Purpose Driven Life: Fellowship

Any conduct and say, oh, well, that's okay. If it's good for you because I love you, I'm going to say, oh, well, it's okay. Anything you want to do. Well, the scriptures are going to take a very different view about love and say, this is a love that's sort of what we may call the tough love. It really does care most about what is best for people, but if we really care about what is best for people, we just don't allow them to do anything and everything.

No good parent, no good parent who loved his or her child would let his or her child do just whatever. Why not? Because it's not best for the child in the long run. In dealing with other people, while they may not be our children, we always want to relate to them in a way that we seek really what is their best. So this love, I want to take a minute and talk about its qualities from the scriptures.

The first quality that we see in our text, and I'm taking these right out of the passage we just read, Love must be sincere, Paul says. Literally, the text says it must be without hypocrisy. Without hypocrisy. In the Greek language, the hypocrite was a play actor. That was a term, a Greek term, for someone who's a play actor.

It was a term of the theater. If you were a hypocrite, you were a play actor. In other words, you played a part that wasn't really who you were. You were the character in the play. Well, that term came to be used in our culture.

If you're a hypocrite, you're somebody who says one thing, but you do another. Well, genuine love, true love, biblical love is without hypocrisy. There's no play acting. It's a genuine sort of love. What we say, if we say we love you, we will prove it by how we treat you.

This sincere sort of love is a love that is most demonstrated by how we treat people, by what we do. In a certain sense, talk can be cheap when it comes to love. Oh, I love you. The proof is in the pudding of how we relate to people and how we treat people. But biblical love, agape love, is always sincere.

What we say to people about our love, we will demonstrate by what we do. The second quality is discernment. Biblical love is always discerning. And it's discerning between good and evil. It is discerning between good and evil.

You see what the text says in the second part of verse 9. hate what is evil cling to what is good. In other words, biblical love is able to distinguish what is good and what is bad. What is right, what is wrong. What is helpful for people, what is not helpful.

And biblical love hates those things that are evil or harmful to people but clings tightly to those things that are good. That word for cling in the text is the same word that is used when Jesus is talking about the marriage relationship. Husband will leave his wife and will cleave, cling to his spouse. It's the picture of being super glued together. We, people who claim to have biblical love, are to be super glued to that which is good.

and we're to always, in relating to people, promote what is good in their lives. It's sort of what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13. Love does not delight in evil, but always rejoices with the truth.

So if I have a close friend who I really love, who is engaged in a behavior in his life that is harmful to him, maybe physically or spiritually, say, oh, John, that's great. You know, that's just good for you, I'm sure. So I'm just going to let you do whatever you want to do. No. Biblical love is going to say, John, this is a harmful behavior.

This is not healthy physically or spiritually. Let me show you the way you ought to go. You hear me? Do you hear me? This is not the love our culture wants to hear sometimes, but this is biblical love.

The next quality is devoted to one another.

Devoted to one another. And I gave you two Greek words there, philostorgos and philadelphia. Anytime you see that philo on the front of a word, it's got something to do with love. The philostorgos love is the kind of devoted love we show to family members, and Philadelphia is brotherly love. is the city of brotherly love.

We are to be people who are devoted to one another in the family of God, just like we would be devoted to one another in a good physical family.

As you are devoted to your physical brothers and sisters, you should be devoted to your spiritual brothers and sisters. I love these one another's of Scripture. We see them over and over. This is one, devoted to one another. And these help us to remember we are part of a family and we relate to one another, intensely devoted to one another we are also to honor one another that's the second part of verse 10 to honor someone is to give them respect to recognize their worth and their value and we as brothers and sisters in christ are to be eager to give honor to one another and the text even says we're supposed to try to outdo one another to give honor to one another Instead of trying to bring honor to ourselves, we should be eager to point out the worth, the dignity, the things that others have done for which they should get honor and recognition.

We want to always be pointing out the worth or value of others in the family of God. The next quality is enthusiasm. That's verse 11. Verse 11 says, Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor serving the Lord. In other words, biblical love is not lazy, but is full of zeal and fervor and passion.

And in fact, where the text says, talks about spiritual fervor, it literally is a picture of something boiling over. we are supposed to be so passionate in our love toward others that that love is supposed to boil over in a very enthusiastic sort of way. The text may literally say boiling over in the Spirit, meaning the Spirit of God that fills us. So in other words, when we come to the family of God and we begin to serve one another, we're not to be halfway about it or lukewarm. We're supposed to be boiling over in our enthusiasm to serve the Lord.

You know, I thought it was interesting how Rick Warren in the book talked about the difference between people who are attenders of church and people who are really members of the family.

Attenders versus members of the family. He said, attenders are spectators. Members of the family, genuine members, are participants. He said, attenders are consumers. of the family are contributors. He said, attenders say, it's all about me. Members of the family say, I'm overly concerned about you. It's about you, not about me. You see the difference?

And we're to be passionate in this concern and care for others. I've got to give you an example of enthusiasm in serving the Lord and serving the family of God. As some of you know, we went to the Pickens County Prison yesterday. Members of the Good News team, members of the Praise team, went to and talked with and sang for and fed about 100 inmates over at the prison. I loved it.

Shelton Hall and Heath Hicks are going to replace Billy Graham when he's retired. concerned at one time about Billy Graham being when he passed from this life next but I'm not even the longer Shelton Hall and Heath are going to step right in and we'll have no problems but you should have seen the enthusiasm as cross-trained Sang and then Stephanie Smith and Kim Johnson and Gene Holdway and Steve Boone and then people helping do things like serve food and Dan Johnson helping move stuff in and Daniel Morris and Brenda Dempsey and Phil Ellenberg. And as men wanted to pray to receive Christ, these people would be right there. As we needed to do whatever, everybody's ready to do it. And the mercy riders, we had the mercy riders.

Shelton's motorcycle ministry was with us. Man, you talk about enthusiasm. I felt like I was in a presidential motorcade going to the prison. I had Harleys in front and Harleys behind. we went to minister for the Lord but there was an enthusiasm about it that was contagious and exciting as we serve together in the family of God that's what our Lord wants to see this love is always grounded in hope as the text says in verse 12

be joyful in hope patient in affliction and faithful in prayer we should be as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ the most hopeful people and because of the hope we have in Jesus Christ we should have joy in our lives a joy that is patient in affliction how can we be patient in affliction or patient when we are going through distress or members of the family are going through distress we can be patient because we have the hope that the Lord will use it for his glory whatever may come he will use it And the text says, because of our hope, we will be faithful in prayer. We don't give up. We keep praying, trusting that the Lord will do whatever needs to be done to deal with this situation. I want you to be faithful in prayer for the eight men who prayed to receive Christ yesterday in the prison. I gave you their names, didn't I, in the handout?

Do you see it in your handout?

[Personal prayer concern omitted.]

all good prisoners who are now part of our family, folks. And they're in a tough place. Can you imagine committing your life to Christ in front of all these inmates and then going back into the cell block?

Tough place to go.

They need our prayers. We also need, if we are people of love, we will be generous people. You see what the text says in verse 13? Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

This sharing has two parts. Sharing with the saints who are in need. and then he talks about sharing, practicing hospitality is literally pursuing the love of strangers. So he's talking about caring for the family of God, but then he's talking about helping those who are not part of the family, but showing them great hospitality. Our focus today is on the family of God, but if we're people of love, we will care not only for the family of God, but also for others who are strangers, and we will practice hospitality toward them.

it don't you the early church cared and shared in such a way that the text of scripture tells us there were no needy among them a powerful statement that among god's people in the early church there were no needy among them how could that be how could that be it's because those who had didn't consider their wealth something to be hoarded they considered their wealth something to be shared and when a brother or sister in christ was in need they gave whatever was necessary to take care of them i want to tell you some stories in this class about people who have shared we we have brothers and sisters in ethiopia don't we and we're going to dig a well over there among other things but our class in particular wanted to do a well and the stamp out hunger and disease talking about, well, how are we going to raise money for the well and this, that, and the other? Well, any time God has a project in mind, money is never the issue. He always provides the money. So one day after class, somebody comes up and says, I'd like to take care of the well. How much does a well cost?

They said they were going to take care of it before they knew how much it cost. That's not the way I would do it. How much? Okay. I said, we think about $2,500 minimum.

It may be more than that, $2,500. I said, you know, do whatever you want to do. I'll take care of all of it. We were going to feed 100 inmates. We knew it would cost over $1,000.

Shelton and I got together and said, well, let's do it. Where's the money going to come from? The Lord will provide. We had a generous person who gave $500. Somebody had given $250.

It cost $1,086, folks. So we had $750 286. We needed $286. When we got here last night, without me asking for money, people just started handing me money because they knew we needed to take care of the meal. I thought about that this morning at 6 o'clock as I was going to Joshua's Way.

I hadn't counted the money. I'd just been stuffing it in my pockets because we were going. I got it out. I needed $286. I counted the money.

I had $285. I opened my wallet. I had two ones. so I put a one in and when I got here this morning somebody handed me ten more

money is never ever issue

[Personal prayer concern omitted.]

many of you in this class taking her meals to help take care of her our caring for one another team has carried meal after meal after meal to folks who've been sick and hurting in this class. How does God get the glory when we care for one another? Because people see the family of God and say, man, how is that family the way it is? How do they care so much? Love so much?

Go to one another so much? Do whatever it takes to help one another? We do it because He loved us first. God gets the glory because we point people up when they ask us, how do you love one another? Love is a powerful message.

You cannot beat the power of the message of love. Well, let me close with some lessons for life from this text. It's a powerful text. My first question is, how's my love life?

I didn't ask, how's your sex life, which is the way our culture thinks. I asked, how's your love life? I would recommend that you take the seven qualities of love we just went over and ask, am I sincere?

What's number two?

Huh?

Discerning. Do I understand what's good and evil? Are we devoted to one another? Do we honor one another? we enthusiastic are we grounded in hope are we generous and examine to see how we measure up the best expression of love is time rick warren says the best time to love is now examine ourselves then let's give the time to others to show that we love them using the standards of love in the scripture secondly remember community requires commitment community tough to be in the family sometimes, isn't it?

Don't we, isn't it sometimes just frustrating? Have you ever felt like I have with the family of God? Just frustrated. Why in the world do they think like that? Can't they see what God wants us to be?

Why are they like that?

But you know what? God says, they're all my family. Warts and all. You don't leave the family just cause one day they're hard to live with. You live with them.

You love them. And you love them. And you love them. And you love them some more. Thirdly, he ain't heavy.

He's my brother. Or she ain't heavy. She's my sister. In this family, when a brother or sister stumbles and falls, we pick them up. And we carry them as long as it takes until they can walk again.

Nobody, nobody, nobody gets left behind. You hear me? He ain't heavy. He's my brother. Fourthly, let's watch how we wag our tongues in the family.

Gentle words, not gossip. Talk less about ourselves. more about others. Speak more words of praise, less words of negative criticism.

Fifthly, share with hazardous liability. That's a John Piper term. In other words, let's be more radical in sharing our wealth, particularly to help our family. we've got brothers and sisters in all sorts of places in this world who need we need to be more willing to take that which we have and give to them I was talking to some of the prisoners yesterday these guys they don't have enough stuff in the canteen where they can buy just some little items necessities like toothpaste and so forth you know if the state doesn't have enough money

first. Nobody much cares if you don't take care of the prisoners. They don't have just some of the basic necessities, folks. Now we've got some brothers over there in the prison. We need to be sure we're helping the brothers and others, too, and we're going to do that. Sixthly, I am third, better yet last. You remember the movie about Brian Piccolo, I am third, and Gail Sayers? God people come second, I'm third. Or I prefer to just say last, because I know one day the last is going to be first.

So let's don't put ourselves ahead of God or ahead of other people. And lastly, the question is, do we love Jesus? Do we? Do we love Jesus? If we love Jesus, we will love his children. We will love the brothers and the sisters in Christ.