What is Biblical Love?

Dave Simmons shared in his book about being a dad, a time when he and his two kids went to a mall, and the mall had a petting zoo there. He had given each of his children, Brandon and Helen a quarter to enter, and then went to continue shopping. Soon he saw his daughter hadn’t gone in. He went to ask her why.

She said sadly, "Well, Daddy, it cost fifty cents. So, I gave Brandon my quarter." Then she said the most beautiful thing I ever heard. She repeated the family motto. The family motto is in "Love is Action!"

She had given Brandon her quarter, and no one loves cuddly furry creatures more than Helen.

What do you think I did? Well, not what you might think. As soon as I finished my errands, I took Helen to the petting zoo. We stood by the fence and watched Brandon go crazy petting and feeding the animals. Helen stood with her hands and chin resting on the fence and just watched Brandon. I had fifty cents burning a hole in my pocket; I never offered it to Helen, and she never asked for it.

Because she knew the whole family motto. It's not "Love is Action." It's "Love is SACRIFICIAL Action!" Love always pays a price. Love always costs something. When you love, benefits accrue to another's account. Love gives; it doesn't grab. Helen gave her quarter to Brandon and wanted to follow through with her lesson. She knew she had to taste the sacrifice. She wanted to experience the family motto. Love is sacrificial action.”
-Dave Simmons, Dad, The Family Coach, Victor Books, 1991, pp. 123-124.

Today we’re talking about love in the context of that classic scripture, 1st Corinthians 13. But it’s super important that we understand that love is like Dave Simmons indicates, a sacrificial action.

It’s not just a feeling. It’s not something we do just when we feel like it. It’s a mindset of service to others. And let’s be very clear, we pay a price when we love. We give something. It’s not about receiving. 

The Apostle Paul is writing to a community that has a lot of knowledge. And he is reminding them that love has to be first as a Christian.

But what is love exactly? That’s what we’re going to be examining today.

But I think as Americans we assume love is “niceness.” And niceness is not love. In fact, niceness is often pretty self serving. The goal with niceness is to be liked, no matter what. To not offend someone. To gain points with others.

But that is not biblical love. Niceness wants to be liked. Niceness doesn’t want to have to call someone out on something bad they’re doing. Niceness is just letting someone float on down the river toward hell without saying a word. Niceness is more about wanting to be liked. It’s selfish. And niceness isn’t what we go for as Christians. We go for sacrificial agape love.

Jesus modeled perfect love for us, by dying for his enemies, dying for people who rejected him, in the hope they would one day receive the forgiveness he offered.

Love is something we feel. Jesus felt it in His heart. It’s not in our minds. It’s down in our hearts. But our hearts can get wounded in life, and even deadened, shut down, where we struggle to feel love for others. But, Jesus can bring out hearts back to life, if we’ll come to Him.

There’s a beautiful scripture that I think exemplifies this: From Matthew 11:28-30: “28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Now there is a requirement in there, 'come to Jesus.' He doesn’t say just stay where you’re at, he says come to me, and I will give you rest. He doesn’t say there’s no action involved. He says take my yoke upon yourself, and learn from me. There is a yoke, but the burden is light, compared to the weight of sin. Here we find rest for our souls, under the light yoke of Jesus. We learn to become like Jesus, gentle, humble, soft, and at rest. This is real love.

It heals our hearts, tears flow, we mourn the pains of the past, and Jesus renews us in His love, if we’ll come to Him, again and again.

Then love speaks, and it speaks like Jesus speaks..

Love says, “Father forgive them they don’t know what they’re doing.”

Love says, “I do not condemn you.”

Yet Love also says, “Go and sin no more.”

And Love also says, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.”

Biblical love is willing to say a hard truth to someone in love, knowing that we may lose the friendship, but loving their soul more than their companionship. That’s real love. This is the glory of agape giving love.

It says in 1st Cor 13:1-3, “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”

We can do a lot of great things with our spiritual gifts, but if we don’t honestly love people, it won’t matter. Our message will be ugly if it doesn’t come with love. Have you ever known a Christian who had a lot of giftings and knowledge but didn’t have love? The message is empty. It isn’t life giving.

In the depiction of love in 1st Corinthians 13, we’re going to see categories, first, character traits that are loving. And character traits that are not loving. So we get a list of things to do, and a list of things not to do. Pretty simple.

Let’s dive in. First, in verse 4, “Love is patient.”

Now I know this scripture is often used in association with romantic relationships, but the context is actually speaking about loving your neighbor. I think we can also apply it to loving God as well.

Love is patient. How is your patience? Are you patient with someone who you are trying to win to Christ? Are you patient with friends and family? Patience is waiting on God. Patience is listening to someone when they’re talking.

We want to add this characteristic to ourselves, in the heart. How? Pray and ask God for patience. Then learn to practice patience. Sometimes it’s helpful to speak the word, “I’m going to be patient in this situation.” Just remind yourself of that.

Prayer for Patience: Lord, please grant me the gift of patience, I want to learn patience, to rest in you when I'm waiting, have mercy on me Lord, in Jesus name, amen. 

Next, second part of verse 4, “Love is kind.”

What is kindness? I like the 1828 Webster’s dictionary definition for kindness, it says, “Good will; benevolence; that temper or disposition which delights in contributing to the happiness of others, which is exercised cheerfully in gratifying their wishes, supplying their wants or alleviating their distresses.”

Delighting in contributing to the happiness of others. As my grandma Monica always said, “It’s nice to be nice.” Niceness isn’t always bad either, as long as it’s seen as part of a bigger whole of what it means to be loving.

Does it make you glad to contribute to help someone else? I know it does for me. That’s part of love.

Prayer of Kindness: Lord, please show me how to practice kindness, even when it's hard. I choose kindness in my heart, in Jesus name, amen. 

Next, third part of verse 4, “It does not envy.”

What is envy? Being envious is seeing someone who has a nice car, nice house, nice watch, nice smartphone, and instead of being happy for them, we envy them, we want what they have. We get envious, jealous, angry that they have something we don’t.

Envy is a nasty emotion. We want to pray if we struggle with envy, ask God to help us with that. Put off envy. Replace it with gratitude for what we do have.

Prayer against Envy: Father, we repent of envy. We repent of desiring things others have. Lord change our heart, we surrender our heart to you, we choose to be grateful for all we have, in Jesus name, amen. 

Next, still verse 4, “it does not boast.”

We also want to avoid bragging. I did this, I did that, I’m so great, look at me.

I remember at my Grandma Bernie’s funeral, all of these people kept coming forward talking about how Grandpa had mentored them, how he had prayed with them, given them something, led them to the Lord, and Grandpa had never told anyone about all those things he did.

That’s how we should be. We should not be bragging, look at all these people I helped, look at what I do for God. We do want to shine our light. But we don’t want to brag about how great we are.

Prayer against Boasting: Father, we don't want to be people who brag, forgive us for times we've been boastful. We find our self worth in you, not in things we've done, we repent of boasting, we choose to honor others before ourselves, in Jesus name, amen. 

Next, similar to boasting, “It is not proud.” Pride is thinking highly of ourselves. Pride is thinking how great we are at what we do. Pride is looking at ourselves constantly and being impressed. Lord save us from pride! Pride is what caused the angels to fall and become demons. Replace pride with humility. Stay humble. Know you are merely a servant of God, nothing more.

Prayer against Pride: Lord, you know my heart, I seek your mercy, I throw off pride, I repent of pride, and I put on humility, in Jesus name, amen. 

Next in verse 5, ‘it does not dishonor others.”

In the original Greek of this phrase, aschēmoneō, (as-kay-mon-eh'-o) it means to “prepare disgrace for someone.” It’s like setting someone up to look stupid or setting someone up to be criticized. I see this in social groups all the time, one of the guys tries to make the other guy look stupid, tries to manipulate the conversation to make the other guy look bad, and make himself look good.

Biblical love of course doesn’t set others up for failure or try to push others down to promote ourselves or make ourselves look good. Guard against that.

Prayer against Dishonoring Others: Father, I'm sorry for times that I've put others down, even passively, to promote my own position or status in a group, I repent of that behavior, and I choose to build others up, even my enemies, in Jesus name, amen. 

Next, still verse 5, “it is not self-seeking.” What a great phrase, self seeking is talked about a lot in 12 step fellowship groups. It’s the lifestyle of selfishly pushing for your own way, trying to manipulate events to go the way you want. Self-will run riot is a dangerous thing.

Being self-seeking is something we want to avoid. We should instead seek God’s will for our lives. Not what we want.

Prayer against Self-Seeking: Lord, forgive me for times when I've made it about my own agenda, I repent of selfish self-seeking, and I put your will ahead of my own plans, in Jesus name, amen. 

Next, “it is not easily angered.” Love is not easily angered. Do you have a bad temper? Do you get angry too quickly? I know it’s something I had to fight in the past. And I realized in time, it had to do with a deeply rooted insecurity in me. So if you’re struggling with anger, find out what’s underneath the anger.

Is it a bad memory? Is it a way you were mistreated in the past? Sit down and talk about what the feeling is connected to. Let it out. Heal from the pain. And next time, the anger won’t be as strong.

Prayer against Excessive Anger: Father, not all anger is evil, but, forgive me Father when I've been too angry, or sinned in my anger, I repent of that misuse of anger, in Jesus name, amen. 

Next, “it keeps no record of wrongs.” How often do we see this in romantic relationships or friendships? One person keeps a record of every wrong thing that was done by the other. Then the other person brings up the record in an argument. We’ve got to get rid of these records, forgive each other, and move forward.

Then again, if you do notice a pattern of mistreatment or abuse, you should recognize that and deal with it with the other person. But once they’ve changed, let go of the record. Don’t keep bringing it up. We’ve got to forgive those hurts, and move forward.

Prayer against Record of Wrongs: Father, forgive me for times when I've kept a record of hurts that others have done to me, and used those things against them, I throw that record away right now, in Jesus name, amen. 

And then it says, verse 6, part 1, “Love does not delight in evil.” This is one of those aspects of love that distinguish it from niceness.

Niceness says I love you and keep sinning all you want. Love says, I love you my friend, but I notice something in your life isn’t right, God can help you be free from that sin. Niceness just says oh just do whatever you like. Love says: God has something better for you then that. Notice niceness just goes along to get along, it just wants to be liked, love brings up a hard truth to help the person, but in so doing, they risk the relationship. It’s sacrificial.

Love doesn’t delight in evil, it can’t.

Prayer against Delighting in Evil: Father, there have been times that I've laughed at a nasty joke, or laughed at sin, or even encouraged someone living in sin by my silence or words, Lord forgive me, I repent, help me to be bold to resist evil in all it's forms, in Jesus name, amen. 

Next, so love does not delight in evil, “but, it rejoices with the truth.”

What does it mean to rejoice with the truth? It’s as simple as hearing something at Bible study or at morning church and you say, “Amen!” Because the Holy Spirit in you rejoices and says, “that’s true!” I love the truth so much. And I hate lies. We will rejoice in truth, in the way of love. And evil will make us sick.

Prayer of Rejoicing: Lord, help us always to rejoice with the truth, give us hearts that love the truth always, grant us the gift of discernment, in Jesus name, amen. 

Next, “love always protects.” The word here is rendered by some translations as bears. The Greek word gives the picture of someone setting aside slights or disagreements, covering over those things, and instead focusing on the good.

When I have a disagreement with a loved one, family, with my wife, or a friend, I will tend to try and overlook it, ignore it, focus on the things I love about them. Let’s try to do that too, when others hurt us, cover over the bad, focus on the good. Anyone in a marriage knows that we have to bear up with the faults of our loved ones.

Prayer of Protection: Lord, we cover over our loved ones, we protect them, but we also cover over their past wrongs, and we focus on the things we love about them, in Jesus name, amen. 

Notice the word “always” keeps appearing. It gives us a picture of constantly repeating the character trait. Repeat it, repeat it again, all our lives.

“it always trusts.” For our relationship with God we want to “always trust.” For our relationship with friends and family, we want to “always trust.” Does that mean that we trust a stranger necessarily? No I don’t think so. But we do trust that God’s word can do something in their lives. Always trust I think primarily is a mindset of being a trusting person who trusts God and trusts others, and isn’t prone to bitter mistrust.

Prayer of Trust: Lord, heal our hurts from situations where our trust was broken or hurt. We choose to trust again, even if it makes us vulnerable, in Jesus name, amen. 

Next, “Love always hopes.” A characteristic of being a loving person is being hopeful. Hopeful for the other. Hopeful for the future. Hopeful for the promises of God. Hopeful in general.

I know that’s hard for many of us here who have been through many hardships and have mental and physical health issues, but we can obey this to always be hopeful. Don’t be a pessimist, don’t be a negative person, cultivate hope.

That may take healing for some of us here. I confess I battle bitterness and negativity. But God is helping me. I pray about it, and he helps.

Prayer of Hope: Lord, we throw off bitterness, we throw off negativity, and we embrace your call to hope, we hope in the Lord today, forgive us for the sin of discouragement, in Jesus name, amen. 

Next, “love always perseveres.” Love doesn’t give up. Love keeps going. Love stands the test. Love continues through the difficulties. Don’t give up friends.

And the last characteristic of love is that “love never fails.” Does that mean we never make a mistake? No. Love never fails means that love doesn’t fall to the ground, love doesn’t end up powerless. Love will continue always in our hearts, if we are living out these principles of what it means to be loving. The result will be, love never fails. Love will continue.

Persevering Prayer: Father, help us to never give up, guide us through the storms, lift us when we fall, cover us when we're exposed, guide us by your light, give us strength to never give up, in Jesus name, amen. 

If you skip down to verse 13, we see how important love is: “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

When all the giftings fade in the next life, love remains as the greatest truth.

I think the first part of 1st Corinthians 14:1 tells us what all this means.

It says, “Follow the way of love.” -1 Cor 14:1

There are 16 characteristics that Paul mentions. 8 positive, 8 negative.

So, if we are in fact putting off the eight negative characteristics that we want to avoid, and putting on the 8 positive characteristics of love, we will then be fulfilling the command in scripture which says to “follow the way of love.”

This is the way of love.

Let’s review today… Take a look at the picture at the top of this post. The white arrows represent the actions of the Holy Spirit we take in cooperation with the Spirit, we actively put off the old ways, the unloving ways. And then the Holy Spirit also helps us to put on the new ways of love which come from above, from God.

I Long for a Deeper Walk with God: Moving forward into the Depths of God

One day you will be in a hospital bed, surrounded by loved ones, nearing your last day on Earth, looking back on your life. And you'll ask yourself, did I become all God called me to be? Or did I miss the mark? Will that be a moment of profound satisfaction or a moment of regret and repentance before God? The choice is yours. 

Rewind to today, to right now, this very moment. How can you build your life in such a way, that when you're near death, you may look back and say to yourself: This was a victorious Christian life. I became all God wanted me to be.

If we want to start today, and begin moving in that direction, we may believe a simple statement: I can be everything God desires me to be.

Do you believe that? Or have you sold yourself on a mentality of defeatism? That you can’t ever quite get over that hump? I dare you today, to believe, God is able. I can be everything God desires me to be.

Or as Paul wrote: "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." -Phil 4:13

And in Hebrews 6:1a we get a picture of what that journey looks like: “Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity” -Hebrews 6:1a

So we want to discover today how to obey that teaching of going on into maturity, with the help of the belief that we can be all God has called us to be, for the purpose of living a victorious Christian life.

What does that word maturity mean in the Greek? It means perfect, mature, of full age. It implies spiritual completeness.

Pastor I can’t be "perfect," true, but we can be mature. This doesn’t mean we never make mistakes, it does mean we are generally mature in our attitudes and thinking. We’ve grown up. A child in elementary school can be expected to behavior as one who is in elementary school. But if an adult behaved as if they were in elementary school, we'd know there was something wrong. Similarly, we who are spiritual should not find ourselves behaving as spiritual grade-schoolers when we ought to have proceeded into adulthood. But the question is: How do we get there?

For our example today, we look to the life of Paul. Paul, writing to his mentor Timothy, who was a pastor at Ephesus, instructs him on Christian living. Paul has written about false teachers, which we discussed last week, but starting in verse 10, he reminds Timothy about his own life.

It says, “You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance,”

We’re looking at Paul’s way of life. And we want to mimic Paul, as Paul mimic’s Jesus. Paul’s way of life is first of all defined by his purpose. In anything we do in life, we have to know our purpose.

Why am I on Earth? What am I here to do? Your purpose on Earth is to love God with all your heart, and to love people around you. Those are the two commands Jesus gave us, defining the base of our purpose, love.

Paul’s love for Jesus who changed his life propelled him forward. It fed his entire being with passion, excitement, he was on fire for Jesus.

If you struggle in your walk with God, it may be because you lack a clear understanding of your purpose. Or, you once were excited, but the flames have died down.

Ask God today, pray right now even, and say Lord, I need you to set me on fire for Jesus. I need you to show me my purpose, so that passion can propel me forward, in Jesus name, amen.

Without knowing our purpose we won’t be able to do anything else on this list Paul gives us. But if we do, zeal will fill us. "Zeal" is a spiritual word, it means excitement.

But if you don't know your purpose you'll be rudderless in life. I see a whole generation of young people who were sold on the lie that life has no real purpose except that which we invent for it. And that philosophy has consequences, it has led to a generation of young men and women are feel like has no purpose. They just go to the bars, doom-scroll social media all day, play videogames constantly, and have no real goals or aspirations aside from hedonistic pleasure. And it's a lie. That philosophy is a lie. And it nearly destroyed me. It may have not been explicitly taught to me in school, but it felt "baked in" to everything propagated by our society, from television to schooling to modernism to scientism and everything in between. And it nearly destroyed me. It's destroying lives today, because people don't know their purpose. But once we know our purpose, who God is, who Jesus Christ is, and where history is going, we become dangerous to a broken system that pushes materialistic relativism. 

Next, is faith. What is faith? It’s conviction in your heart of the truth of something. You believe it’s really true. You trust it’s true. You trust in God for your salvation. You believe essentially that Jesus is really real.

Purpose and faith hook together in your heart and they feed off of each other. You know your purpose is to love God and love others, it fills you with desire to do it, that’s coupled with your faith that Jesus is really real and the gospel is true. This produces a fire in your heart.

If you’re struggling with doubts that’s ok, go back to some apologetics, evidence for God, the Bible, the historical Jesus, and let it fuel your faith. Faith comes from the word of God as well, so study it carefully.

Next, patience. Waiting is the key fact of the Christian life. We are all waiting and waiting, often waiting in difficult circumstances.

Many of you are waiting on the Lord in difficult circumstances. You have chronic health issues that won't go away. You've got unsaved loved ones you've been praying for, for years. But you've kept your eyes on heaven, and waited on the Lord patiently. It is something we all need to understand and learn.

Next, flowing from purpose, through faith, across the great expanses of the wilderness of patience and longsuffering, we come to love. Love is at the very center of the gospel. For God so loved the world that he gave his son.

Everything we do as a Christian is meant to be done in love. Compassion, empathy, affection, it’s all based in love. But we are not able to love on our own.

We must receive love from God, and love God back. That happens in our relationship with Him. The best thing in the world I can suggest to you, is to sit alone with God, on a lawn chair outside, and just talk to Him for hours. And you will sense your heart filling with love. Then you’re able to pour out that love to others.

The key thing God is teaching each Christian is how to love Him and how to love other people. It’s everything. Love is everything. With the goal in mind of going on into maturity, make love your goal. Learning it, doing it, receiving it, giving it, and you’ll become mature in Christ.

Sometimes we face a challenge though. We've been hurt so badly in life, hurt in our child hood, hurt by circumstances, abused and mistreated by someone we should've been able to trust, that we've closed off our hearts from love. We've shut that gate. And now we find ourselves cold, numb, and unable to open that gate again. My challenge to you is to seek God on this one, and let Him take you on a healing journey. He can do a work in your heart, to open that door closed by pain, which will allow love to flow once again.

And endurance. We humans live within the confines of God’s system of time. Life may feel short, but it's also quite long. That’s why it’s so important to have the mindset of endurance, one day at a time.

When we look to the 1828 dictionary, the definition for endurance is “Continuance; a state of lasting or duration.” In the recovery community an individual who has stayed clean and sober another year often celebrates their sobriety date with cake and a coin citing how many years they’ve been sober.

Maybe we should do something similar in Christianity. How many years have you been a Christian? What date were you first baptized? We celebrate our marriage anniversaries. We should be celebrating the day we got saved. I was first baptized February 10th 2013, I still have the video of the testimony I gave that day, endurance is seeing the long game.

In NFL football each team is often focused in on the current drive down the field, play by play, how do we reach the end zone, but any good coach sees the long game, how many quarters are left, how many scores do I need to make to win this game, and if they’re a very good coach they’re thinking weeks ahead, they’re thinking months ahead, years ahead, to build their team to be Superbowl contenders.

Patience and endurance are connected. We talked about waiting in difficult circumstances, like many of you here deal with everyday. Endurance is like that, when we’re dealing with a difficulty long term, endurance biblically does two things: First, it accepts the reality of it and walks with it each day, without endlessly resisting it. Instead we embrace the difficulty and accept that it’s part of what we’re going through. Second, we don't let it weigh us down. We accept the situation, but we never surrender to despair. Never. We always keep our hope and joy strong.

Next, verse 11, “...persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.”

Most of us will never experience the incredible persecutions Paul endured. In Antioch and Iconium Jews in the cities stirred up the crowds and drove Paul out of both cities. In Lystra it was even worse, Paul was surrounded, pelted with stones and his body dragged outside the city gates.

Yet Paul makes the vital statement, “The Lord rescued me from all of them.” I always expect in my walk with Jesus, when I face difficulties, that God will rescue me.

My wife Chelsey and I were really at the end of our ropes in Chicago, at our last posting. We felt trapped, empty, we felt like there was no future, no hope. We were so burned out. And we figured, we can’t ever leave The Salvation Army, I’m called here, so I’m stuck, my wife is stuck, despite how things have gone. But God said no, I’m calling you somewhere new, and we felt so seen by God, we felt so completely that he really did see us, and He made a new way for us. That’s who God is. He is a rescuer. But understand timing, endurance, patience, because I waited many years feeling hope fade before God moved.

Next, verse 12: “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted...”

Now not everyone wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus. They want Jesus, but they don’t want to live godly. They want Jesus and sin too. They aren't going to be persecuted, necessarily. They aren’t going to heaven either.

But if you want to live a godly life in Christ, you will be persecuted. But the thing about persecution is, it actually helps us. It molds us, it shapes us, it matures us. It shows us how to respond the right way to critics and haters. That builds character.

Next verse 13: “...while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”

From the ages of 18 to 27, I went from bad to worse, I went downhill so very fast. And when I was 27 I gave my life to Christ and ever since then, each year I become a better person. That’s God work in me. You see it in yourself as well, God molding and shaping you. 

But it’s often difficult to accept, particularly within our own families, that they aren’t getting better, they are either staying the same it seems, or they seem to be getting worse.

It’s hard to watch as a Christian, because you’ve got the Master Physician working on you each day. And it’s awesome. But to see someone on the other side, without Christ, it’s hard. They don’t have Jesus. They are getting worse over time. 

And there’s really no way to force someone to get Christ. As hard as we try to show someone, it’s their choice. Often attempts to force will actually make it worse. So honor their free will. Invite, encourage, pray for them, don’t try to force them. For children it’s a bit different of course, we can't force them to become believers, that's between them and God, but we can require them to come to church until they reach an age when they can make that decision themselves.

Next, verses 14-15: “14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”

We understand that going on into maturity in Christ, growing up into our salvation is going to take many things, from purpose to persecutions, but ultimately it’s going to take an attitude of the mind. That attitude is continuance.

Keep moving forward. And what I think that means is this: Make it your goal to keep getting closer and closer to God. Never settle at a particular place. Say no, I’m going to go deeper.

I remember in Owosso we did a series on a book by a famous French contemplative writer named Jeanne Guyon. She wrote a book called Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ. We did a series going through the book, and it changed my life. Because it helped me realize one simple fact: The Christian life is about setting out on a journey to dive into the depths of the heart of God.

I’m not sure I can explain exactly what that means. But I think there’s a statement that Moses makes, he asks God, “Show me your glory.” He’s asking God to show him who he really is. He is looking at God and saying, who are you? Not just things about God, but looking at God himself. So often in church we talk about God, but we don’t actually turn to Him and say "Oh hi, you’re right here. Who are you really Lord?"

My wife wants to know people deeply. I love that about her. She doesn’t have a lot of time for small talk. She wants to go deep and see into your heart and talk about your deepest desires and hopes and dreams. And she wants to point you to Jesus Christ in all of it.

Take that desire, to know someone deeply, and point it toward God. I want to know you deeply, all about you, your very depths. It can be intimidating, to launch out in a little space ship toward such a huge God, but make that your journey. God I want to know you more, your mysteries, your ways.

Paul reminds Timothy here, continue forward in what you’ve been convinced of, and look to the holy scriptures, which will make you wise for salvation.

Next, famous scripture, verse 16-17: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

The goal is the servant of God, that’s you and me, may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. All scripture, which is breathed out by God, is useful in attaining this goal.

All of this put together means we are equipped by God’s word, ready then, trained, to do good things for God in the world. We know God, we love God, and we love his people. We've chased God, we know Him, we know His word, and it's fundamentally changed us over the years. We are built up. We are lit up. We are on fire. We are grown up. We are mature in Christ. And from all this flows a beautiful flood of love-filled good works.  And God will not fail to reward us for this.

Bringing in Hebrews 6 again, which God linked with our passage today, verse 10: “God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.”

The reward is greater than we could possibly imagine and God will not forget our service. He is watching every single deed, every ounce of love we give, every tear we shed is stored in bottles, every detail of our journeys is recorded in books in heaven. God will not fail to richly reward your faithfulness in seeking Him. Believe that with all your heart. If you go on into maturity, your reward will be great. Why go on into maturity? It means becoming everything God has called you to be, and on judgment day that equals a life without regrets. I can say, "I was all in!" And I can look back with pleasure that I really did believe God could do it. And He did!

But the greatest reward of all will be, when you walk through that doorway into heaven, and you see your blessed living savior, waiting for you with arms wide open, and you’ll know, I became the man or woman He wanted me to be, and now… the adventure has only just begun. Hallelujah!

Let’s Review our Journey Today:

1. You can be everything God has called you to be - remember the goal, looking back at the end of our lives, we want to be able to say, I lived a victorious Christian life, obtaining that means changing the present

2. Go forward into maturity: see it as a journey toward God

3. We learned the equation for success: Purpose, Faith, Patience, Love, and Endurance

4. Expect persecution, but don’t fear it: It actually helps you

5. We may be improving each day in Christ: Don’t expect the same from the world, they are becoming worse and worse

6. See your Christian life as a journey toward the heart of God: “Who are you really Lord?”

7. Through God’s Word we are thoroughly equipped for this journey

8. God will not forget: The reward is greater than you can ever imagine

Adrenaline Fatigue and The Love of God

“Ortberg notes this about the inability to love:

1. The most serious sign of hurry sickness is a diminished capacity to love. Love and hurry are fundamentally incompatible. Love always takes time, and time is one thing hurried people don’t have (87).

2. The truth is look around at our society hurried people cannot love because they are always in a hurry!

3. Ortberg adds this thought about the hurry sickness (lack of patience syndrome): It is because it kills love that hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life. Hurry lies behind much of the anger and frustration of modern life. Hurry prevents us from receiving love from the Father or giving it to His children. That’s why Jesus never hurried. If we are to follow Jesus, we must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from our lives-because, by definition, we can’t move faster than the one we are following (88).”
- John Ortberg, The Life You’ve Always Wanted

One of the horrors of modern life is that we are constantly busy, constantly thinking, or constantly scrolling on our devices. This three fold attack by the enemy, to keep us busy, to keep our thoughts constantly racing, and keep us glued to our electronic devices is deadly.

We end up in a state of fight or flight, a state of heightened intensity in your body.

“In response to acute stress, the body's sympathetic nervous system is activated by the sudden release of hormones. Fight-or-flight response hormones include adrenocorticotropic hormone and corticotropin-releasing hormone.

These hormones cause the sympathetic nervous system to stimulate the pituitary gland and adrenal glands. This triggers the release of catecholamines, including adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol.” -Kendra Cherry, writer for Very Well Mind dot com.

I can tell you from experience that someone caught in fight or flight, from work stress, or past trauma, or childhood abuse, will have a very hard time perceiving and experiencing the love of God in Jesus Christ.

Now there are ways to break yourself from fight or flight mode. Long periods of prayer, breathing exercises that focus on shutting down thought in the mind, to relieve racing thoughts, and other activities as well.

This is part of spiritual warfare. The enemy keeps us constantly engaged in brain intense activities. I used to be terrible. I’d have the TV on with my Xbox game, my laptop open scrolling social media, and my cell phone in my hand, with music playing in the background.

Many times I’d hear people brag about being a great multitasker. No, you’re just dragging yourself in 5 directions at the same time and overloading your nervous system.

Then we have rampant chronic stress, chronic fatigue, and ADD, and we wonder why? I imagine many of these conditions would disappear completely if we learned to quiet ourselves, focus on God, and rest in His love. Our bodies were never designed to be constantly stimulated the way they are today.

In spiritual warfare, the battle is within ourselves. And we can and will win with God’s help. 

We’ve discussed declaring the truths of scripture to ourselves, we’ve discussed your authority in Christ in spiritual warfare, and last week we addressed how God speaks to us and gives us a vision for the future. Now today we’re focusing in on receiving and walking in the love of God in spiritual warfare.

So today in the context of studying the love of God, I want you to think about how you can slow down in life.

Turn off the television. Put away the smart phone. Close the computer down. And simply be in silence with God. And as you learn to slowly do that, you will begin to hear the voice of God.

The Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 3, verses 14-15, “When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father,[e] the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.”

What is Paul referring to here? He’s talking about being amazed at what God does. And this amazement, this awesome reverence causes him to fall to his knees in prayer.

We should also look for opportunities to be amazed at what God does. We’re going to know His love more and more deeply if we’re allowing ourselves to be amazed at what he does.

When I see a beautiful sunset I stop and remind myself: God made that. When I visit the zoo, and I see a giraffe or a lion, I remind myself God made that. And in the moment I’m filled with awe. Maybe a better word is wonder. We need wonder in our lives. We need things that take our breath away.

When you see beauty I want you to remind yourself that the beauty you perceive has an author, and that author is God almighty.

He is the Creator of everything on Earth. He made it all. He made the human race. He made the animal kingdom. He made all the trees and plants and flowers and vegetables and fruits. Give God glory.

In spiritual warfare we can get very focused on the enemy, the demonic forces and evil entities. But, we have to keep our eyes on God, and see the good in life. Yes there’s a spiritual battle going on around us, but there is so much beauty in life, so many wonderful moments and memories. His creation is still good, even though it is fallen.

So we’re walking in wonder and awe. We’re assigning things to God. That's a biblical concept, the psalmist wrote "ascribe to God!' (Psalm 29 & 96).  It means we notice something glorious from God and we ascribe it to His doing.  

I remember when I was a new believer I was looking at pictures from the Hubble space telescope.  And suddenly I realized as I looked at the pictures, “God made these stars and galaxies.” And suddenly I looked at those pictures in an entirely new way. You can do that too.

It’s something C.S. Lewis was very good at. When he became a believer he began to look at the world with new eyes. And he began to see the world and people as made by God.

Which is why he said, “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

You can do the same thing, begin to see reality through Christian lenses, and you will see the truth. But it may take resetting how you used to view things. But after that moment, when you begin to see things through Christ, it will take you on an adventure where your perception is transformed. Everything you see in your life you will eventually view differently. The Bible calls that renewing your mind (Romans 12:1-2).

Next, verse 16, “I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit.”

In God there is no lack. For me, when I play a few games of basketball I’m done. I’m out of energy. God has no such problem. His resources are infinite.

And God empowers his people in spiritual warfare. The concept is clear here, if we are in awe of God, then we will pray, and if we pray, then we’ll have access to empowerment from God.

And as we pray, and worship, God gives us something called inner strength. This strength comes from Christ, through the Holy Spirit, to you.

Awesome respect for God leads to prayer. Prayer leads to access to God’s unlimited resources, and through those resources we receive inner strength.

Next, verse 17: “Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.”

Then we find Christ in our heart. Is there a requirement for that? Yes, it’s trust. If we trust Jesus, believe in Jesus, and are deeply committed to Jesus, he will dwell in our hearts.

Then we get this picture of a tree with roots growing down into the soil. Christ is in our heart. We’re like a mighty growing tree, then, our roots will have access to God’s love. We’ll soak it up like tree roots soak up water and we’ll be abundantly nourished by it.

Next, verse 18: "And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is."

All of this is Paul praying for the believers by the way. He prays that they may have the power to understand how huge God’s love is for them.

Do you understand how much God loves you? I study near death experiences and visions of Jesus, and one thing that is always common is that the person standing before Jesus feels loved like they never did before. They feel completely accepted, completely loved, as if they were the only person in the universe. The sense is so complete it changes them.

In fact many who come back from such experiences find themselves almost haunted by what they saw, the rest of their lives, longing for the place they briefly visited, longing for the eternity they touched briefly.

Similarly, even though we don’t see Jesus face to face, we can have an understanding of how deep and wide and high his love is for us.

Ask God to explain His love to you. Make that your prayer. He will answer.

It’s four dimensional, it’s like a cube shape, full of an ocean of His love. Endlessly huge, infinite love, and also traveling along with us through life, it’s timeless. As you can see that, visualize his love, how large the container is that must hold it, you will begin to experience His love as well.

Next, verse 19: "May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully."

As a result of having a mental understanding of the love of God, we eventually begin to experience His love in our hearts. We feel loved. We feel known. We feel protected. We feel cared for.

Do you feel His love? If you don’t, be patient, and continue to spend time with Him. To be honest, sometimes I feel loved, sometimes I don’t feel it. But that’s OK, our faith isn’t based on feeling, but on truth.

Remember to slow down though, spend real time with Him, as long as you are rushing around, working constantly, on your phone scrolling, tv blaring, movies non stop, videogames, you will never really experience the love of God in a deep way. Get quiet and alone with Him. I know that's scary for some of us. But if we can push past our fear, we’ll breakthrough to Him.

Second part of verse 19, “Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”

In my own life, I had so many things in my walk with God, faith, trust, reason, sanctification, holiness, growth, ministry, evangelism, and so much more. But for years I was lacking a central love element.

I knew it was true, but I felt the love of God was so mistreated in the body of Christ, used as a catch all for permission to do whatever we want instead of His will, that I avoided the love of God. That was a mistake, the love of God is the centerpiece of everything else. It’s the power behind the Christian life.

When we have this relationship with God and it’s completed with real deep love, we enter the fullness of life and power. We are made complete. We're full of His love and there is joy. Without that, we’re just empty.

Next, verse 20: “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

Through this mystery of Christ’s love, God accomplishes much more than we could imagine. It’s very effective.

When we know we’re loved, and we strike out from a place of knowing we’re loved, well, we can accomplish anything in Christ. Anything is possible!

Lastly, verse 21: "Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.”

The result is we give glory to God and glory to God’s son Jesus, amen. Knowing we’re loved, being filled with inner strength, walking in the awe of God, we reflect Christ like the moon reflects the sun.

And we live lives in alignment with God’s beautiful purposes. We become like a sunset or sunrise or star filled sky, others look at us and say wow, look what God did. And so we bring glory to God through how we are loved and love others.

If we don’t walk in the love of God, we will become increasingly empty and exhausted with the Christian life. We’ll think it’s just too hard, too many rules, and too much anxiety. We’ll feel burdened by the commands of God, and we’ll slowly grow so focused on the rules that we can’t sense His love at all. And that’s how you get someone who slowly begins to make it all about them, and not about God. They claim to follow God, but they really follow themselves. Self righteousness, is what that is. They slowly transfer their salvation away from God and onto themselves. And then they are dead legalists. There is no Spirit anymore.

But, if we allow the love of God to flow through us, empower us, and strengthen us, we will grow and grow like a mighty tree planted by streams of living water. Christ fills our heart and we are truly humbly dedicated to Him. His love amazes us, and we want to do anything for Him, because we experience meaningful relationship with Him. It’s not dead legalism, it’s living, deep, rapturous love that makes us hunger for more and more of Him. Then we are plugged into the vine, fed by the source, that is Jesus, He lives within our hearts and constantly feeds us His life and power, and it surges through our vines. We are deeply empowered, loved, held, and the power of God surges within us like sweet warmth, like surging electricity, or like a burning fire within us, mighty and strong. His love is powerful beyond words! More than we could ever think or imagine!

Don’t ever lose touch with that simple love relationship, slow down and spend time with Him, receive His love, and you’ll be amazed how he fills you and empowers you for service.

Main Points:
1. When we See the beauty/wonder in life it leads us to prayer

2. Prayer leads us to empowerment – we receive inner strength from God

3. Christ makes his home in our hearts - through deep trust

4. Power to understand is needed - How vast God’s love is for you

5. Then it’s experienced, known, and this experience changes us

6. Jesus makes us complete as a believer through His love

7. If we know his love, we have fullness of life and power (from God)

8. As we live in the love of God we are a testimony of God’s glory

Series: Spiritual Warfare

1. A Guide to Spiritual Warfare
2. The Authority of the Believer in Spiritual Warfare
3. Peter walks on Water: Walking in Authority
4. Adrenaline Fatigue and The Love of God
5. Body of Christ Battle Plan for Spiritual Warfare
6. Shining a Light in Spiritual Warfare
7. Exposing the Deeds of Darkness
8. The Mindset of the Armor of God

What is Biblical Love? How to Walk in the Way of Love

Dave Simmons shared in his book about being a dad a time when he and his two kids went to a mall, and the mall had a petting zoo there. He had given each of his children, Brandon and Helen a quarter to enter, and then went to continue shopping. Soon he saw his daughter hadn’t gone in. He went to ask her why.

She said sadly, "Well, Daddy, it cost fifty cents. So, I gave Brandon my quarter." Then she said the most beautiful thing I ever heard. She repeated the family motto. The family motto is in "Love is Action!"

She had given Brandon her quarter, and no one loves cuddly furry creatures more than Helen.

What do you think I did? Well, not what you might think. As soon as I finished my errands, I took Helen to the petting zoo. We stood by the fence and watched Brandon go crazy petting and feeding the animals. Helen stood with her hands and chin resting on the fence and just watched Brandon. I had fifty cents burning a hole in my pocket; I never offered it to Helen, and she never asked for it.

Because she knew the whole family motto. It's not "Love is Action." It's "Love is SACRIFICIAL Action!" Love always pays a price. Love always costs something. Love is expensive. When you love, benefits accrue to another's account. Love is for you, not for me. Love gives; it doesn't grab. Helen gave her quarter to Brandon and wanted to follow through with her lesson. She knew she had to taste the sacrifice. She wanted to experience that total family motto. Love is sacrificial action.”
-Dave Simmons, Dad, The Family Coach, Victor Books, 1991, pp. 123-124.

Today we’re talking love in the context of the Bible, referred to in the classic chapter from 1st Corinthians 13. But it’s super important that we understand that love is like Dave Simmons indicates, a sacrificial action.

It’s not a feeling. It’s not something we do when we feel like it. It’s a mindset of service to others. And let’s be very clear, we pay a price when we love. We give something. It’s not about receiving. It’s about giving.

The Apostle Paul is writing to a community that has a lot of knowledge. And he is reminding them that love has to be first as a Christian.

But what is love exactly? That’s what we’re going to be examining today. 

But I think as Americans we assume love is “niceness.” The American 1st Corinthians 13 is: "Love is niceness. Love does not make waves. Love does not disagree. Love always affirms. Love goes along to get along. Love accepts everything. Love never judges. Love says anything to make someone feel good. Love never points out a wrong. Love seeks the security of self, rather than the benefit of the other. Niceness never confronts, never disturbs, never speaks a hard truth. Niceness says, "you do you."

But that is not biblical love. That kind of love is not love at all, but niceness. And niceness isn’t actually really loving. Niceness wants to be liked. Niceness doesn’t want to have to call someone out on something bad they’re doing. Niceness is just letting someone float on down the river toward hell without saying a word. Niceness is more about wanting to be liked. It’s selfish. And niceness isn’t what we go for as Christians. We go for sacrificial agape love.

Jesus modeled perfect love for us, by dying for his enemies, dying for people who rejected him, in the hope they would one day receive the forgiveness he offered.

Love says, “Father forgive them they don’t know what they’re doing.”

Love says, “I do not condemn you.”

Yet Love also says, “Go and sin no more.”

And Love also says, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.”

Love also says, “If your hand causes you to sin cut it off, because it’s better for you to lose your hand than to go with both hands into the everlasting fire.”

Biblical love is willing to say a hard truth to someone in love, knowing that we may lose the friendship, but loving their soul more than their companionship. That’s real love. Niceness is a joke and a sham, compared to the glory of agape love.

It says in 1st Cor 13:1-3, “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”

We can do a lot of great things with our spiritual gifts, but if we don’t honestly love people, it won’t matter. Our message will be ugly if it doesn’t come with love. Have you ever known a Christian who had a lot of giftings and knowledge but didn’t have love? The message is toxic. It’s dead. It drives people away.

So we come to our structure of faith for today, which is the heart shape. And in the depiction of love in 1st Corinthians 13, we’re going to see categories, first, character traits that are loving. And character traits that are not loving. So we get a list of things to do, and a list of things not to do. Pretty simple.

Let’s dive in. First, in verse 4, “Love is patient.”

Now I know this scripture is often used in association with romantic relationships, but the context is actually speaking about loving your neighbor. I think we can also apply it to loving God as well.

Love is patient. How is your patience? Are you patient with someone who you are trying to win to Christ? Are you patient with friends and family? Patience is waiting on God. Patience is listening to someone when they’re talking.

We want to add this characteristic to ourselves, in the heart. How? Pray and ask God for patience. Then learn to practice patience. Sometimes it’s helpful to speak the word, “I’m going to be patient in this situation.” Just remind yourself of that.

Next, second part of verse 4, “Love is kind.”

What is kindness? I like the 1828 Webster’s dictionary definition for kindness, it says, “Good will; benevolence; that temper or disposition which delights in contributing to the happiness of others, which is exercised cheerfully in gratifying their wishes, supplying their wants or alleviating their distresses.”

Delighting in contributing to the happiness of others. As my grandma Monica always said, “It’s nice to be nice.” Niceness isn’t always bad either, as long as it’s seen as part of a bigger whole of what it means to be loving.

Does it make you glad to contribute to help someone else? I know it does for me. That’s part of love.

Next, third part of verse 4, “It does not envy.”

Envy appears outside the heart shape, to remind us, this is something we want to avoid. What is envy? Being envious is seeing someone who has a nice car, nice house, nice watch, nice smartphone, and instead of being happy for them, we envy them, we want what they have. We get envious, jealous, angry that they have something we don’t.

Envy is a nasty emotion. We want to pray if we struggle with envy, ask God to help us with that. Put off envy. Replace it with gratitude for what we do have.

Many envy the rich in our country, want to get their money for themselves, that’s not wisdom. Be grateful for what you do have.

Next, still verse 4, “it does not boast.”

We also want to avoid bragging. I did this, I did that, I’m so great, look at me.

I remember at my Grandma Bernie’s funeral, all of these people kept coming forward talking about how Grandpa had mentored them, how he had prayed with them, given them something, led them to the Lord, and Grandpa had never told anyone about all those things he did.

That’s how we should be. We should not be bragging, look at what my ministry did. Look at all these people we helped. Look at how close to God I am. That isn’t helpful to anyone. We do want to shine our light. But we don’t want to brag about how great we are. That’s filthy before God.

Next, similar to boasting, “It is not proud.” Pride is thinking highly of ourselves. Pride is thinking how great we are at what we do. Pride is looking at ourselves constantly and being impressed. Lord save us from pride! Pride is what caused the angels to fall and become demons. Pride leads ministers and great Christians astray, thinking they are something, thinking they are great. Replace pride with humility. Stay humble. Know you are merely a servant of God, nothing more.

Next in verse 5, ‘it does not dishonor others.”

In the original Greek of this phrase, aschēmoneō, it means to “prepare disgrace for someone.” It’s like setting someone up to look stupid or setting someone up to be criticized. I see this in social groups all the time, one of the guys tries to make the other guy look stupid, tries to manipulate the conversation to make the other guy look bad, and make himself look good.

Biblical love of course doesn’t set others up for failure or try to push others down to promote ourselves or make ourselves look good. Guard against that.

Next, still verse 5, “it is not self-seeking.” What a great phrase, self seeking is talked about a lot in 12 step fellowship groups. It’s the concept of taking your own selfish desires and pushing your own way in every situation. It’s very ugly. Self-will run riot is a great phrase that describes that.

Being self-seeking is something we want to avoid. We should instead seek God’s will for our lives. Not what we want.

Next, “it is not easily angered.” Love is not easily angered. Do you have a bad temper? Do you get angry too quickly? I know it’s something I had to fight in the past. And a lot of the time it had to be with a deeply rooted insecurity in me. So if you’re struggling with anger, find out what’s underneath the anger.

Is it a bad memory? Is it a way you were mistreated in the past? Sit down and talk about what the feeling is connected to. Let it out. Heal from the pain. And next time, the anger won’t be as strong.

Next, “it keeps no record of wrongs.” How often do we see this in romantic relationships or friendships? One person keeps a record of every wrong thing that was done by the other. Then the other person brings up the record they have of the other person. We’ve got to get rid of these records, forgive each other, and move forward.

Then again, if you do notice a pattern of mistreatment or abuse, you should recognize that and deal with it with the other person. But once it’s been dealt with, let go of the record. Don’t keep bringing it up. We’ve got to forgive those hurts, and move forward.

And then it says, verse 6, part 1, “Love does not delight in evil.” This is one of those aspects of love that distinguish it from niceness.

Niceness says oh I love you just the way you are. Love says, I love you my friend but I notice something in your life isn’t right, God can help you be free from that sin. Niceness just says oh you do you. Do whatever you like. Love says what you’re doing my dear friend isn’t right, God has something better for you then that. Notice niceness just goes along to get along, it just wants to be liked, love brings up a hard truth to help the person, but in so doing, they risk the relationship. It’s sacrificial.

Love doesn’t delight in evil, it can’t.

So we see here the first eight aspects of what it means to not be loving, and the first two aspects of what it means to be loving.

Paul is now going to get into the remaining six characteristics of a loving person.

Next, so love does not delight in evil, but, it rejoices with the truth.

What does it mean to rejoice with the truth? It’s as simple as hearing something at Bible study or at morning church and you say, “Amen!” Because the Holy Spirit in you rejoices and says, “that’s true!” I love the truth so much. And I hate lies. We will rejoice in truth in the way of love. And lies and evil will make us sick.

Next, love always protects. The word here is rendered by some translations as bears. The Greek word gives the picture of someone setting aside slights and disagreements and problems and arguments, covering over those things, and instead focusing on the good.

That’s something I think we’re good at, seeing the good in others, looking for the good things, and papering over the bad.

When I have a disagreement with a loved one, family, with my fiancée, or a friend, I will tend to try and overlook it, ignore it, focus on the things I love about them. Let’s try to do that too, when others hurt us, cover over the bad, focus on the good. Bear up in difficulties. Anyone in a marriage knows that we have to bear up with the faults of our loved ones.

Notice the word “always” is appearing. It gives us a picture of constantly repeatedly over time, repeating the character trait. Repeat it, repeat it again. Repeat the good thing.

“it always trusts.” For our relationship God we want to “always trust.” For our relationship with friends and family, we want to “always trust.” Does that mean that we trust a stranger necessarily? No I don’t think so. But we do trust that God’s word can do something in their lives. Always trust I think primarily is a mindset of being a trusting person who trusts God and trusts others, and isn’t prone to bitter mistrust.

Next, Love always hopes. A characteristic of being a loving person is being hopeful. Hopeful for the other. Hopeful for the future. Hopeful for the promises of God. Hopeful in general.

I know that’s hard for many of us here who have been through many hardships and have mental and physical health issues, but we can obey this to always be hopeful. Don’t be a pessimistic, don’t be a negative person, cultivate hope.

That may take healing for some of us here, to foster. I confess I battle bitterness, negativity. But God is helping me. I pray about it, and he helps.

Next, love always perseveres. Love doesn’t give up. Love keeps going. Love stands the test. Love continues through the difficulties. Don’t give up friends.

And the eighth characteristic of love is that love never fails. Does that mean we never make a mistake? No. Love never fails means that love doesn’t fall to the ground, love doesn’t end up powerless. Love will continue always in our hearts, if we are living out these principles of what it means to be loving. The result will be, love never fails. But it’s also an attribute. It’s believing that love will not die out. Love will continue.

Next in verses 8-12 the Apostle Paul reinterates that love is the most important of all the giftings of the Spirit. It says, “8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”

Then in verse 13, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

When all the giftings fade in the next life, love remains as the greatest truth.

I think the first part of 1st Corinthians 14:1 tells us what all this means.

It says, “Walk in, or “Follow the way of love.” -1 Cor 14:1

So, if we are in fact putting off the eight negative characteristics that we want to avoid, and putting on the 8 positive characteristics of love, we will then be fulfilling the command in scripture which says to “follow the way of love.”

This is the way of love.

Last slide, the white arrows represent the actions of the Holy Spirit we take in cooperation with the Spirit, we actively put off the old ways, the anti-love ways. And then the Holy Spirit also helps us to put on the new ways of love which come from above, from God.

To Review:

1. Put off pridefulness, bragging, being easily angered, & Envy

2. Put off Dishonoring others & keeping a record of wrongs

3. Put off self seeking, & delighting in evil

4. Put on patience and kindness

5. Put on rejoicing in the truth

6. Put on Protectiveness, Hope, Perseverance, and Trusting

7. Believe that Love Never Fails

8. In all this, believe you can & will walk in the way of love

Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ: Launching out toward the Heart of God

Today we’re going to set out on an adventure. We’re going to launch out into the depths of God and seek to discover a beautiful mystery, called “the depths of Jesus Christ.” We all long I think for a deeper more meaningful relationship with God. Yet I think for a lot of us it may seem out of reach. Too hard. Too far away. Well, no longer. 

We’re going to set out on our space ship, of a sort, into the depths. But not necessarily the depths of outer space, though God made those depths, instead we’re aiming our space ship toward the heart of God. We’re going on a journey, to seek God, and find God, in the depths of His heart. 

Our tool for this journey is of course the word of God, prayer as well, but also, a classic Christian book, penned in 1685, by a woman who lived in France long ago, named Jeanne Guyon. The title of the book is “Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ.”

In this new series we’ll use Madam Guyon’s book as a guide to lead us toward deeper relationship with God. And I’m going to treat this like an odyssey, an adventure, a journey, because as great as the journey is to launch off into outer space, the adventure is much greater, to launch off into the heart of God. 

So here we find ourselves at the launch pad. The ship is fueled and ready for our journey into deep space. But you may be wondering, who am I to embark on such a journey? Am I really worthy of it? Could it really be true that I can know God deeply? 

The word of God is clear, that as long as you’re willing to approach God like a little child, with confidence and trust, God is willing to receive you. As long as you’re willing to set aside your sins and find Him, you will find Him. 

As Jeanne Guyon wrote, addressing the concerns of her readers, “Did the Lord not say, You shall seek me and shall not find me?” John 7:34. Ah, but your Lord, who cannot contradict Himself, also said to all, “Seek, and you shall find.” (Matthew 7:7). 

Yes, it is true, if you seek the Lord, and yet are unwilling to stop your sinning, you shall not find Him. Why? Because you are seeking Him in a place where He is not. There, it is said, “You shall die in your sins.” 

But if you will take the trouble to seek God in your own heart, and if you sincerely forsake your sins so that you may draw near to Him, you shall infallibly find Him.” -Jeanne Guyon (1685)

You see the simple requirements of the journey. You are willing to seek God. And you are willing to leave your sins behind. If you are there, you are ready to climb aboard the space ship. 

Yet you may still be concerned. It can seem scary to chase after God with such boldness. 

Madam Guyon wrote, “I realize that the prospect of living a life of piety is frightening to most Christians. And prayer is viewed as a very difficult attainment. Consequently, most believers are too discouraged at the very outset even to take the first step in this direction. It is true that if you consider the difficulty of some new undertaking, it can cause you to despair and make you reluctant to begin. On the other hand, the desirability of such an adventure – and the idea that it may easily be accomplished- can cause you to launch out with vigor.”

I recently began my next masters class at Olivet Nazarene University. Looking at everything in the class, all the books, the syllabus, I found myself overwhelmed and wishing I hadn’t decided to take another class right now. But, once I logged in, and began working on the first two assignments for week one, I found myself able to handle those assignments and get them done. Don’t try to do everything at once. Just be ready to take the next step forward when the time comes. 

Jesus told the crowds once, when I think he could sense many were concerned and afraid, and nervous about God’s holiness and perfection. Jesus said, “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

God is not looking for ways to keep you out. His goal is to give you the kingdom. He just asks that you be willing to get to know Him, and turn away from your past sins. 

Jeanne Guyon in her introduction makes it clear several biblical truths that I find to be thoroughly correct:

1.We can be convinced of God’s goodness toward us His children.

2. God does in fact desire to reveal himself to us deeply. 

3. We only need a little courage and perseverance to begin.

God is a giver of good gifts. He has abundant gifts for his people. As it says in the scriptures, “He who spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not, with Him, also freely give us all things?” -Romans 8:32

God gave us his own son, his own son’s precious blood, poured out to cover our sins. Does he not also, after giving us his son, also want to give us to know Him deeply? Certainly he does. 

Can God really be found so easily? Yes. It's not hard. It is different, because it means coming to God with a child-like heart of confidence and humble trust. That is different. But not hard. 

If you entirely give yourself to God, whole heart, then the answer is yes, God can be found. Absolutely. 

As Guyon states, it takes “Humble confidence toward God.” A child confidently moving toward their parent knowing they will be safe in their loving arms. 

It’s like a door. If I turn the knob, the door will open. It has to. It will. It’s the same with seeking God. If we seek him with all our heart, the door will open. It must. It has to. It will. Period. It’s guaranteed. That’s the lever system God has set up. 

So all aboard the space ship, and we launch off into deep space. The adventure begins. We are seeking the heart of God. We are seeking to know God deeply. We are seeking real, authentic relationship with God through Jesus Christ. 

We talk so much about theology, biblical texts, parables of Jesus, scientific evidence, the historical Jesus, and so on, these are all good things, but for this journey, we want to consider three things: one, your own heart. Two, God’s heart. And three, the union of your heart with God’s heart. 

We’ll talk briefly about these three things, then we’ll pray and that’ll be our start to this new series. 

First, your own heart, has of course been through much in this world. In ways our hearts are soft and attentive to God. Our hearts give and receive love. For some of you though, your hearts are hurt. You’ve become bitter. Some of your hearts have become hard. 

So the first step today, is to ask God for help. Now, if you haven’t become a born again Christian yet, this prayer will not have any effect. God cannot heal a heart that doesn’t belong to Him. A heart without Christ is hard as rock and must be given to God to be changed into flesh. 

But, if your heart does belong to Christ, pray this prayer, and ask Him to heal it, “Lord, we’ve given our hearts to you, but life still happens. Hurts happen. Pain happens. And we confess we’ve allowed bitterness. We’ve allowed some hardness to set in. So God, we pray that you would send your angels, send your healing power, to heal our hearts. We give them to you afresh, please make our hearts new and fresh and soft again, only then Father, can be experience you in all your goodness, in Jesus name, amen.”

Secondly, we consider the heart of God. God’s heart is pure love, so much so that the scriptures say “God is love.” Our hearts are limited, though we do receive and give love freely. But God’s heart is infinite, more massive and expansive than the universe itself... A heart of hearts, a heart beyond anything we could imagine. 

Yet we can know God, and the heart of God, as we reach out for Him. As he seek Him, we find Him. God’s heart is our target in all this. And it’s not beyond our reach. There is a spot just for us, in His heart, made just for us. And we fit just right there. 

Know this truth in your mind, but I pray and hope you can feel it in your heart: He honestly really does love you deeply, more than you could possibly imagine. God really does love you. He longs to be with you. He beckons you to come. 

Prayer: "Lord, as we consider your heart, help us to come boldly toward your heart. Help us to perceive your love for us, even those here who doubt your love, may they sense your love and be amazed, in Jesus name, amen."

Third is the dream, the hope, the proper end of this great controversy: The union of your heart with God’s heart. Divine union. Divine reconciliation. You can experience this union with God in this life, all thanks to Jesus Christ, and what Jesus did on the cross. He paid the way forward. He opened the door. But you must walk through it. 

The divine union of your heart with God’s heart is this: God expresses his love for you, and you express your love for Him. And in that you find a taste of the union of your heart with God’s heart.

Let’s reach out today, make a beginning toward that union. Prayer: "Heavenly Father, we love you. We receive your love for us. We draw near to you, knowing you accept us in Christ. We simply love you, rejoice in you, celebrate our union with you, and draw nearer to you today. We love you. We receive your love. In Jesus name, amen."

Your heart. God’s heart. Union of hearts. It all starts there. What does it mean? How do we understand it? There are examples everywhere in our lives: a friendship, a father-son relationship, a romance even, it begins with something as simple as two hearts loving one another, but of course that’s just the beginning of the adventure. It’s long talks at night, it’s sharing stories, it’s going on trips, it’s carrying your son on your shoulders, it’s playing football together, it’s having a tea party with dad, it’s a journey in any relationship. All of those relationships give us pictures of God's love for us. 

So we begin that journey to learn more about the ultimate love relationship, between God and you. 

Off we go, into the depths of space, seeking out the heart of God, and if we seek with all our hearts, we will truly find all this and more. What I can assure you of is this: As much as we’re launching out to find God’s heart, he’s already with us in Christ on the ship as we launch out. Isn’t that amazing? I think so. 

I’ll conclude with a portion of a prayer from Madam Guyon’s book:

“Oh Holy Jesus, it is You alone who love the simple and innocent. It is Your “delight to dwell with the children of men,” (Proverbs 8:3) with those who are willing to become “little children.” (Matthew 18:3) Beloved Lord, write it on the hearts of those who read it and lead them to seek You within themselves. It is there You rest, as in the manger, waiting to receive proofs of their love and to give them testimonies of Yours in return.” Amen. 

What is the Most Important Command of God?

"A lighthouse along a bleak coast was tended by a keeper who was given enough oil for one month and told to keep the light burning every night. One day a woman asked for oil so that her children could stay warm. Then a farmer came. His son needed oil for a lamp so he could read. Still another needed some for an engine. The keeper saw each as a worthy request and measured out just enough oil to satisfy all. Near the end of the month, the tank in the lighthouse ran dry. That night the beacon was dark and three ships crashed on the rocks. More than 100 lives were lost.

When a government official investigated, the man explained what he had done and why. "You were given one task alone," insisted the official. "It was to keep the light burning. Everything else was secondary. There is no defense." -Source Unknown.

What is the highest priority in your life? That is the key question today. What is the most important thing? There are so many things that pull at our attention daily, our finances, our family, friends, commitments, chores, laundry, running errands, getting a haircut, going on vacation even. All these things pull at our attention. What is most important in life?

We all know the Sunday school answer: God should be first in your life. It’s easy to say that. But is it true? Or do we need to make an adjustment to our daily schedule? Do we need to carve out times to read the Bible, attend a small group, to pray and talk to God?

That is the challenge. If you can carve out those times in your busy schedule though, you will be one of those rare Christians who really glow with the power of God. The Holy Spirit will lead your life. And you’ll be securely on your way to heaven.

If you can’t quite carve out those prayer and bible reading times, and if you can’t quite make it to small group and church, then you’ll be one of those Christians who is unstable in their ways. You will be double-minded. You will be often confused and upset. You’ll be unsteady, and you’ll be liable to shipwreck.

Which do you want to be?

Conquer yourself. That is the challenge isn’t it? We’re not talking about something outside ourselves. We’re looking right into our own heart. Conquer yourself, he who can conquer himself is greater than he who can conquer a city.

The first step to conquer yourself: Realize you can’t. Surrender to that reality. I can’t do it alone. I can’t force myself to get there by pulling myself up by my bootstraps. I need God’s help. The first step is surrender. Honestly, that’s where I started when I couldn’t seem to get into a rhythm of praying and reading my Bible. I was too distracted by TV, my favorite series on Netflix, too distracted by videogames, and social media, and my laptop and my cell phone. I’d sit there knowing I should be praying as I stared at the TV, as I stared at the videogame or the computer screen or the cell phone screen, I knew, I should be praying, I should be reading the word.

But I felt held captive by the device. So, my first step was to stop, and pray and ask God for help with breaking free: God, help me please, I can’t seem to break away, please God do it in me, give me the power I need to carve out a prayer and Bible reading time each day. In Jesus name, amen.

And I found this new power in me, that had not been there before, and I was able to shut the lid on the laptop, put down the phone, and sit down on my floor, and talk to God in the dark at night. And later, in the mornings as well, and soon, it grew and grew over time, and when I wanted the time to grow, I would again turn to God, surrender, and ask for His help.

That process, of surrender, first, then turning toward God, then believing that God really can, and then watching him do it in you, as your cooperate with him, is a process that you can see repeated over and over again in your life.

If you struggle with drinking, or smoking, or porn, or lust, or stealing, or lying, or manipulation, or hatred, or unforgiveness, repeat this simple pattern:

First, surrender to God. God, I can’t do it alone.

Second, begin to believe God can do a miracle.

Third, turn it over completely to God and put it in His hands.

Fourth, watch as in His power, you overcome by the Holy Spirit victory in you.

It’s absolutely amazing. Time and time again when I get stuck in my walk with God in some area, some sin, some struggle, I return to that process of surrender and turning it over, and in time, in His time, suddenly, a see a miracle happen, and God gives the breakthrough. It’s astonishing.

So if you’re struggling to keep God first, well, realize you can’t. Surrender, ask humbly for God’s help, right now, pray, I challenge you, pray, and watch what he does, if you follow that simple process.

But that brings us to our scripture today, from Mark 12:28-31: “One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Notice this is a teacher of the law asking this question. So they aren’t all bad. Some of the teachers and Pharisees and officials and elders really did honestly love God and want to understand what was happening around Jesus the messiah.

What is most important?

Jesus quotes two scriptures here:

The first is called the Shema by Jews, it’s from Deuteronomy 6:5, which says, ““And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”

And the second portion, Leviticus 19:18: “‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”

The single most important thing that we should do as Christians is to learn to love God with all that we are and all that we have. That happens through deep relationship with God. That deep relationship happens through personal prayer, bible reading, group bible study, prayer meetings, singing and praising, Sunday worship, and every aspect of personal and corporate worship of God. So the more you want to love God deeply, and obey this command of Jesus, the more you should participate in the body of Christ, and have one on one time with God. Plain and simple. As your pastor I can’t do that for you, you have to make that happen with God’s help.

Secondly, Jesus also indicates, to love each other is second most important. Love God first, love others as well.

After hearing this the teacher of the law responds this way: Verses 32-34:

32 “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.”

This man Jesus says was not far from the kingdom of God. He understood that what God wants is for us to love Him first and love our neighbors, more so than any sacrifice. Love is central to everything.

Second section today, we see Jesus provoking an important question: Who is the messiah really? Truly?

In verses 35-37 it says this, “While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, he asked, “Why do the teachers of the law say that the Messiah is the son of David? 36 David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared:

“‘The Lord said to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
under your feet.”’

37 David himself calls him ‘Lord.’ How then can he be his son?”

The large crowd listened to him with delight.”

Jesus quotes here from Psalm 110, where it says, essentially God said to God, Sit at my right hand. So God is talking to God, telling God to sit at his right hand and wait until he puts his enemies under his feet.

In this time the Pharisees and religious leaders believed that the messiah would be a man born in the lineage of King David. And that part was true. The messiah would be in the line of David. Jesus our messiah was born into the family line of King David.

But, Jesus is pointing to a key fact to understand: The messiah was not just a man. The messiah was God in human form. The messiah was God dwelling in human flesh. Jesus was God in human form.

King David wrote that in Psalm 110, I’m sure not fully understanding what he was writing, but he was writing by the Holy Spirit, pointing to the coming of the God-man Jesus Christ.

Jesus was explaining to the crowd that the messiah would be the Lord himself, on Earth, to save us.

Section three, the true character of a Christian. Jesus warns against the attitude of the Pharisees and teachers of the law.

So what we read here, we should do our best to do the opposite of.

It says in verses 38-40: As he taught, Jesus said, “Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, 39 and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. 40 They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.”

The Lord Jesus is telling us to not be like that. Don’t act in that way, as a Christian. Don’t try to show how important you are. Don’t try to show how knowledgeable you are. Don’t try to wear fancy outfits for the purpose of being greeted with respect by others. Don’t try to find the most important seat at get togethers and events. Don’t make lengthy prayers to show how wonderful you are at praying.

Frankly, just as much as it was true two thousand years ago, today, many, pastors, priests, and everyday Christians make a show of their faith.

I listen to different preachers and pastors and teachers on Youtube and online and on TV and such, and one thing you can always sense very quickly is arrogance or pride. It is so incredibly common among preachers and pastors today, pride, ego, arrogance, pre-madonna, look at our important I am, look at how great my ministry is, look at what I’m doing, and we’ve got to guard against that. Most people can sense it though. I can sense it. If someone is prideful or arrogant or doing it out of self, I get a sense in my Spirit, something is off here, my fiancé Chelsey can sense it very quickly, if a song or a speaker is “off” she can sense something here is off.

The Spirit is not here. Or the Spirit is being hindered. Or self is being displayed, not God. It’s an easy thing to slip into. I often wanted to show how creative I could be, how deep I could go, and how important I was, and I still have to fight that, to want to show myself, instead of simply showing God in His glory. Lord help us to resist that spirit of selfish ambition and to glorify God, not self.

Jesus ends this section saying that these leaders, these teachers, who were entrusted with the very words of God himself, would be punished “most severely” because they made it about themselves, and not about God. May we always keep the focus on God, not on self. That is hard when hundreds or thousands of people are listening to you speak or listening to you sing or play guitar, or the cameras are pointed at you, or millions of followers are hanging on your every word, that’s when we gotta get on our face before God and plead with Him to keep us humble, and deliver us from pride of every kind. Lord help us!

The character of a true Christian, which is opposite of the teachers of the law described here, is this: To have no desire to be seen by others, but simply have a heart of love, wanting to be helpful to others who need to know Jesus and know God’s word. A simple desire to be helpful. A desire to get God’s word out there. A desire for others to be saved. An honest, genuine love for the real God who is here. It’s so simple, but if we’re consumed with love for God and love for others, a simple honest love for God and people, then pride is choked out in humility and love. Keep this motto: “I’m not that important, God is, I’m simply a servant of God, nothing more.”

So that’s the true nature of service to God. Now, last section, section four, the true nature of giving.

Here we see in verses 41-44 it says, “41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.

43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

The nature of giving is not actually what we might think. We might assume, well, the billionaire who gives 20% of his wealth to support world missions has giver a greater offering than the poor man who gave his last 2 dollars. But that actually isn’t true. According to God’s kingdom, the man who gave his last 2 dollars has in fact, given more.

Which tells us something very simple, but profound: God is looking at the heart of the giver.

But just as much, he’s looking at the level of trust of the giver. The widow gives her last two coins, all she had to live on, she is now broke, she won’t be able to pay for her next meal, but she is trusting God, trusting that God will provide for her.

So there are two things at work here: God looks at the heart, and God looks at the trust level.

Particularly if you give when it hurts, when you know you won’t be able to make ends meet otherwise, that is the a faithful offering to God. Giving when it hurts is the key to matching the heart of the widow who gave her last two coins. Now God won’t always call you to do that. But when he does, you should do it. But don’t assume that every time you have only a little left you are required to give it over to God. That’s not necessarily true. Go by the Spirit’s leading. Don’t make it into a 24/7 law. But give as God inspires you to.

But I think that’s best seen by tithing, most people assume with their finances being so tight, they couldn’t possibly tithe 10% of their income to God. But if they would simply trust God, and trust that God will provide in the lack, they would be blessed as they give 10% and greater and greater. But if God can’t trust you to give 10% and you refuse it, how can he ever trust you with more? That’s the question you should ponder. This widow gave her last two coins. Can we trust God and give even in tight finances? Pray on this, and seek God’s help again, just like we talked about it, if you’re afraid to go 10% in, start with surrender to God, and ask for God’s help. He will help you. Give it to Him.

So in conclusion, let’s look at our application points today:

1. Struggling to build relationship with God? When you can’t, Surrender it to God in Prayer

2. Use the “Surrender to God” process with other problems

3. Loving God & others is built on relationship

4. Jesus is both God and man (Son of God, son of Man)

5. Don’t be the teachers of the law, don’t show off

6. Have a sincere desire to be helpful in the background

7. Give to God financially, willingly, and out of lack to be blessed (Trust God in giving)