What The Church Needs Now – 3
A LOVING LIFESTYLE
1 Corinthians 13:4-6
What do you think teachers do when they get together with other teachers? … (talk about their students)
What do you think Drs. do when they get together with other Drs.? …
(talk about their patients)
So, what do you think Pastors do when they get together with other Pastors? … (talk about their congregation)
Well, all other Pastors do! … I had my monthly luncheon with the area Pastors on Wednesday, & honestly, when I talk about you, I brag.
You all are wonderful, & I’m blessed.
But back to other Pastors, one of my favorite Pastor/congregation stories comes from my friend, Bob Salmon. Bob & I used to spend time together, & even fantasized about someday co-pastoring a church.
Bob liked administration & counseling; I liked preaching & teaching.
So, we thought it would be a good fit.
Bob shared this wonderful story with me years ago, & I’ve never forgotten it. At the time he was pastoring a congregation in the northside of Pittsburgh, & one year he began a program to “reach out” into the community. So, the congregation got together & formed teams,
each having 2 members. These teams then went out into the neighborhoods to get to know the people & talk to them about the Church.
One team was comprised of 2 women … Helen & Gladys,
who were in their early 80’s. (As Bob tells the story I picture them sort of like Mary George … sweet ladies.)
Well, Helen & Gladys were given a map & told very clearly to go down to Summit Drive & turn right. But Helen & Gladys, who had spent their lives teaching elementary school, were better in giving directions than receiving them. They turned left, venturing into the housing projects. This meant that Helen & Gladys proceeded to evangelize the “wrong neighborhood.”
And thereby ran the risk of evangelizing the “wrong people.”
Later that afternoon, each team returned to the Church to make a report of the experiences. Helen & Gladys had only 1 interested person to talk about … a woman named Verleen. Nobody else on their wayward route was even remotely interested in visiting the Church … nobody, that is, but Verleen. She lived with her 2 children in a 3-room apartment in the projects. And although she had never been to a church in her life,
Verleen decided she wanted to visit theirs.
Now this is what happens when people don’t follow directions.
This is what you get when you don’t listen to your Pastor.
You get a woman from the projects named Verleen.
So, the next Sunday Helen & Gladys proudly presented Verleen at the worship service, along with her 2 children. Verleen liked it so much that she wanted to attend the Thursday morning lady’s Bible Study.
Helen & Gladys said that they’d be happy to pick her up.
Thursday morning Verleen proudly appeared, clutching her new Bible,
a gift from Helen & Glady’s circle. The 1st Bible Verleen had ever seen,
much less opened, & she was so excited.
Now Bob was leading the study that morning on Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. And after a brief explanation,
in order to get the discussion going, he asked the ladies …
“Have any of you ever faced temptations? Have any of you refused some temptation because of your Christian commitment?”
One of the women said that just the week before there was some confusion in the checkout line at the grocery store & she discovered in the parking lot that she had a loaf of bread that she hadn’t paid for. At 1st she reasoned, “why should I pay for it; I give them enough money.” But then she thought, “No, I’m a Christian.” So, she went back in & paid for it.
Well, with that Verleen jumped up!
“A couple of years ago I was into cocaine really big.
You know what that’s like. You know how that stuff really makes you crazy. Well, anyway, my boyfriend, not the one I have now, but the one who’s the daddy of my 1st child. Well, he knocked off a gas station one night.
We got $200 out of it. It was as simple as taking candy from a baby.
Well, my boyfriend says to me, ‘let’s knock off the 7/11 store down on the corner.’ Something in me said, ‘No. I held up the gas station with you, but I ain’t gonna hold up no convenience store.’ Well, he beat the crap out of me, but I still said, ‘no’ & it felt great. That’s the only time in my life that I ever said ‘no’ to anything … & it made me feel like I was somebody!”
Through the stunned silence Bob managed to stutter, “well, er, ah,
that’s resisting temptation. Let’s close with prayer.”
Afterward, as Bob was helping Helen into her car, she said,
“I can’t wait to get home & start inviting other ladies to come next week. You know, your Bible studies used to be kind of dull,
but I can get a good crowd for this!”
I wanted to use Bob’s story as an introduction this morning because I really enjoyed it, & I hoped you would too. And also, because I bet Corinth was like that. Don’t read the N.T. & think all the people in those early churches were some kind of holy saints. They were congregations made up of Verleen’s … people who came out of the “projects” of life.
They were real flesh & blood human beings
So, with that, listen to Good News, from Paul to the Church in Corinth, & also to Bear Creek Church. Within our hearing comes the Word of the Lord …
Love is patient and kind; it is not jealous or conceited or proud; love is not ill-mannered or selfish or irritable; love does not keep a record of wrongs; love is not happy with evil, but is happy with the truth.
(1 Corinthians 13:4-6)
Jesus said, “How happy are those who hear the word of God & obey it!”
(Luke 11:28)
May the Lord grant that we may engage in contemplating the mysteries of His Heavenly wisdom with really increasing devotion, to His glory and to our edification. Amen
The past couple of weeks we’ve been looking at what love is;
this morning we’re going to focus on what love is not.
Apparently, the Corinthians were doing so many things wrong in regards to their relationships that it was necessary for Paul to point them out. And, don’t be surprised, as we look at these today,
if you might identify yourself in here somewhere, I know I did.
“Love is not jealous, not conceited, not proud;
love is not ill-mannered, not selfish, not irritable;
love does not keep a record of wrongs; love is not happy with evil.”
The Corinthians gathered regularly for times of worship, learning,
& communion. They sang sacred songs & hymns. They said their prayers. They were doing “right” things. But something was missing.
They were not living in love. (John 13;34-35)
Paul doesn’t soft-soap his comments as we do today.
“Hey, I understand why you Corinthians are treating each other this way. You probably had some poor parental relationships.
Some of you were abused & neglected.” All of those kinds of explanations
& excuses we now use to indulge bad behavior.
Certainly, Paul would have been concerned about those things,
but he knows that when people come to faith in Jesus, they must pursue change. There’s no excuse before God for lives that are boastful, proud,
rude, or self-seeking.
Paul saw all of that in Corinth, & those people needed to change.
Now Paul also wrote this because he knew these things existed in his own heart. He remembered what his life was like before coming to faith in Jesus. He was a highly religious Pharisee; a man who was a leader among leaders; a man with a brilliant mind. (Philippians 3:5-6)
But he didn’t know anything about love. Paul knew harshness.
He knew rudeness. He knew anger. He knew self-righteousness.
He knew pride. He was all the things he writes about in this paragraph.
So, he’s not just some unconcerned bystander.
He’s had to deal with all of this personally. Day by day he’s had to address these things in his own life. He’s had to confess & overcome them. So, he’s not just pointing his finger at the Corinthians, he’s also looking at himself.
Another reason why Paul includes this paragraph is that it describes the fallen condition of the human heart. (Jeremiah 17:9)
And it’s not a pretty picture.
Again, I can’t speak for you, but when I read these words,
I find myself needing to pray a prayer of confession.
“Lord Jesus, forgive me for my jealously. Lord, I must confess that there are times when I’m conceited. Jesus, I’m a proud man. Lord, when left to my own instincts I’m often ill-mannered, selfish, & irritable. I remember in my heart sins that people did … especially when they hurt me. Jesus,
there’s something in me that enjoys evil. I’m much more fascinated about lies & slander; stuff people whisper about, than I am with the truth.”
Is that a prayer that you need to pray? …
But the Good News is, while all of this is a description of what we are by instinct, it can be replaced when The Holy Spirit dwells in our heart.
When we experience conversion, change, when we come to faith …
our responses will be different. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
When we’re filled with love, we stop being jealous of others.
We become satisfied with what we are, & what we have. We’re not conceited. We don’t have to brag to build ourselves up. When the love of Christ fills us, we don’t have to be ill-mannered with others. We can step back & be servants. (Galatians 5:13) When the love of Christ fills us, we don’t have to be selfish; wondering, worrying, if we’re always going to get our fair share. We don’t have to be self-seeking. Paul writes, “Love is not irritable.”
We’ve been talking about this for the past few Sundays.
There’s so much rage & anger in our world today. I don’t know,
maybe even some of us, are ready at any given moment, to explode.
“Love does not keep a record of wrongs.” It doesn’t hold grudges.
It doesn’t remember something done 10/12 years ago. And it doesn’t rejoice in hearing evil news about others … “but is happy with the truth.”
I’ve talked about my admiration of Charles Colson on several occasions.
Do you remember who he was? Richard Nixon’s henchman.
I believe he had one of the most profound conversions in our time.
And, as far as I’m concerned, he became one of the best articulators of the Christian faith in the past 50 years.
He spent the 1st ½ of his life living just as Paul describes here.
Then, in the midst of a prison experience, he came to faith in Jesus.
And things began to change, & what changed most was his ability to love.
In his book, “Life Sentence,” Colson tells of being interviewed by the irreverent Lou Gordon. Gordon’s TV shows were famous for their controversy. In particular, he hated every person who participated in Watergate. And he desperately wanted Colson on his show so he could tear him apart. Well, that opportunity happened, & when the director flashed the signal for the program to begin, it was like a bell for the 1st round in a heavyweight fight. Gordon came out swinging.
“Mr. Colson, I’m glad you’re here to answer for yourself because we’ve discussed you on my program many times.”
“Not all bad, I hope.”
“No, always bad; in fact,
I can’t think of anything good I’ve ever said about you.”
Then Gordon began, like a machine gun,
firing every tough question he could conjure up.
Colson writes,
“My answers just intensified his fury; the blue veins running through his temples were throbbing, his neck was turning a purplish red. Never had I been interviewed by someone trying so hard to be obnoxious.
For Gordon, this was a holy crusade to smite the most despised enemy.
“Several times I bit my lip to keep from slashing replies that had once been 2nd nature to me. When I finally spoke of the power of Jesus Christ,
it looked like the top of Gordon’s head would erupt.
“Then he hit me with an unexpected blow. ‘Do you suppose, Mr. Colson,
that God caused your father to die while you were in prison as a punishment for your lifetime of sins?’
“My anger flared. My Dad was my closest friend; a wonderful, decent, kind man, still a model for my life. I loved him deeply. ‘Why should I put up with this?’ I asked myself as I stared into Gordon’s cold eyes. He stared back, absolute contempt passed between us. Every human impulse wanted to strike back at him. The perfect answer was on the tip of my tongue:
‘I understand you had a near fatal heart attack a year ago; maybe God was punishing you for your hate, for all the bile you’ve spilled out on others.’
“I wanted to attack him so much I could taste it.
Then came a calm, gentle nudging, a reminder of His way.
‘I don’t believe that, Lou. Ours is a loving God.’
“It wasn’t a strong response either verbally or theologically.
But the crisis passed, the tension broke. Gordon leaned back in his chair, spent, as I gave my testimony which millions saw on the screen.
“For weeks I relived that painful moment, alternately wishing that I’d torn into him for the sake of my Dad’s memory, & then thanking God I hadn’t. Then I forgot about Lou Gordon until months later. Skimming through Time magazine my eye caught ‘Milestones.’ ‘Died: TV interviewer, Lou Gordon,
age 60, of a heart attack.’ Had I struck back with the answer that jumped
into my mind, I’d have regretted it the rest of my days.”
Wow … that’s such a powerful commentary of this passage.
And it literally hits me right between the eyes. Each of us finds ourselves at times being attacked, I can close my eyes & can honestly remember
& relive those moments in my own experience. Maybe you can too.
And when those happen, when someone releases that horrible bile directly
at you, at me … how do we respond? How should we respond?
There is a battle constantly going on in each of us. It’s between our human nature & our spiritual nature. It’s between the flesh, & the spirit.
And it happens on a daily basis. How are we going to live?
Who are we living for? Who is sitting on the throne of our heart?
Who do I serve? Who do you serve? (Joshua 24:15)
“Love is patient & kind; it is not jealous or conceited or proud;
love is not ill-mannered or selfish or irritable;
love does not keep a record of wrongs;
love is not happy with evil, but is happy with the truth.”
Now, let’s insert our names …
______ is patient & kind; ______ is not jealous or conceited or proud; ______ is not ill-mannered or selfish or irritable;
______ does not keep a record of wrongs;
_____ is not happy with evil, but is happy with the truth.
MARANA THA
