Love: Building One Another Up - 1 Corinthians

2:13Now, as I started this lesson on love, this sermon on love, I wanted to check the internet to see what is sort of the latest idea of love that's out there and compare it with hopefully what I share with you today to be a biblical definition or idea of love. And after doing a Bing search, we couldn't use Google in China. So after I got used to using Bing, after doing a Bing search, I found out that it was defined in one of four ways. Number one, an intense feeling of deep affection. Sort of those knots in the guy's stomach as he sees his beloved. Walks by, or as he sees that girl walks by, that he's had a crush on for such a long time. The number two definition was: love is a person or thing that one loves. And I thought that was confusing because I learned in school you couldn't use the word which you were defining in the definition.

3:22Apparently, on the internet, you can do that. Number three, a selfish, unselfish, loyal, and benevolent concern for the good of another. And then finally, number four, in tennis, a score of zero. And if you haven't heard Brian Regan, go Google or go do a YouTube search on Brian Regan tennis scoring, and you'll have a very enjoyable five minutes. Well, my goal today is to survey 1 Corinthians regarding the topic of love and discover five things. Number one, the paramount significance of love. That'll be from chapter 13. Number two, we will briefly overview the failure in the Corinthian church for the members to love one another. Number three, I'm going to attempt to define love as it's found in the Word of God, as it's found in 1 Corinthians, specifically from chapter 8 and chapter 13. And then finally, how we can demonstrate love. To one another in the church from chapter five and other places, and then how we can demonstrate love to the world, especially from chapter nine. So, let's start off with the paramount significance of love. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 13.

4:48In China, we had a wonderful, wonderful custom, which was typically all of the believers would read the scripture together. We can't really do that in English-speaking congregations because we have so many different translations. But so, I will read it for you. 1 Corinthians chapter 13, we're going to start with verses 1 through 3. If I speak with the tongues of men and angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clinging symbol. And if I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. Well, first and foremost, let's put this chapter within its context. So, Paul, of course, has been talking to the Corinthian church, especially about their divisions and how they're following different men and how they're exalting themselves and. Exalting their oratory skills, their rhetoric, their eloquence. And in chapter 12, he goes into the fact that we have all been baptized into one body. But the body is comprised or composed of different parts, and that all are important, and that all are unified. They're all working towards the same goal. And so there are different gifts, but that doesn't mean that some are more important or some are better than others. And so Paul comes to chapter 13 and he wants to emphasize: yes, gifts are important, but love. Love is the foundation of it all. Love is the motivation behind which we go and exercise these gifts within the church body. And so he starts off by saying, if I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, which was one of the gifts that he just listed and he feels like is an appropriate gift for the church, if I speak with these tongues but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clinging symbol. Now, if you today are 18 years or younger, I need to clarify this is not a good thing.

7:19My boys have gotten into what's called Christian rap. And I have to say, I sort of like it. But when my wife is in the car, it is absolutely not permitted. It is off-limits. To her, it sounds like a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. What's interesting is in the Greek, this word clanging is also used in Mark chapter 5. Of course, Jairus' daughter had died, and he called for Jesus to come. And so when Jesus had arrived, many were there wailing over this young lady who had passed away. The same word wailing is the same word clanging here. This wailing, this clanging, it's uncomfortable, it's detestable, it makes you want to plug your ears. And so that's what the tongues of men and the tongues of angels are, if there is no love.

8:19Or in verse 2, if I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but I have not love, I am nothing. So here he's foreshadowing chapter 14. Chapter 14, he's going to compare the gifts of prophecy and tongues and ultimately conclude that prophecy is more important and more valuable when the body is gathered together because prophecy can edify and build up people. They can actually understand what people are saying. But if it's not accompanied with love, it's nothing. And then verse 3: if I give all my possessions, To feed the poor, and I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Brothers and sisters, this is astounding. This is staggering. How can one give all their possessions to feed the poor? How can they become a martyr to sacrifice their body to be burned, and it profits them nothing? How is that even possible?

9:29Well, in Paul's worldview and biblically speaking, it certainly is possible. We don't know exactly what Paul's referring to here. Maybe he's hearkening back to the heroes of Daniel chapter 3, not accusing them of lacking love, but of course, they were placed in the fiery furnace. There is, in Jewish tradition, some of the Maccabean Jews who were martyred with fire. Possibly Paul is alluding to that. We're not exactly sure, but the point is: number one, no matter what you do, if it's not motivated by love, it's worthless. In fact, it profits you nothing, which tells us love is not completely divorced from self-interest, is it not?

10:18So if I'm pursuing your joy, if I'm pursuing building you up and meeting your needs, and that brings me joy, that brings me, that's a profit, is it not? I think you could also think of this prophet in terms of a reward from God as well, but I don't want to get too dragged away from that. I want to think more in modern terms, how to apply chapter 13, verses 1 through 3. Maybe a modern-day application could be: I could lead the most theologically astute congregation and explain all the deepest mysteries of the Trinity and the Bible and salvation, but if I have not love, I'm nothing.

11:03That doesn't mean theological knowledge is bad. That doesn't mean pursuing a knowledge of God is something to be rejected, but it does mean if it's not accompanied by love, then you've failed. You've missed the mark. I could, we could grow to become the largest mega-church in town, but if we lack love, then we are nothing. We've failed. I could lead the company that creates the iPhone and make billions of dollars, but if I have not love, I'm nothing. Have you ever watched the movie or seen the stories about Steve Jobs and his family? It's a sad, sad endeavor. Now that is not a recommendation for you to boycott his products, right?

12:00It's just the point that what this world prizes and cherishes money and success and power, ultimately, apart from love, is what? Worthless. It's nothing. I could win multiple world championships and be the goat. See, even in China, we kind of learn the latest acronyms, right? The greatest of all time. But if I have not love, I'm nothing. You guys didn't know that acronym. Is that right? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It's worthless. We could go back and see this as the major thing throughout the Bible. Jesus said, the great commandment is what? To love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. And the second is like it, to love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus said in John chapter 13, verses 34 through 35, A new commandment I give unto you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you ought to also love one another. Paul picks this up here in 1 Corinthians 13. I think we also see it in Galatians 5, verse 6, where he says, For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through what? Through love.

13:30This is probably my biggest concern with evangelical charismatic congregations. I think there are a number of charismatic groups that love the Lord and they love the Bible, but too often they have this huge overemphasis on the gifts of the Spirit, where Paul places a priority where? On the fruits of the Spirit, does he not? This is the better way. Verse 13, now abide faith, hope, and love, these three, but the greatest of these is love. In fact, Paul goes so far to conclude his epistle to the Corinthians in chapter 16, verse 14, when he says, Let all that you do be done in love.

14:16Or you could flip over to 2 Corinthians 5, verse 14 and 15, where he says, For the love of Christ controls us. Having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died. And he died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again on their behalf. So, brothers and sisters, first and foremost, this is the paramount significance of love. Now, secondly, in 1 Corinthians, where were these brothers and sisters failing to love one another? Well, I don't want to rehash too much of the previous two weeks, but in chapter 1, of course, there were quarrels, there was pride.

15:00There were divisions. In chapter 4, we haven't really hit on this just yet, they were judging the motives of other people. In chapter 4, verses 1 through 5, let's read this real quick. I want to spend just a minute on this. Paul says, Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mystery of God. In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy. But to me, it's a very small thing that I should be examined by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even examine myself. I am conscious of nothing against myself yet. I am not by this acquitted, but the one who examines me is the Lord. Therefore, do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts. And then each man's praise will come to him from God. What exactly is going on here? I think essentially what's going on is they had begun to break up into different camps, different parties, and some are of Paul and some are of Apollos. And those who were of Apollos or Peter, they were accusing Paul of having bad motives, sinful motives, for serving God. The church, usually money. And so, possibly some of those who are in the non-Paul camp, maybe those of the Peter camp, were saying, Yeah, that's right. Now, probably many of them did not agree. They possibly knew that this was not correct, but nonetheless, if Paul is slandered, that brings him down, that brings his party down, and it bolsters their case.

16:58And so, they're judging motives. What does Paul say about judging motives? I think this is an important lesson for the church. Paul says, You may not judge other people's motives. Let me repeat that. You may not judge other people's motives. You're not God. You don't know their heart. We are commanded to judge other people's behavior. And we may ask them where that behavior comes from, but do you see this? Paul says, I'm a steward. I'm a servant. Verse 3, but it's a very small thing for me that I should be examined by you or by any human court. Paul says, You don't know my heart. You don't know the motives that drive me. So, if you want to come and judge me, that's a very small thing to me. I'm not that concerned about it. Why? Because you don't know my heart. In fact, verse 3, I don't even examine my heart.

18:01In other words, verse 4, I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted. The one who examines me is the Lord. Paul's saying, I can look and I can examine my own heart and I can try to determine if I have any sinful or evil motives, but I can be wrong. There's one infallible judge. It's not me. It's the Lord. And so you may not judge my motives. I can try, but even if I acquit myself, that doesn't mean that my motives are pure and holy. Verse 5, do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts. Oh, this is an important lesson. How often do we have conflict? How often do we have problems in our marriage, with our kids, in the church, because we go beyond what is done and we begin to judge motives? You did this, and this is why you did it. And I'm calling you to account. I think we need to humble ourselves. I think we need to think the best of one another. That's back to chapter 13. And I think we need to, in humility, ask, why did you do this? I'm just curious why you're doing it. We can avoid so many problems. If we do that, in this way, in judging other people's motives, the Corinthians were failing to love. Chapter 6, there were lawsuits being thrown back and forth. They were dragging their problems outside the church for unbelievers to come and settle their problems. That was a failure of love. Chapter 8, there was a disregard for others' convictions, especially regarding food sacrifice to idols. Chapter 11, during the Lord's Supper, they were promoting divisions and selfishness and not waiting for one another. And finally, in chapter 12, when it comes to the body of Christ, apparently they were saying to one another, We don't need you. You're inferior. You're not important. Obviously, that was a failure to love. Well, I think the problems in church and in Christian organizations have been well documented. I'm not here to slander the church this morning. I'm not here to tell you that the church is a mess.

20:34I think churches actually tend to function pretty well when you look at some secular organizations, to tell you the truth. But I remember living in Colorado Springs for a number of years, and Colorado Springs is sort of a mecca of evangelicalism. We've got focus on the family there. We've got Navigators, Compassion International, some 80 to 100 evangelical Christian organizations. It's actually a very beautiful. Place to live. I thank the Lord for seven years there. But I can't tell you how many people would come to our church who had accepted a position at one of these ministries. And after a number of months or a year or two, they just said, I never imagined how many problems there were in these Christian organizations. I never imagined how much conflict there was, how many political battles there are. Well, brothers and sisters, we're not perfect yet, right? We're all a work in progress. That's the humility message, right? We need to understand who we are, fallen, redeemed creatures, in front of who God is, perfect and holy. And so the Corinthians obviously had failed in many, many ways to love one another. Well, now for point three, I want to move on to what exactly is love, right? We did the internet search earlier and we found four different options. And what exactly does the Bible say, especially Paul in 1 Corinthians, what does he have to say about love? And I'm just going to start off with the definition and try to support it from the text. I think love is a decision or a commitment to meet others' needs, especially the spiritual needs of building up one another in the faith.

22:27Love is a decision or a commitment to meeting. To meet other people's needs, especially their need of being built up in the faith. Now, this, obviously, I did not mention feelings, right? Oftentimes, we start off with love as a feeling. The problem with that is if love is a feeling, you can fall out of love, right? That's a huge reason given by people for why they get divorced. We fell into love when we were young, we fell out of love later on, therefore we divorced. What a tragedy. If you start with the wrong definition, it's going to have massive implications. Why don't we start with the Bible, which says love is a decision or a commitment to meet other people's needs, especially their spiritual need of being built up in the faith. Now, although I don't make feelings a part of that definition, I think that can include feelings. In fact, it should include, it should be accompanied by feelings, but feelings aren't primary. Turn to 1 Corinthians 8, verse 1. Paul says, Now, concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies. Oh, how many Christians, how many pastors have just butchered this verse. This verse has been a pretext or a proof text for avoiding all types of theological study throughout the years. And that is a tragedy.

24:00Paul is not saying knowledge is bad. Paul here is saying that if you only have knowledge, yes, that can make you arrogant. But what you need to do is you need love. Love needs to be the focus. It's love that's based on knowledge. It's love that goes to edify other people. This word, I think the ESV says, builds up. Love builds up. Same word is used in 8.10 where he says, For if someone sees you, who have knowledge, dining in an idol's temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols? This word strengthened is the same word to edify, to build up. It means to embolden. It means to encourage. And so what love is primarily aiming to do is to take you in the faith and embolden you, to encourage you, to strengthen you. That's what we're here to do. That's why we gather together on Sunday mornings. Those people who feel like they can worship God and their home all by themselves, and that's fine and dandy, they don't have a very high standard of what the Christian life is all about. They have a very low standard of holiness. Because I have found in the past 30 years that I need the body of Christ to come and surround me and to strengthen me and to embolden me. Me and to encourage me to live for Christ, to proclaim the gospel, to stand for righteousness and to do what's right.

25:39So knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies. We want to take the knowledge we learn from the Bible and we want to add love to it, and we want to take it and go and edify and build up others regardless of the cost to ourselves. Now, quickly, chapter 8, it's on the weak and strong brother type of argument here. Essentially, what's going on here is in their context, oftentimes before they would sell meat, they would sacrifice it to the idols. This kind of thing still happens in many parts of our world. And so they felt like sacrificing this animal or this meat to idols would make it easier to sell, it would bring luck, it would bring fortune. And so there's a big debate within the Corinthian church: can we eat this meat or not? And Paul, of course, the strong Christians were saying, of course, you can eat it. That meat is nothing. In the new covenant, we have no dietary restrictions. The weak were saying, no, I don't think we can eat that. That's been sacrificed to idols. It's been tainted. So there's debate in the church. Paul clearly sides with the strong Christians. Verses 4 through 6, he basically says, idols aren't real.

27:00And so, when they go and sacrifice these animals to these idols, they're sacrificing them to nothing. There's only one God. So, the truth is that this food, verse 8, will not commend us to God. We are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat. Paul basically says it doesn't really matter. What does matter is when the strong Christians, those whose consciences are clear and feel like they can eat this without any problem, when they take this right that they have to eat this food and they flaunt it in front of the weak and say, You're such an immature Christian. You're so weak in your faith. You just don't get it.

27:45And although they're right, they're not acting in love. And so, Paul says, Act out of love. Let everything you do be done out of love. Verse 13. If food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again that I might not cause my brother to stumble. See, love is what's at stake here. We want to be sensitive to one another. We want to come together in order to build each other up and to encourage each other in the faith, not belittle other people's convictions. Paul is a primary, an excellent example of someone who has given up his rights for the sake of the gospel and for the sake of the church. In chapter 9, he says, don't we have a right to eat or drink? Wow. Eat or drink. That's a right. I think what Paul's referring to is in his missionary travels, he has gone days without food. He has suffered greatly. He's saying, this is not necessarily the lifestyle I chose so that I could maximize my comfort and wealth. Paul has been called to this, and as a result, he's doing it out of love, love for God, and love for the church. What other rights has Paul given up? The right to have a wife. Verse 5. It seems like from this verse, that's something Paul desired, Paul wanted. But this is something that God has not called him to. And then finally, in verses 6 and 7, the right to be supported by the church. Paul refused any money from the Corinthian church so as to avoid the accusation of doing it for money. So because Paul loves God and loves the gospel and he loves people, he wants to labor for their good. He wants to build them up in the faith. So love is a decision or a commitment to meet others' needs, especially the spiritual need of being built up in the faith. And this decision or this commitment is based on our unity in Christ, right? We love God because he first loved us and he saved us. Us and he made us united with him in Christ. And then he placed us in the body of Christ and we're united with one another. Of course, that's a key to marriage, right? For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be united to his wife. The two become one.

30:18Now, a more explicit definition of love, I think, is found in 1 John chapter 4. Turn there just quickly with me. I actually do not think that 1 Corinthians 13 is the best definition of love. I think it's a great explanation of how to love. 1 John chapter 4, we're going to read verses 7 through 11. Here, John says, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this, the love of God was manifested to us, that God sent his only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through him. And this is love. Not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. Brothers and sisters, what is love? Do you see it there in verse 10? This is love.

31:27That he loved us and sent. His son to be the propitiation for our sins. We had a great spiritual need we didn't even know about. We needed to be forgiven of all the evil and all the sin that we had committed throughout our lives. We didn't even know about this. And God, He unconditionally sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins, to be the sacrifice for our sins, to die a horrible death on the cross for our sins. This is love.

32:01Did God love us because we were lovely? Did He love us because we were lovable? Because we were so holy? Obviously not. This was a decision. This was a commitment that God made because God is love. And so, brothers and sisters, this is how we should love one another. We just make the decision. I found it interesting when I went to the mission field. I'd always heard that missionaries have a lot of conflict, and that that was one of the number one reasons why missionaries will leave the field and come home. And I thought that was a little bit odd because if we have so much in common, the gospel and Jesus Christ and the call to spread his gospel to the ends of the earth, how could we not get along? Well, once you're going to be able to do that, You live it, I think you begin to understand it a little bit better. The truth is, in a church of 200 people, there are going to be some people that you naturally gravitate to. Oh, they're like me. They're my same age. They have the same interests. They like the same people. They like the same Christian rap bands.

33:21And so, in a church of 200 people, you don't have to be best friends with everybody, right? But when you're in a city of 7 million people and you've got a team of 10 Americans, you get introduced to your new church member, your teammate, your new best friend, your new accountability partner. It's the whole package. And there's no searching for someone who's just like me, right? And that's when you really begin to be tested in your faith, how mature you are, how willing you are to put aside some of the annoying things about that person and just embrace them as a part of the body of Christ. Well, we follow God's example, right? He loved us. It wasn't an intense feeling of deep affection, right? If God had any intense feeling, it was wrath for us. God is love. God made a decision to love us and to pursue our good. And so, brothers and sisters, that's what we're called to do. So look around you. This body right here, if you are a part, Of this local body, these are your brothers and sisters, and you are called to make a commitment to love them and to work and to labor for their good, especially their spiritual good.

34:44Four, how are we to demonstrate this love in the church? I want to get a little bit more specific, and I think first and foremost, we want to start with family, right? Paul in Ephesians 5 says, Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. So, first and foremost, husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church. Once again, it's a sacrificial love, it's a servant-minded type of love, it's an unconditional love. Do you see the power here to prevent and avoid divorce? I'm not saying every situation is that simple, but for someone who understands God's powerful, unconditional, self-originating love, this is powerful to persevere with someone for your entire life.

35:53Secondly, obviously, husbands ought to love their wives, wives ought to love and respect their husbands, but it also should move to the brothers. And sisters, I think that's the main context here in 1 Corinthians. How can we love them? How can we build them up? Well, chapter 5, of course, here we have the man who's in sin with his father's wife, a disgusting sin that Paul says doesn't even really happen among non-Christians. And how are we to love this person? We are to confront him with his sin. Let's turn there real quick and read it. I think you've seen this before. But Paul says, verse 2, you've become arrogant and have not mourned instead, in order that the one who has done this might be removed from your midst. For I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has committed this as though I were present. In the name of our Lord Jesus, whom you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus. I'm not able to go into the full doctrine of church discipline, but simply put, what is the best thing you can do for someone who is in unrepentant sin? You discipline them. You, in love, in compassion, you plead with them to turn away from their sin. That is the most loving thing that you can do for them. And this is where... The Bible and the world's definition of love is drastically at odds. Because the world says you just accept them the way they are, right? You just tolerate them no matter what they believe and no matter what they do, you embrace, you love, you don't judge. Now, we can't judge their motives, but we can and we must judge their actions. And when I say judge, what I mean is that we sit down with them and we say, Why? Why do you persist in disobeying your sovereign creator? Why do you rebel against him? Why do you refuse to submit to his word? I plead with you, brother. I plead with you, sister, turn away from the sin. This is the most loving thing you can possibly do for them. The same way any parent is going to lovingly plead with their kid, do not play on the street, right? It's dangerous. It leads to death.

38:31God has given us His commands because He loves us, because He wants our good. And so, as the church, we come together and exhort one another day after day to turn away from the deceitfulness of sin and to pursue holiness. Another way that we are to love the brothers and sisters is to be patient with them in areas where we disagree, especially chapter 8: the strong, they are to be patient. With the weaker brothers and sisters. They are to gently lead them and talk with them about the scriptures and allow them time to understand the full meaning of the Bible.

39:16Chapter 10, verse 24, Paul said, Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his number. Chapter 10, verse 32 and 33, Paul said, he tries to please men in everything that he does. His goal is to serve, his goal is to love. Now, first and foremost, he serves God. And to the Galatians, he said, I'm not trying to please you. I'm trying to please God. It seems like there's a contradiction here. But obviously, I think what Paul's point here is that if we are submitted to God and if we are obeying his word and if we are walking in step with the Spirit, then in this situation, we are going to serve you and love you and try to please you and try to build you up in the faith.

40:03Finally, chapter, finally. We don't have time to walk through chapter 13 and all of the beautiful ways that love is described here. Kind of mismanaged my time just a little bit. But I think if we read this, we can get a very tangible idea of how to love brothers and sisters. I heard a wise pastor 25 years ago. 30 years ago, tell me if you meditate on 1 Corinthians 13 for 60 days in a row, it'll change your life. That pastor was Pastor Wilton. I can't say I ever made it 60 days in a row, but I did spend lots of time meditating on these verses and then seeking to examine myself to see how well I measure up to the standard that God is giving me through His Word. So, brothers and sisters, that is what I'm going to exhort you with and encourage you with. But finally, the last love I want to bring up is our love for the world. Chapter 9. Yes, we need to love all men, especially those of the household of faith, but we also need to love the non-Christians or the unbelievers or the people who are out there who do not know Christ. 1 Corinthians 9:19, Paul says, Though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, that I might win the more. As to the Jews, I became a Jew, that I might win the Jews, and to those who are under the law, as under the law, though not myself, not being myself under the law, that I might win those who are under the law. Verse 23, and I do it for the sake of the gospel that I might become a fellow partaker in it. This is, I think, a great passage to help us understand the idea of contextualization.

42:00Contextualization, simply put, we try to understand those people we're trying to reach, and we try not to put any unnecessary barriers or obstacles in the way between them and Christ. In other words, you don't have to become a Jew in order to become a Christian. You don't have to be circumcised. You don't have to follow the Mosaic law in order to be a follower of Jesus Christ. And so we seek to understand other people. We seek to serve other people. We seek to love other people and present the gospel to them in a way that doesn't have any unnecessary barriers in order to call them to faith in Christ. So in conclusion, brothers and sisters, God has called us to be humble people. He's called us to understand who we are in light of who he is. He's called us to recognize our failures. He's called us to recognize our original sinfulness and all the work that he's done in our life through his grace and to be thankful and to give him all credit and all glory. And this humility should lead us to have a servant's heart to the other brothers and sisters in the church and even to our own families. That we don't condescend to them. We don't look down on them. But we serve them and we love them because we are united in the body of Christ with them. And that everything that we do needs to be. Motivated by love, by a passion, by a pursuing their spiritual good, even sometimes when this might be hard, such as confronting them with sinful behavior, or when it's just simply deferring to them and being patient with them and loving them as Christ continually renews them into His image.

43:53I don't think this is the first time you've ever heard the concept of love taught. I don't think that this is incredibly new to you. So, like Peter, I'm glad to remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of these biblical truths. And I ask you now as we go to prayer for you to examine yourselves. How selfless are you when it comes to your roommate, when it comes to your brother, your sister, when it comes to your wife, husband, when it comes to your church body? How tolerant are you? How forbearing are you? How patient are you? This is what God has called us to do: to pursue them, to pursue their good, to pursue their spiritual good, so that they may be more and more like Christ through your presence in their life.

44:49I believe God can. I believe He will do it through this church. Father, we just confess that being a follower of Christ is not easy at times. You have set a very high standard for us to be perfect. You have set a very high standard for us to follow Christ and to obey Him and to submit to Him in everything that we do. And we do confess that we fall short of this standard, but Father, we pray today through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us. We pray, Father, that you would reveal to us, that you would illuminate us, that you would help us to understand where we can grow. That you can show us, Father, how we can become a loving, productive, encouraging part of the body of Christ. That, Father, you would give us the humility to admit sin and failures, and that you would give us confidence and faith and conviction to move forward to be the person that you've called us to be. Father, I pray for this local body. I pray they would be a tremendous witness for this community. And I pray you would use this local church, God, to impact Bryan College Station, to impact the state of Texas, to impact even the world for the sake of your name. Father, I place them in your hands and thank you for them and pray that you bless them and lead them and guide them and encourage them. Thank you, God, for the privilege of knowing you and being loved by you.