Trascrizione completa di Love Believes All Things

so what Paul's talking about in its original context here is that we're to take our spiritual gifts that he speaks about in 1 Corinthians 12, and as Christians, we're to exercise those gifts and love to our fellow believers in the church, to build up the body, some in the Corinthian church. 00:03:02.612 --> 00:03:29.264 One of the sins that they battled in the Corinthian church was pride, and they used their spiritual gifts as sort of a one-upmanship, so to speak, to view themselves as better than others, use it as a kind of a competition, and that is displeasing to God, to take that which is good and to turn it in for an avenue for self-glorification rather than the glorification of God. 00:03:29.264 --> 00:03:33.926 When we get to the next chapter, chapter 14, we're going to see one way they did. 00:03:33.926 --> 00:03:37.591 That is, they did it with the miraculous gift of speaking in tongues. 00:03:37.591 --> 00:03:49.764 That was a miraculous gift that God poured out during the apostolic period and the Corinthians took that gift and they used it in a very self-centered way rather than a way that would build up and edify the body of Christ. 00:03:49.764 --> 00:03:55.770 But we can do that with any gift that God gives us, and so we need to be mindful of that as God's people. 00:03:57.760 --> 00:04:02.246 Verse 7 is exhibit A, I think, for the 20th century. 00:04:02.246 --> 00:04:10.652 Here we're going to look at a part of verse 7 where it talks about love, believes, all things. 00:04:10.652 --> 00:04:16.050 But the other parts there in verse 7 are also exhibit A. 00:04:16.050 --> 00:04:16.521 For why? 00:04:16.581 --> 00:04:21.043 Karl Marx, one of the philosophers of the 20th century. 00:04:21.043 --> 00:04:22.990 He calls religion the opium of the people. 00:04:22.990 --> 00:04:25.586 The opium of the people. 00:04:25.586 --> 00:04:41.425 He did not like Christianity for one, because he felt it took the fight out of the dog and therefore those who were oppressed would just lie down and take it and not put up a fight. 00:04:41.425 --> 00:04:43.009 They would just always seem to be. 00:04:43.009 --> 00:04:50.610 He accused Christianity of just being something just okay with the status quo, and so he rejected it. 00:04:50.610 --> 00:04:54.403 But Marx did not understand how to properly use the scriptures. 00:04:54.403 --> 00:04:58.333 He didn't understand the Bible, nor Christianity. 00:04:58.333 --> 00:05:03.105 It's more complex than how he presented it. 00:05:03.165 --> 00:05:11.889 Proverbs 14, verse 15, says the simple, that is, the naive, believes everything, but the prudent gives thought to his steps. 00:05:11.889 --> 00:05:16.923 So Christianity is about being prudent, it's about being thoughtful. 00:05:16.923 --> 00:05:21.173 It's not dismissive of the problems in the world. 00:05:21.173 --> 00:05:28.461 And so, before we even explore what Paul means by love believes all things, that'll be our focus today, last time we were together.

00:05:28.461 --> 00:05:29.848 Love bears all things, remember? 00:05:29.848 --> 00:05:33.125 Bears has that word of roof in it. 00:05:33.125 --> 00:05:36.922 Thank God we had a roof the last couple of days with all the rain we've got. 00:05:36.922 --> 00:05:40.172 But love covers it, covers over it, shelters. 00:05:40.172 --> 00:05:41.865 God is a refuge, it's that idea. 00:05:41.865 --> 00:05:49.122 But today we're going to look at love believes all things and we're going to see that love does not promote a blind faith. 00:05:49.122 --> 00:05:52.031 It does not promote a gullible faith. 00:05:52.031 --> 00:05:54.906 It's prudent and thoughtful, as I said. 00:05:54.906 --> 00:06:02.180 But it does involve what we might call a certain kind of godly skepticism, if I can put it that way. 00:06:02.562 --> 00:06:04.944 There is a kind of godly skepticism. 00:06:04.944 --> 00:06:07.108 1 John 4.1,. 00:06:07.108 --> 00:06:23.067 We hear it the apostle John, jesus' closest earthly friend, says Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world, so do not believe every spirit. 00:06:23.067 --> 00:06:26.112 There is to be a certain godly skepticism. 00:06:26.112 --> 00:06:27.622 Where to test the spirits? 00:06:27.622 --> 00:06:29.004 How you test it? 00:06:29.004 --> 00:06:34.504 By the word of God, if it lines up with the word of God, like the Bereans did in Acts 17,. 00:06:34.504 --> 00:06:36.509 They were commended by Paul for doing just that. 00:06:36.509 --> 00:06:39.423 They tested even what the apostle Paul preached and taught. 00:06:39.423 --> 00:06:41.670 And so Christians are to test. 00:06:41.670 --> 00:06:43.862 There is a godly kind of skepticism. 00:06:45.004 --> 00:06:48.913 And Jesus says in Matthew, chapter 10, the 16th verse listen to what he says. 00:06:48.913 --> 00:06:54.848 Behold, I'm sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents. 00:06:54.848 --> 00:06:57.648 He knew what a wolf was. 00:06:57.648 --> 00:07:01.930 There were those that would destroy God's people if they could. 00:07:01.930 --> 00:07:03.762 He knew they were out there. 00:07:03.762 --> 00:07:06.028 So he says be wise as serpents. 00:07:06.028 --> 00:07:13.608 Don't go out there gullible and innocent and naive about what's out in the world, and be innocent as doves. 00:07:13.608 --> 00:07:18.165 And so love does not throw wisdom out the window. 00:07:18.165 --> 00:07:23.149 It doesn't throw that out the window as to the realities of evil in the world. 00:07:23.149 --> 00:07:25.024 Be wise as serpents. 00:07:25.024 --> 00:07:29.185 Love is wise to the evil ways of the world. 00:07:30.648 --> 00:07:39.583 And yet here we are in 1 Corinthians 13, and our Lord, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, through the apostle Paul, says love believes all things. 00:07:39.583 --> 00:07:42.310 So how should we understand that? 00:07:42.310 --> 00:07:54.254 This

is a good example of where you have to take any one phrase or statement in Scripture and let the other parts of Scripture bring light upon that for a proper understanding. 00:07:54.254 --> 00:07:56.507 So we're going to continue through this love hymn. 00:07:56.507 --> 00:08:01.369 This morning Our focus is going to be upon this phrase love believes all things that you see there in verse 7. 00:08:01.369 --> 00:08:09.947 How does this inform our personal relationships in the church and beyond this understanding of love? 00:08:09.947 --> 00:08:18.833 And what difference does having faith in the Lord have in how we love other people, particularly as it relates to love believes all things? 00:08:19.740 --> 00:08:34.282 With that brief introduction, if you would stand, if you're able, I'm going to read from God's inerrant, infallible, holy and living word. 00:08:34.282 --> 00:08:35.826 It's sharper than any two-edged sword, and so God sends it to us in love. 00:08:35.826 --> 00:08:37.912 Let's receive it by faith and with expectation in our hearts. 00:08:37.912 --> 00:08:47.121 Verse one if I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 00:08:47.121 --> 00:08:58.254 And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but have not love, I am nothing. 00:08:58.254 --> 00:09:10.200 If I give away all I have and if I deliver up my body to be burned but have not love, all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned but have not love, I gain nothing. 00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:16.120 Love is patient and kind. 00:09:16.120 --> 00:09:16.861 Love does not envy or boast. 00:09:16.861 --> 00:09:17.522 It is not arrogant or rude. 00:09:17.522 --> 00:09:18.383 It does not insist on its own way. 00:09:18.383 --> 00:09:19.384 It is not irritable or resentful. 00:09:19.384 --> 00:09:24.410 It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 00:09:24.410 --> 00:09:34.340 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 00:09:34.340 --> 00:09:36.383 Love never ends. 00:09:36.403 --> 00:09:38.427 This ends the reading of God's holy word. 00:09:38.427 --> 00:09:41.854 God's people said amen, you may be seated. 00:09:41.854 --> 00:09:48.629 Thank you, father. 00:09:48.629 --> 00:09:56.860 We know your word does not come back void, and so we ask, lord, that you would fulfill your purposes in it today. 00:09:56.860 --> 00:10:04.220 Open the eyes and ears of our hearts and help us, lord, to see the glory of the love of Christ, amen. 00:10:04.220 --> 00:10:05.562 So love believes all things you could say. 00:10:05.562 --> 00:10:06.302 Love trusts all things you could say. 00:10:06.302 --> 00:10:07.264 Love trusts all things. 00:10:07.264 --> 00:10:08.046 Love trusts all things. 00:10:08.066 --> 00:10:15.443 So it's not suspicious, it's not cynical, it's not judgmental toward other people. 00:10:15.443 --> 00:10:23.700 Love would rather be taken advantage of than wrong a brother by unfriendly suspicion. 00:10:23.700 --> 00:10:26.389 Here's the scary part about love it risks than wrong a brother by unfriendly suspicion. 00:10:26.389 --> 00:10:31.573 Here's the scary part about love it risks. 00:10:31.573 --> 00:10:35.284 If we're going to be a loving people, we have to risk. 00:10:35.284 --> 00:10:36.947 There's no way around that in a fallen world. 00:10:36.947 --> 00:10:38.130 Love risks. 00:10:38.130 --> 00:10:46.275 It's willing to make itself vulnerable. 00:10:46.275 --> 00:10:51.998 Love opens itself up to trust other people. 00:10:52.059 --> 00:10:56.399 John Calvin says love is willing to risk giving others the benefit of the doubt. 00:10:56.399 --> 00:10:58.567 That means sometimes we're going to get burned. 00:10:58.567 --> 00:11:04.520 Are we willing to love knowing that sometimes we're just going to get burned? 00:11:04.520 --> 00:11:14.136 And yet that is what God calls us to do and to be. 00:11:14.136 --> 00:11:18.059 It involves believing the best about people. 00:11:18.059 --> 00:11:23.456 Da Carson says love avoids being cynical. 00:11:23.456 --> 00:11:23.537 Why? 00:11:23.537 --> 00:11:26.913 Because love prefers to be generous. 00:11:26.913 --> 00:11:29.465 Generous in what way? 00:11:29.465 --> 00:11:32.578 Generous in its openness and acceptance. 00:11:32.578 --> 00:11:38.519 It prefers to be generous towards other people. 00:11:44.172 --> 00:11:46.500 Love prefers to see other people in the best light. 00:11:46.500 --> 00:11:52.346 That's what Westtown Church should be filled with when people come in they should see. 00:11:52.346 --> 00:11:53.929 People prefer to see others in the best light. 00:11:53.929 --> 00:11:56.375 That's what God is making us to be. 00:11:56.375 --> 00:12:11.261 He's growing us to be this kind of a people, and so love has this desire and preference to see the best in other people until the facts actually demand otherwise. 00:12:13.365 --> 00:12:22.905 But even then, even then, love still requires us to be gracious and as gentle as possible. 00:12:22.905 --> 00:12:25.932 That's a high calling, isn't it? 00:12:25.932 --> 00:12:30.447 But don't we see that in Christ? 00:12:30.447 --> 00:12:33.903 If you're a Christian here this morning, don't you see that? 00:12:33.903 --> 00:12:40.366 That's how our Savior is with us Gracious and gentle. 00:12:40.366 --> 00:12:46.605 He knows the facts about us, but he's gracious and gentle. 00:12:46.605 --> 00:12:48.809 He knows the facts about us, but he's gracious and gentle. 00:12:48.830 --> 00:12:52.889 It doesn't mean that when the clear evidence and facts are in, we remain gullible. 00:12:52.889 --> 00:12:56.900 And it doesn't mean that we pretend and live in a fantasy world. 00:12:56.900 --> 00:12:59.364 That's not what it's saying. 00:12:59.364 --> 00:13:01.885 That's not what God expects of us. 00:13:01.885 --> 00:13:04.048 He does not expect us

to deny reality. 00:13:04.048 --> 00:13:11.715 No, I remember one of my elders at a previous church had a little saying. 00:13:11.715 --> 00:13:21.551 Some of you have probably heard it when people show you who they are, what Believe them? 00:13:21.551 --> 00:13:25.039 When people show you who they are, believe them. 00:13:25.039 --> 00:13:30.027 Now, there's a sense in which love actually does do that. 00:13:30.027 --> 00:13:42.908 But oftentimes, when we say that, we get cynical and we harden up and we use that kind of a statement instead of saying well, that's a painful thing to know, but I'm going to love them anyway. 00:13:42.908 --> 00:13:45.004 It's very easy for us to harden our hearts. 00:13:48.221 --> 00:13:59.629 When the Romans and Jews of Jesus' day, they were filled with hatred and they nailed the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Son of God, on that cross. 00:13:59.629 --> 00:14:06.928 They had beaten Him and stripped Him and mocked Him and spit upon Him and pressed that crown of thorns into his head. 00:14:06.928 --> 00:14:16.508 And they showed Jesus in those moments who they were, and Jesus definitely believed them. 00:14:16.508 --> 00:14:24.927 He saw the reality before him and yet he loved them. 00:14:24.927 --> 00:14:29.650 How do we know that him? 00:14:29.650 --> 00:14:30.513 And yet he loved them. 00:14:30.513 --> 00:14:31.134 How do we know that? 00:14:31.134 --> 00:14:48.312 Well, we know it because, right then and there, every nerve ending in his body was on fire and his soul was drinking something that the thieves on each side were not drinking in that moment the cup of hell from God's wrath being poured out upon him for our sins. 00:14:48.312 --> 00:14:54.927 And yet he bowed his sacred head and prayed Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. 00:14:54.927 --> 00:15:00.529 And so, yes, when people show you who they are, believe them. 00:15:00.529 --> 00:15:01.785 But then go ahead and love them. 00:15:01.785 --> 00:15:07.528 And sometimes we fail at that, don't we? 00:15:07.528 --> 00:15:13.750 And we need to ask God to forgive us, and he is happy to do that in Christ. 00:15:13.750 --> 00:15:17.226 Christ prayed for God, the Father, to forgive them. 00:15:17.226 --> 00:15:17.849 Because what? 00:15:17.849 --> 00:15:23.087 Because he clearly saw their sin, otherwise he wouldn't be praying for their forgiveness. 00:15:23.087 --> 00:15:24.245 He saw their wrong. 00:15:24.245 --> 00:15:28.926 He saw the wickedness, indeed, of what they had done. 00:15:28.926 --> 00:15:38.251 He saw the reality and yet loved them to the end, just like he did the disciples in the upper room. 00:15:41.942 --> 00:15:43.528 The beautiful heart of Jesus Christ. 00:15:43.528 --> 00:15:46.865 The beautiful heart of Jesus Christ. 00:15:46.865 --> 00:15:50.269 The beautiful heart, the sinless, loving heart of Christ. 00:15:50.269 --> 00:15:52.131 And what is Christ showing us? 00:15:52.131 --> 00:15:53.813 The heart of God? 00:15:53.813 --> 00:16:00.125 If we see the Son, we see the Father. 00:16:00.125 --> 00:16:03.633 And so, when love believes all things, it's not gullible. 00:16:03.633 --> 00:16:08.934 Yet love desires to see the best in other people. 00:16:08.934 --> 00:16:15.187 This world is trying to train us to not see the best in other people. 00:16:15.187 --> 00:16:22.947 The Holy Spirit is growing us to see the best in other people. 00:16:22.947 --> 00:16:28.481 We're called to be tenderhearted. 00:16:28.481 --> 00:16:31.663 Jesus says we're to even love our enemies. 00:16:31.663 --> 00:16:43.541 We could spend a whole sermon talking about the different aspects of love, the way I'm going to love my wife is going to be a bit different than how I love my enemies, but nevertheless, love it is. 00:16:43.541 --> 00:16:59.423 Love, desires to see the best in others, tender hearted Loving our enemies, even as Christ loved us when he was upon that cross, suffering not for His sins but for ours. 00:17:02.317 --> 00:17:06.061 The world doesn't understand that kind of love, because it's a divine love. 00:17:06.061 --> 00:17:09.316 It's a divine love. 00:17:09.316 --> 00:17:11.663 It's not natural. 00:17:11.663 --> 00:17:16.066 It comes from the working of the Holy Spirit within a believer. 00:17:16.066 --> 00:17:19.682 The world says how does the world operate? 00:17:19.682 --> 00:17:24.304 Oh, no, no way, they're not going to take advantage of me. 00:17:24.304 --> 00:17:30.279 No, sir, I've been down that road before, I'm not doing that again. 00:17:34.096 --> 00:17:37.405 And just like that, the hardness of the heart is there. 00:17:37.405 --> 00:17:58.422 But you see, we have to pause in God's house this morning and look upon Jesus and look at that cross, and you and I are all challenged to say what if God's heart was like that? 00:17:58.422 --> 00:18:04.105 Where, oh no, what if the last time we sin, god says that's it. 00:18:04.105 --> 00:18:07.263 I'm not opening my heart up to them anymore? 00:18:07.263 --> 00:18:11.923 Aren't you glad God's heart is not that way? 00:18:15.396 --> 00:18:16.602 The holy love of God. 00:18:16.602 --> 00:18:27.945 Where would our hope be found if it wasn't for Christ, if God, who is all wise and all knowing about us. 00:18:27.945 --> 00:18:35.561 He knows the best in us and he knows the vilest and the worst in us, and yet he loves us. 00:18:35.561 --> 00:18:38.577 And he knows the vilest and the worst in us, and yet he loves us and he remains open to us. 00:18:38.577 --> 00:18:53.005 We see that with the thief on the cross one who lived a life of crime, remember he says to Jesus oh, me and the other thief over there, we deserve to be up here getting the death penalty, but not you. 00:18:53.005 --> 00:18:54.977 You didn't do anything wrong, we deserve it. 00:18:54.977 --> 00:19:11.721 And yet when he repented of his sins and he cast himself by faith upon Christ, christ, his heart was open and standing ready and accepted him in full and says

today, this very day, you'll be with me in paradise. 00:19:11.721 --> 00:19:18.979 What a beautiful heart Christ has. 00:19:18.979 --> 00:19:33.013 So God's love, it's not gullible, but it's tender, it's accepting, and he receives and saves those who humbly confess their sins and are willing to turn away from their sin and they trust in Christ. 00:19:34.356 --> 00:19:41.365 Let me put it a different way Christian love believes all things because it knows God's not dead. 00:19:41.365 --> 00:19:49.646 Christians believe all things because we know God is not dead. 00:19:49.646 --> 00:19:54.682 We remember how great and powerful and gracious he is. 00:19:54.682 --> 00:19:59.439 We know that the God of love who created all things out of what? 00:19:59.439 --> 00:20:03.788 Nothing but the power of his word. 00:20:03.788 --> 00:20:08.318 Christian love knows that after darkness, light. 00:20:08.318 --> 00:20:12.667 We serve a God who shines the light into the darkness. 00:20:12.667 --> 00:20:17.200 We serve a God who shines the light into the darkness, and so love never loses faith in others. 00:20:17.200 --> 00:20:21.124 Where do we see that God shines the light into the darkness? 00:20:21.124 --> 00:20:27.090 We see it in creation, we see it during the time of the Reformation, we see it at every conversion. 00:20:27.090 --> 00:20:38.598 This is why, in Genesis 1, in the creation account, you'll notice, if we had written the account we would have said and there was morning and there was evening the first day, and there was morning and there was evening the second day. 00:20:38.598 --> 00:20:39.603 But that's not what it says. 00:20:39.603 --> 00:20:44.337 It says and there was evening and there was morning the first day. 00:20:44.337 --> 00:20:51.477 The light comes up and shines into the darkness and we see that most beautifully in Christ. 00:20:52.980 --> 00:21:08.843 Christian love knows the God of love who sends shockwaves of fear and trembling through the corridors of hell when, well, at one point, at the birth of a Jewish baby named Jesus, in this sleepy little town of Bethlehem. 00:21:08.843 --> 00:21:12.278 And Jesus came to do what? 00:21:12.278 --> 00:21:22.847 Not to condemn condemn the world but to save the world, to save sinners, to save his people from our sins, sins against him and God, the Father and the Holy Spirit. 00:21:22.847 --> 00:21:36.346 Christian love knows the God of love who, in the person of his son, he puts on flesh and bone and suffers and dies for lost and rebellious sinners. 00:21:36.346 --> 00:21:38.321 Sin is rebellion against God. 00:21:38.321 --> 00:21:43.463 It's not a mere imperfection, it's rebellion against God, it's hatred toward God. 00:21:43.463 --> 00:21:48.211 And yet Christ died for us. 00:21:48.211 --> 00:21:55.403 And so love never loses faith in others because we see something of Christ in how he acted toward us. 00:21:55.403 --> 00:22:14.945 Faith never loses, or love never loses faith in others, not so much because of other people but because God is not dead and Christ on the third day was risen from the dead and the Holy Spirit transforms the spiritually dead. 00:22:14.945 --> 00:22:19.866 And the Holy Spirit matures and grows the Christian to be more and more loving. 00:22:19.866 --> 00:22:29.242 And you see, when we write people off, we're basically saying God's dead, he has no plans for that person. 00:22:29.242 --> 00:22:32.883 Aren't you glad Christ didn't do that with us? 00:22:32.883 --> 00:22:39.615 This is our God. 00:22:39.696 --> 00:22:50.862 Christian love knows the God of love who is so powerful he uses death to defeat death who takes what looks like defeat and is an infinite power and wisdom and love. 00:22:50.862 --> 00:22:56.115 He turns that which looks like ultimate defeat into ultimate victory for the whole world. 00:22:56.115 --> 00:22:59.643 And this is why love does not grow cynical. 00:22:59.643 --> 00:23:11.065 Love believes all things in our personal relationships, because that same God who defeats death through death. 00:23:11.065 --> 00:23:15.951 It's the same yesterday, today and forever. 00:23:15.951 --> 00:23:21.626 And so what relationship cannot God restore? 00:23:21.626 --> 00:23:23.742 What marriage can he not heal? 00:23:23.742 --> 00:23:30.781 Who do we need to forgive today? 00:23:33.056 --> 00:23:34.481 Christian love knows the God of love. 00:23:34.481 --> 00:23:37.595 Do you remember when he brought the prodigal home? 00:23:37.595 --> 00:23:39.301 And the prodigal son comes home? 00:23:39.301 --> 00:23:50.047 God brought him home, he saved the thief on the cross, he saved the greatest persecutor in the history of the church. 00:23:50.047 --> 00:23:57.076 And then this persecutor of the church called himself the foremost of sinners. 00:23:57.076 --> 00:24:04.817 And then God took him and he transformed him by his sovereign grace and then made him the lead apostle to the entire Gentile world. 00:24:04.817 --> 00:24:08.442 We know him as the apostle Paul. 00:24:08.442 --> 00:24:18.002 And so love, though it is wise and faces reality, it's, it's not suspicious and cynical and judgmental. 00:24:18.002 --> 00:24:20.567 Love believes all things. 00:24:20.567 --> 00:24:34.950 Love believes in the sour, sovereign power and grace of god, and that's very important because that should impact how we go about our relationships in life. 00:24:35.954 --> 00:24:41.468 Steve Ires says loving people never forgets that God is still at work in the midst of a lost and dying world. 00:24:41.468 --> 00:24:45.325 And if he's still at work in a lost and dying world. 00:24:45.325 --> 00:24:49.766 He's still at work, in the life of his people and in Westtown Church. 00:24:49.766 --> 00:24:50.166 Amen. 00:24:50.166 --> 00:24:53.502 And that means our future is bright. 00:24:53.502 --> 00:25:03.314 God is not dead. 00:25:03.314 --> 00:25:09.175 Here's another way to put it. 00:25:09.175 --> 00:25:09.896 It is faith that works

through love. 00:25:09.896 --> 00:25:12.700 Our understanding and trust of God is what enables us to love other people in the way God expects. 00:25:12.700 --> 00:25:15.022 Galatians 5, 6,. 00:25:15.542 --> 00:25:17.586 Faith works through love. 00:25:17.586 --> 00:25:21.049 This is the distinctive of Christian love. 00:25:21.049 --> 00:25:32.221 It's the vision that God has given us of himself by his Holy Spirit, through Christ, which enables us then to apply that to our relationships in life. 00:25:32.221 --> 00:25:38.029 And so our faith is not first and foremost in humanity or other people. 00:25:38.029 --> 00:25:47.115 It's first and foremost in God, who isn't done with other people. 00:25:47.115 --> 00:25:52.586 It's not by our faith in fellow sinners per se, but in the church we realize that God is alive, god is at work. 00:25:52.586 --> 00:25:59.174 God is not done with you and me yet Praise the Lord for that. 00:25:59.174 --> 00:26:03.945 And so we don't write things off and people off. 00:26:03.945 --> 00:26:05.901 Love believes all things. 00:26:05.901 --> 00:26:15.431 Love never loses faith in other people and what God will do in us and in one another. 00:26:16.574 --> 00:26:22.402 Here's another way to put it when we look at the cross, we see sin does not get the last word. 00:26:22.402 --> 00:26:23.023 God does. 00:26:23.023 --> 00:26:26.740 Death does not get the last word. 00:26:26.740 --> 00:26:27.663 God does. 00:26:27.663 --> 00:26:32.616 Satan does not get the last word, god does. 00:26:32.616 --> 00:26:42.632 God does all things, infinitely wise and perfect and well. 00:26:42.632 --> 00:27:09.912 And so we look out upon the world and we see the sin in the world and we see sin in ourselves and we realize and tell ourselves again we don't deny seeing it for what it is, but at the same time, by faith, we know that the one who is in us is greater than he who is in the world and greater than the sin in ourselves and in other people. 00:27:09.912 --> 00:27:15.852 And this is what helps us love other people, not give up on other people. 00:27:15.852 --> 00:27:21.640 We can face reality and yet go ahead and love them as Christ. 00:27:21.640 --> 00:27:25.059 We can face reality and yet go ahead and love them as Christ. 00:27:25.319 --> 00:27:26.321 Is anything impossible for God? 00:27:26.321 --> 00:27:27.403 Remember Psalm 46,. 00:27:27.403 --> 00:27:31.710 God says Be still and know that I am God. 00:27:31.710 --> 00:27:40.442 I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. 00:27:40.442 --> 00:27:43.567 And then he goes on to say the Lord, the covenant, lord of hosts, is with us. 00:27:43.567 --> 00:27:45.288 The God of Jacob is our fortress. 00:27:45.288 --> 00:28:01.220 And so we remember the greatness of God, we remember the grace of God, the power of God and the goodness of God, as we sang earlier. 00:28:01.220 --> 00:28:08.480 And that is what guards us from being suspicious and cynical and judgmental of other people in our relationships. 00:28:09.662 --> 00:28:10.665 Love wears a hard hat. 00:28:10.665 --> 00:28:21.213 Some Sunday, I think we should all just come in here with yellow hard hats, because it knows it lives in the midst of God's construction zone. 00:28:21.213 --> 00:28:28.307 We live in a construction zone of God's sovereign grace and power and love. 00:28:28.307 --> 00:28:44.170 That's what should guard our hearts and our relationships, and that's why love not only believes the best in others, but it does more than that it never loses faith in other people. 00:28:44.170 --> 00:28:44.560 Why? 00:28:44.560 --> 00:28:46.207 Because our God reigns. 00:28:47.362 --> 00:28:53.151 I ask you this morning who have you written off? 00:28:53.151 --> 00:28:58.589 May each man and woman and child search their own heart. 00:28:58.589 --> 00:29:02.669 Is there someone in your life you have just written off? 00:29:02.669 --> 00:29:03.590 I'm done with them. 00:29:03.590 --> 00:29:10.829 Is there somebody in your family, in the church, at work? 00:29:10.829 --> 00:29:15.144 Let me put it a different way who have you quit praying? 00:29:15.144 --> 00:29:15.365 For? 00:29:15.365 --> 00:29:27.051 God is sovereign and he does what he pleases, and he has not done yet. 00:29:29.740 --> 00:29:30.641 Listen to this great hymn. 00:29:30.641 --> 00:29:33.124 I love this hymn. 00:29:33.124 --> 00:29:34.965 This is my father's, oft so strong. 00:29:34.965 --> 00:29:37.228 God is the ruler. 00:29:37.228 --> 00:29:49.010 Yet this is my Father's world. 00:29:49.010 --> 00:29:51.744 Why should my heart be sad? 00:29:51.744 --> 00:29:53.329 The Lord is king. 00:29:53.329 --> 00:29:56.186 Let the heavens ring, god reigns. 00:29:56.186 --> 00:29:57.211 Let earth be glad. 00:29:57.211 --> 00:30:00.885 Yes, the world's a mess. 00:30:00.885 --> 00:30:03.045 Yes, the church is often a mess. 00:30:03.045 --> 00:30:04.690 Yes, our hearts are often a mess. 00:30:04.690 --> 00:30:06.582 God is not dead. 00:30:06.582 --> 00:30:13.511 He's the ruler yet, and he's not done and he reigns. 00:30:13.511 --> 00:30:17.905 And so love believes all things and our dealings with other people. 00:30:18.807 --> 00:30:20.211 Here's how one commentator puts it. 00:30:20.211 --> 00:30:20.653 I like it. 00:30:20.653 --> 00:30:27.489 Love gazes on the strengths and virtues of other people and only glances at their flaws and sins. 00:30:27.489 --> 00:30:34.349 You see, it sees them, yes, but it gazes on their strengths, trying to see the best in them. 00:30:34.349 --> 00:30:42.814 It doesn't make light of sin, but it doesn't fixate and highlight their sins and failures, and it's not judgmental. 00:30:42.814 --> 00:30:46.347 Now, christians are called to make right judgments. 00:30:46.347 --> 00:30:55.251 If there's one verse that's been abused by the world, their favorite Bible verse is what Judge not. 00:30:55.251 --> 00:31:04.959 They forget to read a couple of verses later where Jesus calls

some people spiritual dogs, a couple verses later where Jesus calls some people spiritual dogs. 00:31:04.959 --> 00:31:08.509 So at least Jesus was calling the balls and strikes as he saw them. 00:31:08.509 --> 00:31:13.251 But no, we're to judge, we're to see things rightly, but we're not to be judgmental. 00:31:13.251 --> 00:31:14.182 There's a difference. 00:31:14.182 --> 00:31:21.290 We're to see things, we're to see the best the facts demand. 00:31:21.290 --> 00:31:24.326 We're to see the best until the facts demand otherwise. 00:31:24.366 --> 00:31:25.351 Think of Job's friends. 00:31:25.351 --> 00:31:26.703 What was wrong with Job's friends? 00:31:26.703 --> 00:31:28.849 What did they do? 00:31:28.849 --> 00:31:32.450 They knew just enough theology to use it as a machete or a club. 00:31:32.450 --> 00:31:37.086 Job was a godly man, a righteous man. 00:31:37.086 --> 00:31:38.241 We know that from the beginning. 00:31:38.241 --> 00:31:39.886 He lost his ten children. 00:31:39.886 --> 00:31:41.843 He lost his wife to bitterness. 00:31:41.843 --> 00:31:42.346 He lost his 10 children. 00:31:42.346 --> 00:31:42.971 He lost his wife to bitterness. 00:31:42.971 --> 00:31:44.118 He lost all his wealth. 00:31:44.118 --> 00:31:47.749 He lost his livestock, his health and so forth. 00:31:47.749 --> 00:31:49.954 His life was devastated. 00:31:49.954 --> 00:31:54.365 And here come his friends to comfort him, and I put comfort in quotes. 00:31:54.365 --> 00:31:58.532 Here they come and they failed him as friends. 00:31:58.532 --> 00:32:01.465 They did not love him as friends. 00:32:01.465 --> 00:32:02.167 Why? 00:32:02.167 --> 00:32:04.212 Because they did not believe all things about Job. 00:32:04.212 --> 00:32:09.068 They believed they had the inside track. 00:32:10.599 --> 00:32:17.310 One of his friends, job 15, eliphaz is your wickedness not great and your iniquities infinite? 00:32:17.310 --> 00:32:20.488 You see, you must be suffering because of your sin. 00:32:20.488 --> 00:32:26.810 You see, they assumed the worst about Job and they had no warrant for that. 00:32:26.810 --> 00:32:35.093 And even if they had, where was their compassion for a fellow sinner? 00:32:35.093 --> 00:32:41.180 John, chapter 9, you remember the judgmental we'd call them church-going folks? 00:32:41.180 --> 00:32:45.398 But John 9, they asked Jesus about the man born blind. 00:32:45.398 --> 00:32:46.301 You remember what they said? 00:32:46.301 --> 00:32:49.250 Who sinned Him or his parents? 00:32:49.250 --> 00:32:50.844 That must be why he's blind. 00:32:50.844 --> 00:32:53.250 What does Jesus say? 00:32:53.250 --> 00:32:57.430 Neither, but that God would be glorified. 00:32:57.430 --> 00:33:00.167 And then he went and he healed them. 00:33:00.167 --> 00:33:02.303 He healed that man. 00:33:02.303 --> 00:33:10.373 Sometimes our suffering is just that. 00:33:10.373 --> 00:33:11.660 God would be glorified in and through our suffering. 00:33:12.539 --> 00:33:21.384 So judgmental people they love to cherry pick a biblical truth and apply it to a particular case or person, without any warrant, without compassion, self-righteous Pharisees. 00:33:21.384 --> 00:33:24.291 We see this in the Gospels, in Matthew, chapter 23. 00:33:24.291 --> 00:33:28.107 Jesus says to them you strain out a gnat and you swallow a camel. 00:33:28.107 --> 00:33:35.851 They were picking about tiny flaws with other people, real or perceived, pointing the fingers at others. 00:33:35.851 --> 00:33:36.772 Why? 00:33:36.772 --> 00:33:38.565 Because it would make themselves feel righteous. 00:33:38.565 --> 00:33:41.073 That's one of the key reasons they did it. 00:33:41.073 --> 00:33:45.991 They wanted to highlight the sins in others, because it made them feel more self-righteous. 00:33:45.991 --> 00:33:55.804 And you see, this is why the gospel is so important in our relationships, when we understand that righteousness comes to us as a gift through faith in Christ. 00:33:55.804 --> 00:33:58.130 It's not something we establish or we earn. 00:33:58.130 --> 00:33:59.432 It comes as a gift. 00:33:59.432 --> 00:34:01.865 We don't have to do that in our relationships. 00:34:01.865 --> 00:34:07.567 We don't have to then make ourselves feel more self-righteous or better by cutting other people down. 00:34:07.567 --> 00:34:16.521 The gospel frees us in our relationships to love other people in an unjudgmental way, in the best way, in a Christ-like way. 00:34:19.045 --> 00:34:20.108 Love believes all things. 00:34:20.108 --> 00:34:22.614 It's really just an application of the golden rule, isn't it? 00:34:22.614 --> 00:34:24.905 Ask yourself, you remember the golden rule. 00:34:24.905 --> 00:34:30.592 Jesus says in Matthew 7, so whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the law and the prophets. 00:34:30.592 --> 00:34:34.751 Everything the law and the prophets taught about human relationships. 00:34:34.751 --> 00:34:39.391 You can summarize it in this Treat other people as you would wish to be treated. 00:34:39.391 --> 00:34:42.425 Do you want other people to see the best in you or the worst? 00:34:42.425 --> 00:34:53.498 Do you want them to be cynical about you, judgmental about you, suspicious about you? 00:34:53.498 --> 00:34:54.686 This is just an application of the golden rule. 00:34:54.686 --> 00:34:57.219 Love believes all things. 00:34:57.239 --> 00:35:05.065 Remember St Augustine, the greatest theologian of the first millennium of the church, maybe even the first 1500 years. 00:35:05.065 --> 00:35:06.349 He had a mother, godly mother. 00:35:06.349 --> 00:35:12.851 How many great theologians came from godly mothers who prayed and loved them. 00:35:12.851 --> 00:35:15.244 Augustine was not living right. 00:35:15.244 --> 00:35:17.610 He was living an ungodly life. 00:35:17.610 --> 00:35:19.608 He was living with a woman he wasn't married to. 00:35:19.608 --> 00:35:27.550 He was dabbling in this worldly philosophy

then, that worldly philosophy, and what was his mother doing, the whole time Praying for him? 00:35:29.760 --> 00:35:30.967 Love believes all things. 00:35:30.967 --> 00:35:34.028 You see, by faith, her vision of God. 00:35:34.028 --> 00:35:39.304 She believed God wasn't done with her son yet and she prayed. 00:35:39.304 --> 00:35:42.128 And God honored those prayers. 00:35:42.128 --> 00:35:49.567 And so we love well, not so much by our faith in other people per se, but by our faith in God. 00:35:49.567 --> 00:35:57.791 Think of the godly father, the prodigal son. 00:35:57.791 --> 00:36:00.146 The son lived a wild life. 00:36:00.146 --> 00:36:02.105 His wayward son begins to come home. 00:36:02.105 --> 00:36:04.170 But love believes all things. 00:36:04.170 --> 00:36:11.322 How do we know that as soon as the father sees the son on that horizon, the second he sees him, he's running toward him. 00:36:11.322 --> 00:36:14.288 What does that mean? 00:36:14.288 --> 00:36:22.364 His father was expectant, he was just waiting, and as soon as he saw him, he took off running. 00:36:22.364 --> 00:36:25.652 Love believes all things. 00:36:30.510 --> 00:36:31.335 Remember the apostle Peter. 00:36:31.335 --> 00:36:34.659 Jesus says to him you're going to deny me three times. 00:36:34.659 --> 00:36:45.317 And then Jesus goes on to tell Peter Satan wants you to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. 00:36:45.317 --> 00:36:45.920 I think I told you before. 00:36:45.920 --> 00:36:46.523 It's worth telling you again. 00:36:46.543 --> 00:36:52.590 Robert Murray McChain, if I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. 00:36:52.590 --> 00:37:11.110 Christ was praying for Peter and he's praying for you and me in glory, and his prayers are for us, for our brothers and sisters in Christ and for all those God has determined to save from every tribe, tongue and nation. 00:37:11.110 --> 00:37:15.802 They will not fail, dear Christian. 00:37:15.802 --> 00:37:16.927 This is the love of Christ. 00:37:16.927 --> 00:37:20.626 Aren't you glad he didn't write us off? 00:37:20.626 --> 00:37:30.347 We owe that to other people if we're going to show them the greatness of the love of God, so let's pray and ask for God's help. 00:37:30.347 --> 00:37:42.989 Father, we come now before you and we're thankful that you're gracious and powerful and good to us, and we desire to show that same kind of love to other people. 00:37:42.989 --> 00:37:46.286 Keep us wise as serpents. 00:37:46.286 --> 00:37:48.547 Keep us innocent as doves. 00:37:48.547 --> 00:37:51.226 Help us face reality. 00:37:51.226 --> 00:38:00.829 But, lord, help us to think the best of people and even when they fail, help us to love them as you have loved us. 00:38:00.829 --> 00:38:02.666 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:38:02.666 --> 00:38:05.748 God's people said amen. 00:38:05.748 --> 00:38:09.987 Well, we come now to the Lord's Supper. 00:38:09.987

--> 00:38:12.668 It's always a joy to come to the Lord's Supper. 00:38:15.300 --> 00:38:16.987 Why does God give us the sacraments? 00:38:16.987 --> 00:38:20.371 So that he can help deepen the assurance of our faith. 00:38:20.371 --> 00:38:26.371 There are other reasons, but I always like to remind God's people that that's the central reason. 00:38:26.371 --> 00:38:29.889 There's nothing deficient in God's word, but our faith is often weak. 00:38:29.889 --> 00:38:33.471 So he gives us the sacraments to give us that extra assurance. 00:38:33.471 --> 00:38:39.440 He also gives us the sacraments to remind us that he loves not just our souls but our bodies as well. 00:38:39.440 --> 00:38:43.224 One day he will raise them from the dead, and so we touch these physical elements. 00:38:44.106 --> 00:38:51.144 To remind us of that as well, I'm going to read to you from 1 Corinthians, chapter 11. 00:38:51.144 --> 00:38:56.789 The Apostle Paul says For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus. 00:38:56.789 --> 00:39:03.831 On the night when he was betrayed, he took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and said this is my body, which is for you. 00:39:03.831 --> 00:39:06.103 Do this in remembrance of me. 00:39:06.103 --> 00:39:12.347 And in the same way also, he took the cup after supper, saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood. 00:39:12.347 --> 00:39:23.126 Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me, for as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 00:39:23.126 --> 00:39:35.407 So Jesus gave us this sacrament to strengthen our faith, to remind us that we're saved not by the greatness of our faith but by the greatness of our Savior. 00:39:37.101 --> 00:39:44.233 I just came across a saying last night and I thought it was so good I had to send it to a couple pastor buddies of mine. 00:39:44.233 --> 00:39:46.583 It was by Samuel Rutherford. 00:39:46.583 --> 00:39:54.643 I don't know if you know Samuel Rutherford, that's for another day, but he was a great, godly man who suffered much in England. 00:39:54.643 --> 00:40:00.570 But he said I hang by a thread, but it is of Christ's spinning. 00:40:00.570 --> 00:40:05.510 He was secure in Christ, as weak as he felt. 00:40:05.510 --> 00:40:17.869 Sometimes our faith is weak, and this sacrament is to remind you that you may be hanging by a thread, by faith in Christ, but that thread is by Christ's spinning and it will not break. 00:40:17.869 --> 00:40:23.568 He will hold you, he will keep you and he will bring you home. 00:40:23.568 --> 00:40:26.101 That which God began, he'll complete. 00:40:27.346 --> 00:40:28.911 So we come to this table this morning. 00:40:28.911 --> 00:40:31.184 Who's the table for? 00:40:31.184 --> 00:40:45.989 Well, the scriptures teach and our denomination, I think, is right, and they're teaching in this that this table is a reminder that we're all saved by God's grace alone, through faith in Christ alone, and it's not by our works but by the works of Christ. 00:40:45.989 --> 00:40:51.005 So this bread reminds us that Christ's body was broken for us, he suffered for us. 00:40:51.005 --> 00:40:56.365 The wine reminds us, he paid the ultimate price, he shed his blood, in other words. 00:40:56.365 --> 00:41:02.251 And so in this sacrament, we're called not so much to focus on the bread and the wine themselves. 00:41:02.251 --> 00:41:14.432 And so in this sacrament, we're called not so much to focus on the bread and the wine themselves, but in this bread and wine where God, by His Spirit, mysteriously communes with us in a special way to strengthen us for our service to His glory. 00:41:15.521 --> 00:41:26.744 So if you've made a public profession of faith, if you've been baptized, you don't have to be a member of this church, but you need to be a member of some church where you're under oversight. 00:41:26.744 --> 00:41:29.960 The scriptures clearly teach the elders are to be in charge of a table. 00:41:29.960 --> 00:41:35.224 So if that's you, we want to invite you and share this table. 00:41:35.224 --> 00:41:43.809 This is not Pastor Corey's table, it's not Westtown Church's table, it's the table of the Lord, and so we practice open communion in that way today. 00:41:45.882 --> 00:41:59.987 But if you've never made a public profession of faith, if you haven't yet been baptized, the proper order would be baptism and then coming to the table, as the elders or the church leaders of your church invite you to the table. 00:41:59.987 --> 00:42:06.284 But whether you're a believer or not, this can be a profitable time for you, and I'm glad that you're here. 00:42:06.284 --> 00:42:20.182 We're glad that you're here and take this time this morning, if you haven't yet done those things, to think on your relationship with God and to profit from this sacrament nonetheless, to realize that we're saved by what Christ has done, not by what we've done. 00:42:20.182 --> 00:42:23.460 That, in the end, is what the bread and the wine are all about. 00:42:23.460 --> 00:42:25.188 Jesus did for us. 00:42:25.188 --> 00:42:33.956 He paid the ultimate penalty and he fulfilled all the obligations of the law that we could live with God now and forevermore, in both body and soul.