47:50.080 |
The power of the gospel is a changed life, is a power of God unto salvation 00:47:55.720 |
to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 00:48:01.160 |
You know, when we go to India, you know, again, going to India is, 00:48:06.240 |
the older I get, it's becoming very tiring, like physically. 00:48:09.480 |
16 hours on one flight, and then I get another four or five hours, 00:48:13.120 |
and then we get on another car to go five hours, and then we're at a hotel. 00:48:16.800 |
It's fairly comfortable, you know, and the food is delicious, you know, 00:48:21.240 |
and then we drive another hour and a half to two hours, and we have to make sure we 00:48:25.160 |
go to the bathroom because, you know, the bathroom facility is not good, 00:48:31.120 |
We don't know what's going to happen, especially with the persecution. 00:48:34.440 |
But man, every time I go, I feel like every single second I spend 00:48:43.320 |
You know, every time we go, you know, it's not a warm response, right? 00:48:48.040 |
They're not hostile, but it's not necessarily a warm response. 00:48:53.200 |
And I remember the very first year we went, we went to this one particular 00:48:56.280 |
village, and we started sharing the gospel with our testimony, and you could tell that 00:49:03.200 |
The men began to yell at their children and their wives to get out of the tent, 00:49:07.920 |
We didn't speak the language, but we knew that it was a very negative response. 00:49:11.720 |
So we got kind of nervous because there was a lot of people, a lot of men sitting 00:49:17.920 |
And it was clear because we started sharing the gospel openly. 00:49:21.400 |
Well, the village leader who happened to be sitting there, he stands up and he calms 00:49:25.160 |
everybody down, and he's speaking their language, and he says a few things, 00:49:32.240 |
We're able to finish the work, finish our presentation. 00:49:35.840 |
Then after it was done, you know, we went to the interpreters, 00:49:44.120 |
And sure enough, it confirmed what we were seeing. 00:49:48.640 |
And then the village leader stood up, and he basically calmed them down, 00:49:53.320 |
And the only reason why we were in that village is because that village leader 00:49:55.840 |
asked us to come because he knew we were doing a medical camp." 00:49:59.600 |
So he kind of calmed them down and said, "They're our guests. 00:50:03.040 |
You know, they're talking about Jesus, but he's, you know, he's not different 00:50:06.200 |
than our gods, and he was trying to, you know, like, water things down, 00:50:12.320 |
You know, how are they going to react when we begin to actually do the work?" 00:50:17.080 |
They're just kind of walking around, curious. 00:50:18.640 |
It's like, "Man, you know, I hope nothing happens here." 00:50:20.720 |
But once we started the work, slowly, they started coming and standing 00:50:24.880 |
Then we started doing eye exams and, you know, wound care, VBS was going on. 00:50:29.680 |
And so after about two to three hours, we had a packed house. 00:50:33.840 |
And these same guys who were angry were coming and standing in line, 00:50:37.520 |
and one by one, they're getting their eyes checked, wound care. 00:50:40.280 |
And then the most common response that we get, not only from that village, 00:50:44.240 |
but even all the other villages, is, "Why do you guys do this?" 00:50:51.520 |
He said, "We thought that you came here just to see the Christians. 00:50:55.400 |
But when we started to see that, you started opening up to Hindus." 00:50:59.200 |
And he said, "Man, you guys are doing great things." 00:51:02.320 |
And they would hold our hands, just grateful and thankful. 00:51:06.440 |
And they said, and this is the common thing that we hear, he said, 00:51:11.920 |
"Even our government doesn't come out this far because they're so remote." 00:51:17.560 |
In fact, the poor village people in India, the lowest caste people, 00:51:32.480 |
So they'll say, "Oh, we're all untouchables." 00:51:36.600 |
And say, "Even our own government doesn't come this far. 00:51:40.960 |
And you Christians are coming and you're willing to share all this, 00:51:43.640 |
and all these doctors and medical professionals and people come in here to do this." 00:51:51.520 |
And so every time that happens, it gives a platform for the pastors 00:52:00.960 |
And the answer is, because the God that we love did this for us. 00:52:07.880 |
So this agape love that we practice in the church is the platform 00:52:12.880 |
in which we stand to proclaim the love of Christ. 00:52:18.400 |
We cannot be a good witness if the love of Christ is just theoretical in speech only. 00:52:30.640 |
That's why this is directly linked to our vision. 00:52:36.080 |
We want as many non-Christians, we want as many family members to come to Christ, 00:52:40.360 |
know this Christ, and have their sins forgiven, 00:52:44.080 |
and have the hope that can only be found in Jesus Christ. 00:52:46.880 |
But the only way that we can have a platform to do this 00:52:49.560 |
is if we also practice what he practiced with us. 00:52:57.600 |
So my prayer for us as we go forward is, you know, some of you guys are very smart, 00:53:03.600 |
you have a lot of experience, maybe you have resources, 00:53:08.120 |
and all of these things can be used for God's glory. 00:53:12.520 |
But in the end, the Bible says, "If you want to bear fruit," what does he say? 00:53:19.720 |
You cannot bear fruit until you abide in me." 00:53:24.200 |
And the most central thing that God calls us to abide is his agape love. 00:53:34.320 |
and that would be what we are known for, that Christ may be exalted.