1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,300 Last week we looked at the question to start, who is my neighbor? 2 00:00:08,300 --> 00:00:13,540 But then Jesus kind of transposed it and reverses it to whose neighbor am I? 3 00:00:13,540 --> 00:00:18,960 That is the question we all left with last week is what kind of neighbor are you to the 4 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:20,280 people in your life? 5 00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:24,160 Not always wanting to look at, oh my neighbor this, my neighbor that, but what about you? 6 00:00:24,160 --> 00:00:27,540 What about the neighbor that you are to people? 7 00:00:27,540 --> 00:00:32,360 We looked at many different scriptures that Jesus really talks about as far as what does 8 00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:38,720 it look like to love God with everything and loving God by loving others. 9 00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:44,240 Jesus puts it on there that all the law and the prophets hang on those two things and 10 00:00:44,240 --> 00:00:48,840 I think that's a lot has to do with how we neighbor and do we neighbor well. 11 00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:54,360 But we're going to look at another aspect of not only the love side of this, but also 12 00:00:54,360 --> 00:01:01,600 the law side of this because there is a law of love in the scriptures and that might be 13 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:02,720 weird for you to hear. 14 00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:08,040 It might be weird to think of the love that you have for people is actually a law given 15 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:13,000 to us by the Bible and the reason why we don't like it is because we don't like that word 16 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:14,600 law. 17 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:17,360 That word law brings a lot of things out in us. 18 00:01:17,360 --> 00:01:22,080 When you hear the word law, what comes to mind? 19 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:27,240 If you're new, I ask questions, we talk, we have a nice discussion for the most part. 20 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:29,600 You hear the word law, what comes to mind? 21 00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:31,400 Rules, absolutely. 22 00:01:31,400 --> 00:01:33,680 Police, sure. 23 00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:36,680 Consequences, okay. 24 00:01:36,680 --> 00:01:38,480 Obedience. 25 00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:42,080 Punishment, and then up here. 26 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:44,080 Order, absolutely. 27 00:01:44,080 --> 00:01:47,040 Jail, yeah, okay. 28 00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:51,120 Maybe there's a testimony there about law with that individual, who knows. 29 00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:58,160 Law, it's an interesting word because law meant something extremely important in the 30 00:01:58,160 --> 00:02:05,360 Old Testament to the point where you had a whole religious system based on the laws, 31 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:10,480 the Levitical laws, the Ten Commandments, over 600 laws of the who, what, when, where, 32 00:02:10,480 --> 00:02:16,240 why we worship, what we eat, how we dress, how we act, how we act negatively to other 33 00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:23,560 people, consequences of certain sins, and all of these things, that it was a law that 34 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:24,560 was given. 35 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:29,720 And a lot of people don't like that about Christianity, that it's just this law. 36 00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:32,960 But if you're in the Old Testament, the law was life. 37 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:40,040 The law breathed life into you, the law took life from you, that everything was the law. 38 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:41,240 It brought order. 39 00:02:41,240 --> 00:02:43,000 It brought justice. 40 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:48,480 It saw the widow and the orphan, that is in the Old Testament and how when we get to the 41 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:54,720 New Testament, it's been, I'll just use the word perverted, by the rabbis into a money-making 42 00:02:54,720 --> 00:03:02,040 scheme, which is exactly what part of the world believes about the church, that they 43 00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:05,880 think that the law is now made profitable by the church. 44 00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:09,640 I just saw a couple weeks ago, there's a church, I believe it's in, well, I'm not even going 45 00:03:09,640 --> 00:03:10,960 to call it a church. 46 00:03:10,960 --> 00:03:16,520 There's an organization claiming to be a church that is selling almost like timeshares in 47 00:03:16,520 --> 00:03:17,520 heaven. 48 00:03:17,520 --> 00:03:18,520 Right? 49 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:22,160 Yeah, that's my thought. 50 00:03:22,160 --> 00:03:29,160 Like, you can secure for only $19.95, or whatever it is, hopefully heaven costs more than that, 51 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:37,680 but you know, maybe it's on sale, but understand that $19.95 and you can buy your spot in heaven. 52 00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:41,400 That is straight up heresy. 53 00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:47,560 You can't do, that's not how it works, but the church has gotten so off course of what 54 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:52,840 I think Jesus kind of set it up to do, and a lot of that has to do with money, a lot 55 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:57,920 of that has to do with authority, a lot of that has to do with kind of the rules around 56 00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:05,280 church, but I guarantee you that's not what drew Scott to Munster Church. 57 00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:09,280 It wasn't because we had all these laws, because once you get to know Scott, that actually 58 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:15,480 makes him really uncomfortable, but understanding that the religiosity of the church, the clubness 59 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:20,560 of the church will always be there, there needs to be a foundation, but how we step 60 00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:29,960 forward from that tells a lot about what we understand of the Bible, namely, Jesus' words. 61 00:04:29,960 --> 00:04:37,280 And so what we're looking at today is how love completes the law, that the law that 62 00:04:37,280 --> 00:04:41,040 we live out, right, let's just say the Ten Commandments, because we're not going to go 63 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:45,680 through all 600 of all the other laws, ceremonial and food and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, 64 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:46,840 but let's just say the Ten Commandments. 65 00:04:46,840 --> 00:04:51,240 I've said this before, right, you can't say that I'm going to be a believer, but I'm going 66 00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:52,240 to murder a little bit. 67 00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:53,540 It doesn't work that way. 68 00:04:53,540 --> 00:04:54,640 You can't do both. 69 00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:58,680 You can't have your heavenly cake and eat it too in the worldly way. 70 00:04:58,680 --> 00:05:06,040 It doesn't work, but what Jesus is saying is that to walk out the law through him, which 71 00:05:06,040 --> 00:05:10,840 Christ it is, it needs to be done with love. 72 00:05:10,840 --> 00:05:18,340 But I know that some of us here grew up in churches where that was probably not experienced, 73 00:05:18,340 --> 00:05:21,480 that it was mainly law-based. 74 00:05:21,480 --> 00:05:25,340 It was the do's and the don'ts, and if you did the don'ts, you did it in the basement 75 00:05:25,340 --> 00:05:28,160 where no one saw, okay? 76 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:32,200 Then you could go up and down through all of the different traditions of the church. 77 00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:36,040 I'll just take the Christian Reformed Church. 78 00:05:36,040 --> 00:05:37,160 Are they consistent? 79 00:05:37,160 --> 00:05:38,160 Not really. 80 00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:39,480 Do people follow some of them? 81 00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:40,480 Sure. 82 00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:41,480 Do they follow all of them? 83 00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:42,480 No. 84 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:47,360 And so there's this basis of what we can make this system be, the right and wrong, the do's 85 00:05:47,360 --> 00:05:49,600 and the don'ts. 86 00:05:49,600 --> 00:05:55,440 But what Jesus is saying is if you understand him, you understand his love for you and the 87 00:05:55,440 --> 00:06:00,000 way you're supposed to live out that love, it's not a scoreboard. 88 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:01,200 It's not a pros and cons. 89 00:06:01,200 --> 00:06:04,560 It's not a walking through the day going, well, that person hurt me, so I'm going to 90 00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:05,560 hurt them. 91 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:06,560 No, no. 92 00:06:06,560 --> 00:06:07,560 No. 93 00:06:07,560 --> 00:06:13,420 That love not only fulfills but completes the law should be actually freeing for all 94 00:06:13,420 --> 00:06:14,420 of us. 95 00:06:14,420 --> 00:06:20,880 And we're going to start with a section of Scripture all of us know for the most part, 96 00:06:20,880 --> 00:06:23,080 if you've been in church even a little bit. 97 00:06:23,080 --> 00:06:27,240 A lot of times we hear these verses at weddings. 98 00:06:27,240 --> 00:06:28,860 It's 1 Corinthians 13. 99 00:06:28,860 --> 00:06:34,320 This is Paul writing to a church that was really messed up, really lost its way, all 100 00:06:34,320 --> 00:06:36,400 having to do with the gifts. 101 00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:41,400 We talk about spiritual gifts a lot and in the chapters prior to chapter 13, he's talking 102 00:06:41,400 --> 00:06:44,720 about how we can love others using our gifts. 103 00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:47,680 The teachers teach, the preachers preach, right? 104 00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:49,240 The coffee makers make coffee. 105 00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:55,200 All of the giftings are for the church to move forward in love. 106 00:06:55,200 --> 00:06:59,520 Yet in the church of Corinth, it was, well, my gifts are greater than your gifts. 107 00:06:59,520 --> 00:07:00,660 I have all the gifts. 108 00:07:00,660 --> 00:07:02,800 You have none gifts. 109 00:07:02,800 --> 00:07:03,800 You're not good at your gifting. 110 00:07:03,800 --> 00:07:06,080 I am the gifting genius. 111 00:07:06,080 --> 00:07:09,240 That's all the stuff that was going on in Corinth at that time. 112 00:07:09,240 --> 00:07:14,800 So Paul has to set them straight and he starts in the beginning, verse 1 of chapter 13. 113 00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:20,320 If I speak in tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a 114 00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:21,880 clanging cymbal. 115 00:07:21,880 --> 00:07:26,160 And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have 116 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:33,600 all faith as to remove mountains but have not love, I am nothing. 117 00:07:33,600 --> 00:07:38,840 If I give away all that I have and if I deliver my body to be burned but I have not love, 118 00:07:38,840 --> 00:07:41,200 I have gained nothing. 119 00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:43,200 Leave that up there for a second. 120 00:07:43,200 --> 00:07:46,680 It really makes you look at nothing differently, doesn't it? 121 00:07:46,680 --> 00:07:52,560 That if I'm not, if I don't have love, all of these great spiritual things, but if I'm 122 00:07:52,560 --> 00:07:57,360 not walking them out in love, I am nothing. 123 00:07:57,360 --> 00:07:59,580 So let's kind of back into this. 124 00:07:59,580 --> 00:08:01,640 So what does that even look like? 125 00:08:01,640 --> 00:08:05,760 I mean, prophetic powers and understanding all the mysteries and knowledge, having a 126 00:08:05,760 --> 00:08:11,940 PhD level understanding of God's Word, how does that walk out without love? 127 00:08:11,940 --> 00:08:14,960 There's a reason why Paul's saying it this way because people were doing that. 128 00:08:14,960 --> 00:08:19,280 They were doing all of these things and not having love in their heart for their neighbor, 129 00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:24,800 not having maybe even love for God in their heart, but they're walking all of that out. 130 00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:25,940 How does that look? 131 00:08:25,940 --> 00:08:28,080 How does that even work? 132 00:08:28,080 --> 00:08:31,840 It comes with ultimate judgment. 133 00:08:31,840 --> 00:08:34,520 And I think we all would agree the church does a great job of that, and I mean that 134 00:08:34,520 --> 00:08:36,400 sarcastically. 135 00:08:36,400 --> 00:08:43,300 That we all believe or we've been taught that we have the opportunity to judge the world. 136 00:08:43,300 --> 00:08:48,640 Yet in the scripture it says, judge and ye be judged because one day we all are going 137 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:50,360 to be. 138 00:08:50,360 --> 00:08:53,620 And it's going to be the judge that matters and that is God. 139 00:08:53,620 --> 00:08:58,680 Yet we like to be and have little judgments all over the place, and it's really the judgments 140 00:08:58,680 --> 00:09:04,280 that lead us to not love that individual, to not see that individual. 141 00:09:04,280 --> 00:09:08,360 And really I think where the church gets it wrong, and I think that's what Paul is talking 142 00:09:08,360 --> 00:09:10,080 about. 143 00:09:10,080 --> 00:09:15,840 That if we are as a church, let's just use Buntzer Church, if we are known for judging 144 00:09:15,840 --> 00:09:20,560 others without any kind of relationship, without any kind of discipleship, without knowing 145 00:09:20,560 --> 00:09:25,480 anybody, we're just a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 146 00:09:25,480 --> 00:09:32,560 I remember I was at Lansing Christian this past year and I did it at Southwest Christian 147 00:09:32,560 --> 00:09:39,560 and I had kids, I think three or four of them, as I started to read this section of scripture 148 00:09:39,560 --> 00:09:41,960 I just had them yell. 149 00:09:41,960 --> 00:09:44,700 And it was, Nikki was there, it was deafening, right? 150 00:09:44,700 --> 00:09:46,500 They were loud. 151 00:09:46,500 --> 00:09:51,540 And then what we talked about was if I'm not loving in my heart toward that person, even 152 00:09:51,540 --> 00:09:56,600 someone that's different from me, maybe someone I'm even uncomfortable with, but if I'm going 153 00:09:56,600 --> 00:10:00,200 to come at them with judgment, if I'm going to come at them with hatred, if I'm going 154 00:10:00,200 --> 00:10:05,920 to come at them as you are a project that I need to fix, all they're going to hear is 155 00:10:05,920 --> 00:10:07,440 a junior high kid yelling. 156 00:10:07,440 --> 00:10:12,880 But friends, there are churches that immediately when the churches open their mouth, it's just 157 00:10:12,880 --> 00:10:14,800 clanging cymbals and gongs. 158 00:10:14,800 --> 00:10:19,800 And I don't know about you, but that's painful. 159 00:10:19,800 --> 00:10:24,960 That what Paul is saying here is that if we have all of this understanding, then we would 160 00:10:24,960 --> 00:10:27,600 be getting to this love place. 161 00:10:27,600 --> 00:10:29,360 And I said it last week, I'll say it again this week. 162 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:31,040 I'll probably say it next week. 163 00:10:31,040 --> 00:10:38,560 Love doesn't necessarily mean that you accept all things, but it also means you're not going 164 00:10:38,560 --> 00:10:41,440 to place yourself over that person. 165 00:10:41,440 --> 00:10:45,400 That there's a way to come alongside those people that are very different from you in 166 00:10:45,400 --> 00:10:52,040 life, even in some grandiose ways, and still love them as a person. 167 00:10:52,040 --> 00:10:54,800 I'm pretty sure that's what Jesus did last week. 168 00:10:54,800 --> 00:11:00,200 That is what the good Samaritan did to someone who he culturally should have hated. 169 00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:01,200 We talked about that. 170 00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:02,760 They hated each other. 171 00:11:02,760 --> 00:11:08,280 Those relationships were not built on anything good, but he had compassion for them. 172 00:11:08,280 --> 00:11:12,640 He loved that individual and then gave more money to make sure that they were taken care 173 00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:15,480 of. 174 00:11:15,480 --> 00:11:20,580 Paul's continuing to walk through what Mark 12 was talking about. 175 00:11:20,580 --> 00:11:25,680 We'll put Mark 12 up here just so we get a little refresher. 176 00:11:25,680 --> 00:11:27,520 The scribe said to him, you are right, teacher. 177 00:11:27,520 --> 00:11:32,200 You have truly said that he is one and there is no other beside him, talking about God. 178 00:11:32,200 --> 00:11:36,280 To love him with all of our heart and with all our understanding and with all our strength 179 00:11:36,280 --> 00:11:42,520 and to love one's neighbor as yourself is much more than all the burnt offerings and 180 00:11:42,520 --> 00:11:43,520 sacrifices. 181 00:11:43,520 --> 00:11:49,240 So this understanding of what the law actually means should actually give you a little indication. 182 00:11:49,240 --> 00:11:53,360 This is a little bit of a rabbit trail, why they wanted to kill Jesus so bad because Jesus 183 00:11:53,360 --> 00:11:58,160 was taking everything that the scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the temple had made 184 00:11:58,160 --> 00:12:05,140 the law and he's kind of turning it up on its head. 185 00:12:05,140 --> 00:12:11,300 The church then was looking at people with dollar signs and authority and power. 186 00:12:11,300 --> 00:12:14,680 Jesus came to be counter-cultural that way and say, no, no, no, no. 187 00:12:14,680 --> 00:12:19,120 It's all about the kingdom that is on earth as it is in heaven and you have a part to 188 00:12:19,120 --> 00:12:24,640 play, that you are a part of the kingdom of God. 189 00:12:24,640 --> 00:12:27,100 And there's things that we need to do. 190 00:12:27,100 --> 00:12:32,660 So if we have the greatest commandment, love God, love people, and we see the way of love 191 00:12:32,660 --> 00:12:41,020 is going to be how we kind of should walk out this life, then why is it so hard? 192 00:12:41,020 --> 00:12:46,100 Why is loving people so hard sometimes? 193 00:12:46,100 --> 00:12:51,960 Because I'll just offer a suggestion, this is going to make everybody uncomfortable and 194 00:12:51,960 --> 00:12:56,580 that's okay, it's because we think we're better than people. 195 00:12:56,580 --> 00:12:58,760 Because we have a prejudice against people. 196 00:12:58,760 --> 00:13:00,700 It's part of our sin nature. 197 00:13:00,700 --> 00:13:06,840 If sin is so wrapped up in a life for anybody to be against God, then it's not going to 198 00:13:06,840 --> 00:13:09,260 be for anything, really. 199 00:13:09,260 --> 00:13:13,620 But if we have that active sin in our life and that depravity, which we as reformed believers 200 00:13:13,620 --> 00:13:20,540 believe we all have, depravity, a life bent against God, then really we hate anything 201 00:13:20,540 --> 00:13:24,260 that God's created. 202 00:13:24,260 --> 00:13:26,540 And namely us. 203 00:13:26,540 --> 00:13:31,820 Because we are created in God's image and if we are depraved people that want to hate 204 00:13:31,820 --> 00:13:35,700 God with everything, then we're going to hate his creation. 205 00:13:35,700 --> 00:13:42,900 Now I don't ever hear people come into my office and say, pastor, I hate trees. 206 00:13:42,900 --> 00:13:46,620 Nope, never hear that. 207 00:13:46,620 --> 00:13:50,860 But I'll get people that say, I can't stand, now a lot of times people won't say hate because 208 00:13:50,860 --> 00:13:54,500 I won't come into a pastor and say that they hate somebody else, they're smarter than that. 209 00:13:54,500 --> 00:13:59,180 But they may talk that way about another person. 210 00:13:59,180 --> 00:14:05,480 Notice that in love and understanding the law, like we talked about last week, being 211 00:14:05,480 --> 00:14:08,520 created in God's image, we have a job to do. 212 00:14:08,520 --> 00:14:13,860 Our job is to reflect Christ, reflect the cross in our life and we need to do that by 213 00:14:13,860 --> 00:14:18,700 ways of love. 214 00:14:18,700 --> 00:14:26,240 So understanding being a good neighbor means we should be a loving neighbor. 215 00:14:26,240 --> 00:14:29,500 Now some people take this idea of love into being a doormat. 216 00:14:29,500 --> 00:14:32,980 Well, if I'm supposed to love everybody, I can't stand for anything. 217 00:14:32,980 --> 00:14:35,940 You are missing the point. 218 00:14:35,940 --> 00:14:41,220 The understanding of following God, following Christ and what he is saying in the scripture 219 00:14:41,220 --> 00:14:47,020 that I am called to love regardless if it makes me comfortable or not is to be just 220 00:14:47,020 --> 00:14:53,340 that, a person that people can rely on, a person that people can go to. 221 00:14:53,340 --> 00:14:55,860 Because if you guys are the ones making up the church, guess what? 222 00:14:55,860 --> 00:14:59,860 The church would be a place that people want to come to, that they can rely on, that they 223 00:14:59,860 --> 00:15:01,540 can go to for guidance. 224 00:15:01,540 --> 00:15:06,180 But if all they get when they come into the doors is a bunch of banging gongs and cymbals, 225 00:15:06,180 --> 00:15:09,180 I don't think they are staying. 226 00:15:09,180 --> 00:15:13,100 Let's be honest, we are not staying if that is all we are going to experience. 227 00:15:13,100 --> 00:15:21,940 What Paul is really getting at is first and foremost, those that call themselves believers 228 00:15:21,940 --> 00:15:24,980 need to love other believers. 229 00:15:24,980 --> 00:15:29,780 That one of the things Paul is talking about in the church in Corinth is churches that 230 00:15:29,780 --> 00:15:32,820 are just divided. 231 00:15:32,820 --> 00:15:34,500 A house divided cannot stand. 232 00:15:34,500 --> 00:15:38,660 A lot of people attribute Lincoln to that, but Jesus said it first and I think he is 233 00:15:38,660 --> 00:15:39,660 more important. 234 00:15:39,660 --> 00:15:43,820 But it is talking about the church. 235 00:15:43,820 --> 00:15:47,700 For some of us, you may think this sermon series doesn't apply because I don't know 236 00:15:47,700 --> 00:15:49,780 anybody in my life that doesn't know Jesus. 237 00:15:49,780 --> 00:15:54,500 I am going to lovingly say you have to get out a little more, you have to meet some people, 238 00:15:54,500 --> 00:16:00,740 understand that how people see the church could be their first and only understanding 239 00:16:00,740 --> 00:16:02,420 of who Jesus is. 240 00:16:02,420 --> 00:16:07,380 Is how the church behaves, how the church treats others. 241 00:16:07,380 --> 00:16:13,460 How the church treats others that are different than the majority of people in the seats. 242 00:16:13,460 --> 00:16:15,460 That is what Paul is getting at. 243 00:16:15,460 --> 00:16:19,940 Paul is getting at the fact that if Christians aren't getting it, how in the world is the 244 00:16:19,940 --> 00:16:21,420 church going to get it? 245 00:16:21,420 --> 00:16:26,220 If the church is the bride of Christ standing on the foundation of the gospel, yet we fail 246 00:16:26,220 --> 00:16:35,180 to love others, to recognize and see them, then what are we doing? 247 00:16:35,180 --> 00:16:40,020 Then how can the church be advanced? 248 00:16:40,020 --> 00:16:44,900 Paul pulls in the book of Timothy, he pulls an understanding of what kind of healthy and 249 00:16:44,900 --> 00:16:49,220 unhealthy churches look like and it is from 1 Timothy 1. 250 00:16:49,220 --> 00:16:55,340 As I urge you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain 251 00:16:55,340 --> 00:17:00,900 persons not to teach any different doctrine nor devote themselves to myths and endless 252 00:17:00,900 --> 00:17:08,660 genealogies which promote speculations rather than stewardship from God that is by faith. 253 00:17:08,660 --> 00:17:14,220 The aim of your charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and 254 00:17:14,220 --> 00:17:15,860 a sincere faith. 255 00:17:15,860 --> 00:17:21,220 Certain persons by swerving from these have wandered away into vain discussions, desiring 256 00:17:21,220 --> 00:17:27,300 to be the teachers of the law without understanding either of what they are saying or the things 257 00:17:27,300 --> 00:17:30,700 about which they make confident assertions. 258 00:17:30,700 --> 00:17:33,420 Leave that up. 259 00:17:33,420 --> 00:17:36,980 This is how churches fall apart. 260 00:17:36,980 --> 00:17:40,460 They stray from the preaching of the word. 261 00:17:40,460 --> 00:17:45,900 The preaching of the word, yes, it is not always comfortable, it is not always easy, but it 262 00:17:45,900 --> 00:17:52,940 is pretty clear that if we are called to love God with everything, heart, soul, mind, strength, 263 00:17:52,940 --> 00:17:59,220 and love our neighbor as our self, then all of that should be what we draw to every Sunday. 264 00:17:59,220 --> 00:18:01,900 In your personal devotions, that is what you should draw to. 265 00:18:01,900 --> 00:18:05,340 Your devotion should not be politically cited at all. 266 00:18:05,340 --> 00:18:10,780 They should be the pure preaching and reading of the word. 267 00:18:10,780 --> 00:18:12,740 Because look what happens. 268 00:18:12,740 --> 00:18:18,180 When you start to give people in authority the opportunity to teach and they don't have 269 00:18:18,180 --> 00:18:25,660 a clear understanding of scripture, then they are trying to give what they don't have. 270 00:18:25,660 --> 00:18:27,300 And that is how churches go astray. 271 00:18:27,300 --> 00:18:28,900 That is how families go astray. 272 00:18:28,900 --> 00:18:30,700 That is how households go astray. 273 00:18:30,700 --> 00:18:34,780 That is how organizations go astray. 274 00:18:34,780 --> 00:18:38,180 Maybe you are sitting here today and you are in the upper management of your job. 275 00:18:38,180 --> 00:18:42,820 And if you didn't know what you were doing or you didn't understand that organization's 276 00:18:42,820 --> 00:18:50,860 kind of vision and mission, then you can very easily take your group away from the organization. 277 00:18:50,860 --> 00:18:56,220 It's when people come into organizations with agendas, they come in not fully understanding. 278 00:18:56,220 --> 00:19:02,540 What I love what he says, they have wandered away into vain discussions. 279 00:19:02,540 --> 00:19:08,380 Discussions that don't mean anything. 280 00:19:08,380 --> 00:19:13,420 But when we have an agenda, when we have a point of view that we want to hammer home, 281 00:19:13,420 --> 00:19:17,220 we will just keep talking until no one is there listening. 282 00:19:17,220 --> 00:19:19,780 And then we think we have won. 283 00:19:19,780 --> 00:19:20,780 No. 284 00:19:20,780 --> 00:19:23,740 Could not be farther from the truth. 285 00:19:23,740 --> 00:19:28,220 What Paul is talking about and what he is writing to Timothy is to be careful what you 286 00:19:28,220 --> 00:19:35,660 allow in but also be careful that it doesn't replace loving others. 287 00:19:35,660 --> 00:19:38,780 And we can do that all day. 288 00:19:38,780 --> 00:19:43,640 And culturally, different generations brought different things into the church and the church 289 00:19:43,640 --> 00:19:50,420 had positive responses and negative responses to all of those things, to all of those ideas. 290 00:19:50,420 --> 00:19:51,420 How do we know? 291 00:19:51,420 --> 00:19:55,300 Look at the amount of denominations we have. 292 00:19:55,300 --> 00:19:59,340 Numerations that broke apart because we wanted to go to chairs, not pews. 293 00:19:59,340 --> 00:20:00,340 All right. 294 00:20:00,340 --> 00:20:01,900 We will start our own church. 295 00:20:01,900 --> 00:20:05,180 Oh, we just want organ music. 296 00:20:05,180 --> 00:20:06,180 We want drums. 297 00:20:06,180 --> 00:20:07,180 No. 298 00:20:07,180 --> 00:20:08,180 We can't coexist. 299 00:20:08,180 --> 00:20:10,380 We can't be in the same place. 300 00:20:10,380 --> 00:20:13,220 We can't be in the same family. 301 00:20:13,220 --> 00:20:14,220 You all know this. 302 00:20:14,220 --> 00:20:15,220 I have three boys. 303 00:20:15,220 --> 00:20:16,220 They are all very different. 304 00:20:16,220 --> 00:20:17,740 They all love different kinds of music. 305 00:20:17,740 --> 00:20:22,260 Does that mean that when one gets his choice of music being played, the other ones leave? 306 00:20:22,260 --> 00:20:25,020 No, they endure. 307 00:20:25,020 --> 00:20:27,100 And what are we to do in the church? 308 00:20:27,100 --> 00:20:29,420 We are supposed to endure with one another. 309 00:20:29,420 --> 00:20:31,940 We're supposed to work towards compromise. 310 00:20:31,940 --> 00:20:38,460 We are to work towards reconciliation and working it out in love, never compromising 311 00:20:38,460 --> 00:20:43,380 the word of God, but maybe our understanding, not so much our understanding of it, but our 312 00:20:43,380 --> 00:20:47,060 understanding of how we walk alongside people. 313 00:20:47,060 --> 00:20:51,140 Because that's what the church is meant to do. 314 00:20:51,140 --> 00:20:53,780 It's not all of you come to us. 315 00:20:53,780 --> 00:20:58,340 Be just like us so we all look the same. 316 00:20:58,340 --> 00:20:59,820 I don't want to pastor that church. 317 00:20:59,820 --> 00:21:02,060 I don't think you want to go to that church. 318 00:21:02,060 --> 00:21:05,300 But the church is meant to get out and to be neighborly. 319 00:21:05,300 --> 00:21:09,660 The church is put in a neighborhood for a reason. 320 00:21:09,660 --> 00:21:14,380 We're not over in some industry area where it's just a bunch of industrial. 321 00:21:14,380 --> 00:21:16,460 No, we're put right here, Ridge and Holman. 322 00:21:16,460 --> 00:21:19,660 We have houses there, there, there, all over the place. 323 00:21:19,660 --> 00:21:23,860 So how does the church neighbor? 324 00:21:23,860 --> 00:21:27,300 It neighbors well when the leaders lead. 325 00:21:27,300 --> 00:21:32,340 It neighbors well when people with those giftings are working in those giftings. 326 00:21:32,340 --> 00:21:37,740 It loves and neighbors well when all of those spots are filled, when people are working 327 00:21:37,740 --> 00:21:41,620 in their gifted area and they're doing it in love. 328 00:21:41,620 --> 00:21:46,540 Because these don't work, churches don't work, programs don't work when all it is is banging 329 00:21:46,540 --> 00:21:53,180 gongs and clanging cymbals. 330 00:21:53,180 --> 00:22:00,460 To finish up that thought from Timothy, now we know that the law is good if one uses it 331 00:22:00,460 --> 00:22:06,180 lawfully understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the 332 00:22:06,180 --> 00:22:12,440 lawless and the disobedient, for the ungodly, the sinners, the unholy and the profane. 333 00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:13,940 That is what the law is given. 334 00:22:13,940 --> 00:22:18,380 The law is given to change those people. 335 00:22:18,380 --> 00:22:21,220 Now for some of you that just made you uncomfortable. 336 00:22:21,220 --> 00:22:25,020 So wait, what I believe in the Bible has to change my life? 337 00:22:25,020 --> 00:22:31,860 Yeah, it better because you have that little sin thing in you that the Holy Spirit comes 338 00:22:31,860 --> 00:22:39,300 in, blows that up and you now have a daily fight against it with someone at your back. 339 00:22:39,300 --> 00:22:41,420 At the cross oversees that. 340 00:22:41,420 --> 00:22:44,420 They see that transformation. 341 00:22:44,420 --> 00:22:47,740 That's why just because Scott got baptized today doesn't mean that tomorrow is going 342 00:22:47,740 --> 00:22:52,420 to be everything great but he has that perspective of Christ. 343 00:22:52,420 --> 00:22:57,900 He has that perspective of opportunity to go out and love people. 344 00:22:57,900 --> 00:23:04,220 Getting baptized and having faith is more than just hell insurance. 345 00:23:04,220 --> 00:23:07,060 I learned it that way that you pray the prayer, right? 346 00:23:07,060 --> 00:23:12,700 You get the Bible or the certificate because now you're not going to go to hell. 347 00:23:12,700 --> 00:23:14,420 That's not the best. 348 00:23:14,420 --> 00:23:20,180 That's not the best understanding because that happened when I was in junior high. 349 00:23:20,180 --> 00:23:21,840 I was saved in junior high. 350 00:23:21,840 --> 00:23:22,840 Way to go. 351 00:23:22,840 --> 00:23:25,740 But life's not over in junior high, is it? 352 00:23:25,740 --> 00:23:26,740 Right? 353 00:23:26,740 --> 00:23:31,460 You get to high school, you get to grown-upsville, you go do all the adult things but you have 354 00:23:31,460 --> 00:23:32,460 that perspective. 355 00:23:32,460 --> 00:23:33,740 You have a conviction. 356 00:23:33,740 --> 00:23:37,620 When you're about to enter that sin area, you have a conviction. 357 00:23:37,620 --> 00:23:39,020 You may fall, you may not. 358 00:23:39,020 --> 00:23:42,380 You may fight successfully against sin but there's grace. 359 00:23:42,380 --> 00:23:43,460 There's forgiveness. 360 00:23:43,460 --> 00:23:47,780 Do you understand, do junior highers, Nikki, understand all this by seventh grade? 361 00:23:47,780 --> 00:23:48,780 No. 362 00:23:48,780 --> 00:23:51,580 Do adults always understand this by 50? 363 00:23:51,580 --> 00:23:52,580 Probably not. 364 00:23:52,580 --> 00:23:54,720 But we work at it together. 365 00:23:54,720 --> 00:23:59,260 We neighbor well as the church. 366 00:23:59,260 --> 00:24:04,660 I want to jump, Claire, let's jump to that 1 Corinthians 13. 367 00:24:04,660 --> 00:24:06,700 And now we get these verses. 368 00:24:06,700 --> 00:24:11,020 You hear them a lot in weddings and if you had it in your wedding, that's awesome, right? 369 00:24:11,020 --> 00:24:14,500 It's not really what Paul meant but it's still beautiful language. 370 00:24:14,500 --> 00:24:15,500 I get it. 371 00:24:15,500 --> 00:24:17,420 But we all know this or we've heard it. 372 00:24:17,420 --> 00:24:19,000 Love is patient and kind. 373 00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:20,540 Love does not envy or boast. 374 00:24:20,540 --> 00:24:21,980 It is not arrogant or rude. 375 00:24:21,980 --> 00:24:24,020 It does not insist on its own way. 376 00:24:24,020 --> 00:24:26,060 It is not irritable or resentful. 377 00:24:26,060 --> 00:24:30,380 It does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. 378 00:24:30,380 --> 00:24:37,080 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 379 00:24:37,080 --> 00:24:39,020 Love never ends. 380 00:24:39,020 --> 00:24:41,820 As for prophecies, they will pass away. 381 00:24:41,820 --> 00:24:43,880 As for tongues, they will cease. 382 00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:48,420 As for knowledge, it will pass away. 383 00:24:48,420 --> 00:24:49,420 Leave this one up. 384 00:24:49,420 --> 00:24:53,940 This, and I may have said this before here or not. 385 00:24:53,940 --> 00:24:55,300 I don't know. 386 00:24:55,300 --> 00:24:59,940 This is always for me a good gut check of how I'm doing in this life as a believer, 387 00:24:59,940 --> 00:25:02,500 as Christian Jim or Jim the Christian. 388 00:25:02,500 --> 00:25:09,900 This is a great reminder because where you see love, the word love, I put my name in. 389 00:25:09,900 --> 00:25:12,380 And that's something you can do every day. 390 00:25:12,380 --> 00:25:18,620 That if I'm going to live out my Christianity the best I can on this side of glory, then 391 00:25:18,620 --> 00:25:20,620 Jim must be patient. 392 00:25:20,620 --> 00:25:22,440 Jim must be kind. 393 00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:25,220 Jim must not envy or boast. 394 00:25:25,220 --> 00:25:27,640 Jim's not arrogant or rude. 395 00:25:27,640 --> 00:25:30,020 Jim does not insist in his own way. 396 00:25:30,020 --> 00:25:32,500 Jim is not irritable or resentful. 397 00:25:32,500 --> 00:25:37,140 Jim does not rejoice in wrongdoing but Jim rejoices in the truth. 398 00:25:37,140 --> 00:25:42,780 So hopefully Jim can bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, and endure all 399 00:25:42,780 --> 00:25:43,780 things. 400 00:25:43,780 --> 00:25:47,120 Now it kind of falls in on itself where Jim never ends. 401 00:25:47,120 --> 00:25:49,740 That we will all at one point end. 402 00:25:49,740 --> 00:25:51,220 But you understand what I'm trying to do. 403 00:25:51,220 --> 00:25:57,780 You understand what I think Paul is reminding us, taking the words of Christ to a very practical 404 00:25:57,780 --> 00:25:58,780 way. 405 00:25:58,780 --> 00:26:00,020 But some of you need more visuals and that's fine. 406 00:26:00,020 --> 00:26:01,940 We got them. 407 00:26:01,940 --> 00:26:05,500 I would love to challenge the entire congregation, there's some up here, there's some in the 408 00:26:05,500 --> 00:26:10,580 back, to take this sheet this week and really work on it. 409 00:26:10,580 --> 00:26:17,020 What this sheet is, and you can put that up there with all the lines, is a daily reminder 410 00:26:17,020 --> 00:26:21,100 or an exercise for you. 411 00:26:21,100 --> 00:26:24,020 So Wendy, if you take this sheet, you fill it out for Wendy. 412 00:26:24,020 --> 00:26:28,420 You don't fill it out for the person next to you or the person in front of you. 413 00:26:28,420 --> 00:26:32,900 This won't go well if husbands, you take this and fill this out for your wives and vice 414 00:26:32,900 --> 00:26:33,900 versa. 415 00:26:33,900 --> 00:26:35,700 Won't go well, alright. 416 00:26:35,700 --> 00:26:37,640 Kids, fill this out as well. 417 00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:43,180 This might be a great way to help you start that kind of mindset for school. 418 00:26:43,180 --> 00:26:45,320 I will be more patient with. 419 00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:46,740 I will be more kind with. 420 00:26:46,740 --> 00:26:48,420 I will be more happy for. 421 00:26:48,420 --> 00:26:50,420 I will celebrate the victories of. 422 00:26:50,420 --> 00:26:52,500 I will be more supportive of. 423 00:26:52,500 --> 00:26:57,580 I will do what is asked of me by your parents. 424 00:26:57,580 --> 00:26:58,580 That's for the kids. 425 00:26:58,580 --> 00:26:59,580 I will forgive. 426 00:26:59,580 --> 00:27:02,140 I will endure the things unintentionally done by. 427 00:27:02,140 --> 00:27:04,020 I believe the best of. 428 00:27:04,020 --> 00:27:05,820 I will hope for the betterment of. 429 00:27:05,820 --> 00:27:09,820 I will step in and help if bad things are happening too. 430 00:27:09,820 --> 00:27:13,100 I will rejoice in the truth with. 431 00:27:13,100 --> 00:27:18,540 It takes it from the words on the page and puts it in your hands and your feet. 432 00:27:18,540 --> 00:27:24,260 Because if we are looking at this through the biblical eyes that we are meant to, this 433 00:27:24,260 --> 00:27:27,980 should be the mission of the church. 434 00:27:27,980 --> 00:27:32,180 If it is the mission of the church, then it's the mission for you and your house, it's for 435 00:27:32,180 --> 00:27:33,180 me and my house. 436 00:27:33,180 --> 00:27:34,680 It's for you and your company. 437 00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:36,340 It's for me and this organization. 438 00:27:36,340 --> 00:27:42,700 It's for you and your neighborhoods and in your families. 439 00:27:42,700 --> 00:27:47,780 Because I wonder if we all did this and took this seriously, how many of these people or 440 00:27:47,780 --> 00:27:52,260 how many of those blanks would actually be family members? 441 00:27:52,260 --> 00:27:54,700 I wonder if it would be people here in the church. 442 00:27:54,700 --> 00:28:00,740 Again, if the church isn't going to get it, if the church isn't going to show the love 443 00:28:00,740 --> 00:28:06,180 of Christ, then what are we doing? 444 00:28:06,180 --> 00:28:12,500 Because 1 Corinthians 13 ends with this one simple verse. 445 00:28:12,500 --> 00:28:17,700 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three. 446 00:28:17,700 --> 00:28:20,980 The greatest of these is love. 447 00:28:20,980 --> 00:28:26,220 Because by loving with the love of Christ, even in the midst of disagreement, even in 448 00:28:26,220 --> 00:28:33,660 the midst of people that are very different from you and me, if we can love them, then 449 00:28:33,660 --> 00:28:37,040 the faith and the hope comes with it. 450 00:28:37,040 --> 00:28:40,980 One day guys, we are going to be face to face with God and we don't have to worry about 451 00:28:40,980 --> 00:28:43,300 all this stuff. 452 00:28:43,300 --> 00:28:48,540 But what we need to take away is that we are called to love others. 453 00:28:48,540 --> 00:28:55,700 We love God by loving others and that I think is something that the world desperately needs 454 00:28:55,700 --> 00:28:58,860 to see more in the church. 455 00:28:58,860 --> 00:29:14,500 Let's pray.