A Closer Look at That First Love

Transcript

GR 1986
12/04/2016
A Closer Look at That First Love
Revelation 2:4-5; I Corinthians 13
Gil Rugh

We have been studying the book of Revelation and we are going to go to Revelation 2. We looked at the church in Ephesus and it’s a great church, and we looked at the history of that church because we have its founding recorded in the book of Acts. Paul spent three years of ministry at the church at Ephesus and He wrote a letter to the Ephesians. He had Timothy stay in Ephesus to put things in more complete order and he wrote two letters to him, 1st and 2nd Timothy. This church gets a lot of attention in our New Testament.

In Revelation 2:1-7 Christ Himself addresses a letter to the church at Ephesus. We’ve looked at His letter and there are many encouraging things in the letter. In verse 2 he commended them for their works. “I know your deeds” [their works] “your toil,” which carries on not only activities but also hard, draining exhausting work, “and perseverance,” staying over time, staying with it, keeping at it, and they were a discerning church. They didn’t tolerate evil men. There were those who came in those days and claimed to be apostles but they were untruthful men and not the genuine article. You can see something of the difficulty. They didn’t have a completed Bible--for example, John the apostle is writing the book of Revelation. Paul the apostle wrote many of our letters in the New Testament but someone else comes along not telling the truth and says, “I’m an apostle also I have a message from God;” and it confused people but Ephesus was a discerning church. “You cannot tolerate evil men and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles and they are not, and you found them to be false.” It is a commendable church but it is not a perfect church.

There were things that had to be corrected and He says in verse 4, “I have this against you, that you have left your first love.” That had to be a blow! When Christ addresses a congregation of believers and says to them, ‘I have this against you,” they had better pay attention--the problem is “you have left your first love.” I want to spend some time talking about this subject of first love in the Ephesian church because I am concerned there may be some confusion on what this means. When they talk about the doctrines that need to be addressed, we can pretty well grasp that: conduct, immorality or improper behavior of one kind or another; that becomes clear.

Sometimes we talk about this subject of love—what do you mean, “you have left your first love?” Sometimes that is transported in our minds to a feeling. We’ve talked a little bit about this and we will be repeating but I want to be sure we understand. We are not talking about, “well maybe I ought to get up in the morning and have devotions and try to rekindle again the feelings I had at the beginning of my Christian life.” I’m not saying there is anything wrong with getting up in the morning and having a time with the Lord to prepare yourself for the day but that’s not what He is focusing on here.

When He says, you “have left your first love” at the end of Revelation 2:4, it is the love that characterized you at the beginning and He goes on to give them the solution. Remember three commands in verse 5 “remember from where you have fallen,” so stop and think back to those early days of your life as a believer and your fellowship as a church. Remember this is addressed to the church at Ephesus and then through the message to that church in verse 7 “to the churches,” plural. All the churches ought to pay attention and all those who are truly believers in all the churches ought to remember those days and “repent” that it’s not as it was at the beginning. We rather excuse it with, well it’s natural, it’s normal to adjust but Christ says it’s not normal; not what we would say is the new normal. That is “not acceptable to Me” He says. You must “remember from where you have fallen” departed “and repent,” change your whole thinking and attitude about this and then redo. Go back to the way it was; “and do the deeds you did at first;” You note here the love He is talking about is not a feeling, this is an action.

The church at Ephesus is doing many good things for which they have been commended but it wasn’t easy to stay the course the way they had. Yet the areas where they have departed from what they should be--undoes everything. In fact if they don’t do again what they did at the first, Christ says, “I have no use for you as a church; I’ll remove your lampstand.” This is serious. This church has many commendable things. They are pouring themselves into the ministry in exhausting labor and doing it over years of time. Yet Christ says, unless “you remember . . . repent” and redo “the deeds you did at first; . . . I am coming and will remove your lampstand.” You have to repent this is the heart of what He is saying. If you remember, what you did and do not change your thinking about it; nothing happens. We just sit back and reflect and remember those days.

Several years ago, someone was sitting at a table in a restaurant where we happened to be in and we walked by their table. We started talking to people who had attended Indian Hills at one time that had moved on. They said, “we were just talking about what it was like in those early days and early years at Indian Hills and how exciting that was and what the Lord was doing” and we had a nice time of visiting but you know if that’s all it does that doesn’t satisfy what Christ requires. There must be repentance. Why is it different today? Can we say forty, fifty years later it’s just as it was? That is what Christ is requiring. This church at Ephesus has been in existence for forty, fifty years and it is different now than it was in the early days. I [Christ] am unhappy the early beginning days have changed. You have fallen--from your beginning love.

We talked about this. I want to come back and repeat what I said. The solution to this is not doing one thing or another. Let’s all commit to have devotions every day for fifteen minutes and pray. It’s not doing more evangelism or let’s do--that is not what He is talking about--not that there is anything wrong with any of those things or any of the things they were doing. We do not want to miss the focus of what He is requiring. This is addressed to a local church as we are but it is for the benefit of all churches; Revelation 2:7, these messages are to be shared. I want to be sure we understand what He is talking about when He talks about this love.

It is a love for Him that is inseparable with a love for one another. We looked at a number of these verses but I want to remind you of the connection. Come back to John 13:34. This is Jesus’s last night with the disciples. You see the importance of what He is saying. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” Verse 35, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” This is just not a feeling for one another. We will look further at that in a moment but you see the connection. “You love one another as I have loved you” and this is the identifying mark of believers. Now if the church at Ephesus has departed from this relationship how is the world going to know that we are His disciples? That is why I say this is more important than evangelism because failure to love one another will impact our evangelism; we destroy the testimony of our relationship with one another, verse 35, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” It is crucial.

Come over to John 14:15 again verses we have looked at, “If you love me, you will keep My commandments.” You see the love He is talking about is an action. It is a love of doing it, is not a love of feeling not that there is anything wrong with our emotions but He’s not talking about somebody playing a sad song. Sad movies always make me cry--now don’t get distracted thinking about that. I don’t remember anything more about that than saying I remember that line; sad movies always make me cry. Emotions can be moved they can be manipulated. His is talking about if you love Me you will do this. It did not say if you love Me, you would feel this way about Me. If you truly love Me, you will do this. He was talking about that same kind of love in John 13 about loving one another. It will be our actions in relationship to one another and naturally, that will draw in our emotions. John 14:21 “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me;” (verse 23) “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word;” verse 24 “He who does not love Me does not keep My words;” so you see that connection and with that--the love now we have for one another.
Jump back to 1 John 3. These are verses that we looked at in our previous study. There was a preacher who one Sunday was asked by one of his members, “Pastor you have preached that same message for three weeks in a row. When are you going to change it?” You know what he said, “When you start doing it.” This is for all of us. We want to be sure that we are doing what Christ says. Look at 1 John 3:14. “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. . . .” How do you know that God has cleansed your heart and soul? You have passed from death to life because you love fellow believers. “He who does not love abides in death.” That word, abides means where you live, where you dwell. You’re living in the realm of death if you don’t love believers. Now there’s a breakdown in this. You abandoned the love that characterized you at the beginning. You can see why Christ says, “What use would I have for a church like this?” verse 15—“Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer;” and murders don’t have eternal life. Verse 16—“We know love by this that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” You see the connection of a relationship with Christ--His love for us our love for Him and our love for one another; they cannot be disentangled--disconnected. Verse 18, “Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.” Verse 23, “This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.”
We read about that in John 13. That is what He commands us to do—believe in Him and love one another. Come down to 1 John 4:7, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” Verse 8, “The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” That is not all God is but one of His attributes, major characteristics, is love. You cannot turn that around and say love is God. God is love just like God is holy, God is righteous; God is love, verse 9. “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.” Verse 10, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation,” the satisfaction “for our sins.” Verse 11, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. verse 12 “No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us; His love is perfected in us.” Verse 16 "have come to know and have believed the love, which God has for us. God is love, the one who abides in love.” This is the realm in which we live so the love that characterizes God characterizes His children—this is the realm in which we live so all we do, if you will, is driven by this, characterized by this. “God is love, the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” Verse 19—“We love, because He first loved us.” Verse 21. “This commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.”
I want to say--the church forgets this--it ignores it. It’s no wonder the church at Ephesus had a problem; we have a problem, right. Why does God say this so many times? I encourage you to get a concordance out and look up love. You can do it even with the English word; it will give you the basics. See the count, the number of times the word, love is used. It’s characteristic of John’s writings and Paul uses it more than John does; it permeates the Scripture. I started to count the number of times the Greek words for love were used in the gospel of John but I got confused and I didn’t want to start over so I never finished. Come back to Ephesians. You know thirty years or so before Christ addressed the church at Ephesus in Revelation chapter 2 Christ addressed the church at Ephesus through the apostle Paul and what do you know? The verb agapao, which is to love, is used ten times; the noun for love, agape is used ten times; twenty times in the letter to the Ephesians written around 61 or 62 A.D. John is writing around 95 A.D; so thirty plus years has passed. The subject of love emphasized repeatedly.
Look in Ephesians—come back to Ephesians 2:1. We “were dead in our trespasses and sins,” verse 2 we “walked” this way; we walked in sin. Christ created us to walk in “good works” down at the end of verse 10 so that transformation. You come over to Ephesians 4:1 and he [Paul] says, “Therefore, I the prisoner of the Lord . . . walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you been called, (v.2) with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another . . . remember these characteristics. We will be seeing them again . . . “in love,” we are walking in love so these things characterize us. You come down to verse 15, we are “speaking the truth in love . . .” verse 16 at the end of the verse it says all the parts of the body function together; it causes the body to build itself up together “in love.” Come down to Ephesians 5:1, 2. “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us . . .” You see everything has to be done in the framework and the sphere of this love. Something has happened in the thirty some years since this letter was written and now Christ is addressing them again. You have fallen from the love you had at the beginning. What has happened? Well they are still doing many things they should do but the love that must envelop them and characterize them and bind them together; that has cooled.

I want to go back to Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. We think of this church as having trouble but it is a good church. He is writing in 1 Corinthians 1:2 “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling . . .” sanctified saints, saints set apart, holy-- all come from the same basic root word. God is perfectly holy because He is set apart from all sin and defilement.

He has set us apart for Himself so we are called saints or holy ones. Paul says in verse 4-5 “I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in Him . . .” God has blessed this church greatly. Verse 8 He is sure that God will “confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” There are problems when you come to 1 Corinthians 3:1, Paul has to say, “brethren, I could not speak to you as spiritual men, but as men of flesh . . .” I have to write to you because you are like someone who doesn’t have the Spirit; just like normal men who aren’t spiritual. You are like new babies in Christ who should have grown more; what is the problem? Verse 3, “You are still fleshly. For since, there is jealousy and strife among you; are you not fleshly, are you not walking like mere men?” This is how people live who don’t have the Spirit of God, they have jealousy, strife and conflict; living like ungodly unsaved people.

Come over to 1 Corinthians. We are going to talk about the characteristics of love in chapter 13 because it is concrete. There is no excuse for us say, “What’s he talking about?” Revelation 2:4, the Ephesian’s have fallen from the love that characterized them at the beginning; the love Paul talked about in his letter to the church in Ephesus. It’s not difficult--there is clarity in the Scripture. You talk about the perspicuity of the Scripture, the clarity of Scripture; God spoke to be understood by His children.

We have I Corinthians 13. You’ll note the context is in the gifts of the Spirit. That’s where Paul started out in 1 Corinthians chapter 1--we didn’t read all that. Then in chapter 12, he talks about the gifts of the Spirit because we are one body under the leadership of one head, Jesus Christ. Ephesians chapter 1-- that chapter ends talking about God has appointed Christ “as head over all things to the church, which is His body” and so 1 Corinthians 12:27 says, “Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it” and He is the head of the body. Now there is one body--there is to be a unity and a harmony. The church at Corinth didn’t have that so he’s talking about the gifts of the Spirit in chapter 12 then you will come to chapter 14 and he will say, “Pursue love yet desire earnestly spiritual” gifts, Talking about gifts again but this chapter on the love. The problem at Corinth is not just with gifts. The divisions, the conflicts that have affected them in so many areas were because of the breakdown in love. When love is not what is enveloping a local church, it will soon be fractured by conflict and division and that’s what has happened at the church at Ephesus. Serious business so we have the chapter on love.

We often come to this chapter when we think about marriage. It is a great chapter for marriage but that’s not the context of what the Spirit of God is addressing. He is addressing the conduct of a local church. Now it is applicable in a marriage relationship and so on but He is talking about the way the people in a local church relate to one another. I want to look—he starts out in the first three verses. We’re going to highlight the whole chapter. If you want details Sound Words has available a series messages you can to go through and take this down piece by piece. I am just going to highlight what he says here in the first three verses. Note how he starts in 1 Corinthians 13:1 “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” It wouldn’t matter if you were the most gifted person in the church with the spiritual gifts like speaking in tongues, [the ability to speak in other languages whether they are earthly or heavenly.] That just encompasses whatever the gift is. If it wasn’t coming out of love it would be just noise—noise it’s nothing.

Verse 2, “If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge . . .” If I’m the most biblically knowledgeable person in the church, if I am the person with the greatest faith in the church and I could move mountains “but do not have love, I am nothing.” Verse 3, “—And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.” You note that repeated expression, “but do not have love” verses 1,2 “but do not have love” verse 3, “but do not have love.” You note I am “a noisy gong” accomplishing nothing if I don’t have love for the fellow believers in the body; no matter what my gifts are, if I don’t have love I am nothing. God says you are nothing. We had better have ears to hear. I don’t care what you do, what you accomplish, as a believer; if you don’t have love, you are nothing. I’m a nothing and no matter what sacrifices I make in my service for the Lord if I “do not have love (the end of verse 3) it profits me nothing.” There is no benefit to me there is no reward for me. Serious business. Revelation 2:5 No wonder Christ says, “you have fallen” from the love you had at the beginning and if you do not “remember, repent” and redo “do the deeds you did at first” I’ll do away with you. Serious business—this life.

He’s going to give really 16 characteristics of love. Some say 15 but they don’t include the first statement in verse 8 because it sort of summarizes what was said previously but it is another command, another instruction. All 16 of these are characteristics of love so it is not left in the realm of a feeling are verbs. You might think we’re going to talk about the characteristics of love, they would be adjectives that describe love but the Spirit of God uses verbs that are our action words because the love that He is talking about are actions. That’s why in the letter to the Ephesians in Revelation 2:5 Christ says what? “Remember, repent and do again the works that characterized you in the beginning.” He is talking about the love that characterized them at the beginning. Well, you know where we begin, we slide back into our feelings. If these actions don’t characterize us, we have not love and you note He addresses the church. Now we each individually have to take this to heart but our church will be characterized in a certain way. The whole church at Ephesus receives this rebuke, which is a rebuke to the individuals that make up that church for not functioning as they should. Let’s briefly walk through these characteristics just to be sure; we get the idea.

He begins the list in 1 Corinthians 13:4 “Love is patient,” longsuffering. I’ll read you some statements from different commentators on the Greek word from time to time. One says, “This refers to the temperament that patiently accepts injuries without desire for revenge. The word literally means long tempered. Such long tempered dealing with people enables spirit filled Christians to endure provocation, injustices and you can still function as you should.” One noted this important thing, “the word in the New Testament always describes patience with people not with circumstances.” It’s one of the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22 which begins with, “the fruit of the Spirit is love,” so love is patient. If you are going to be part of a fellowship and family of believers, it will take patience to keep from being impatient with one another.

He goes on and you will note the overlap but these naturally all tie together. Love is patient, “love is kind” to others. You are not only patient with them but there is a kindness in it, a thoughtfulness. It is ready to be used in the life of that person to help them come along. One commentator noted, “The root meaning of this word is to be useful” so kindness is being useful in someone else’s life. Paul, three other times at least connected the word patience with kindness; patience and kindness go together. Not only putting up with them but also not losing patience with them, I am being kind toward them trying to help them come along. Listen to Ephesians 4:32, “Be kind.” There’s our basic word, “to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.” You see the connection. Be kind to one another and the illustration is what? How God has forgiven us in His patience, in His kindness He has done what was useful and helpful for us. He has forgiven us. So that kindness, we’re not just passive in our patience because love is active; a patience that is active in demonstrating kindness.

“Love is not jealous;” verse 4b, love is not jealous. You note that these are put positively and some negatively. It tells you what love is: love is patient, love is kind, love is not jealous and there will be a number put negatively here. You know we do not covet what others have; we are glad for them; not sad when others are pleased. When I hear, someone speaking about how another pastor has helped and how his teaching has caused there growth but I’m thinking--he should be complementing me. That would be jealously being jealous. You know I’m not glad for that--the conflicts in the Corinthian church involved this. James 3:14, 16 warns strongly about it to the brethren. What about jealousy because jealously provokes what? It brings out division because if I am jealous of you I see you as a competitor. I don’t want you to do better than me. I don’t want you to get more attention than me. I don’t want you to be treated better than I am. Some of it’s not real but it goes on in our mind and that’s what jealously does; it eats us up. I find it interesting that half a dozen times or so in the New Testament the words jealously and strife are used in the same context. They go together because if I am jealous of you I am going to create conflict.

“Love does not brag” verse 4. You truly know love when his or her qualities impress you more than your own. You know true love when you are truly more impressed with their qualities than your own. You know if I say, “boy Marilyn is fortunate to be married to me.” Well that says something doesn’t it. It reflects an attitude but it is not an attitude of love. If I’m thinking, “boy this church is fortunate to have me become part of it or these people”—that kind of thinking. Genuine love is not impressed with itself; it is impressed with others. Thank you Lord for bringing these people into my life. Thank you Lord for letting me be part of a fellowship of believers where people are so gracious to me. They’re concerned about my growth. They’re self-sacrificing. I see the qualities in you. You know they’re real but when I’m focused on myself, I tend to look at you for the things I can find that are not what they ought to be. Love does not brag. Proverbs 27:2 says, “Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.” We do not brag.

We go to the next word and that word-translated brag is only used this one time in the New Testament but the concept in the next word is very similar. Verse 4, Love “is not arrogant.” You see how these concepts overlap. Love is not arrogant; it does not have an inflated view of itself. It tells you something about the church at Corinth. This particular word translated arrogant is used seven times in the New Testament, six of them in 1 Corinthians. Is it any wonder this church was wracked by divisions and conflicts and fightings and other kinds of problems? Love is not focused on itself, it is not all about me, my importance, my well-being. Humility is the opposite of arrogance and here’s what Paul wrote to the Philippians in Philippians 2:3. “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit,” arrogance, selfishness, empty conceit “but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves.” Paul gave that instruction also to the Romans in Romans 12:3, 16. If I am taken up with the things in you, which are such wonderful qualities, beautiful things, then I am not focused on myself. That’s why we often say to our young people, love is blind. Then they get married and we say, “Well, they are going to have their eyes opened.” We talked about this--keep your eyes closed because what we are really saying is, they do not see the faults. Why don’t they see the faults? Because they are looking at the things that are so appealing, so desirable, so lovely. What happens? Well, after a while you get realistic. Well, don’t get realistic!

This is what God is telling us, isn’t it? You are saved and you come into a fellowship of believers and you are so excited and these Christians are so wonderful and learning the word and their taking care of me. They’re the same people you know with the passing of time now you’re really upset with, you don’t like so much anymore. What happens? You know self is an ugly thing, the world promotes that it’s all about me and you have to take care of yourself and that influences the church. God’s love was not about Him. He did not need me. I had nothing to offer Him. We were dead in our trespasses and sins. We read part of that in Ephesians. We walked according to the course of this world. Why in the world would He pour His love on me? That self-sacrificing love is what God expects among us. It’s not about me! Its about you and if each one of us had that attitude as the body functions, the family functions. Love is not arrogant.

We’ll move on to verse 5. “Love does not act unbecomingly.” One person put it this way, one writer, “Paul is simply saying there are many ways of behaving badly; love avoids them all.” That’s a nice summary. One commentator said, “This word denotes courtesy, good taste, good public manners and propriety.” We conduct ourselves properly with considerateness of one another. You know we’re considerate of others and we’re considerate of one another. In little things like if, someone sits in your seat. That is a good seat and I’m glad they’re going to sit there. You know just the way we are--more concerned about how our conduct impacts the other person than about ourselves. I hope someone was friendly to them today--I hope someone spoke to them--I didn’t get a chance. Well nobody said anything to me--I walked out—sometimes Marilyn will say, “Well did anybody talk to you after the service this morning?” I said, “No, I walked right out the aisle to my office.” They should have been falling all over themselves to tell me how wonderful that sermon was. Good manners and we ought to be mannerly people. We want to have good taste. Sometimes we need to be direct but we don’t want to be brutal. We don’t want to be unthoughtful. Loving people are considerate of how their behavior affects others even in little things. They’re concerned about being sensitive to proper social relationships, public decency, politeness, proper conduct in dress, speech, actions. The Corinthians failed in this. They couldn’t figure out how to use their liberty because they were using it selfishly. Then Paul wrote extensively on that in chapters 8-10 of this 1 Corinthian letter. Why? You ought to be using your liberty for the benefit of others.

That’s what he is talking about; “love does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own.” See how you just flow into the next statement. It doesn’t seek its own, it’s not selfish, self-centered. Paul wrote this in 2 Corinthians 8:9—“You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, though He was rich, yet for your sake, He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.” So true love isn’t all about me. It’s about my thinking about you. In our churches that’s the way we are going. Is that the way we function? Jesus says, through John something has happened at the church in Ephesus. That consuming love. When you’re a new believer and you come in you’re just caught up with how wonderful it is to be a believer, to be with other believers, there just such caring great people. That ought never to change. Boy, I’m so blessed of God to be with these believers. I just want to do all I can in whatever little ways I could contribute to be a help and what can, I do? You feel like, oh just give me something so I can be a help in whatever way. Somehow over time that just sort of cools if were not careful. That’s what Christ is talking about to the church at Ephesus; it’s not acceptable, it cools. Think back, not just so you can reflect on the good old days. So you can repent you are not living the good old days in today and begin to do again what you did at the first. Those actions. Oh, here’s a good one.

Verse 5, “Love is not provoked.” What can I say? Here’s what a Greek commentator says, “The heart of the word conveys the semantic force of “to exasperate, to irritate.” It is something between irritation and anger. Someone who takes offense because their self-regard has been dented, wounded or punctured. It just irritates me, it just bugs me--that kind of attitude and it does. You know what happens, it simmers and that leads to conflict. That doesn’t mean we accept everything but we don’t get provoked. You know Peter wrote in 1 Peter 4:8 “that love covers a multitude of sins” because we are not yet perfect so rather than get irritated why do they do that? They should know better—it is not provoked—it doesn’t get irritated. You know we use this as an example in marriage but it ought to happen in our church. If you’re going to look for a church where people won’t irritate, you will be a constant mover. It just happens—were not yet perfected but love overlooks it. I could take offense at that but I choose not to be offended. We’ve all known people who say, “You just can’t offend them” We act like they’re dense, they don’t even know when they are being offended. That’s a good quality. You know that maybe they meant to offend you. Well I meant not to be offended. All right, love is not provoked. Now you made me lose my place.

“It does not take into account a wrong suffered.” You see the movement at the end of verse 5, it “is not provoked,” it “does not take into account a wrong suffered.” I love that word take into account logizomai. It is an accounting word you are keeping a ledger. We had a staff person many years ago that when he left he went to the board. He presented what he had done, a whole syllabus to present—he had kept a record of everything I had said or done or actions that he thought were out of line. He was keeping a ledger. We do that with one another. If we’re not careful, we let it get into our minds and we haven’t forgotten it. Love does not take into account a wrong suffered. So even when you have been wronged, you’re not writing it down on the back of your frontal lobe. I’ve not forgotten. There is no accounting of it. There is no record of it. One writers said, “So many people nurse their wrath to keep it warm. They brood over their wrongs until it is impossible to forget them.” We previously studied a whole list of verses. This is not what God does with us. Let me just read you 2 Corinthians 5:19, “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting” [there is our word logizomai] “their trespasses against them . . .” Well, how did I do this last week? I wish I could stand here and say, “you know I had a perfect week, I did not sin once.” I might say that if Marilyn wasn’t here. You know those around us know that didn’t happen. There are stumbles of all kinds and some nobody knew about but the Lord and I when I thought what I shouldn’t have thought or I didn’t do what I should have done. How glad I am that in Christ, God is not keeping a ledger. He has removed our transgressions. They will never be brought up, He has forgotten them. Can I say I deal with fellow believers that way? It is not as if we were waiting for someone to make it right. Is there anything you’re waiting for someone to set it right? We shouldn’t be. In our marriage, we determined early on that we weren’t going to have a marriage where we were going to be waiting for the other person. I think I set this up because I’m usually the one. We won’t be waiting for apologies. We will assume the other person knows what they did, and they’re sorry they did it and we will just go on. I’m not saying there aren’t times you need to talk things out but you know you don’t want to be parked there. I’m not going to get over this until she apologizes, he apologizes. He makes it right, she makes it right. It would be nice just to assume they know they were an idiot. They know that wasn’t nice to do. I don’t have to go tell Marilyn, “I know I did the dumb thing.” I know I did it. I regret it as soon as it was out of my mouth. In our relationship with one another, we just assume, they know and I’m assuming they really didn’t intend to harm me and I’m just going to act as if it never happened. That’s what I have to do if I’ve never forgiven them. I’m not keeping a ledger. I have sometimes had people say, “I want to apologize for what I said to you when this happened or I wrote you a letter. I’m sorry for that. I don’t want to tell them I don’t remember because then they will think I don’t care but sometimes I’ve gone to Marilyn and said, you know I had someone apologize to me for the life of me I can’t figure or somebody said they wrote me a letter and I know they weren’t lying but I don’t remember. Now I’m not saying I handled this perfectly but it’s a good way to deal with it. We don’t need those things because I get them into my mind, I go back to them. When I go back to them, they begin to grow and love doesn’t do that.

Love “does not rejoice in unrighteousness” at the beginning of verse 6. One old pastor said, “What a man rejoices in is a fair test of his character and that includes if you rejoice in the misfortunes of others.” Another writes, “It’s all too characteristic of human nature to take pleasure in the misfortunes of others.” I guess we’re not through but we just slammed through some political campaigns. What happened? Somebody digs up dirt on their opponent and the people that like that person say, “Oh I’m glad they found that out.” They discredit this person and then the other person digs it up on the other person and you know we find ourselves caught up in that. Then in the church we find a certain satisfaction—those people weren’t as holy as people thought they were. They weren’t as good, they weren’t as righteous.

We don’t rejoice in unrighteousness. We don’t rejoice when sin takes place in the world and we definitely don’t rejoice when it takes place in the family; we’re not glad. A fellow pastor who wrote an article on a pastor in another state and I thought it was sad. It was almost as if he was rejoicing at the fall. Yes, that is tragic, it is not something to gloat over or manifest no concern for the person and their recovery. Here’s what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 11:29--, “Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern? Job 31:29 Job when he talked to God, he said, “Have I rejoiced at the extinction of my enemy, or exulted when evil befell him? No, I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking for his life in a curse.” One pastor wrote, “Love never makes capital out of another’s faults, does not delight in exposing the weakness of others.” This constant check we have to do. How are we doing? Verse 6, It “rejoices with the truth.” This is the other contrast with verse 6. Love “does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth.” Here’s what John wrote in 2 John:1:4, “I was very glad to find some of your children walking in the truth.” 3 John 1:3, “I was very glad when brethren came and testified to your truth, that is how you are walking in truth.” Verse 4, “I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth.” Sometimes we get the idea believers delight to pass on the unrighteous things. Why? We’re to be rejoicing in truth. Do you know why? There is a breakdown in love to love.

So verse 7, Love “bears all things,” puts up with all things, has that quality. It has an endurance to it since it covers the faults it can keep going on. We often say to someone when perhaps something has been done to him or her. I don’t know how they tolerated that or they put up with that. You know love enables a person to do that so it bears all things so don’t get the idea this is going to be easy. It bears all things it “believes all things,” love is trusting. It believes all things. That doesn’t mean when there are obvious lies when the false teachers have infiltrated they weren’t being dealt with. Christ said that was a commendable thing but we’re not suspicious, always looking for something to turn over to expose to find out. We believe the best, the positive things until there is no way to believe otherwise. That is the way love functions. If someone says something about someone you love that is negative or unflattering or something you probably say, “I don’t believe them and I’m not open to hear it.” That’s the position you have until something happens and it is overwhelming. Love believes all things; it is trusting. How do you have a relationship when you don’t trust? Then you are suspicious of everything and you are always looking for something and then when something comes--you think, “well I think that might be…” and then things come into our minds and pretty soon we’re so confused we can’t sort out the truth from the error.

Love believes all things. It “hopes all things.” Do you know why it hopes all things? We believe that God is sovereign. We’re talking about the church family here. I believe that he can bring good out of it. I believe he can rescue. I believe that God is not willing that one of His sheep should perish. We hope all things. Have you ever talked to people that have gone through a trial or failed and you know it’s not the end of the world; it’s not the end of God using you. I called a man that I had contact with in another state who had fallen into sin. I’d invite you to come to Lincoln and be part of our church if you’re open to it. I don’t believe God is done with you. I believe God will if you have dealt with it. We hope all things-- don’t we? Sometimes we give up we have the idea God is done with us. Love “endures all things.” It stays with it. Love has an enduring quality. We have to stop. Verse 8 “Love never fails.” You know no matter what you do I won’t stop loving you. That’s our attitude toward one another; we won’t stop loving each other. What’s that mean? All the things we’ve just talked about I am going to keep on putting them into practice in my relationship with you. This is where it goes. Other things will pass away. You get down to verse 13, why this is so important to Christ. “Now faith, hope and love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.” We need to back up look and say, “How are we doing with one another?” I’ve looked and found a pattern--every six or seven years we have a major conflict. I wonder what brings that about? Have we sagged in our love? Has there been a breakdown? Do we love one another with that same love? If there is sin that must be dealt with, we must deal with it. We need to be careful so we don’t go off the rails.

That the church at Ephesus dealt with sin and error is commendable. Next Revelation 2:6 “you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans.” I hate them too Christ says. What a thing to say. I thought we were just talking about love. There are certain things we don’t love but we love each other as the family of God. John 13:35 “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” This is His body. What should be manifest here? His love.

Let us pray together: Thank You Lord for the riches of Your word, which reminds us of the riches of the grace that has been bestowed on us in Christ. The magnitude of Your love. Lord a love that is ongoing and endless that nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love you have bestowed on us in Christ. Lord, we would desire to manifest that enduring beautiful love for one another as a reflection of Your love for us a manifestation of our love for You and our love for those who belong to You. Pray you will use us, correct us. May our testimony be strong we pray in Christ’s name. Amen





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