Learning to Love Like Jesus Part 5 - 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

2:26Furthermore, in Leviticus 19, 34, the stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. Interesting. You're to love your fellow countrymen, and then you are to love every foreigner among you as yourself. What a place, right? What a place. That was. Israel's theocracy, two major pivot points. Loving God, loving people.

3:12That was encoded in the law. All the laws were written around those two major principles and to further those two major access points of the law, of the legal code. Now, when Messiah comes, when Israel's king comes, you would expect if he is God's son, if he is in step with God, that he's going to pick up some of these same themes, right? And so he summarizes the law. Remember, a teacher came to him and said, What is the greatest law? What is the greatest commandment? And Jesus says in Matthew 22, 37, You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, and with all of your soul and with all of your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

4:12On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets. Two major access points. All the laws. You want to know how to write a good law? It should stem from this: loving God. And listen, as. Governments, as institutions, as organizations, as we come and go, you know what? This is where we should start as well. We are to reflect. Governments are to reflect the righteousness of God in their laws. They are to reflect His righteousness and they are to promote love for one another.

4:54And every law needs to be geared in that fashion. It's pretty simple. That's how God set up government. That's how the Messiah came and understood how the government should be, the ideal government among humanity. So here's Israel's Messiah. So that's how he saw the law. Now let's understand something more about Israel's Messiah. John 8:29, and he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him. What does that sound like? Somebody who honors every commandment, every thought, and the major principle of loving God with everything and loving each other as himself.

5:53If God's king, if God sends his king, guess what? Going to embody what God wanted, right? And so you see this. Israel's Messiah, of course, he always did what pleases God. That was encoded. That was the government. That was the theocracy. The intentional beginning. John 15, 13. Greater love has no one than this, than one lay down his life for his friends. What does that sound like? Someone who loves his neighbor, right? And you see in Israel's Messiah, the embodiment of someone who loved God with everything and loved each other, loved his brothers and sisters with everything.

6:52It's Israel's Messiah. So now what do you think his disciples are? If that was God and then God's Messiah, what do you think the Messiah's disciples are expected to look like? You remember Mark 10, several places, the disciples are arguing who's going to be the greatest? Who's going to be the greatest? And Jesus says, calls them to himself. He says, Mark 10, 43, but it is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be. Your servant. And whoever wishes to be first among you shall be the slave of all. Slave. Slave of all.

7:41The galley slave, the lowest of the low. Whoever wishes to be first is to be the slave. Baul. John 13, 34 says, A new commandment I give to you that you love one another even as I have loved you. that you also love one another. And it is by this that all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. So Messiah's disciples are to also embody the righteousness of their Messiah and be about giving themselves to each other in service just like he did.

8:23That was the theocracy. That was Israel's king. And that is going to be true of his true disciples. Question is, do you and I really want to be his true disciples? I think we come to Christ, we walk, we go, spend time in the church, growing and getting to him, and then we start realizing what and why we have to take up our cross daily is because of the duty we have to love one another as ourselves.

9:00Lay down our lives, make sacrifices. And we start realizing, oh, I mean, the disciples had it going pretty good there for a while. They're like, okay, yeah, we're going up to Jerusalem. Yeah, we're going to rain with him. We're going to rain. I like the sound of raining. And they're still thinking it's going to happen. And they're going up to Jerusalem. They're talking about greatness and who's going to sit where. And Jesus says, listen, you're going to be a slave of all if you're going to be great, because that's exactly the way I am. And that's exactly the way God is. And if you're going to reflect Him at all, you're going to love Him with everything and love each other with everything.

9:48That's planet Earth. That's where government is going. That's where planet Earth is not going to the pre-flood where the thoughts and intents of every person was only evil always continually. Now God has inserted Himself into the stream of humanity and He's taken it into a whole different direction, where every thought and every intention is only to do one another good supremely always. That's where He's taking us. So let's jump into that ourselves. Let's see, let's be wise, recognize where that is going, and let's learn to. Walk in that now, even with the days that we have. Let us, we see that kingdom coming by faith, and let that faith show up in how we live day to day. Well, that's what this study is about: learning how to love like Jesus loves. 1 Corinthians, we're going through 1 Corinthians 13, and you remember that church, I think my thing just died or something. No, what's that?

11:01Batteries? Oh, there it is. Okay, so just a quick review: church had many divisions, right? The church at Corinth had many, many divisions. There were prideful, impatient, unkind people filled with jealousy and self-love. They were the problematic church that you come to in the New Testament. Paul's message as he's addressing them is: look, your problem is you're spiritually immature. You need to know, you don't love because you're spiritually immature. And so he tells them what love is, and he says, This is what you need to do. You need to really start learning how to love one another. And that becomes, that's largely what this chapter is about, what the book's about, really. Grow up, become spiritually mature, and it shows up in loving one another. So, looking specifically at 1 Corinthians 13, 4. Through seven, love is patient, love is kind, and it is not jealous. Love does not brag, it is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly, it does not seek its own, it is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. So, that's the text we've been working through. We've gotten, hopefully, we'll get through verse five today. Just by way of review, we're looking at what love is. This is the most, this is one of the most precise statements in the scriptures about what love is, how we get our minds around it. Very good definition: love is, it's patient. Remember, that is, love is waiting for people. Love is waiting. That's what it is. Love is kind. What that means, love is helping. That's always seeking to help. It's helping. That's what love is. Love is not jealous. That means love is not coveting. It is not coveting what somebody else has. Place.

13:11Love does not brag. That is, it is not bragging. It's not going around trying to make itself feel big and at the expense of others. It's not puffing itself up. Love is not arrogant. That is not bowing itself up. It's not puffing up. It's not bragging and it's not bowing up. It's not puffing itself up. Love does not act unbecomingly. What is that? Love is not degrading somebody else by rude behavior, slamming doors, talking down, all that. That's not love. Love is not degrading someone. Love does not seek its own. Love is not seeking some kind of self-benefit out of a transaction. Love is giving itself. That is what love is. It is not seeking its own, it's seeking the other. It has a duty to others.

14:12That's where we've been. We're going to pick up tonight verse five and look at the last two. Love does not act unbecomingly. We've looked at that one. It does not seek its own. We've looked at that one. Love is not provoked, and it does not take into account a wrong suffered. So we'll look at the first one there: love is not provoked. What does that mean? Love is not provoked. It's a verb, it's passive, in the present. So that means it's not being aroused to anger. Love isn't just something acting on it, causing it to be stirred to anger, provoked to anger, or aroused.

14:58It's the word for that we get. Paroxysm from. You know what the word paroxysm means? Like a fit, thank you. A fit. It's convulsions, right? A sudden paroxysm, going into convulsions, going, it's some sort of outburst. A fit is a very good, a very good. And that's so love is not throwing itself or letting somebody else throw you into a fit, into an outburst. What it boils down to is being easily offended. When somebody else does something that throws you into some kind of paroxysm of anger, you're easily offended.

15:52Or it's being easily agitated or easily irritated by the action of another. Some people just get under your skin. They get around you and they just kind of irritate you. Well, that happens because you don't love them. And we can't help. We go through life. I mean, obviously, there are some things that irritate us and agitate us. Love is not easily offended. It's not easily offended. And that's how I would boil this down. Love is. Is not easily offended. Some of the hardest people to have a relationship with are those who are easily offended, easily offended. And it's like it's being easily offended.

16:49The person who is easily offended is more interested in their self, their rights, than they are their duty to love. And so when you encounter somebody that's easily offending you, it's very easy if you do not love that person to all of a sudden get fixated on your own rights and how that person is infringing on your rights. Looking at Jesus, what we like to do is, as we're going through this, look at the text in 1 Corinthians and then look at some of the examples that Jesus, who was not easily provoked, is not easily offended. Do you remember when the disciples are heading, they're all heading up to Jerusalem, and they just say, we're going to go through Samaria, right? And Jesus sent some ahead, like, okay, let's see if they will receive us in Samaria. And guess what? Some of them. Would not. And so then we'll just pick up this narrative in Luke. But they did not receive him because he is traveling towards Jerusalem. They, being the Samaritans, would not receive, would not make room for Jesus. It was a straight shot to go through Samaria instead of making them go the longer way around. But they didn't like the Samaritans, they had a problem with the people of Jerusalem, so they didn't let Jesus go through because he was traveling toward Jerusalem. And what does John do? When his disciples, James and John, saw this, they said, Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?

18:39This is John, the apostle that we have spent so many years studying, the apostle that talks more about love than really any of them, makes a big deal, right, about loving one another. You hear it over and over and over. And here he is. They shouldn't do. Should we call down fire and just incinerate him? That's somebody that got offended, right? It's really a delight to see how God changed John. I don't think we get half the appreciation for the kind of man that he was and how his interaction with Christ and his time with Christ transformed this firebrand into a constant. Loving shepherd of the church.

19:35He saw Jesus' love, and that love transformed him. But here he is, right here, not loving. He'll learn loving. Let's incinerate him. What does Jesus say? But he turned and rebuked them and said, You do not know what kind of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went on to another village. You say, I didn't come here to destroy people's lives. You have no idea the kind of person that you are. And this is what being easily offended does. There is a destructive force in it. There is an elevation of your own rights over the duty to love the one who is offending you.

20:31But Jesus, not at all, I didn't come here to destroy the Samaritans' lives. I came here to save them. This is as he's going to Jerusalem. He understood his duty. Jesus was not easily provoked, and I could cite many passages, but you just see this certainly in his trial. John 19, verse 1, Pilate then took Jesus and scourged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and put a purple robe on him. And they began to come up to him and say, Hail, King of the Jews, and to give him slaps in the face.

21:22He took it. You know, being easily offended, he didn't, he took it. He wasn't provoked because somebody was mistreating him. It's interesting, he was provoked when his father's house was being desecrated, right? But when it was an insult against him, when it was something being, he was not provoked. He's not easily offended. Pilate came out again to say, Behold, I am bringing him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in him. Jesus then came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, Behold the man. And it's good for us to just behold the man right here, somebody who is not easily provoked. Listen, I don't care what happens in your life. I don't care how wrong, and so there will be some people that offend you, and there will be some people who really offend you and have good cause. To be dealt with.

22:35But look, behold the man here. And let that set in. You'll never be provoked like this. And you are his disciple, right? That's what laying down your life. That's what laying down his life looked like for him. Well, real quick, take a couple of minutes just to talk about this one. And what ways might the Corinthians have been easily offended or had occasion to get offended with each other? You remember? All things kind of going on in that church, right?

23:22Immorality, right? He did what? Yeah, but what should we do about it? No, that's not, that's too severe. No, what are you talking about? I mean, you can see how immorality could, just the presence of immorality and what to do about it could be occasion for getting offended with each other, right? What are some other things that were going on? Favorite teachers. Yeah, well, that's not what he said. That's not what he, maybe it was. She, you know, who knows? Who knows what it was. But yeah, they had favorite teachers and what else? Lawsuits. Yeah. He did what to you?

24:00Take him to the cleaners, right? You can't take your brother to the cleaners. Oh, yes, I can. You know what he did? And how dare you question me? You can see how there's all manner of things going on in this church that would be an occasion for strife and being offended, working through things. We'll deal with a lot of those here, right? I mean, throughout time, the church has to deal with a lot of issues that come against the church.

24:31How would you describe the United States today? Do you, what's that? Divided? Yes. Is being easily offended characteristic of the United States today? Hyper, isn't it? Hyper. We are easily offended. We are hyper-offended. Why is that? What's it an indication of? Lovelessness. Thank you. Somebody, I thought, right. That's the problem. Being easily offended is lovelessness. I mean, we are hyper-offended. And what is it? It's people wanting their own rights, more concerned about their rights than they are their duty to love their fellow man.

25:28Everybody wanting their own rights. Rights. And you know what? When everybody wants their own rights and everybody's fighting to get their own rights and their own things, guess what? Everybody loses. Everybody loses. Even those who can get what they want for a time, they lose. Everybody loses. Even if they get what they want, they don't get the relationship. They have championed themselves for a little while, outmaneuvered. But listen, it's not a pleasant place when everybody's fighting for their own rights and failing to realize you have a duty to one another, to love one another.

26:20Yeah, there's lovelessness in the United States today. Sad thing is, there's lovelessness in the church today. There's anybody that should be have love towards one another, it's us, right? Why is being easily provoked not love? Why is it not love? If you're easily provoked, thank you. Yes, you're focused on yourself. It's about yourself. You're offended. Want something that you're not getting, and this person is either moving in on something that you claim your own, your rights. We could even be provoked if somebody has great successes because we think we want that success. I mean, we can go down a road, but yeah, fundamentally, it's about self.

27:21The one, if you're easily offended, your problem is you don't love. That's the cold truth. If you're going around and people are just offending you everywhere, you have a real love problem. And the reason you have a love problem is because you have a relationship problem with God, and it shows up in the way you view others around you. Who loses when everyone is fighting for their own rights? Everyone, for sure. What's wrong with this statement? Give one out here. I am mad at you because you do not love me like you should.

28:03I'm afraid that even going through teaching, like we have been trying to learn how to love, that some of us might be tempted to turn this whole study into a sinful demand to be loved and say, you know what? You guys should love me like this. I've been listening. You're not loving me like you should. You're not showing up. And you're not giving me what I need, and I'm mad at you because you do not love me. Let me give you a few ideas of how you can love me better. What I would say to that person is: you're missing the whole point, you're missing the counsel. This isn't to give you a club to go beat somebody up with, it's for you to see your primary duty as a follower of Christ and love.

29:02What is the solution for being easily offended? Love, yeah, learn how to love, love, repent, and love. Focus on your duty to love the person that's offending you rather than focusing in on those things that are offending you. You know what I'm saying? Because, yeah, we're going to go through life. There are people that are going to just say things, do things, expect things that are going to be offensive. And if you focus on those things, you'll get offended. But if you will focus on your duty that God has put this person in your life to love, you won't be so easily offended.

29:54Let's keep going. It's getting late. Love does not take into account. A wrong suffered. So it is not provoked, but it does not take into account a wrong suffered. Now, does not take into account a wrong. Again, a verb. It's a present verb. It is not in the act of taking into account. And it's actually a bookkeeping term. It's actually what, like the idea of keeping a ledger. Love is not taking into account, it's not recording, it's not calculating, it's not writing it down as an accountant would an expense and something to remember, right? That's what accountants do. They keep books so that they can go back and reconcile things, right? And well, that's the idea here. Love is like this bookkeeper. Love does not like this little bookkeeper taking down, uh-huh, you wronged me here. Here's the debt right here. I'm wrecking it. Oh, and there's two or three, and then we put a little interest on here and get a little payback in here. And this is adding up to some pretty big payback, right? That's what that's what's being described here. It's not calculating the evil. Okay, you've wronged me here, you've wronged me there, adding this up.

31:22So love is not keeping a record of wrongs, it is not keeping a record of wrongs. Boy, and I can tell you, there's an area that we really need to grow in. It's learning how to let things go. And the more I counsel young marrieds, one of the very first things I like to stress on them is: let things go early in your marriage, learn how to forgive. I've seen years of unforgiveness show up some 40 years even after.

32:13And it is ugly. Do not keep a record of wrongs. Keep short accounts. Let them go. Remember Jesus' teaching on forgiveness? You remember Matthew 18? Peter came and said to him, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him up to seven times? I think Peter's thinking, I'm seven times? I mean, can I let this go seven times? And Jesus says, I say, I do not say to you seven times, but up to 70 times seven.

32:52And what? And then he goes into this parable. In fact, I should probably just Read this parable to you because I think we know about it, but we don't really understand its emphasis. For this reason, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ten thousand talents, which is a whole lot of money, whole, whole, whole lot, was brought to him. But since he did not have the means to repay, his Lord commanded him to be sold along with his wife and children and all that he had and repayment to be made. So the slave fell to the ground and prostrated himself before him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will repay you everything. And the Lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave the debt. But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denari, very little lunch money, you know, but a little bit, not very much money at all. And he seized him and began to choke him, saying, Pay back what you owe. So his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will repay you. But he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed. So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their Lord all that had happened. Then summoning him, his lord said, You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not also have had Had mercy on your fellow slave in the same way that I had mercy on you. And his Lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should pay, repay all that was owed to him. And this is what Jesus says.

34:49My heavenly Father will also do the same to you if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart. Let that sink in. This is what my heavenly Father will do to you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart. Is Jesus lying? No, he's telling you what's coming. He wants his people to be characterized by forgiveness. And if you cannot forgive, you do not know God at all. Forgiveness is at the core of what it means to be a Christian. We have been forgiven, and you have been forgiven so much.

35:57And when you are reckoning, Calculating other people's wrongs against you. You are, like this one, you are overcharging someone, first of all. But you are reckoning, you have lost sight of the incredible amount you have been forgiven. We do not even comprehend our offense before a holy God. And what we have done to each other cannot even measure. And that's what happens. My heavenly Father will do the same to you if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart. It's about as strong of a statement about you needing to forgive than I can than I've read.

36:55And sometimes we think, oh, well, that's okay. We'll just go on. And yet, listen, resentment is subtle. Resentment can hold on. It is skilled in holding on to offenses. Skilled. Remember Jesus on the cross? And I mean, they have crucified him. Now they're taking his clothes and they're gambling. Jesus was saying, Name, Father, forgive them. They do not know what they are doing. And they cast lots, dividing up his garments among them. Listen, if this is your king, you're going to be characterized by this.

37:49Jesus loved God totally. He laid down his life for others. And it's all in this forgiveness. He absorbed the pain, he absorbed the offense, and he died. That's what forgiveness is about. It's about dying. It's about absorbing the pain and dying, letting the prisoner go free, cutting the anchor from the ship so it can sail. It's opening the prison doors and throwing the key away. Forgiveness. That will characterize God's people. In what ways might the Corinthians have been keeping a record of wrong? I think you just said it. Laura said it a little while ago. The lawsuits, right?

38:55Other things. What are some other things? Things they might have been doing. The display of gifts, right? People were competing. One, no, I've got this gift, I've got this gift. No silence. I'm going to speak. You're not going to speak. You know, you can get some of these things going on. Now, let's put this together. What do you think being easily offended and keeping a record of wrongs? Well, if you put those two together, what do you think you're going to get?

39:32Bitterness. Yeah, you're going to get easily offended, getting offended, keeping a record of wrongs. Yeah, growing bitterness. What else might you get? Anger. Pretty explosive, right? What's that? Conflicts. Yes. Someone's easily offended and they're keeping records of wrong and another thing. And then I remember one time I was, this was in college, and I remember listening to a guy that got in a fight with somebody about something, and I don't remember. And he was just yelling on the phone, and he was engaged to get married. And then he got off the phone and he's like, he goes, and by the way, while I'm thinking about this, I need to call my girlfriend and I need to tell her some few things. So he picks up the phone in that same rage because he has kept a record of wrong. And I know. Just sprayed her. I don't know if they got married.

40:35But you have this explosive, caustic situation. Now, what does a nuclear bomb and explosive anger have in common? They can wipe out a lot of stuff indiscriminately and it hangs around. It can wipe out a lot of stuff in a very short time, can it? And if we are going around easily offended, keeping a record of wrongs, guess what? We can, even in our little micro bursts of anger, we can destroy relationships like we don't even realize. We can, even in the little short micro bursts, we can distance ourselves and isolate ourselves from people.

41:33Irreparable. Except for a work of God. And let's talk about a little more subtle ways. We can see the big explosive. We can see the bitterness. We can see, but a more subtle way, how might keeping a record of wrongs be used to take advantage of another person's guilt? I would say that if I have things, what I am doing is I see my own fault and I am rejecting and the other I am blaming the other person and if they are recognized, I am as weak as the other person is.

42:24Or maybe there is a difference in the way how I press those weaknesses. Yes. Good. Another thought? How might it? How about let me give you a back in the corner? Control. Ah, control. If, yeah, if you could, if a person is guilty, let's say it's a husband that has been unfaithful and a wife has, quote, reconciled, but won't let them forget it. And every time something comes up, pulls out that club. And that's a hard one. I get it. I get it. But there's a lot of ways where we can remember somebody's guilt. And then, whenever, as a use for control, you did that to me. And whenever it's expedient or helpful to gain control, club them, club them with their guilt, club them, keep them, keep them down.

43:54That's what we can do, right? We can use another person's guilt for control to get what we want. Shame on you for your past. Shame on you for what you've done. And now, I'm going to take advantage of that. I'm going to hold it over your head every time it's expedient or helpful for you. Yeah, a lot of ways. Other thoughts? Well, yes, sir, Jonathan. Yeah. Well, certainly when you see, as we talked about in the law, you saw this command to the whole law itself is oriented around loving God and loving each other, even the foreigner, as yourself. And Jesus now comes on the scene and he says, Okay, I'm giving you a new command. That you love each other just like I loved you. He has illustrated these principles on a whole nother level. I have loved you in so many ways, in so many ways. He was patient with them, he was kind to them, he helped them, he gave them things, he was way different and all those things, but then he laid down his life for them. He, and they knew God is with you. Now they see his power, they see his authority, and they see him washing their feet. And he's saying, This is now. And so I would say, in that sense, it's a new. Now we have a historical person, God Himself, among us, and He is demonstrating what these principles look like. So they're new in the sense that it's a greater expression of what is already there. I don't think He goes beyond the law. I think all that is there in the law. The law revealed what God wanted. Jesus embodied it and illustrated it and said, Now, there it is, you love like this. So, that's how I would call it new today.

46:13I think Paul's a must do by doing it from the heart instead of from the people of the soul. Yes, yes, you're doing it in union with God, not just because it's a precept on a page. And that's what the law was powerless to do. And it could show us what's expected, but it was unable to get us there. And that's where union with Christ, with the person who perfectly embodied it, empowers us to do, gives us a desire to, and shows us what that looks like. Did I hear somebody say a record of wrongs?

46:53Very good. Yeah, we keep a record of wrongs. Well, I'm not sinning as bad as they are. I didn't do as bad as you, so therefore, I feel pretty good. That's a good observation, yes. Any other thoughts? Well, love is paid. Oh, Russell. Yeah. Yeah. Love your enemies. Yes, love your enemies. And that love, it's really fascinating, where, you know, there is a kind of love for the church that is sacrificial, lay down your life. And as an expression for loving your enemies, it seems to be: do good. Good to those who persecute you. Pray for those who spitefully use you. Turn the other cheek. There's this constant, and that's how you express love to your enemies. You be good to them. You don't retaliate. You be good to them. You show them.

48:15And so, and yeah, that's a whole other level. Well, love does not act unbecoming. Love is patient. Love is kind. It is not jealous. Love does not brag. It's not arrogant. It does not act unbecomingly. It does not seek its own. It is not provoked. It does not take into account a wrong suffered. Got two more verses to go. So we're halfway through. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, your goodness we are reminded of. Every time we look on the pages of scripture, your goodness shows up.

49:05And then as we look upon Jesus, we see your goodness perfectly embodied. Father, we see how he loved you supremely. We see how he loved people sacrificially. Father, he's the embodiment of what you want for planet. Earth. He is king and rightfully so, servant of all, slave of all. Why he would ever want to do that is beyond our ability to grasp, but we're very thankful that this is his nature. We thank you that this is your nature.

49:52Father, help us to be done with visions of our own greatness and expectations that others treat us greatly and finely. Help us to assume the posture of a servant, yea, even a slave, devoted in our duty to love each other the way you loved us. Help us grow in this grace because we're not going to get there on our own. So, thank you, Father. Thank you for everything. Help us to be a forgiving people. Help us to be a loving people. Help us to go this week in great gratitude for all that you've done for us, knowing that you have loved us far greater than we could ever show to others. So, it's in that knowledge we go in Jesus' name. Amen.