WEBVTT 00:00:00.100 --> 00:00:01.430 You got a Bible and invite you to John. 00:00:01.820 --> 00:00:05.780 Chapter 13 is where we're going to beat today and we're going to begin a new series today. 00:00:05.840 --> 00:00:13.160 So I'm glad you're here with us as we study a series together on the title's called this thing called love. 00:00:13.240 --> 00:00:20.740 And the challenge for us is to look at the depth of our relationships, which God has placed us in and encourage us in those 00:00:20.740 --> 00:00:21.640 relationships. 00:00:21.780 --> 00:00:28.540 And I want you to know, as we go through this series together, it is going to be relevant for everyone in the application that we make. 00:00:28.580 --> 00:00:35.680 I really want to challenge our idea of love culturally, today and maybe get us thinking in some different ways in how we use that word 00:00:35.680 --> 00:00:37.270 in connection to our relationships. 00:00:37.480 --> 00:00:44.720 I wanna, I wanna do this starting off a little, a little narrow and referencing, marital relationships, because that is, as 00:00:44.720 --> 00:00:51.140 the Bible describes the first relationship God creates, it tends to be the, should be the most intimate of relationships that God has established for us. 00:00:51.260 --> 00:00:58.360 But the application for this is going to, affect all areas of relationships that we face as we consider an idea 00:00:58.360 --> 00:01:02.560 of what love represents and the example of love that we receive in Christ. 00:01:03.880 --> 00:01:04.680 We talk about love. 00:01:04.720 --> 00:01:06.140 I think it's healthy for us as a church. 00:01:06.240 --> 00:01:12.240 We like to attempt to, engage relational focused messages at least once a year. 00:01:12.500 --> 00:01:13.070 Usually in the spring. 00:01:13.160 --> 00:01:20.040 We do this as a way to encourage our relationships cause as people we can get in places where we find our hearts callous, we find ourselves defensive. 00:01:20.060 --> 00:01:21.180 We put walls up. 00:01:21.420 --> 00:01:26.530 And because of that, we don't experience the depth of relationships for which God has created us to. 00:01:26.720 --> 00:01:34.060 We understand as a church family, our motivation behind everything that we do is one that you would experience a transforming relationship in Christ because 00:01:34.160 --> 00:01:36.610 that's what you're created for God made you for his purposes. 00:01:37.240 --> 00:01:40.700 And knowing him is the intentions for God's design in you for all of eternity. 00:01:41.460 --> 00:01:45.790 Bible says in John 17, three, this is eternal life that you may know him so you will know what eternity is all about. 00:01:46.020 --> 00:01:46.780 Life is all about. 00:01:46.780 --> 00:01:53.900 It's about your relationship in the Lord and from that relationship, it Springs into other relationships in this life that God uses you 00:01:53.900 --> 00:01:59.140 in your relationship from him and through that relationship to glorify or magnify him in this world. 00:01:59.240 --> 00:02:06.480 So it's because of that relationship done in a healthy way and experiencing God in your life that you then relate that or reflect that in the world in it therefore 00:02:06.480 --> 00:02:07.540 effects other relationships. 00:02:07.980 --> 00:02:12.140 And so Jesus, when he was asked the question, what's the two greatest commands or what's the greatest command? 00:02:12.200 --> 00:02:15.320 He defines it in terms of relationships, loving God, loving others. 00:02:16.140 --> 00:02:23.240 And so talking about relationship where our hearts rest in connection to the relationships God has us in as significant for us to understand. 00:02:24.720 --> 00:02:32.620 Sometimes we get pessimistic in relationships and then you think about marriage, wonder if people ever stay together, if 00:02:32.640 --> 00:02:34.500 you're going to be able to enjoy one another. 00:02:35.700 --> 00:02:41.860 From God's perspective, relationships are sacred and designed for a godly purpose. 00:02:43.040 --> 00:02:46.090 In the book of Genesis defines the beginning of relationships. 00:02:46.480 --> 00:02:53.460 Jesus and talking about relationships in Matthew 19 defines it, and this is what he says and it's in Mark and Matthew. 00:02:53.460 --> 00:03:00.540 He says, what therefore God has joined together, let no man separate is specifically defining in of the marital relationships. 00:03:00.660 --> 00:03:04.600 In the end he says in Proverbs five 18 rejoice in the wife of your youth. 00:03:05.640 --> 00:03:12.880 And so God has designed relationships for a good purpose, but sometimes because of the difficulty of relationships, 00:03:12.880 --> 00:03:20.100 we want to know if loving one another in marriage or experiencing that love, across the board in any relationship, if 00:03:20.100 --> 00:03:24.320 it's possible and achievable, it's easy to fall in love. 00:03:24.320 --> 00:03:31.440 I think we often find, but the question becomes, is it easy to stay in love and having an 00:03:31.440 --> 00:03:38.660 accurate picture of what God intends for us, even by the word love becomes foundational to understanding what relationships are and how to live in those in a healthy way. 00:03:39.660 --> 00:03:47.020 I don't have time to dive in all this, but I'm gonna give you just a basic overview of marital relationship as it started in the 00:03:47.020 --> 00:03:47.480 book of Genesis. 00:03:47.680 --> 00:03:53.360 When God first made it, he said, then the Lord God said, I will make him a helper. 00:03:53.740 --> 00:03:57.480 And so he designed the Maryland relationship to be complimentary to one another. 00:03:57.520 --> 00:04:03.140 And then Adam in Genesis two 23 says, this man said, bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. 00:04:04.040 --> 00:04:09.560 This statement Adam gives, it's longer than this, but he actually is singing to Eve in the story. 00:04:09.600 --> 00:04:14.800 So you see in this, in this passage in Genesis two, well the beginning of Genesis, it's written poetically. 00:04:15.580 --> 00:04:19.380 And then within this poem of God's creation, you have someone singing. 00:04:19.720 --> 00:04:27.320 And so it's he, God literally designs the Maryland relationship to sing the first songs written in the context of relationship God poetically 00:04:27.320 --> 00:04:31.180 in Genesis one to three man and woman, all of it about singing. 00:04:31.320 --> 00:04:35.080 I mean, meatloaf becomes biblically accurate I guess in some sense in that way. 00:04:35.360 --> 00:04:40.460 But I would even challenge the context of those words in the song and the understanding of what love really is. 00:04:41.340 --> 00:04:45.300 And then it says in Genesis two 24 they shall become one flesh. 00:04:45.340 --> 00:04:46.590 And so you see intimacy communicated. 00:04:47.240 --> 00:04:54.030 This one flash literally gives this idea of being glued together where you can't tell where one begins and the other one ends kind of gross, but it's accurate. 00:04:54.500 --> 00:04:57.320 It's that close as one in the same, the identity. 00:04:57.740 --> 00:05:01.300 And then it says, God said to them, be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. 00:05:02.020 --> 00:05:09.180 The point of that is when the relationship lives and thrives in the context of which God has designed it, not only is it beneficial to the individuals that experience 00:05:09.180 --> 00:05:11.200 that relationship, but it also blesses the world. 00:05:12.220 --> 00:05:16.920 So in the home, if the marriage isn't working right, the family doesn't operate right. 00:05:17.220 --> 00:05:22.780 And so that relationship becomes foundational to them, blessing through all, all of that. 00:05:22.780 --> 00:05:27.160 And so relationships, understanding of that becomes significant and important. 00:05:27.160 --> 00:05:34.080 And all of us come to come to this point in recognizing, and we live in a sinful world. 00:05:36.400 --> 00:05:42.160 And so we know in the context of our room because all of us are sinful and all people are sinful. 00:05:44.300 --> 00:05:49.080 The idea of what these relationships are become for us a goal of what God desires. 00:05:49.400 --> 00:05:56.520 But in the context of our relationship, we don't always experience, as a matter of fact, as God lays this out, if you just read through the rest of the old Testament 00:05:56.520 --> 00:06:02.500 and you just look at relationships, marital relationships, like you are stretched to find a healthy example in scripture. 00:06:04.260 --> 00:06:08.300 And so how do we navigate that in our lives? 00:06:09.700 --> 00:06:11.990 How do we have hope in the world or are hope? 00:06:12.280 --> 00:06:19.280 And in our relationships we see people, experiencing relationships and, but the 00:06:19.280 --> 00:06:21.560 question is how do they stay together in the longevity? 00:06:21.640 --> 00:06:25.040 Is it easy to stay in love or can a person stay in love? 00:06:25.040 --> 00:06:26.200 And how do you enjoy one another? 00:06:27.360 --> 00:06:34.380 And statistics say in American homes right now, I know there's pain in this, in this statement, but I think it's important 00:06:34.380 --> 00:06:41.380 to recognize not for the purpose of just producing pain, but to say in homes today, the statistics say 40% of homes are absent from the 00:06:41.380 --> 00:06:41.720 father. 00:06:45.320 --> 00:06:50.060 And because our culture tends to be one that's taught to be self-focused, pleasure driven. 00:06:50.880 --> 00:06:53.870 What makes you happy as an individual is what you are to pursue. 00:06:55.280 --> 00:07:00.740 We have a very low threshold for pain and I think it affects our relationship. 00:07:02.040 --> 00:07:09.180 And if something, someone does something wrong, we feel like because we're so self absorbed or self-focus and pleasure driven and 00:07:09.420 --> 00:07:16.480 it's all about the individual that if someone does something wrong to us, we feel like we have the right to abandon the relationship or throw 00:07:16.480 --> 00:07:17.500 someone under the bus. 00:07:18.780 --> 00:07:24.200 No, I think there's healthy wastes and they get navigate certain aspects to relationships. 00:07:24.500 --> 00:07:32.500 But I think because of the focus of our pleasure on the individual that the Tennessee typically plays itself out that way and 00:07:32.500 --> 00:07:33.520 are saying all that. 00:07:36.060 --> 00:07:43.160 John 13 becomes a very foundational passage of scripture for us because in this story in John chapter 00:07:43.160 --> 00:07:49.860 13 to John chapter 17, I as a pastor, I play a play favorites with scripture sometimes in my life. 00:07:49.900 --> 00:07:56.980 There's just certain passages that they hit me at particular points in my, my life that when I go back to them, it's, it just, 00:07:57.660 --> 00:08:04.680 it captures me in the context of what's being said in John chapter 13 and John chapter 17 is one of those sections 00:08:04.680 --> 00:08:10.260 of scripture where when I, when I turn to those pages, I just zero in on the context of what's being stated there. 00:08:10.400 --> 00:08:17.420 Because this is the time where Jesus is with his disciples in the upper room and this is the last time he's really 00:08:17.420 --> 00:08:21.080 going to share with them some of the important things that he desires for their lives. 00:08:22.660 --> 00:08:26.960 He's in the most intimate context I think that scripture gives with his disciples that you can read about. 00:08:27.860 --> 00:08:32.669 I'm very specific in some of the things that he's saying and his approach and how he's demonstrating that to people. 00:08:34.179 --> 00:08:41.179 And he's sharing with us some, some profound thoughts on the idea of how to live in 00:08:41.179 --> 00:08:45.340 healthy God, honoring joy filled relationships. 00:08:47.600 --> 00:08:52.980 And in John 13 in verse 34 he gives this thought, hurry Gibbs. 00:08:52.980 --> 00:08:55.220 Let's just say his list of new covenant rules. 00:08:57.440 --> 00:09:01.320 If you read old Testament new Testament, you think in the context of the Bible. 00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:08.820 Old Testament means old covenant and new Testament is a new covenant and the old Testament and the old covenant, you had laws and 00:09:08.820 --> 00:09:13.700 Israel lived under these laws and the laws didn't tell people how to be set free. 00:09:13.720 --> 00:09:20.730 It showed our condemnation and need for a new covenant where Jesus who had satisfied Jesus comes and he fulfills the old covenant two ways. 00:09:20.780 --> 00:09:22.140 A covenant is fulfilled in the Bible. 00:09:23.080 --> 00:09:29.160 The person under the covenant dies or they meet all the criteria of the covenant and Jesus does both. 00:09:30.380 --> 00:09:31.990 He fulfills all of the old covenant. 00:09:32.440 --> 00:09:36.580 He now introduces the new covenant in him, which brings us into relationship with him. 00:09:36.800 --> 00:09:38.720 It's why we don't have to go to temples anymore to worship. 00:09:38.720 --> 00:09:40.280 It's why you become the temple of God. 00:09:41.300 --> 00:09:47.640 It's why the presence of God's promise with you and you're sealed in the spirit and you communicate to God directly where you are because of what he's accomplished. 00:09:47.680 --> 00:09:52.300 For us in the new Testament, when Jesus is crucified, the veil is torn and he says to tell us die. 00:09:52.300 --> 00:09:53.590 It's paid in full. 00:09:53.600 --> 00:09:59.380 Your payment against the God which you have violated, which has been known to us by the old covenant laws has been fulfilled in Jesus. 00:10:00.480 --> 00:10:04.300 And so Jesus gives us new covenant, these new laws for us to follow in him. 00:10:05.520 --> 00:10:11.300 And so he says in John chapter 1334 he starts this list of these new rules for his people. 00:10:11.340 --> 00:10:18.380 And this is what he says, a new commandment I give to you love 00:10:18.380 --> 00:10:25.800 one another even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 00:10:26.340 --> 00:10:27.960 Either you're the old, old covenant. 00:10:27.980 --> 00:10:30.780 There was hundreds of commands in the new covenant. 00:10:30.780 --> 00:10:33.160 Jesus says this, and you're like, is that it? 00:10:35.600 --> 00:10:37.940 Yeah. 00:10:38.840 --> 00:10:41.030 Jesus said, the greatest two commandments, loving God and loving others. 00:10:42.640 --> 00:10:45.380 And so because of what Jesus has done, the spirit of God now dwells in us. 00:10:45.380 --> 00:10:48.270 When we walk in the spirit and then the fruit of the spirit is made known in our lives. 00:10:48.740 --> 00:10:55.780 And so that the relationship comes to its pinnacle point in loving God and through that the demonstration of that love to one another. 00:10:55.780 --> 00:11:00.020 And so Jesus is looking at his followers and saying, this command I given to you that you love one another. 00:11:00.100 --> 00:11:04.080 Now, if you look at this context of the statement of new commandment, you would say to yourself, how in the world is this new? 00:11:05.200 --> 00:11:07.900 I mean, when I think about the old Testament, I know God said to love people. 00:11:07.900 --> 00:11:08.400 He did. 00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:12.480 When the context of new, I think it means new in this sense. 00:11:12.480 --> 00:11:19.500 One, it's new because he's introducing the new covenant and too, it's new because the demonstration of 00:11:19.500 --> 00:11:22.490 Jesus, his example of love has now been displayed for people. 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:31.960 So he says in the context of the cause of this example, listen, he says, a newcomer, I give you not that loving people as new, but 00:11:31.960 --> 00:11:34.520 you love one another even as I have loved you. 00:11:35.880 --> 00:11:40.160 And so the demonstration of God's love has contextualized itself into flesh. 00:11:42.040 --> 00:11:48.720 And Jesus has loved in a way that no one has ever been loved through adept that no one will ever be loved other than in Christ. 00:11:50.620 --> 00:11:57.860 And so he says to his people, this new, this new example, this new covenant I'm giving to you, that you love one another as I have loved 00:11:57.860 --> 00:11:57.960 you. 00:12:00.700 --> 00:12:01.660 Notice what Jesus is saying. 00:12:03.780 --> 00:12:06.860 Jesus isn't posing this as a question or as a statement of the past. 00:12:06.900 --> 00:12:14.280 He doesn't say do you love, but he's saying you are to love in 00:12:14.280 --> 00:12:15.940 the present active tense. 00:12:17.740 --> 00:12:25.220 So when it comes to relationships or when it comes to your spouse, the question is not do you love her or him, but are you 00:12:25.220 --> 00:12:25.840 loving? 00:12:29.460 --> 00:12:29.800 It's not. 00:12:30.260 --> 00:12:31.160 Feel it, then do it. 00:12:32.960 --> 00:12:33.540 It's do it. 00:12:33.540 --> 00:12:33.980 Then feel it. 00:12:35.900 --> 00:12:37.980 So feelings take a back seat to this command. 00:12:38.120 --> 00:12:38.940 It's the caboose. 00:12:39.380 --> 00:12:40.170 It's not the engine. 00:12:42.180 --> 00:12:45.740 In short, what Jesus is saying in this passage is this. 00:12:46.940 --> 00:12:51.000 The foundation for staying in love is to make love. 00:12:57.650 --> 00:13:05.060 The love in the context of the story wants to Jesus is saying with us, for his followers is that love is one of action. 00:13:05.080 --> 00:13:09.260 It's one of demonstration when you love one another, it rekindles and continues to Kindle. 00:13:09.260 --> 00:13:11.500 It's like throwing another log on the fire. 00:13:13.640 --> 00:13:18.190 It's understanding that the idea of growing closer and your relationship is one that you actively pursue. 00:13:21.000 --> 00:13:26.100 And so in this context in which Jesus is saying it's important to recognize that love is a verb. 00:13:28.800 --> 00:13:38.640 But here's one of the things I want to be careful with in reading this is that if we just treat love like a verb, you 00:13:38.640 --> 00:13:47.540 run the risk of responding to this message in the way of the Pharisees me 00:13:47.540 --> 00:13:51.960 see a lot of duty but not a lot of delight. 00:13:54.320 --> 00:14:00.210 And when you hear this message, you do it out of a place of obligation with no real joy in it. 00:14:03.420 --> 00:14:12.580 I think it's important to recognize that while love is a verb in our context and relationships that 00:14:12.660 --> 00:14:17.680 love really first started as a noun, explain what that means. 00:14:17.880 --> 00:14:25.460 But I, I think an understanding that that's what helps us from treating this command like a Pharisee or a legalistic rule that we feel obligated 00:14:25.460 --> 00:14:29.860 to have to fulfill within the context of our relationships. 00:14:31.460 --> 00:14:38.520 And when I'm the most famous in thinking about John 13 the application the most, the most famous section I think, and just the description of 00:14:38.520 --> 00:14:40.990 love is the one you often hear at weddings. 00:14:41.600 --> 00:14:48.660 First Corinthians chapter 13 and verse three Paul starts articulating the demonstration of what love is 00:14:48.660 --> 00:14:49.000 about. 00:14:50.660 --> 00:14:57.660 Love is love is kind of, does not envies jealous, it's not boast, it's not seek its own and describes all 00:14:57.660 --> 00:14:58.320 this things in love. 00:14:58.320 --> 00:15:01.400 But when he starts the context of this passage, I think, I think he does. 00:15:01.880 --> 00:15:08.880 So from the idea of a fair, cynical understanding, he says this, and if I give all my possessions to feed the poor and the vice 00:15:08.880 --> 00:15:14.320 surrender my body to be burned but do not have love, it profits me nothing. 00:15:16.560 --> 00:15:17.300 So look what he's saying. 00:15:18.580 --> 00:15:25.600 I mean this could be someone that understands intellectually what love is and he's doing everything on the outside that we would 00:15:25.600 --> 00:15:30.740 describe as love and he's given the sacrificial and he's feeding poor and he cares about people. 00:15:30.740 --> 00:15:41.840 Man, he is so loving and yet Paul says in this passage, but if I do not have it, 00:15:41.840 --> 00:15:45.480 nothing, I think he's encouraging us in the context of understanding love, but yet that love is an action. 00:15:45.560 --> 00:15:50.720 But the source of lab becomes an important place for us to thrive in relationships. 00:15:52.420 --> 00:15:59.200 Because I think our motivation to relationships, it's often backwards. 00:16:02.220 --> 00:16:06.000 if I were to find love, if you look at the context of first Corinthians 13 three you can do that later. 00:16:06.540 --> 00:16:08.600 I don't have time to expose you to that. 00:16:08.640 --> 00:16:17.080 But if you look in the context of 13 three first Corinthians 13 three all the way to the beginning of verse eight, if 00:16:17.080 --> 00:16:20.620 you were just to maybe define, put, put in your own words, the definition of law. 00:16:20.680 --> 00:16:22.940 This is what I, this is my own definition of what I think love is. 00:16:24.840 --> 00:16:31.920 Love is leveraging all that you are to help someone become all that God has 00:16:31.920 --> 00:16:33.140 called them to be. 00:16:34.460 --> 00:16:36.700 It's unconditional, it's sacrificial. 00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:44.100 It's letting yourself down for the benefit of another and so law of in that sense is leveraging all that you are to help 00:16:44.100 --> 00:16:46.620 someone else become all that God has called them to be. 00:16:48.300 --> 00:16:49.000 No. 00:16:49.080 --> 00:16:56.760 This is where an understanding the idea of love, we find difficulty in our culture because I don't think culture always 00:16:56.760 --> 00:16:57.860 defines love in that way. 00:16:58.780 --> 00:16:59.460 Let me give you an example. 00:17:01.320 --> 00:17:04.190 I heard a story of a Jewish rabbi. 00:17:05.760 --> 00:17:06.810 He was a rabbi, he should be Jewish. 00:17:08.140 --> 00:17:12.599 A rabbi comes to a young man eating a fish. 00:17:12.740 --> 00:17:19.819 This guy had, he caught a fish, got out of the water and he's cooking it for Ash and now he's sitting in there eating it and he's just saying to himself, man, I 00:17:20.040 --> 00:17:20.660 love this fish. 00:17:21.339 --> 00:17:22.460 I love this. 00:17:22.700 --> 00:17:23.599 It's so good. 00:17:23.599 --> 00:17:24.359 I love this fish. 00:17:24.960 --> 00:17:30.740 I know by using fish, I probably lost some of you because you don't care for fish, but just pretend you like fish for a moment. 00:17:30.740 --> 00:17:32.140 Okay. 00:17:32.300 --> 00:17:35.210 This man's just saying over and over how much he's just enjoying everybody. 00:17:35.460 --> 00:17:40.040 You ever seen that with somebody just getting a nice piece of sirloin and you're like, man, I'm jealous of you. 00:17:40.400 --> 00:17:41.840 Look at the love on his face. 00:17:42.060 --> 00:17:45.260 It's a beautiful sight to see ms gasses and joint. 00:17:45.260 --> 00:17:49.800 And the rabbi comes up and he says, I don't think you that fish man. 00:17:50.960 --> 00:17:51.820 It's like, you gotta be kidding. 00:17:51.840 --> 00:17:52.230 Are you serious? 00:17:52.720 --> 00:17:54.570 I mean, just tell you I love this fish. 00:17:56.480 --> 00:18:00.910 And the rabbi said, why don't you try explaining that to the fish? 00:18:04.040 --> 00:18:08.200 If you love the fish, you wouldn't have killed the fish. 00:18:09.660 --> 00:18:11.260 The truth is you don't love the fish. 00:18:12.460 --> 00:18:13.160 You love yourself. 00:18:14.770 --> 00:18:20.560 And because you love yourself, you're willing to take advantage of the fish to meet your needs. 00:18:23.120 --> 00:18:30.460 I mean, that's kinda like, if you ever run in contact with this, there's maybe a guy that I's 00:18:30.860 --> 00:18:37.820 a young lady up and down, like she has something to be desired for him and says to the girl, you know I love you. 00:18:38.420 --> 00:18:39.360 Oh yeah, I love you. 00:18:40.560 --> 00:18:45.220 Truth is, he doesn't love her. 00:18:47.080 --> 00:18:48.940 He may last after her. 00:18:49.940 --> 00:18:50.780 That's not what love is. 00:18:52.040 --> 00:18:54.070 In the context of that definition. 00:18:54.160 --> 00:19:00.900 What he loves is what she offers to him to satisfy his personal desires. 00:19:00.900 --> 00:19:06.190 And so what the illustration the rabbi is saying to us is what is your motivation? 00:19:07.480 --> 00:19:11.480 Love is itself. 00:19:14.300 --> 00:19:21.340 And on top of that, if you just consider for a moment the idea of the, this fish and the eating of this fish, what happens 00:19:21.340 --> 00:19:21.700 to this? 00:19:21.840 --> 00:19:23.560 Individuals love when the fish runs out. 00:19:28.880 --> 00:19:35.900 You know, when we talk about love, I think it's important to experience and live in love by having a source of love from 00:19:35.900 --> 00:19:37.200 which your love comes. 00:19:37.700 --> 00:19:41.980 I mean, the Bible tells us we love him because he first loved us, right? 00:19:42.000 --> 00:19:46.660 And so the demonstration of God's love encourages us to reciprocate our love. 00:19:46.860 --> 00:19:53.880 But I want to tell you if it comes to the context of relationship and looking horizontally out in the world to 00:19:53.980 --> 00:20:00.440 people and saying that you are my source to love that because of what you give me, I respond. 00:20:00.540 --> 00:20:08.050 In the end of that, you will find yourself grossly disappointed because at some point someone, 00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:15.240 someone will fail you and like the fish, what it has to offer may run out and so 00:20:15.240 --> 00:20:20.540 your motivation for love and your source for love becomes important and fulfilling what Jesus calls us to. 00:20:20.540 --> 00:20:27.680 In John chapter 13 and this is why I say in the context of this anomaly, is it significant to see that 00:20:27.680 --> 00:20:28.640 love is a verb. 00:20:28.780 --> 00:20:32.940 Your life must demonstrate an action, but you've got to first understand that love is a noun. 00:20:35.580 --> 00:20:43.920 When you look at it from a scriptural context, and first John chapter four verse four it tells us that God is what love 00:20:43.920 --> 00:20:50.980 God is love and the Bible when it describes God and all 00:20:50.980 --> 00:20:56.610 of his characteristics, every time scripture describes God, it does it in the form of an adjective. 00:21:01.260 --> 00:21:03.190 He's everlasting, right? 00:21:03.960 --> 00:21:06.940 That is just God, his mercy. 00:21:09.320 --> 00:21:16.420 We know things are too true, but when you look at in scriptures in the context of an adjective, but this one word, this 00:21:16.420 --> 00:21:20.460 one word in describing God, it attributed to him in the form of a noun. 00:21:29.160 --> 00:21:35.400 I think in order to love the way God calls us to love, it's important for us to be loved from a source that does not run dry. 00:21:37.960 --> 00:21:45.080 I think as believers, the only reason we should be able to love to the GRI that God calls us to love in a world that 00:21:45.080 --> 00:21:48.650 is broken isn't because of what the world has to offer us. 00:21:50.820 --> 00:21:56.560 It'll disappoint, but it's because of what Jesus gives to us. 00:22:00.720 --> 00:22:07.780 God is love and he's demonstrated that love and so when you consider it in the context of John chapter 13 verse 34 a 00:22:07.780 --> 00:22:10.150 new commandment, I give it to you that you love as I have loved you. 00:22:10.420 --> 00:22:12.200 The source of the love is explained. 00:22:12.640 --> 00:22:19.640 The example of the love is demonstrated in Jesus and the place for which we find ourselves satisfied in love is through our relationship in 00:22:19.640 --> 00:22:23.980 Christ, which gives us the opportunity to love even when people may not be deserving of it. 00:22:26.900 --> 00:22:34.360 It's by definition, love by Christ has been demonstrated not 00:22:34.360 --> 00:22:38.110 because we are worthy, but because of who he is. 00:22:40.860 --> 00:22:48.440 You think in the recent men's retreat and pastor Jay described 00:22:49.920 --> 00:22:53.880 relationships like this, he encouraged seeing single men, women. 00:22:53.980 --> 00:22:56.300 I think he did it on Sunday as well as well as on the men's retreat. 00:22:56.540 --> 00:23:04.020 He said, if you really want to see what someone's made of, see the way they treat other people when 00:23:04.420 --> 00:23:05.980 they have nothing to gain from them. 00:23:08.360 --> 00:23:15.480 That's a demonstration in the maturity of an individual and understanding what the purpose and intentions of love 00:23:15.480 --> 00:23:17.000 Oh all about. 00:23:20.280 --> 00:23:28.700 So you think in the context of the illustration of a fish, say it like this, don't 00:23:28.700 --> 00:23:29.120 get married. 00:23:31.200 --> 00:23:32.340 Treat your spouse like that. 00:23:32.460 --> 00:23:33.980 Fish. 00:23:36.420 --> 00:23:37.700 I think love runs out. 00:23:41.120 --> 00:23:42.960 We don't get married because of what we get. 00:23:46.740 --> 00:23:51.180 I think the depth of marriage and the reason people engage in marriage is because, or should. 00:23:53.660 --> 00:24:00.180 It's because the desire is to leverage all that you are to help someone become all that God has called them to be. 00:24:03.410 --> 00:24:10.500 That's what love is and the source of our strength to find the ability to love 00:24:10.500 --> 00:24:17.560 in that capacity comes not from an individual, but from a God 00:24:17.560 --> 00:24:20.080 whose love never runs dry. 00:24:21.380 --> 00:24:27.060 In fact, the Psalmist says in Psalm chapter 63 in verse three, your love is better then life. 00:24:29.820 --> 00:24:31.950 I mean, you think about what the context of that Psalm is saying. 00:24:33.680 --> 00:24:39.340 Your love is better than life because it is the love of God that even produced the source of life that we live in today. 00:24:40.940 --> 00:24:45.580 And so that makes his love and giving himself away the source of which anything exists. 00:24:45.900 --> 00:24:52.960 And so it's only natural then that his love be better than life itself because he is the one that produced all things out of his love towards 00:24:52.960 --> 00:24:53.060 us. 00:24:58.100 --> 00:25:05.220 It's on that context that I think Paul writes the book of Ephesians and chapter five 00:25:05.220 --> 00:25:14.340 and verse 21 if you give me a clip, Tierra, 00:25:14.340 --> 00:25:19.440 if you read 'em first, Ephesians chapter five, this context of the story. 00:25:19.660 --> 00:25:22.100 When he gets to verse 22, it starts talking about marriage relationships. 00:25:24.270 --> 00:25:26.160 Well, you read the book of Ephesians though. 00:25:26.160 --> 00:25:27.320 It breaks down in a beautiful way. 00:25:27.400 --> 00:25:32.360 If you want to do this in a, in a Bible study or a personal time of your own, in your own time. 00:25:32.360 --> 00:25:34.060 If you read the book of Ephesians, it's six chapters. 00:25:36.120 --> 00:25:42.880 First three chapters are predominantly theological and dealing with your relationship to God. 00:25:44.760 --> 00:25:51.900 The last three chapters are the application then of what you discover in the first three chapters, your identity in the Lord first three chapters, 00:25:52.100 --> 00:25:56.840 and therefore chapter four to chapter six your response to the world in that identity. 00:25:58.160 --> 00:26:03.860 In fact from my family, Ephesians four is our target for how we want to treat one another in the context of our own home. 00:26:03.920 --> 00:26:09.620 The beginning of chapter four, the end of chapter four but then he gets to chapter five and this is what he says because of our relationship with God. 00:26:10.120 --> 00:26:17.560 And chapter five verse 21 you didn't find the strength to do this, submitting to one another out of reverence for 00:26:17.560 --> 00:26:18.000 Christ. 00:26:20.040 --> 00:26:22.230 And so he's defining really love in this context. 00:26:22.500 --> 00:26:27.640 So when you read chapter five verse 21 he says submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. 00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:33.380 And then in verse 22 to 33 he then describes the marital relationship. 00:26:33.380 --> 00:26:38.380 He's saying, let me, let me now and saying this verse, let me now give you a hook to put this on. 00:26:38.380 --> 00:26:39.570 What this looks like as an example. 00:26:39.920 --> 00:26:45.940 And he talks about the relationship between husband and wife and he, and he says, wives submit husbands love. 00:26:45.980 --> 00:26:52.780 And in both of those he shows a mutual submission to one another for the benefit of the other person and their relationship to God, who God has called them to be. 00:26:53.320 --> 00:26:54.640 Husbands or wives. 00:26:54.660 --> 00:26:55.160 Submit to your husbands. 00:26:55.480 --> 00:26:57.040 Husbands love your wives. 00:26:57.100 --> 00:27:00.860 I know ladies ladies often don't, well I don't know that this is true. 00:27:00.940 --> 00:27:06.670 I always just feel weird saying as a pastor, I guess, but ladies submit to the husband and in our culture summit. 00:27:07.080 --> 00:27:10.280 Ah, and you know, but then it says husbands love your wives. 00:27:10.380 --> 00:27:13.420 Okay, which may sound easier, but then it says by dying. 00:27:13.660 --> 00:27:21.020 All right, so it's both laying down your lives and if anyone has a greater degree as an example of submission there, I think it's the husband 00:27:21.020 --> 00:27:23.740 who's got to die for the life. 00:27:23.740 --> 00:27:26.020 But in both context, Paul's just saying submit. 00:27:28.880 --> 00:27:36.240 I think it's an outworking of our relationship with God having experienced the source of his love because 00:27:36.240 --> 00:27:36.860 you remember love. 00:27:41.180 --> 00:27:42.800 Love is about leveraging who you are. 00:27:44.780 --> 00:27:47.800 Help someone become who God has called them to be. 00:27:49.800 --> 00:27:57.000 Submission means that your priority is the other and the end 00:27:57.000 --> 00:28:05.520 of this verse out of reverence for Christ means submission has done not because you're a worthless because 00:28:05.520 --> 00:28:12.040 of the strength you are found in your identity with the Lord because of who you are in Jesus. 00:28:14.100 --> 00:28:23.420 If we talk about loving people, it's not in the context that 00:28:23.420 --> 00:28:30.440 you're a worthless individual or not capable of being loved, but it's 00:28:30.440 --> 00:28:34.540 in the context of you are incredibly loved. 00:28:37.660 --> 00:28:44.660 That's only because the strength of the Lord that meets you where you are, that you even have the capacity 00:28:44.660 --> 00:28:51.880 to love, to the degree that God has called you to love that when you see others, then you can lavish 00:28:51.880 --> 00:28:58.990 on them the love that you've experienced because you know the Lord who has given to you unconditionally and sacrificially 00:28:59.640 --> 00:29:00.380 and your own life. 00:29:03.560 --> 00:29:04.580 With every one of us. 00:29:06.400 --> 00:29:13.540 I'll conclude here our cultural upbringing and based upon 00:29:13.540 --> 00:29:20.600 our cultural upbringing, the odds of relationships, thriving marriage is 00:29:20.600 --> 00:29:22.420 more than surviving. 00:29:22.440 --> 00:29:29.600 I would say thriving too I think is low because I think in our culture 00:29:29.600 --> 00:29:38.020 relationships are often cheap because life is about convenience and personal pleasure about 00:29:38.020 --> 00:29:45.540 me pursuing whatever makes me happy, but I want to be clear in saying if 00:29:45.640 --> 00:29:52.640 that is our pursuit in the end I really believe we won't be happy and the reason is because 00:29:52.640 --> 00:29:53.880 we are relational beings. 00:29:56.660 --> 00:30:02.940 We're created to experience the depth of relationships and they are worth fighting for. 00:30:05.250 --> 00:30:12.280 I think God is honored in them and one of the greatest sanctifier in our life 00:30:12.280 --> 00:30:13.400 is found in the context. 00:30:13.820 --> 00:30:20.900 I think in marital relationships as people we often don't find how selfish 00:30:20.900 --> 00:30:30.540 we can be until you get in the home with someone 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 00:30:30.540 --> 00:30:37.640 then we discover in our lives just certain areas that we might even have been exposed to in the Lord can use that within the context 00:30:37.640 --> 00:30:45.180 of our relationship with them to strengthen us in and losing ourselves to further dive into him because we don't 00:30:45.180 --> 00:30:50.740 realize are where our own personal struggles have come from until we get in the context of continual relationships with other people. 00:30:53.340 --> 00:30:59.040 I think relationships thrive well when we adopt Jesus's way of love. 00:31:02.720 --> 00:31:10.280 The idea of what Jesus is saying here is that we don't wait for others to do it but rather we model it because Jesus has 00:31:10.480 --> 00:31:13.910 called us to model it as he has modeled it for us. 00:31:15.800 --> 00:31:23.180 We are transformed because of his example, the freedom he's given us so others might be transformed 00:31:23.180 --> 00:31:26.040 as the Lord uses us as an example for him. 00:31:28.720 --> 00:31:35.900 The idea if in the context of John chapter 13 then is to make love a 00:31:35.900 --> 00:31:36.300 verb. 00:31:38.780 --> 00:31:40.380 Cause love was first amount. 00:31:42.920 --> 00:31:44.140 Falling in love is easy. 00:31:46.420 --> 00:31:54.120 Staying in love happens when one love becomes a verb in our lives because 00:31:54.180 --> 00:32:03.280 we understand the origin of love as and noun in Christ and the strength that we build is upon him and 00:32:03.280 --> 00:32:04.220 the weeks ahead. 00:32:04.260 --> 00:32:06.880 We're going to talk about the context of living that out. 00:32:06.880 --> 00:32:14.000 When relationships are strained and there's fighting, how do you work through that to see 00:32:14.000 --> 00:32:15.980 the demonstration of God's love and relationships? 00:32:17.020 --> 00:32:23.980 My encouragement today make love a verb as you consider it.