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I'm almost in my mid-forty's I don't count it quite yet because my birthday's
not for a
a week or so or whatever so I'm 43
I don't even that's still early forties until I get to 44
that starts to be mid-forty's although probably next week I'll say I'm still in my
early
40s but because I'm of that age
um I will tell you that my memory is still good
some of you it may be a little suspect I understand but my memory still good
and I can actually go back in time to when I was pretty young
I mean back in in elementary school and I can I can actually remember sitting in
the cafeteria in the school that I was in
as an elementary age kid and I remember
not just the lunch box that I had but I remembered the sound
that tin T I N Evel Knievel lunch box
remember Evil Knievel
dude was nuts man he jumped stuff I'm like what are you doing
jump in the Colorado River okay good call what?
but I would watch him you know it's just like I couldn't keep my eyes of that guy
So I had an Evil Knievel lunch box and I remember the sound of it when it opened so
my memory is pretty good when it comes to stuff like that now
with other things its not so good but I remember in elementary school
a game that we used to play and for whatever reason as only elementary
kids can do
you know we had fun with it does anyone remember when there would just be a
declaration made and I would sometimes just make the declaration that today
is opposite day. anybody ever play that game?
I used to play it all the time I would just make a declaration as if I were the king
of the world
and I could make the declaration and say today
is opposite day and I would go around and do all kinds of crazy stuff so I'd like
see friends you know and I would yell out to him on the playground hey
Jimmy and he'd be like hey and I'd be
I hate you he'd be like
what? that be like just getting its opposite day
you okay okay know what we're thinking
particularly when in as a kid you're not really thinking cause you do the other
other side too like you go up to the girls "Hey Katie"
I love you! She'd be looking at you like
What? Just kidding!
its opposite day what was I saying there? was I saying I actually hate you?
I wasn't trying to say I hate you but I was doing what only kids could do
and maybe it was that resonance that I had with opposite day
that grabbed hold of me when one of the most classic characters in all of TV
sitcoms named George Costanza
had a revelation about this as well
his life wasn't going so good
and so we made a choice do you remember if you don't
let me refresh your memory
speaking about having it all
Where were you? I went
to the beach Oh the beach. It's not working, Jerry, it's just not working.
Why did it all turn out like this for me
I had so much promise I was personable
I was bright Oh maybe not academically speaking
I was perceptive I always know when someone's uncomfortable at a party
Got a napkin over there? It all became very clear to me sitting out there today that
every decision I've ever made in my entire life
has been wrong my life is the complete opposite
of everything I it want to be every instinct i have in
every aspect of life be it something to wear something to eat
It's all been wrong. Everyone. Tuna on toast, coleslaw, cup of coffee
yeah no no wait a minute. I always have tuna on toast
nothing's ever worked out for me with tuna on toast I was the complete opposite
of tuna on toast
chicken salad on rye untoasted
with a side a potato salad and a cup of tea
heeh
well there's no telling what can happen from this You know chicken salad is not the opposite of tuna
salmon is the opposite of tuna because salmon swim against the current
and the tuna swim with it. Good for the tuna
Ah George you know that woman just looked at you
so what what am I supposed to do
Go talk to her Elaine bald man with no jobs and no money
who live with their parents don't approach strange women
Well here's your change to try the opposite. Instead of tuna salad and being intimidated by women
chicken salad and on going right up to her
Yeah I should do the opposite I should. If every instinct you have is wrong
than the opposite would have to be right
yes I will do the opposite
I used to sit here and do nothing and regret it for the rest of the day so now
I will do the opposite
And I will do something. Excuse me
I couldn't help but notice that you were looking at my direction
oh yes I was you just ordered the same exact lunch as me
my name is George
I'm unemployed and I live with my parents
I'm Victoria hi
oh man that dude
what's funny is that
it's not such a bad idea what George did is realize that everything that he was
doing was wrong
and decided to do everything opposite of that
and interestingly enough Paul
uses the Corinthians as a case study and basically does exactly the same thing in
1st Corinthians 13
here's what he basically says to them if you wanna know what love is
look at everything you're doing and it's the opposite
that's basically what he saying to the church at Corintj
he's already explained to them some ideas of you could do these things in
be breat and have gifts and be able to speak and do all this stuff but without
love it's nothing you're actually saying nothing you
are nothing you're you're gaining nothing and then he talks to them
briefly about what love
is that love is patient and love is kind
but then Paul uses this idea after he talks about what love
is he talks about what love is not
and basically says all of these things are things that you're doing and you
should be doing the opposite
and here's what he says in beginning in verse number the second part of verse
number four it says
It meaning love love does not envy
it doesn't boast it is not proud
it does not dishonor others it is not self-seeking
it is not easily angered it keeps no record
of wrongs you see with each one of these things that we just looked at what Paul
is going to do
is he's not only pointing out to them that every way in which you're behaving
is really the
opposite of love but he's also referring to things I believe very
specific to their behavior that he's already addressed
earlier in the letter he's actually talking about real things that he's
addressing in the letter to Corinth
to this group of people and he's saying what you're doing is the antithesis of love
it is the
opposite love love and if you wanna know what love looks like look at the
way you're behaving
it's the opposite of that that's what love looks like
so he begins to point them out one by one and maybe in this what we'll see is
we'll see we'll look back in 1st Corinthians a little bit to see some of
these behaviors
shown but maybe in that I don't want you to be so detached that you only look at
and go those Corinthians man those
stupid silly Corinthians I'm hoping
that maybe as you look at this you might see yourself at times
where you actually operate in the opposite of love
so let's take a quick glance at at some of these
characteristics that Paul outlines for us about what love is not he first says
that love
does not envy
that's the first thing he says love does not envy now if you
envy is probably of all these him characteristics they're really self
explanatory
envy is probably the one that's the least self-explanatory
all the rest of these are pretty easy like right when we say them we know what
we're talking about generally
but sometimes with envy we don't know exactly what we're saying when we say
that
let me give you a working definition in my own words about what envy is
Envy is being upset with the good of others
while forgetting God's goodness to you you're upset
that maybe somebody else has a blessing you're upset
this something good has happened for somebody else
and you've forgotten how good God has been to you
be this is what in be kinda boils down to being upset with the good of others
while forgetting
God's goodness to you you see here's what was happening in Corinth
God used Paul to begin
a Gospel work in Corinth where the Corinthians now responded to the Gospel
and were coming to a place of understanding
and growth in their face now they were super immature
they were still doing a buncha craziness and Paul was still having to endure long
with them to suffer long with them to be patient with them right
he was still having to do that in his love that Christ had given him
for this church but what happened was Paul had been
um distanced from them for quite a while as you remember Paul
didn't stay in places for very long sometimes he stayed for
a couple years at a time or whatever but he didn't stay in all these places where
he founded the Church
he didn't stay there all that long we wasn't in Corinth at this time and so
he had not been there in quite some time so what happened was
there were some opponents of Paul that began to think well why does Paul get to
be the the mister guy who gets to write the letters and who gets to tell us
how we're supposed to act and stuff because I'm pretty gifted guy myself and
so
some of these kinds of people grew up in Corinth
and now are kind of competing the so to speak with Paul a little bit
and maybe they had forgotten the idea that God was good to them by bringing
Paul into their life in sharing with them the gospel of Christ so that they
could be transformed and be made new but instead
they kinda forgotten that and they were a little bit maybe envious in the way in
which God was using Paul
and Paul actually addressed it early on because some of these people started saying
to
to to the Corinthians oh forget about Paul I'll be your spiritual leader I'll
be your spiritual mentor in Christ
listen what Paul says in 1st Corinthians chapter 4 beginning in verse 14 he says
I'm not writing this I'm writing this not to shame you but to warn you as my
dear children
even if you had 10,000 guardians in Christ
you do not have many fathers for in Christ Jesus I became your father
through the gospel
Therefore I urge you imitate me
you see Paul is actually dealing with some of these opponents that he has that
are envious
of him and he's actually addressing some of this behavior
here in Corinth now I don't know if it's true of you I'm sure it's not
I don't know if you've ever had any kind of struggle with
envy where you have actually let that pollute or contaminate what true love is
really supposed to look like and what pure love is supposed to look like
I don't know if that's ever happened for you or maybe is happening for you right
now
where you are a little bit upset with the goodness that has been shown to
somebody else and you've kinda forgot about goods God's goodness to you and as a
result you just get
you know envious maybe in some other places that you work maybe
um maybe a coworker got promoted and you didn't
and your envious of them because you're thinking to yourself
I'm smarter than they are I do a better job than they do
I've seen some with their work before maybe that's happened for you
maybe um maybe you're single and one of your friends just got engaged
and you're ticked off about it because it wasn't you
you're like "uh again?"
all my friends are getting engaged and here I am just blah blah you know and you're kinda
envious of them
and you it kinda turns into that kind of world right
or maybe um maybe your a little younger your college age or high school
age in the room or whatever and there's that
there's that athlete that that you wish you were
but you're not quite and your envious of them
you kinda like why can't that be me what can't I do those things
maybe that's where you're at or maybe you're
a wife um
who sees some of your friends getting pregnant
and you're wanting to get pregnant but you haven't yet
and so you're upset with God's goodness to them
but your
forgetting about God's goodness to you
I don't know where it might land for you but I'll tell you this
envy won't get you anywhere it is the opposite of love
and love doesn't do it it won't get you
anywhere listen closely to what James says in James 3:16 It says for where you have
envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice
Envy's not gonna get you anywhere listen what it says in Proverbs 14 verse 30
A heart at peace gives life to the body
but envy rots the bones
you want a sure-fire way to have a life that's really just kinda eaten up
Envy will do the trick and love doesn't do envy
alright but then he goes on to say in
love doesn't boast and love isn't
proud. this is another characteristic that he outlines for us ove doesn't
boast
and love isn't proud now when you break that down in terms of the way that
um the original language phrases this
there's a great statement that you could make about this here's what basically
Paul is saying
that you're not a windbag that's the literal translation there
you're not a windbag and you're not puffed up
to be basically what this means is to be puffed up like a windbag
now I don't know if in your world you know any windbags
have you ever known a windbag
have you ever been to windbag be honest
how many in here have I'm gonna start this by just going like this
how many in here have ever just flat-out been a windbag
alright your the fact that not everyone raised their hand is a little bit disconcerting
to me
Cause I'm pretty confident everybody in the room has been a winbag at some
point
right that has known too much
that has been bloated in the way that they understand everything
and they've told everybody about what they understand about everything
Paul actually addresses this with the Corinthians because there were people
who
claim that they had the special knowledge in you know you gotta come to
me for the special knowledge I don't think Paul's letting you in on everything
and listen what Paul says in 1st Corinthians chapter 8. He says now about
food sacrificed to idols
we know that we all possess knowledge
he's kinda quoting these people in Corinth that are messing with the
Corinthians he says but knowledge puffs up
while love builds up
those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know
but whoever loves God is known by God
it's a great reminder because he's basically saying this
don't be puffed up in the in the things that you think that you know because
maybe in the things that you think you know that there's probably more that you
need to know
so being puffed up and just being a windbag
Paul says ultimately that love isn't that way love doesn't boast and love
isn't
proud love isn't just a windbag about how much it knows about everything
that's not what love does in fact I would suggest to you that you can't
boast and love at the same time
you can't do it because love doesn't do that
it's just a reminder for us I don't know if you've ever been a windbag before
and you've ever blathered on about all the things that you know about whatever it
is that you know and by the way I'm not suggesting that there's not some things
that you don't know great deals about
you probably do there's lots of things that you know about that I don't know
anything about I can assure you I have a limited range of knowledge when it comes
to certain things
and for some of my knowledge it's about this deep amd some a bit about this this deep
but ultimately on the scale of how much God knows
it's very very shallow in terms of what I know about anything
but I might know a little bit more about certain things then you know
and you know a little bit more about certain things then I know
but our job isn't to be a windbag
a bloated blathering windbag about all that we know about everything because
love doesn't do that
knowledge Paul says puffs up it doesn't mean you should not have a quest for
intellectual understanding that's not it but when you are just going after this
without the application of love you are missing everything because he says
if it's just about knowledge that will puff you up you will be a big windbag
but love actually builds up
that's the goal that's the heart of love so he says love doesn't boast and love
isn't proud
then he says this love doesn't dishonor
others now this is a great one because I'm
I'm guessing that maybe Paul is referencing back to
a couple places um if we if we were to flip back a couple of chapters we would
see in 1st Corinthians 11 that Paul is addressing some
behavior by um some really kind of
rogue women in the church and I don't know how else to say it that's just how
it was right
they had come out of certain lifestyles and so had some of the man had come out
of certain lifestyles and everybody man or woman was trying to figure out
how to live this new way in Jesus Christ
but in 1st Corinthians chapter 11 he's basically talking to these women
who not only don't know when to talk and when not to talk but they don't even
know how to handle themselves with propriety
in the context of worship and without getting into some other cultural cues
that he assigns to them
he's basically saying that these women are acting in a dishonoring way and he
saying this
love doesn't do that love doesn't dishonor
others what doesn't dishonor people
but he goes on in 1st Corinthians chapter 11 and gives a second set of
kinda
um corrections to the whole church
because in the church they would gather for these love feasts
right where they were share meals together and they would also participate
in communion together they would break you know the bread and share the wine
and reflect on the Lord's death
communion the Lord's Supper as we would talk about it right in our
in our language and so he basically has to address in first Corinthians 11 the
way that those who have a lot
are dealing with the people who don't have much
in Corinth there was a broad socio-economics swath
and there were some who really didn't have much at all and there were some who
had a whole lot
and the ones who had a whole lot were actually just
consuming all of the food and getting drunk at the table and leaving nothing for
some of the people that didn't have very much at all
then Paul was going what? this is not what
the love feast is supposed to be all about this doesn't represent love it all
in fact listen what he says in 1st Corinthians chapter 11 verses 20 through 22 he says
so then
when you come together it is not the Lord's Supper you eat
for when you are eating some if you go ahead with your own private suppers
as a result one person remains hungry and another gets drunk
don't you have homes to eat and drink in or you do you despise the church of God by
humiliating those
who have nothing what should I say to you shall I praise you
certainly not in this matter so Paul is addressing the way that they are
dishonoring
the people that are in their world by not even thinking about them
I don't know if this applies to you or not but
obviously we don't you know we don't have that particular issue in our
context so much because of the pragmatic way in which we do the Lord's Supper so
it's not that we could apply that directly in our context but
are there ways in which you dishonor
other people even people that you don't know or
how about people that don't think like you
how about people that have a different political thought process then maybe you
do on certain issues
and because they don't think like you do on certain issues what you do
is you get on social media and you demonize those people
you call them idiots you call them morons
love doesn't do that
did you hear what I just said love doesn't do that
love doesn't dishonor people
it's not what love does you might need to ask yourself some questions about the way in
which
you operate and ask yourself some questions again don't hear me saying you
shouldn't have conviction
don't hear me saying that at all don't hear me saying you shouldn't be involved in
a political process or have political opinions
I'm not saying that at all I'm just saying there are ways to do those things
without dishonoring people
right hmmm it's get real quiet when you start talking about this stuff
doesn't it?
right cause it gets close to home for all of us
let me give your another thing love doesn't do love
isn't self-seeking that's what Paul says he says love isn't
self-seeking now I think Paul was probably referring to a number of
different things here in Corinth but
there's probably one that I could point out to you and it was
it was the way in which they approach their freedom
in Christ you know its great news ladies and gentlemen for you and me
that in Jesus we're free that is
absolutely great news I taught a whole series in the book of Galatians
that I titled Free this is a an incredible theme that we're to remember
but with our freedom we can't just take
love and throw it out the window
so Paul actually addresses a way in which they were going about this in 1st
Corinthians chapter 10
and he says these words in verse 23 and 24
I have the right to do anything you say
but Paul says not everything is beneficial I have the right to do
anything
but not everything is constructive
no one should seek their own good but the good of others
so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do do it all for the glory of God
do not cause anyone to stumble whether Jews Greeks
or the church of God even as I try to please everyone in every way
for I am not seeking my own good but the good of many
so that they may be saved. You see love
is not self-seeking
I don't know if you've ever used this phrase before may be just as a way of
uh application I don't care what anybody thinks
I'm gonna blank. You ever use that phrase before I've used that phrase before
I don't care what anybody thinks I'm gonna do blank. Now
if that phrase is placed in a proper context
I would probably agree with you I'd probably agree with you on certain
fronts
but there are other times where you know that that phrase just means
plain and simple you're being self-seeking
I don't care what anybody thinks I don't care what anybody says
really you don't care at all you don't care that whatever your gonna choose to
do may have an effect on other people
it doesn't matter to you at all You're
the universe's population one and you sir are the king
that's what that's how you roll with this right
well yeah but I I can do whatever I want in Christ well Paul was having the same
arguing with people in Corinth
they were saying we're free we're not bound by laws in terms of what we
eat or drink in that kinda stuff if it's if it's given to our
you know if it been given the idols are not in Stephanie's having this whole
argument with a man he says I
it's true that you've got freedom but not everything is beneficial because if
you
use your freedom for the purpose of your own purposes without thinking about any
effect it has on anybody else
you're not acting in love because love isn't self-seeking
I told you this when I did a series a years ago called Elephants in the Church
in
in it I basically describes some on things that people don't talk about in
church often times in
and basically taught on those one of those was the use of alcohol
and the scripture actually has some positive things to say about alcohol in
terms of the feast itself in the imagery of it
it also has some negative things to say about it the Scripture is very clear that
the overuse of alcohol or drunkenness is sin there's really no
debating that from a Scriptural context but people ask me sometimes they'll say
Jerry is it wrong for me to have a glass a wine is it wrong for me
to have a beer if I'm doing...
and I'll just say it depends they're looking for just a yes no answer and I'll just say
it depends
it depends on a lot of things like your conscience and all those things
and without going into all those variables I'll tell you what else it
depends on
whether or not you are causing brothers or sisters to stumble
because even though theoretically and theologically
it may be permissible for you to have a beer without sinning
is that possible sure it's possible can I have a glass of wine without sinning
sure that's possible but here's the question: does it violate your
conscience okay you say no no I don't even have a conscience about me that
stuff that's why I say I don't really care what anybody thinks
okay cool listen but does it affect anyone that is around you negatively
and maybe draw them away from Christ to instead of drawing them to Christ
it's a question that you need to ask here's why
because love trumps freedom
the reason that I choose not to drink alcohol at any time
the reason I choose to stay away from it holistically like if
if I'm at a restaurant or doing whatever even in my own home the reason I choose
to do that
has to do with the fact that I have lot of eyes
looking at my world yours
your kids people watch us on TV who watch us on the Internet
I got lots of eyes that look at my world
so you know what I choose? love
instead of freedom. why?
because that's what I'm supposed to do and that's what you're supposed to do
and you just have to ask the question now in listen not everybody's a pastor
and has a lot of eyes on them and all that kinda stuff I get it it's a unique thing it's
a choice that I've made and I'm not imposing my choice on you
so don't hear me saying that what i'm saying is your choices can't be
self-seeking
because love doesn't do that love actually thinks of others
in the process love actually gives gives
thought to the people that are around them thinks about those things
instead of just sayin well
I dont care what anybody thinks.. really you don't care what anybody
thinks
you might wanna back off of that statement a little bit
it's not self-seeking love is also not easily angered
look at a in our verse there it says love is not easily angered
Paul's probably talking I won't go into too much detail but in chapter one if
you read if you wanna make a note to yourself read chapter 1 and chapter 2
of first Corinthians and maybe even reach chapter six
and here's what you'll see you'll see that divisiveness in chapter 1 and chapter 2
that Paul is referencing
and in chapter six you'll see people that are suing one another
because they got upset and sideways about something they get easily offended
about something
now at the end of the day ladies and gentleman here's the thing
love isn't easily angered its not easily offended
why is it that we often look for ways to be offended
I'll tell you why there are some people that I know and man
I just have been around them they look for ways to be offended
they're trying to somehow be offended I don't know if they just need drama in
their world because it
gives them a sense of men now I'm really living cause I'm the midst of some kind
of crazy stuff
you know it's like really cause man I don't need that you can turn television on and see
drama
I don't need it personally or
maybe here's what I think though the reason that some people are so easily
offended and actually look to be offended
is because they really want the self righteous lion to roar
its begging to roar it's begging to get out
and man somebody says something ooh.. what?
how dare you! ROAR!
you know you've wanted to do that before I've wanted to do before
maybe some of the reasons that we're so easily offended
is because we want to feel morally superior to the people that are around
us
so we're easily offended we take offense to just about anything
listen love is not touchy
it's not so easily irritated it doesn't get angry so quickly
it's not offended very easily
cause it's love
and God is love right
you think God gets all sideways with every single twist and turn in our lives
you think He's just stumbling around heaven going
if Jerry doesn't pray longer than three minutes this morning
He does not even realize who I am
right you think God's not petty and trivial like that God is love
we have to understand love is not easily offended it's not easily angered
so don't look for opportunities to be offended and to be angry
just so you can have your self righteous lion roar or so that you can feel
more morally superior to someone else
that's not love no matter how moral you think you might be in that context it's
not love
and then it says love doesn't keep a record of wrongs
now this is basically a summation of what love get you
He's basically summarizing the whole of what he's talked to the Corinthians about
what love gets you is a long list of bitterness
that's what to a lack of love I'm sorry a lack of love
love doesn't get you that right you're going whoa he is stressed out he cant even get
that part right
lack of love basically gets you a long list
of bitterness so for instance
some of you have a record of wrongs that you keep
you don't have them on a spreadsheet you don't have them
you know on a notepad you haven't popped them into your phone
but you gotta mental file you've kept a record of wrongs
that friend who owed you money that paid you back not quite the full amount
ok that you believed you are owed
you've kept a record of wrongs I'm not saying that they shouldn't pay you back
the whole amount now by the way they should
but you're keeping a record of wrongs
that coworker who one time disrespected you and you can't let it go
you can't let it go that kid in school who mocked you that one time
can't let it go at
it's gonna eat your lunch you can't let it go that parent
who may or may not be still alive
who you felt like abandoned you am I saying it's right? No. Am I
marginalizing the pain? no
you can't let go you can't forgive them
you're keeping a record of wrongs
you're holding their sins against them this is what you're doing
love doesn't do that Paul says love doesn't do that
so he's basically saying to
us he saying to the Corinthians but maybe we see ourselves in it
hey maybe some of the ways that you have purported to have had love
maybe you need to look at your life and do the opposite maybe it's not what you
thought at all
in Switzerland I've been to Switzerland before
and it was a great trip actually I got to minister there
um I know pray for me it was really tough um cause it's gorgeous man this place is
unbelievable
and I was in the Swiss Alps and got to see some beautiful things but
there's one particular river that I did not see that I wish I would have seen
the Verzasca river this is reportedly
one of the purest rivers that exist
in fact take a quick look I'll give you an example hello
right I mean you're looking at this is a picture how pure is that
some you're going I wanna be there right now alright how about this shot
from 15 meters
under water looking up at the bridge
above how unbelievable is that huh?
this this river is just absolutely
crystal clear and so ultimately
pure now what's interesting is that when we get to the final book in the
Bible the book of the Revelation it uses a number of different
imageries is when it paints the picture of how heaven and earth have finally come
together
and one of the pictures thats used there is that of a river
listen to what it says in Revelation 22 it says then the angel show me the river of
the water of life
it's clear as crystal flowing from the throne of God and of the lamb down the
middle of the great street of the city here's the idea
that God who is love is releasing
upon all the world
his life which is a life of love
and it flows purely so that it can flow over us
to us and through us
to everyone else it is uncontaminated it is unpolluted
and it is a beautiful picture but uh theres something interesting when I read
this when you think about this picture of the river
the river in Revelation actually has
banks or boundaries as any river does actually
because it says it flows through the middle of the city and it actually
talks about trees that are on
each bank of it so there is actually a definition
to the river that it has direction and intention
but it's going somewhere and it has banks and boundaries have you ever seen
like in Colorado in the recent flooding that's happened there and you saw some
of the rivers
and they vastly overflowed their banks
what happens when rivers overflow their banks
when rivers overflow their banks bad things happen
there's a lot of um stagnation
that happens in the water and then it becomes infested
and disease-ridden and all those things right
because it becomes contaminated and polluted
but here we see that they're actually banks or boundaries
to this river why do I tell you all that here's why
write this down because there are no boundaries on WHO
to love but there are boundaries on HOW
to love this is what Paul
is teaching us when he says
all these things that you are doing that you might think that you are living the
life of love
I'm telling you you're not you're way overflowing the banks
because the river has an intention and has a direction
and has a source there are no boundaries on who
to love but there are boundaries on how
to love because Paul says there are some things that you call love that are not
love
at all this is what he is helping us to understand and that is why
Paul pointed us to Christ
that is why Paul in his letter to Corinth
pointed us to Jesus because he is the source
of love it is he himself that when we look at him we see what love you
supposed
to be listen in his second letter to the church at Corinth
listen to what he says in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5
beginning in verse 14 for Christ's
love compels us because we are convinced
that one died for all and therefore all died
and he died for all that those who live should no longer lives for themselves
but for him who died for them and was raised again
so from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view
though we once regarded Christ in this way we do so no longer therefore if
anyone is in Christ the new creation is come the old has gone the new is here
all this is from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ
and gave us the ministry of reconciliation
that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ not counting people's
sins against them do you hear that phrase
do you remember what love isn't love doesn't keep
a record of wrongs
and he says this is what love was that God was reconciling the world to himself in
Christ
not counting people's sins against them
and as he is committed to us the message of reconciliation
we are therefore Christ's ambassadors as though God were making his appeal through
us
we implore you on Christ's behalf to be reconciled to God
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us
so that in him we might become the righteousness of God
you see Paul pointed us to Jesus and I say this for this reason listen closely
what are you doing that is polluting
the pure uncontaminated
undefiled love of God that is intended to flow
to you and does
but is also intended to flow from you
to other people what are you doing that is
opposite of love based on what Paul taught
what are you doing to contaminate the water
God flows freely into you that should be distributed to people around you called
love because
ultimately where we're going in that flow of history
is that one day we are going to live in a world
where the the river of the life of love is going to flow
beautifully and uncontaminatedly
in and through us to all that are around
that's where we're headed and this is what we are to be doing now
in practice this
so where you polluting it where you contaminating
and what are you going to do about it