In the last line of that song
is what I'm going to try to preach this morning. Teach me to buy
my love, to show, to show you how much I owe. I titled our
message this morning here from Romans chapter 12, the passage
we read just a minute ago, a new commandment in practice. You
remember in John 13 verse 34, our Lord said a new commandment
I give you, that you love one another. I have loved you, but
you also love one another. In our text this morning, the
Apostle Paul gives us a picture of what that looks like when
that commandment is put into practice in the life of God's
people. You remember, Paul has been teaching
us to present our bodies a living sacrifice unto the Lord. It's
a reasonable service. And the way we do that, the way
we present our bodies, a living sacrifice to the Lord, is by
serving each other. The only way we can serve the
Lord is by serving His body, serving His people. And the only
way we can really do that, the only way we can serve the Lord,
the only way we can be of any real benefit to His people is
in an attitude of love. We serve each other out of love
for the Lord and love for each other. All of our duty to one
another, all of our duty to the Lord, it's all summed up in one
word. Our whole motivation to present
our bodies a living sacrifice is love. I read a quote this
week. It's not exactly, it's something
like this. I should have wrote it down. I heard of it. If you
want to motivate men to build a ship, you want to go exploring
out in the sea, you want them to build a ship. Don't motivate
them to cut down trees and to make nails and to sew sails. Give them a love for the sea.
You know what they'll do? They'll naturally go build a
ship. If Lord gives us love for Him, we'll do these things naturally. But even though they would come
naturally to us, they've got to be taught. They've got to
be cultivated. And that's what we see in our text this morning.
If we're going to serve the Lord, serve each other, it's got to
be out of motive of love. And here's the first thing Paul
tells us. This love's got to be the real McCoy. It can't be
a fake thing. Verse 9, Romans chapter 12. Let
love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil. cleave
to that which is good. Everything else Paul's going
to say in the rest of this chapter hangs upon this verse. Let love
be without dissimulation. And what that means is let your
love be a sincere love. This is not just greeting each
other at the door as we're leaving and saying, well, I love you
and just saying that and then going through the rest of our
week forgetting about one another, not praying for one another,
not helping one another. This is acting upon our love. showing it in our actions. Look
at Matthew chapter 22. Our Lord said, this is the great
commandment of the whole law of God. Matthew chapter 22. In verse 35. Then one of them, which was a
lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him and saying, master,
What is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him,
thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with
all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great
commandment. And the second is likened to
it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments
hang all the law and the prophets. The whole law of God hangs upon
this motivation, love for God and love for his people. And
demonstrating our love by our actions is the only way that
a disciple of Christ can be identified. Our Lord said, by this, all men
know you're my disciples. He didn't say if you got all
the right doctrine, if you could just really pound the pulpit
and get people's attention. That's what he said. By this,
all men know you're my disciples. If you have love one to another.
And the only way people will know we love each other is if
we show it by our actions. You remember all the gifts that
Paul mentioned there about giving to the church. If we would serve
each other with those different gifts, we've got to use those
gifts in love. Love for God and love for his
people. Paul mentioned preaching. How can we be of any use to people
if we preach to them in a mean, hateful attitude? We preach the
gospel of love for Christ and love for God and love for his
people. Love for lost people. But they might come to hear it
and believe it. We serve each other, we exhort each other,
but the only way you can be able to do that and be of any real
benefit is in love. That's just useless without love
for Christ. And I can show you that, 1 Corinthians
chapter 12. 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Here
again, Paul was writing to the church at Corinth about all the
different gifts that God gives to different people in the church. In 1 Corinthians 12 verse 29, He says, are all apostles? Are
all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers
of miracles? Have all the gifts of healings?
Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? Well, no, everybody
has different gifts. He says, but covet earnestly
the best gifts, and yet show I you a more excellent way. Do
I speak with the tongues of men and angels and have not love? I'm just a sounding brass and
a tinkling cymbal. If I do those things without
love, I'm an annoying sound. And though I have the gift of
prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though
I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not
love, I'm nothing. And though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor, though I give my body to be burned and have
not charity, have not love, it profits me nothing. All those
gifts, all those actions are worth nothing if they're not
done in love. See, this is where the whole
thing hangs upon, isn't it? Look over Colossians chapter
3. Paul has talked to us about being the body of Christ. If
we would serve the body of Christ, it's by serving each other. Well,
there's one body, isn't there? We're all one body. We're lots
of different people with different backgrounds, different interests,
different educations, all these different things, you know. But
what is it that holds that body together? What holds us together
all these years? What has held this congregation
together? What holds all the body of Christ together? It's
love. Colossians 3 verse 12. Put on, therefore, as the elect
of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercies, kindness, humbleness
of mind, meekness, long suffering, forbearing one another and forgiving
one another. They may have a quarrel against any, Even as Christ forgave
you, so also do ye. And above all these things put
on love, which is the bond, the cement of perfectness. What holds
that whole body together is love. That's what holds us together.
It's the bond of perfectness. It's love for Christ and love
for his people. So Paul says, let this love be sincere. Now, how can I not sincerely
love the Lord? How can I not? if he loved me
first. That love must be sincere. And
if I sincerely love the Lord. How can I not love his people?
How can I not love you if I love his if I love him? It's just
it's utterly impossible to love the head and hate the body. It's
an impossibility. So don't be a hypocrite. This
is what Paul don't be a hypocrite and tell somebody you love them.
And as soon as you walk out of their presence, forget all about
them. That's not real love. Seek for ways, make it your business
to find a way to show your love for each other. God's given us
this family, our brothers, our sisters, make it your business
to show them that you love them as Christ has loved us. How is
it that Christ loved us? That's a pretty tall order, isn't
it? His love for his people is a sincere love, isn't it? How
do I know that's a sincere love? He humbled Himself to take on
our flesh. He humbled Himself to obey God's
law. God commanded us to obey it.
Not only, and we won't, but He did. He did it for us. We have
a debt of sin we can never pay. The rebellion, the filth, the
wretchedness of our sin. Christ took that in His own body
on the tree, and He presented His body. He gave Himself a sacrifice
for the sin of His people. He saved your soul. He did for you what needed to
be done. Might that motivate us to do
for others what they need to have done for them? And if you
sincerely love the Lord, you'll hate that which is evil. You'll
hate that which is the opposite of Him. and you'll cleave to,
the word is be glued to. You just be glued so you can't
get away from, be glued to that which is good, that which is
Christ. He's the only one that's good.
You know, not showing our love for each other. If I just think,
you know, so and so's, there they are going through that and
I love them, you know. If I don't do anything to try to help them,
that would be evil. So see that you love one another
Sincerely, be glued to that which is good. Now this love, Paul
said, this is the real McCoy. And it is a family love for each
other. Show a family love for each other. Look what he says,
verse 10 in our text. Be kindly affection one to another
with brotherly love, in honor, preferring one another. Now kindly
affection means to cherish, just like you cherish your children
or you cherish your other family members. Now this sincere love
can only come from a new heart that God gives. And Paul is not
using an illustration here of family love. He's saying we are
the family of God. So show that love, that family
love that just comes out of you naturally. Nobody has to be told
you ought to forgive your brother. You just forgive him because
he's your brother. I mean, I can do some dumb stuff. Jonathan,
you just got to forgive me. You're stuck with me. You've
got to forgive me. We're brethren. Forgive one another. Nobody has
to tell you, go help your sister when she's in trouble. You just
do it. You're the brother. You just
go do it. You parents when your child is sick. Anybody have to
tell you to pray for them? No, they don't have to tell you. You're already praying for them.
Anybody have to tell you They got a feeder, put a cold cloth
on their head? No, you're already doing it. You just, you run to
do that, don't you? It's just natural. When you find
out a family member's in the hospital, you don't call and
say, well, can I make an appointment to come see you? You just go.
You just go. I can go in the room, I'm family.
And you won't let anybody say anything ugly about your husband,
about your wife. Somebody says something ugly
about your children, we got problems. Them are fighting wars, aren't
they? And you protect the reputation of your family. They do something
dumb, you're not going to be the one telling it. It might
be true, but you're not going to be the one telling it. Now see that you
love the family of God the same way. Just show that love naturally
so that it just comes out of you without you, it's just a
reflex, isn't it? Somebody throws something at
you, it's a reflex. Make it a reflex action to show your love for
Your brethren. Forgive your brethren without
even thinking about it. Because you love them. We just
read it. Forgiveness. God, for Christ's
sakes, forgive them. Just forgive them. Your brethren have trouble,
you go help them. And don't you wait to be asked.
You just go do it. Because you love them. Christ came to save
you, but you asked Him, didn't you? That's what you do. And
pray for your brethren. Because you love them. and prefer
them, Paul says. What he means there is, you understand,
this is a family love. You prefer to be with your family. Janet and I prefer to be with
our daughters and our sons. We prefer it. We were leaving
yesterday afternoon as hard, wasn't it? Because we prefer
it. We prefer them. We schedule Thanksgiving and
Christmas. You know, we don't have to be
on the day. We're going to have that day whenever everybody can
be together. And throughout the year, if we
haven't seen each other, you know, a little bit, we schedule
time. We'll say, let's meet in Moorhead, have dinner. We all
be together. We want that. We need that. Paul says, seek
to love one another with that family love. Prefer to be one
another. Look for ways to be with each
other. Prefer to be with the people
of God over the people of the world because they can help you
and you can help them. And this is especially true of
parents, this promoting one another. Every parent in this room can
understand this. We're awful. I mean, we're just awful. We
promote our children at all costs, don't we? I mean, we fight to
promote them. We want the best for our children. I want the best for my children,
not me. I want it for them, not me. I
want them to get recognition, not me. I want them to get a
promotion, not me. I want the best for them. Paul
says that's our love for each other. See that you prefer your
brethren. See that you want to see them
honored, that you want to promote them above you, that you want
the best for them because that's a family love. And like I said
a minute ago, don't love them like they're your family. Love
them because they are your family. These are your brothers. These
are your sisters. Look around you. Look around
you. These are the people that you're
going to spend eternity with. These are the people that God
Almighty sent this son to shed his precious blood, to wash them
clean. See that you love them. We are
blood family, the family of God. Why thirdly, this love for each
other. It must be a fervent love. Verse 11, excuse me. Not thoughtful
in business, but fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. That word fervent,
it means hot and boiling. It doesn't just mean warm, it
means boiling. Have a boiling love for each
other, just that it bubbles up. Boiling water makes a difference,
doesn't it? See that our love is fervent,
that it makes a difference. Now remember, this love for Christ
can only be shown by showing love for His people. Don't be
lukewarm about it. You know how you feel if somebody
acts indifferent towards you, don't you? You know God hates
that too. God told the church at Laodicea,
yes, I know your words, but you've become lukewarm. I wish you were
hot or cold, one or the other, but you're lukewarm. And you
know what He said? I'll spew you out of my mouth." God hates
that. Serve the Lord in love. A fervent
love. Not because you have to. Not
because this is a commandment. But because you want to. When
Paul says, don't be slothful in business, he's not talking
about your job out there in the world. Now, that applies to your
job. You've got jobs, you can go to
work tomorrow morning. Be fervent about it. Don't be
slothful about it. You be the best employee that's
there. And you serve your boss like
you're serving the Lord Jesus Christ. Because that's who you're
really serving. I know your boss signs your paycheck. You might have a shirt with a
company logo on it. But God, you answer to God. You serve
like you're serving Him, because you are. But that's not, I mean,
that's good advice. That's good. Good way to live
our lives. But that's not what I'm just
talking about here. Paul says your business is serving the
Lord. It's your business to serve the
people of God. It's your business to present
your body a living sacrifice. It's just your reasonable service.
Well, see that you do that, not in a slothful way, but perfect. Be serious about it. Show your
love for your brethren. Not like you're serving the body
of Christ. Not like you're serving Christ
himself. Do that because you are serving the body of Christ.
And do it perfectly. Be serious about this. Now this
kind of love does not come naturally to the flesh. The only way we
can have this love is if God's given us a new heart. But you
know, even that, that new heart must be renewed. It must be stirred
up. Isn't that right? Well, you know, the only way
that we can stir up this fervent, boiling love in our hearts, there's
only one way to stir it up. It's by hearing the gospel priest.
You know, a lot of what Paul says here when he says, present
your bodies a living sacrifice, a lot of that is just showing
up. It really is. It's just showing
up in the worship service. It's just show up for your brethren
in their daily lives. Just show up. Hearing the gospel
preached, hearing of Christ's love for His people, hearing
of His sacrifice for His people, hearing of His righteousness,
His obedience that makes us perfect, hearing of His grace and His
mercy to His people that we do not deserve, that stirs up our
hearts. That just makes us boil inside,
doesn't it? Oh, what a glorious, blessed
message. This is the gospel of salvation
in our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Savior described His love
for His Father and His people as a zeal that ate Him up, that
just boiled up in Him. It was a hot love. Well, it's
hearing of our Savior, hearing of His perfection, hearing of
His glory, hearing of His love, hearing that how just His mere
presence comforts the hearts of His people. That makes our
love boil up and makes us show our love for one another. The
only way to stir this love up is by hearing the gospel preached. Then, fourthly, this love. You
don't get a day off. It's at all times. Verse 12,
rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant
in prayer. You read that verse and you say,
what does this have to do with love? Well, if you love Christ,
Paul says, rejoice in hope. If you love Christ, you will
rejoice in him. Christ is our hope. Christ in you, the hope of glory. That's a mighty good reason to
rejoice, isn't it? That's a good hope through grace. That's why
Paul told the church at Philippi, finally, my brethren, here I'm
gonna sum up my letter to you, finally, rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in him whom we love.
Next, Paul says, patient in tribulation. The only way I can think to explain
this is this illustration. If you really, truly love somebody,
you're patient with them, aren't you? Paul said charity, love,
suffers long. It's very patient with those.
It bears all things, endures all things, because we love them.
If you love someone, you wait patiently for them to come home,
because you just want to be with them. You're just looking forward
to that time together. And if they're running late or
they're not there when you think that they should be there, you
wait patiently. You don't run off and go do something else
because you want to be with them. You wait patiently for someone
that you love to keep their word. And maybe they haven't done it
yet. They told you, I'm going to do this. But you wait patiently
for them to do it because you love them. You believe them because
you love them. Well, this is what the Lord's
telling us. Those who love the Lord will be patient. They'll
wait on Him patiently, even in a time of tribulation. Everybody here has been in the
midst of it, haven't you? Just in the midst of a dark,
dark, crushing time. Scripture speaks of those times
as being narrow, just as squeezing you. You don't know when there's
going to be an end to this thing. You don't see a light at the
end of the tunnel. But what do we do? We wait patient
for the Lord to deliver us. Patiently. You know why? He promised
He would. We love Him. We believe Him.
So we wait patiently for Him. When our hearts are broken, we
wait patiently for Him to comfort us. Now, hopefully, when our
hearts are broken, our brethren will come around. They're with
us. They just showed up. And it's helpful, isn't it? But
you know what will comfort the heart? crushed heart. It's his presence. We just wait
patiently because he promised he would and he's all we want. He comforts when he gives us
a sense of his presence. We have peace, we have comfort.
Someone said rejoicing in hope is placed right between serving
the Lord and being patient in trial because nothing will motivate
the believer to serve God, and nothing will motivate the believer
to patiently endure trials like a hope of being made just like
Christ. We have a good hope. So we can
be patient. We don't have to be in a hurry
about this. We don't have to run around like a chicken with our
head cut off. We can be patient because of the one whom we love,
the one whom we trust. And if we genuinely love the
Lord, we will pray. Now you just don't have to be
commanded, pray, you know, this many minutes a day, or no, Just
think about the people that you love. If you love them, you want
to talk to them. You need to talk to them. You
like to talk to them. Well, that's a believer. We have to pray.
Because praying is not a religious ceremony. Praying is simply talking
to our Lord, talking to our Father. And when we pray, that's when
we rejoice before the Lord. We rejoice in everything that
He is. When we pray, that's when we
thank the Lord for everything He's done for us, everything
He's given us. And when we pray, that's our time to ask the Lord
for what we need. Now, rejoicing and thanking the
Lord, that shows our love for the Lord by showing our admiration
for him, that we rejoice in him, that we praise him. And making
our petitions known shows our love for the Lord. But just like
what that article I read for the children, it shows our dependence
upon him, just like a child is dependent upon their parents.
So this love for the Lord and love for his people is at all
times in every situation. And then true love, love that
would serve the Lord and serve his people is a generous love. See that your love is generous.
Verse 13, distributing to the necessity of saints, giving to
hospitality. And we talked a good bit about
giving last week. We're to give so that the gospel
will be supported. Because we love it. We want the
gospel to be spread. We're to give because we want
the glory of our Savior to be spread to other people knowing.
We want the gospel to be supported so it continues to be preached,
so God's people will be fainted, edified, and comforted. We give
because we want the gospel to be supported. Because we want
those that we know, those we love, those in our community
to know the Lord. And the only way they're going
to know Him is by hearing this gospel preached. But we're also
to give so that our brethren can be helped in a time of need. If one of you is in need, we're
going to take care of you. If something goes wrong, we're
going to take care of you. Because that's what family does
for one another. And we're going to do it cheerfully
and we're going to do it generously. Love is not stingy. Love just gives the best that
we have to those we love. And all parts of the body join
in on this. You think, well, you know, I
can't do much. You know, maybe I'm just a tote. I mean, yeah, I just, I'm not
much. I'm out of sight. I don't really contribute much.
But you know what happens when you crush your finger with a,
with a hammer, your toes curl up. I mean, just every part of
your body is involved in this thing. The body of Christ works
the same way. Just be generous in what you
do for one another because it's a blessing. It really is a blessing
to be able to help our brethren here and other places. You hear
traveling saints coming through town. Open up your home to them.
Just make your home a hotel. Make your home a restaurant for
them. They can come have lunch. Friday morning, late morning,
my phone rang. It was Joe Terrell. Joe said,
are you home? And I said, no, I'm not. And
he said, well, that explains why nobody answered. And I knocked
on the door. We were already up in Lexington with the girls
getting ready for the conference. And I was just sick about that.
I was just sick about it. Oh, Joe could have come in and
Janet could have fixed us some lunch. What a blessing that would
have been for you to get her to fix us some lunch. We made our
home a restaurant for you. That's what we're due for each
other, conferences and people traveling through town. Listen,
it's a lot of work. You gotta get your house company
clean, don't you? You gotta get company. But do it. Do it. I promise you, you'll receive
far more of a blessing from it than I will. What a blessing
that is. You'll serve God's people that way. Do it generously. Now
the gospel. The gospel tells us love for
Christ. It tells us love for the brethren.
However we're to treat our brethren. But you know, it also tells us
How to love those who are without. How to love our enemies. Look
at verse 6, or I mean 6thly, verse 14. It's to love our enemies. This love is the love for our
enemies. And that's best done by keeping in mind how Christ
loved us. When we were yet his enemies.
Keep that in mind, verse 14. Bless them which persecute you.
Bless and curse not. Now if someone persecutes you
for the gospel's sake, don't you curse them. No, you bless
them. Isn't that what the Lord did for the people that He loved?
People who were His enemies? People who cursed Him? People
who persecuted Him? Even from the cross, at physically
His worst hour, when people were persecuting Him, so that we cannot
imagine it, what did He do? He didn't curse Him. When someone mistreats you, That's
what the Savior did, isn't it? And you know that's the best
way to permanently solve the problem? Pray for it. If the
Lord gives him a new heart, you've got no more problems with that
person. Now you've got a friend. Here's a good piece of advice.
We've got this one done for. We were talking about this yesterday.
Treat unbelievers like they're believers. Treat them like they're
your brethren. Some of them are. They don't
know it yet. They've not been born yet, but
some of them are. Treat them like they're your
brother. In verse 17, he says, Recompense to no man evil for
evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. When someone
does you wrong, they do you evil. Don't do evil to them trying
to get even with them. Really and truly, two wrongs
don't make a right. When someone does you wrong,
you do right. No matter what happens, you do
the right thing. That's what Paul means when he says, provide
things honest in the sight of all men. He doesn't simply mean
being honest, although we ought to be, but he means do the right
thing, not the wrong. No matter what happens, don't,
don't just ask yourself this question. What's the right thing?
And that's what you do. We know the right thing. Our
problem is doing it. Pray for the grace. God give
you the grace to don't seek revenge. Vengeance belongs to the Lord.
So wait on Him. Solomon said, Vengeance belongs
to God. You wait on Him to save you.
He will. Look at verse 19. Dearly beloved,
avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath. For it's
written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore,
if thine enemy hunger, feed him. If he thirsts, give him drink.
For in so doing, thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Now,
vengeance belongs to the Lord, so don't seek vengeance. Don't
try to get revenge. Don't try to get even. Instead,
do something nice for them. Do something nice for them. If
they're hungry, feed them. If they're thirsty, give them
a cold drink. When I was a couple summers ago
with this thing about gay rights and homosexual rights, all these
things were coming up, and they were, gay rights people were
protesting outside all the Chick-fil-A's. You know what the manager, they
were protesting with all these ugly signs, you know, all this
ugly stuff. And it was summertime, August, hot and humid. There
they are, blocking the way, making it hard for customers to get
in. You know what the manager of that Chick-fil-A did? Took
a big old thing of ice cold lemonade and a bunch of cups out there
and said, here, you all might be thirsty. Thought this might refresh
you. I would have done that, but I
wish I had thought of that, you know. Here this says, if you
do that, you'll heap coals of fire on his head. I'd go out
there and do something nice for them and make hell hotter for
them. I just want to love that. Now you know good and well that's
not what that's saying. What attitudes, how contrary to grace
and love could that be? You know what that's saying?
Your anger, your warfare, you just go out there and take a
hammer and hit them in the head, it's not going to change their
attitude. It never will change the heart of your enemy. Your
anger won't. You're not going to change their
attitude by hitting the head with a hammer. But you might show some of that
fervent love. You might melt them down a little bit. God might
be merciful to them. You never know. Look at Hebrews
chapter 13. You just be kind to them. You
never know who it is you're showing kindness to. You might. You just might entertain angels
unawares. Hebrews 13 verse 1. Let brotherly love continue.
Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have
entertained angels unawares. Now look back at Matthew chapter
25. Entertaining angels unawares. You might not even know it, but
you're serving the body of Christ all along. You didn't even know
it. And I can make good on that. Matthew 25. This is when Christ returns,
puts the sheep on his right hand, the goats on his left. Then shall
the king say unto them on his right hand, Come, you blessed
of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. For I was in hunger and you gave
me meat. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger.
That's strangers. You entertain strangers unawares.
I was a stranger. You took me in. naked and you
clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and
you came unto me. And then the righteous are going to answer
him and say, Lord, we didn't do any of that. When did we see
you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and gave you drink? When did
we see you a stranger and took thee in, or naked and clothed
thee? Or when did we see you sick and in prison and came unto
thee? You're confusing us to somebody else. We never did any
of that stuff. And the king shall answer and say unto them, Verily
I say unto you, as much as you've done it unto the least of these
my brethren, and one of these strangers, You've done it unto
me. Doing those things enabled us
to serve the body of Christ all alone. So verse 21, back in our
text, be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
When your enemies do evil things to you, nothing wrong with that
making you mad. It's fine to get mad about it,
but don't act on it. Stop just a minute and don't
be overcome of evil. Don't let evil start guiding
your actions, but wait just a minute and let your actions be guided
by good. Think, what is best? Really, what's best in this action?
What's best for Christ? What's best for the reputation
of his gospel? What's best for his people? And
act on that, cleave to that, be glued to that which is good.
Then verse 15, love so much that your one heart, one heart. I
believe, Jen, I've been married long enough. We got one heart.
We're just one. See that you love one another.
One heart. Verse 15. Rejoice with them that do rejoice
and weep with them that weep. Love so much your heart feels
exactly what your brethren feel. If they rejoice, you rejoice
with them. And I mean truly, truly rejoice with them. Don't
think, oh, I wish that was me, not them. No, rejoice and be
glad it's them and not you. Rejoice with them. And when they
weep, you weep with them just like it happened to you. I'm
telling you, we gain strength from each other that way. Love
so much that you're of one heart and love so much that you're
of one mind. Verse 16. Be of the same mind one toward
another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low
estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. Now having the same mind, it
means wanting the same thing. You got the same goal because
you're all in love with the same person. Our goal is the glory
of Christ. It's the spreading of the gospel.
It's the good of his people. So that's our goal. Just whatever
it is God's given you to do, present your body living sacrifice
to do it. And don't mind high things. And
all that simply means is this. Don't be a snob. Don't be a snob. Don't think you're better than
anybody else, because you're not. We're all part of the same body.
We're equal. Don't be wise and young and conceited.
Don't be a smart aleck and think you know more than everybody
else does, because we don't. And condescend to men of low
estate. Just bow down to be on people of whatever level that
they're on. And a good example is our children.
Our children are small. They're weak. haven't been educated
in so many things yet, you know, they just haven't had time. And
they're short. So we bent down to be on their
level, to talk to them. We think of the things, what
they know, what they can do, you know, as we talk to them.
And we don't think less of them for it, do we? I saw little Daisy
yesterday. And I love children. And of course,
I'm a stranger to her. So I go out and talk to her.
And she's like, I don't know about this. And Don was holding
her. He said, well, he said, Did you
tell Mr. Frank hi? And she took a bite
of a cracker, so her mouth was full, so she couldn't say hi.
But he said, can you give him a high five? Is she like that?
Boy, she gave me a high five. That's her level. That's wonderful. I got that interaction with that
baby. But now, when I saw my good friend Marvin Stoniker,
he didn't do that. No, we talked to each other on
a different level, didn't we? Condescending men of low estate
deal with people on their level. Matthew Henry said the word here
is a metaphor for travelers who are traveling in a big group.
You know, that time they traveled on foot or they might have had
one little cart or something, you know. And the stronger people,
the faster people, they slow down. So they stay with the sick
and the weak and those who can't go as fast because everybody's
better off if we're all together bearing one another's burden. Be of one mind, have one goal.
It's not that I get there first. It's that we all get there together.
Isn't that what the Lord our shepherd has done for us? He
condescended to men of low estate. David said he remembered us in
our low estate. He didn't go too fast. No, he
condescended to us. That's what we should do for
each other. And then last, this love that serves one another
will seek and promote peace. Verse 18. If it be possible,
as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. And it's
just not possible to have peace with this world. It's utterly
impossible. It's certainly not possible to
have peace with this world if we've got to compromise the gospel
to do it. No, sir. If that's what it takes, we're
not going to have it. But if you can do something without
compromising the gospel to have peace, do it. Do it. Don't ever give somebody a reason
to have a quarrel with you. Don't give them a good reason
to get mad at you. And if they want to fuss and
fight with you, they come just cuss you out. Just keep quiet
and let it die. Now somebody can't fight if they're
just one. Nobody's fighting back. Just promote peace every way
you can. But especially for your brethren.
Especially for your brethren. Promote peace. Do what you can
to promote peace in their heart. You know what would give peace
to their heart? Show them you love them. Show them you love
them. Get together and talk together. And talk together about all kinds
of things. Whatever it is of interest, you talk about sports and whatever
interest you have. I don't know, quilting or whatever. I don't know, whatever it is
that interests you. Get together and talk about that. But the
conversation always will come back around to this. Christ our
Savior, mercy, grace, and that will give peace to the heart.
Then our hearts are going to be knit together in love and
peace when we serve each other in this love. Oh, may God give
us the grace. Show our love for one another
as we love him who first loved us. Let's bow together. Our great God, how we thank you. for your unmeasurable love for
your people, that you loved us while we were yet in our sins. You chose sinful people to save
and gave them to your darling son to put their sin away, to
make them just like him. Father, how we thank you. We
know we don't deserve it. We can never deserve it, but
we thank you. Father, we pray for the grace
to show our love for one another, enable us to have opportunity
to serve you by serving your people, showing our love to them,
cause our love to be in action, to help one another, to promote
your gospel, to promote peace and love and unity. Father, bless
us, we pray. Bless us for your great namesake,
for this one great cause of preaching the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Not that we would be promoted and noticed. but that
he'd be promoted and noticed so that people know him and come
to him and find eternal life in him. It's in the precious
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we pray and give thanks.