The Reality of Agape Love: Beyond Human Effort

[00:00:02] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
If you'll turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 13.
[00:00:08] We're looking at verses 4 through 8 and then verse 13 as well.
[00:00:24] Being that New Year's is this week and a new year upon us and starting 2026,
[00:00:31] It's kind of aimed at that, but more so of how we are to live as Christians and how we are to show the love that Christ gives to us, to Him, and to others that are in our lives and living for Him.
[00:00:58] Hear now the reading of God's Word.
[00:01:02] Charity suffereth long and is kind.
[00:01:07] Charity envieth not.
[00:01:10] Charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil,
[00:01:27] Rejoice not in iniquity, but rejoice in the truth.
[00:01:34] Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
[00:01:42] Charity never faileth.
[00:01:45] But whether there be prophecies, they shall fail, whether there be tongues, they shall cease.
[00:01:52] Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
[00:01:55] I'm going to continue reading from 9 to the end of the chapter.
[00:02:01] For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
[00:02:11] When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
[00:02:23] For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face.
[00:02:28] Now I know in part, but then shall I know even as I am also known.
[00:02:34] and now abideth faith hope charity these three but the greatest of these is charity and so as you know this is a a very familiar passage read a lot in
[00:02:52] Weddings, but it is more so than for weddings.
[00:02:56] It's more so than just for a new family starting out as a husband and a wife.
[00:03:02] It is for believers all the time in how we are to live.
[00:03:08] As it describes what love is, you notice and hopefully when the text was on the screen it was
[00:03:17] It had the word charity.
[00:03:19] If you have versions other than King James that says love, it is the word love that is used in the Greek.
[00:03:27] The word
[00:03:30] The word agape, which is the word for God's love, His unconditional and uncompromising and unselfish love of us that He has, and that is the love that drove Jesus to come for us, to become man, to take our sins on Himself, to die for our sins, and to rise victoriously over sin and death.
[00:03:55] But then the writers for the King James had wanted to use charity to kind of set it apart, just in using that English word, but it is love.
[00:04:05] In Greek, there are four words to describe love, so it can be more specific in Greek, but this using the word agape.
[00:04:17] So, you know, even in what was in the...
[00:04:23] The last part of what I read, it talks about from verse 9 to 12, when it talks about that we know in part now, but we will know fully later when we see Christ Himself.
[00:04:35] For He is love.
[00:04:38] In 1 John 4, in two places there, it says how God is love.
[00:04:43] He is the epitome of love.
[00:04:45] and Jesus of being love incarnate.
[00:04:49] So essentially in the sense of this list of the qualities of what love is, this love that God has for us and that he wants us to have,
[00:05:03] In verses 4 to 8, you certainly can put Jesus' name there for all of these attributes.
[00:05:11] If you were to read through instead of saying charity or love, you could say Jesus suffers long, or Jesus is patient, Jesus is kind, Jesus envieth not, so on and so forth.
[00:05:25] But the question is, and you might have heard this before, just a simple example,
[00:05:31] How would we measure up if we put our names there?
[00:05:35] I think all of us, including myself, we fall short.
[00:05:39] It is why Christ came to die for our sins and for our shortcomings, but also to teach us how to love as we are seeking Christ, as we want to become more like Him.
[00:05:54] It is that we will grow in His love in showing it to other people and in living more like this and loving more like this in all areas of our life.
[00:06:09] The title for the sermon has four parts to it.
[00:06:13] It's kind of the sections of how we show love and who we show love to.
[00:06:20] That we are to love the Lord, that we are to love our family, we are to love the church, and we are to love our neighbor.
[00:06:28] Kind of showing us how we are to just show love in our lives to everyone in various degrees.
[00:06:37] So,
[00:06:40] One of the key things with this in knowing and understanding is that we as people, that we cannot truly love without knowing Christ and being His follower.
[00:07:01] And so you might ask in hearing that, so does that mean that non-believers don't know how to love?
[00:07:06] And that's exactly what I'm saying.
[00:07:10] In a full sense.
[00:07:11] In the sense of what love means.
[00:07:17] And even more in the sense of who love is.
[00:07:21] Because love is a person.
[00:07:24] It's not just a description.
[00:07:25] It's not just a feeling.
[00:07:27] It's not just an action.
[00:07:29] It is a who.
[00:07:30] And it is in Jesus Christ.
[00:07:34] How do we know that?
[00:07:36] Well, I'm glad you asked.
[00:07:38] You will turn to 1 John 4.
[00:07:41] And we see in verse 8, it says, He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love.
[00:07:58] Saying the only way that you really know how to love is to know God.
[00:08:02] because he's love.
[00:08:04] Love is not what we want it to be.
[00:08:06] It is shown to us by God.
[00:08:11] Further seen as we look at verses 7 through 11.
[00:08:18] Beloved, let us love one another for love is of God and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God.
[00:08:30] He that loveth not knoweth not God for God is love.
[00:08:33] In this was manifested the love of God toward us because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him.
[00:08:46] So God is the one who teaches us what love is in the fact that He came to save us, that that is what love is.
[00:08:58] Before we go any further, let me keep reading.
[00:09:01] Verse 10.
[00:09:02] Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation or the sacrifice or the appeasement for our sins.
[00:09:18] Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
[00:09:25] And then if you look at verse 16, this is the second place where it says that God is love.
[00:09:31] And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us.
[00:09:36] God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
[00:09:43] And so again, in what I had said before, if someone is not a believer in Christ, they don't really know how to love because they don't dwell in God.
[00:09:55] Now, God has made us in His image.
[00:10:00] There is a part of every person that looks for something bigger, and they will put it, if it's not in the Lord, in them coming to Christ, they will find it in other things.
[00:10:13] And there are some of the attributes of God that he has including love that people have a general idea but we're talking about in a full sense of what love is.
[00:10:25] That people who do not know Christ do not know how to love in this total sense or cannot fully comprehend because they don't know the one who loved them first and came to save them.
[00:10:42] And so how do we remedy that?
[00:10:45] We show this kind of love.
[00:10:48] We live this kind of love.
[00:10:50] We tell other people about the One who loved them so much that He came to die for them and to rise from the dead.
[00:10:58] Everything with love encompasses all that we do.
[00:11:03] Even as it says in the last verse of 1 Corinthians 13,
[00:11:10] Verse 13, And now abideth faith, hope, and charity, or faith, hope, and love, these three, but the greatest of these is love.
[00:11:21] This agape love.
[00:11:24] It is to be the characteristic of everything that we are, everything that we live.
[00:11:32] I believe it is James that says that the entire law is summed up in love.
[00:11:40] and in showing that to others and showing them Christ.
[00:11:50] Another reason that a non-believer cannot truly love is because they are not born again.
[00:11:57] Because they do not have a new heart and because they are dead in their sins.
[00:12:07] When's the last time that you saw someone who was physically dead do anything?
[00:12:14] Never.
[00:12:16] That is how it is spiritually apart from Christ.
[00:12:23] That you can't really do anything spiritually.
[00:12:26] And to love is spiritual in its truest sense.
[00:12:33] And so if we don't have a new heart as it talks about in Ezekiel 36 verses 25 to 27, then that person is not able to love.
[00:12:45] In Ezekiel 36 verse 25, the Lord is speaking to His people here.
[00:12:51] and I will sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness from all your idols will I cleanse you a new heart also I will give you and a new spirit will I put within you I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgments and do them
[00:13:19] It cannot be undervalued what this new heart means.
[00:13:27] Because it is God making us alive.
[00:13:31] As it says in Ephesians 2.1, And you hath He quickened, or He has made you alive, who were dead in your sins and your trespasses.
[00:13:42] I mean, praise God.
[00:13:43] Doesn't this just want to make you get up and run around the room and shout Hallelujah?
[00:13:47] I mean, for people to think that we're crazy, if I did it now, you'd think I was crazy.
[00:13:50] But this is how happy this should make us.
[00:13:54] This is how much joy it should be filled because He has given us a new heart.
[00:13:58] If you don't have that kind of joy, it's like, brother and sister, where are you?
[00:14:06] What is God doing in your life?
[00:14:09] Have you drawn close to Him?
[00:14:11] That's not to say that you can't go through tough times and you can't struggle with them and be down and be discouraged.
[00:14:20] But even the psalmist says, speaking to himself, he says, my soul, why are you downcast?
[00:14:31] Hope in God!
[00:14:34] We have something to rejoice over and to be filled with God's power and His holiness and His joy and His peace because He has given us a new heart.
[00:14:46] Those who do not have a new heart don't know.
[00:14:49] They are dead in sin.
[00:14:52] What is to be done about that?
[00:14:55] You are to show them the love of Christ.
[00:14:57] You are to tell them that the love of Christ and those whom are God's people which we don't know but God says don't tell everybody.
[00:15:07] God's Spirit will come in and will change them and He will put His love within them.
[00:15:15] It should be our mission to go out from here and to be telling everybody that we can about Christ.
[00:15:24] I mean, it can be a hard thing to do.
[00:15:28] You don't want to seem like a Jesus freak, do you?
[00:15:31] Well, neither do I.
[00:15:34] But God will put people in your life that He wants you to share His good news and His joy.
[00:15:40] And if they come to Christ, it's because God had given them a new heart, because He has drawn them like a tractor beam to Himself.
[00:15:51] In Galatians 1, verses 3 through 4,
[00:15:55] Paul says grace and peace to you from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world according to the will of God and our Father.
[00:16:14] If Christ has put His love in you, it is to deliver you from this present evil age, from this sinful world, so that sin is not our master, but Christ is.
[00:16:30] We still struggle with sin for sure, but it is not our Master.
[00:16:35] We go to Christ and ask forgiveness because He is our Master.
[00:16:39] He gives us the power to overcome.
[00:16:41] He gives us the hope and strength to be able to overcome it and to keep living for Him.
[00:16:47] Do you see the difference?
[00:16:49] It is like all the humanity is in these two groups and God has sent us out to find His people and says, go tell everyone about my love.
[00:16:59] And this is why Jesus came, because He is love.
[00:17:06] It's a radically different view of love.
[00:17:09] It's not just for weddings.
[00:17:11] It's not just an action, even though it is an action and it is an important one, because Jesus is love incarnate.
[00:17:24] Before we are born again, we are slaves to sin and our selfish desires.
[00:17:29] We see that in Romans 6.
[00:17:32] We see that in John 8.
[00:17:38] John 8 24 Jesus says unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins I thought about that this past week as family members that I have who do not believe in Christ and you are with them
[00:18:02] And you can kind of see and sense how they will push Jesus away and say, that's good for you, but I don't want any part of it.
[00:18:10] The thing that I want to tell them is that unless you believe that Jesus is God Himself, you will die in your sins.
[00:18:19] You will suffer for all eternity.
[00:18:23] I mean, is it strong?
[00:18:25] Is it harsh?
[00:18:26] Yes.
[00:18:28] Do people want to hear it?
[00:18:29] No.
[00:18:30] But is it true?
[00:18:32] And the Bible says we are to speak the truth in love.
[00:18:41] But Paul, as he details out in Romans, he says that in the sense that before a person is born again, they are a slave to sin.
[00:18:51] It's like they can't live any other way.
[00:18:53] They can't do anything else because sin is their master.
[00:18:57] I just wanted to read this from Romans 6.6.
[00:19:03] knowing this that our old man is crucified with him crucified with Christ that the body of sin might be destroyed and henceforth we should not serve sin for he that is dead is freed from sin now if we be dead with Christ we believe that we shall also live with him so in so in in this sense of
[00:19:32] As it says here that we should not serve sin, that we should not be in a lifestyle of sin, that it should not be a habitual thing in the sense of how we live, but we should be striving and wanting to please Christ.
[00:19:50] And when we fall short, we confess our sins.
[00:19:53] We say, Lord, help me.
[00:19:56] I repent.
[00:19:56] I want to repent.
[00:19:57] Help me to turn from this, to turn from you.
[00:20:03] In Romans 6.11 it says, Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
[00:20:15] We are becoming more like Christ and that happens over a lifetime.
[00:20:23] We're not there until we die and we go and stand before the Lord.
[00:20:26] I mean, are you looking forward to that time?
[00:20:29] Praise God!
[00:20:30] Not because I just can't wait to get out of here.
[00:20:34] This place is terrible.
[00:20:36] It's not that at all.
[00:20:38] It is that to be before Christ and to not sin anymore.
[00:20:42] I mean, what could be better?
[00:20:43] That is what we should be looking for.
[00:20:46] And while we are here, we are to be growing closer to Him, growing in love, becoming less and less sinful, and becoming more and more like Christ.
[00:21:01] Only he can help us to do this.
[00:21:03] We cannot do it on our own.
[00:21:06] And so the good news in John chapter 8 in verse 31.
[00:21:16] Jesus said to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed.
[00:21:25] And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
[00:21:30] They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man.
[00:21:34] How sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
[00:21:38] And Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He who committeth sin is a servant of sin, in the sense of continually sinning.
[00:21:50] The difference between being born again and not born again is that you have a conscience of truly trying to follow God and knowing when you have messed up and wanting to go to God.
[00:22:01] For His help and His forgiveness because of His love for us.
[00:22:06] Verse 35 of John 8, The Servant abideth not in the house forever, but the Son abideth forever.
[00:22:12] If the Son shall make you free, then ye shall be free indeed.
[00:22:24] And so in saying what love truly is in the sense is only by knowing Christ and being tied to Him.
[00:22:30] We see that the order and priorities of our love is just kind of how I had listed there in the title for this.
[00:22:41] This is generally speaking.
[00:22:45] Some may be a little more sure and others are put together from other passages of Scripture.
[00:22:51] But the very first one is in loving the Lord.
[00:22:54] Number four, which is love your neighbor, it kind of encompasses two through four.
[00:23:02] But because Jesus, in giving the two greatest commandments, we're going to talk about one and four together.
[00:23:08] What Jesus says in Mark 12, 28-31,
[00:23:13] And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?
[00:23:24] And Jesus answered him, The first of all commandments is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.
[00:23:31] And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.
[00:23:38] This is the first commandment.
[00:23:41] Why, that sounds like you're supposed to love God with everything that you have, right?
[00:23:44] Because that's how it is and what Jesus is saying.
[00:23:48] And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
[00:23:54] There is none other commandment greater than these.
[00:23:58] So it is love God and it is loving your neighbors, loving people.
[00:24:02] You can put in there loving your family, loving your children, loving your extended family, loving your church as part of your neighbor.
[00:24:13] In the sense of sharing God's love with them.
[00:24:20] And so as we look at this more in detail, the second one in loving your family, we've talked about that love is indeed an action.
[00:24:37] When you first meet the person that you marry or that you're married to, there are all these feelings of love and you think, wow, I just can't get any better than this.
[00:24:47] And that is valid.
[00:24:48] There is a place for that.
[00:24:50] But love is also an action.
[00:24:53] It is also in spending time with your family.
[00:25:00] It is in helping them, ministering to them, shepherding them.
[00:25:08] and and it is in being it is love to our family is so that we don't treat our family like an afterthought it is being considerate of them and their feelings and not putting people or things or work before them and before their needs we all have responsibilities
[00:25:34] But the Lord wants us to make taking care of and shepherding our families a top priority right after our love and our devotion for Him.
[00:25:44] And this applies whether you are a husband, whether you're a wife, whether you're a father or mother, whether it is to your extended family in your family that you are around, that we are to make time for them.
[00:26:00] We are to be witnesses for them in how we treat them, right?
[00:26:03] and how we show God's love to them.
[00:26:07] I mean, if we say that we are a believer and then we go home or we're around our family and we're yelling at them and we're impatient with them and we're critical of them and we don't help them with anything, are we showing God's love?
[00:26:20] No, we're being a terrible witness.
[00:26:24] These are things that we have to work on that God will help us on and help us with.
[00:26:34] In Philippians 2, 3-4 says, Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let him esteem others better than themselves.
[00:26:48] Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
[00:26:53] Wow, this really sounds like you're supposed to put other people before you and before me.
[00:26:58] That's exactly what God is saying.
[00:27:04] To put other people's needs before our own.
[00:27:07] I mean, is there any way that...
[00:27:10] This probably would show us how big of a sinner that we really are.
[00:27:17] How selfish we are.
[00:27:19] Because we want to do what we want to do.
[00:27:21] Maybe not all the time, but some of the time.
[00:27:24] Especially when we've had a hard day.
[00:27:25] And yet we're still supposed to come home and put other people's needs before our own.
[00:27:33] In Matthew 15, Jesus, speaking to the Pharisees, he says something and it was like the Holy Spirit just, you know, really opened the doors on this in showing that this can apply to our families.
[00:27:54] If we try to put things before taking care of them.
[00:28:01] Matthew 15 verse 1, Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders?
[00:28:13] For they wash not their hands before they eat bread.
[00:28:17] But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?
[00:28:25] For God commanded, saying, Honor thy father and mother, and he that curseth father and mother, let him die to death, or let him be put to death.
[00:28:34] But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift by whatever thou mightst
[00:28:42] Mightest be profited by me, and honor not his father or mother, he shall be free.
[00:28:49] Thus you have made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.
[00:28:55] And so what Jesus is saying there is that if people were to say to my parents or to my family or to my children, whatever you would have gotten me, I give to God.
[00:29:04] It is a gift to God.
[00:29:06] So therefore I don't have to give that to you.
[00:29:08] And what does Jesus say?
[00:29:11] Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, This people draw nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
[00:29:24] But in vain they do worship me, teaching the doctrines, the commandments of men.
[00:29:33] This should cause us to fall on our knees before the Lord and ask His forgiveness because we have all done this.
[00:29:45] When God calls us to show His love to other people, after Himself, the next is to our families that He has given to us.
[00:30:00] And this calls men as the leaders of the family to shepherd their families.
[00:30:12] In 1 Timothy 3, it is talking to elders, giving qualifications and characteristics of elders and deacons.
[00:30:20] But in the sense of men leading their families, it can apply in a couple verses here in verses 4 and 5 of 1 Timothy 3.
[00:30:33] That one who leads, or as an elder, but in speaking of men and leading their families, one that ruleth well in his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity.
[00:30:45] For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?
[00:30:55] And you might say, well, that is the elders.
[00:30:58] Okay.
[00:30:59] But it talks here about leading by example.
[00:31:03] Men who are leaders of their family and shepherding their families, they need to lead by example.
[00:31:11] It's not the greatest thing to lead on, showing how to love and showing how to care.
[00:31:17] God is calling us to more.
[00:31:23] He is calling mothers to do this too.
[00:31:25] He is calling women to do this.
[00:31:27] But in the sense of men as shepherding and shepherding their family, it is time for men to stand up
[00:31:34] If you don't have anybody to shepherd, find some people.
[00:31:38] There are people in the church.
[00:31:39] You can shepherd them.
[00:31:41] You can show them how to love by how you love, by how you are following Christ.
[00:31:47] 1 Peter 5.3, again, in speaking to elders but showing how to be examples, neither as being lords over God's heritage but being examples to the flock.
[00:32:02] Deuteronomy 6 verses 6 through 7 speak of how we are to teach our children.
[00:32:10] And these things which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
[00:32:30] that we are to take time with our children in patience to teach them and to show them God's love and example.
[00:32:45] In Ephesians 5 talks a lot about marriage there and how husbands and wives are to treat each other and are to respond to one another.
[00:32:55] It says, Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord.
[00:33:00] For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the Savior of the body.
[00:33:06] Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let wives be to their own husbands in everything.
[00:33:14] Now there are some women that don't like this.
[00:33:18] You can kind of understand.
[00:33:21] No one likes to submit, but we are all to submit to the Lord, right?
[00:33:26] If anyone here has a submission problem, it better not be to the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:33:32] Because if we're born again, then we have a heart that wants to serve Him and a gratitude for what He has done for us.
[00:33:39] And the key line there is in a sense that wives are to submit to their own husbands as unto the Lord.
[00:33:49] But, and it goes on for husbands, and the husbands part is longer.
[00:33:54] Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it.
[00:34:00] Christ gave everything for the church.
[00:34:02] So husbands are to give everything of themselves to their wives.
[00:34:08] And I mean everything.
[00:34:10] Not just laying down your life, but everything in ministering to them.
[00:34:15] And I've heard women say, well if my husband did that I would gladly submit to them.
[00:34:19] Well men, we need to get on it.
[00:34:25] Verse 26
[00:34:28] that he might sanctify and cleanse it speaking of Christ with the washing of water by the word that he might present it to himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish see Christ is leading by example in the example he is laying down for husbands he did it himself in a total sense
[00:34:54] so men ought to love their wives as their own bodies he that loveth his wife loveth himself no man ever
[00:35:02] I have ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth it and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church.
[00:35:10] For we are members of his body, of his flesh, of his bones.
[00:35:14] For this cause shall a man leave his father, and mother shall be joined unto his wife, and the two shall be one flesh.
[00:35:21] This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
[00:35:25] Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself,
[00:35:31] and and the wife see that she reverence her husband wow did you catch that doesn't say once in there that a woman is to love her husband but it says multiple times that a husband is to love their wife not that wives aren't supposed to love their husbands but in the sense of leadership and shepherding and ministering to and showing Christ's love it is paramount in the family structure that's where it starts
[00:36:00] Now for those that aren't married is why Paul ties together with Christ in the church and a husband and wife in showing that it's like this is what Christ did for us and therefore this is the type of love that we are to do in leading by example in all that we do and to everyone.
[00:36:25] But if you are married and it doesn't start at home,
[00:36:30] We are seriously dropping the ball on what God has called us to.
[00:36:35] When you think of children for a family, you have Ephesians 6, 1-4.
[00:36:40] It says, Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
[00:36:45] Honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment, with promise that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.
[00:36:53] And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
[00:37:03] There's a big line there.
[00:37:05] Children do not provoke your children to wrath.
[00:37:08] Your children do need correction.
[00:37:10] They need love.
[00:37:11] They need encouragement.
[00:37:13] But if we as fathers and mothers are like constantly on them all the time, nagging them and like not encouraging them as much, but more like exhorting all the time, like, it would really bother them, right?
[00:37:32] And it would make it for children hard to listen, hard to follow.
[00:37:37] And we would be putting this quandary on them.
[00:37:42] And God says, that's not how it's supposed to be.
[00:37:44] Do not provoke them to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord in love.
[00:37:53] Speak the truth in love, but be gentle.
[00:37:58] And then in Ephesians 6, 5 through 9, it also includes our work when it talks about servants and masters.
[00:38:06] It's even talking about our work now.
[00:38:08] And the reason that I bring this up is because this, in how we are to conduct ourselves and show God's love and our devotion for Christ even in our work,
[00:38:24] Notice it comes after service to God and to our family.
[00:38:30] I think that's intentional.
[00:38:32] I think that as God, you know, as people will say, God, family, you know, then work or nation or whatever else.
[00:38:41] Well, God, family, church, neighbor.
[00:38:45] So we're going to see a little more as we get in.
[00:38:48] But in reading Ephesians 6, 5 through 9, Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling and singleness of your heart as unto Christ, not with eye service as men-pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.
[00:39:09] with goodwill doing service as to the Lord and not to men knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth the same shall he receive of the Lord whether he be bond or free and ye masters do the same things unto them forbearing threatening knowing that your master also is in heaven neither is there respects of person with him just simply shows we all have a boss
[00:39:36] We're all under God, but even in our work, there's people we have to answer to.
[00:39:40] Doesn't really matter how high up you go, even if you're president of a company, you still have a board of directors on you, right?
[00:39:50] We all have a boss and people that we answer to, but ultimately we are to work for the Lord.
[00:39:56] We are to live for the Lord.
[00:39:57] We are to show God's love because we never know in what we do, even in our work, how we are being a witness to others.
[00:40:05] of Christ's Love.
[00:40:08] Within our family, there's also parents and siblings and extended family.
[00:40:14] The only verse I have for this, just something to keep in mind, 1 Timothy 5.8.
[00:40:20] But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his house, he has denied the faith and is worse than an infidel.
[00:40:30] Pretty strong words, huh?
[00:40:35] So first, we are to love the Lord.
[00:40:37] Second, we are to love our families.
[00:40:43] Third, we are to love the church.
[00:40:46] Galatians 6, 1 through 10 has a lot to speak about this.
[00:40:50] I mean, there's a lot of places in the Bible, but looking at Galatians 6.
[00:40:55] Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
[00:41:08] Say, we are to come alongside others and help them to live for Christ.
[00:41:13] And some people might say, well, that's none of their business.
[00:41:15] In a church, it is.
[00:41:19] Yes, we are to have respect and consideration for each other.
[00:41:25] We are not to try to lord it over or point fingers or cast judgment in the sense of being judgmental, but we are to help each other in living for God, and that includes being honest, right?
[00:41:37] Just like you would in any family.
[00:41:40] But again, we are to speak the truth in love.
[00:41:43] We are to show the love of Christ.
[00:41:47] Verse 2, Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
[00:41:54] For if a man think himself to be something when he is nothing he deceiveth himself.
[00:42:00] But let every man prove his own work and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another.
[00:42:08] For every man shall bear his own burden.
[00:42:11] Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.
[00:42:18] So a couple things there before we read on.
[00:42:23] It talks about how we're supposed to come alongside of other people, but it also speaks of how we are to do all that we can to do the work that we have to do.
[00:42:32] And when we can't, we're supposed to help each other, right?
[00:42:37] It doesn't mean that we need to be slacking, but it also means that we need to admit when we can't do it and we need help in the church.
[00:42:45] In verse 6 when it says, Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.
[00:42:52] That means you're to have respect for your pastor.
[00:42:55] Pastors.
[00:42:58] For your elders.
[00:43:02] For leaders in the church.
[00:43:04] Not that as a pastor I'm so much above all of you or Pastor Joseph is, but in the sense of this is what God has called us to in leading and teaching the church and as in the church that we are to be receptive of that as to God according to His truth.
[00:43:25] Verse 7, Do not be deceived, God is not mocked.
[00:43:29] For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
[00:43:35] Man, that just should give you chills right there.
[00:43:39] For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
[00:43:49] And all that we should do, it should be to help people reap in the Spirit, to show the love of Christ.
[00:43:59] Verse 9, And let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season...
[00:44:04] We shall reap if we faint not.
[00:44:06] And as we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them that are the household of faith.
[00:44:15] See how all this applies to those that are the household of faith?
[00:44:19] It means we are to love the church.
[00:44:24] In a passage, it helps to bind all of these things together.
[00:44:28] Philippians 4, 8, and 9.
[00:44:31] As we are to love...
[00:44:34] As Christ loved in His striving to and in showing His love in all that we do in how we live.
[00:44:42] Philippians 4, 8, and 9, Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue,
[00:45:01] If there be any praise, think on these things.
[00:45:06] Those things which ye have both learned and received and heard and seen in me, do, and the God of peace will be with you.
[00:45:18] And you can think that the God of peace is with us and filling us with his peace as we are living in his love, as we are showing his love.
[00:45:26] This is why this is so important.
[00:45:31] It is why we cannot truly love apart from Christ, apart from knowing Him and seeking Him.
[00:45:38] We're not able to really love our families in the way apart from Christ.
[00:45:45] And probably something I should say that I left out in speaking of loving your families and in caring for them.
[00:45:56] We should remember that our fulfillment and our joy is only in the Lord.
[00:46:03] There are some things that no human can fulfill in us, right?
[00:46:09] That includes people in our families.
[00:46:11] Only God can, which is why we need to be in step with Him and loving our families through Christ.
[00:46:22] With Christ are we able to love our church for the very same reasons of us building up together and becoming stronger as believers.
[00:46:33] And then we are only able to love our neighbor in Christ because of the love that he has for us and the forgiveness that he shows us that we don't deserve.
[00:46:43] Therefore we should have grace and mercy and peace and love toward all others.
[00:46:49] because we don't deserve God to love us even in our sin.
[00:46:54] Again, wanted to say, wanted to read 1 John 4, 9.
[00:47:02] In this was manifested the love of God toward us because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him.
[00:47:15] So in order for us to know love, to show love, and even to grow in love, we have to know Christ.
[00:47:23] We have to draw close to Him.
[00:47:24] We have to devote ourselves to Him and to His Word.
[00:47:28] I mean, these reading plans that Pastor Joseph was sharing before helps us to be in the Word.
[00:47:35] It helps us to be in our Bibles, to draw close to God so that His truth will teach us and will change us.
[00:47:45] Then and only then are we able to share this great love actively with others, especially to those closest to us, to first and foremost God, and to those of the household of faith.
[00:48:01] This is what Christ has for us.
[00:48:04] Are you willing?
[00:48:07] Are you ready?
[00:48:10] God is calling you to follow Him and to live for Him.
[00:48:14] and to love others through him and because of him and what he has done for you to bring you salvation.
[00:48:22] Praise God.
[00:48:25] Let's look to the Lord in prayer.
[00:48:29] Oh Father, Lord, I do thank you for everyone that is here.
[00:48:33] Thank you for everyone that is or will be listening.
[00:48:38] And Lord, ask that you will help us to draw near to you, to draw near to Christ.
[00:48:45] Lord, that because of the love that drove him to the cross for us, because of our sins, that we might be pure and holy and righteous in Christ by confessing our sins.
[00:49:00] Lord, we ask that you would make us more like Jesus.
[00:49:05] Lord, I pray that if there is anyone here who has not
[00:49:11] I pledge themselves to you who has not confessed their sins in the name of the Lord Jesus and come to him Lord I pray that you would draw them to yourself I pray Lord that you would change their hearts and save them and Lord for those of us who have who are born again who have submitted and bowed to Christ Lord I pray that you would work in us mightily for your glory
[00:49:42] Lord, that Christ would be shown through us.
[00:49:45] And Lord, that people's lives would be changed.
[00:49:48] Lord, this is what really matters in life.
[00:49:51] The other stuff is just things that we have to do and things that come up.
[00:49:57] But Lord, these types of things is what has eternal consequences.
[00:50:02] Lord, help us to be diligent in this.
[00:50:05] Thank you for your great love for us in the Lord Jesus and help us to live this and to show this.
[00:50:13] in all these areas.
[00:50:15] We ask this in the great name of Christ our Savior.
[00:50:18] Amen.
[00:50:21] Our final hymn is Go Tell It on the Mountains, number 205 in the hymn book and on the screens if we can stand and sing this together.

[00:51:54] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
In the holy manger, there hung a Christmas tree.
[00:52:21] There was no salvation, and blessed Christmas tree.

[00:52:23] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
We want to say the Apostles' Creed together in stating our faith and what we believe from the Scriptures.
[00:52:47] Christian, what do you believe?
[00:52:50] I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried.
[00:53:09] He descended into hell.
[00:53:11] The third day he rose again from the dead, he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
[00:53:21] From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
[00:53:25] I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy universal church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.