WEBVTT 00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:01.600 Hello, friends. 00:00:01.679 --> 00:00:02.879 This is Pastor Creighton. 00:00:02.959 --> 00:00:06.160 Thank you for tuning in to Newsong Church's Sermon Podcast. 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:13.359 At Newsong Church, we want to see Jesus lifted high in Port Perry, Ontario, as we worship, grow, and serve. 00:00:13.599 --> 00:00:18.719 You can learn more about us and find contact info at newsongportperry.ca. 00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:38.399 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi with the overseers and deacons, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:50.399 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all, making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 00:00:50.640 --> 00:00:57.679 And I am sure of this that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. 00:00:57.920 --> 00:01:10.560 It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 00:01:10.879 --> 00:01:15.760 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:33.439 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. 00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:36.719 The word of the Lord, thanks be to God. 00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:55.599 The Apostle Paul writes, It is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. 00:01:55.840 --> 00:01:57.200 Let's pray. 00:02:11.199 --> 00:02:12.719 Let them lead us. 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:17.280 Let them bring us to your holy dwelling. 00:02:19.199 --> 00:02:20.319 Come, Holy Spirit. 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:24.639 We invite you to illumine your word to our hearts. 00:02:25.919 --> 00:02:31.439 Cause it to well up for us, as it were, into a wellspring of life. 00:02:31.759 --> 00:02:33.759 It's in Jesus' name we pray. 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:34.719 Amen. 00:02:35.120 --> 00:02:36.560 Please be seated. 00:02:40.159 --> 00:02:46.560 I want to begin this morning by quoting from one of my favorite hymns written in the last century. 00:02:47.039 --> 00:02:50.479 It goes like this All you need is love. 00:02:51.759 --> 00:02:53.199 All you need is love. 00:02:53.360 --> 00:02:55.280 Hold on, I got it written down here. 00:02:56.319 --> 00:02:57.439 All you need is love. 00:02:57.599 --> 00:02:58.879 Help me out with the last line. 00:02:59.599 --> 00:03:00.879 Love is all you need. 00:03:01.520 --> 00:03:07.120 That song was recorded by the Beatles in 1967. 00:03:07.520 --> 00:03:11.120 And it shows no sign of decline in its popularity. 00:03:11.360 --> 00:03:16.560 I think that has, I mean, it might have to do with just an incredibly catchy melody, that's true. 00:03:16.879 --> 00:03:20.639 But I think it has to do a lot with the subject matter as well, don't you think? 00:03:20.879 --> 00:03:28.560 I was reading a book not too long ago written by a historian named Tom Holland, and uh not the Spider-Man guy, a different guy. 00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:40.000 And um it it in in this book he's tracing the influence of Christianity through the Western world over the last 2,000 years, and his second to last chapter begins by quoting this song. 00:03:40.159 --> 00:03:48.080 And he argues that it's this impulse, not just an impulse, but it's this imperative to love your neighbor as yourself. 00:03:48.560 --> 00:04:03.280 That is not just characteristic of Christianity, but the fact that we value that in the West, the fact that the fact that the idea that might means right is something we we push back against, that speaks to Christianity's influence in the culture that we live in. 00:04:03.520 --> 00:04:04.639 All you need is love. 00:04:04.800 --> 00:04:14.240 Love is at the center of everything, it's it's gluing everything together, it's infusing everything with meaning in our lives and the communities we participate in. 00:04:14.479 --> 00:04:16.079 All you need is love. 00:04:16.480 --> 00:04:17.519 And why is that? 00:04:17.680 --> 00:04:21.600 Because love is so foundational, isn't it, to what it means to be human? 00:04:21.839 --> 00:04:25.839 What it means to live life in a meaningful way, right? 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:29.920 And here we have Paul writing a letter to the church in Philippi. 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:34.160 This uh the first, possibly the first European church. 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:45.439 Uh, certainly has the first European convert we read in Acts chapter 16, the Apostle Paul has ministered in Philippi and saw Lydia convert to the faith in Philippi in Acts 16. 00:04:45.600 --> 00:04:54.800 Here he's writing a letter to this small, fledgling church on the outskirts of this Roman colony, trying to sort of figure out what it means to follow Jesus. 00:04:54.959 --> 00:05:02.000 You know, not unlike another small, lovely church on the outskirts of town, trying to figure out what it means to follow Jesus, right? 00:05:03.199 --> 00:05:09.600 And I think it's love more than anything else that is motivating the Apostle Paul to write this letter to this church. 00:05:09.759 --> 00:05:18.720 Paul writes in verse 6, I think, verse 8, how I yearn for you with all the affection of Christ Jesus. 00:05:19.839 --> 00:05:26.240 Everything that draws our Lord Jesus' heart to you, that's what's drawing my heart to you, dear church. 00:05:26.399 --> 00:05:28.240 That's what Paul's writing here. 00:05:28.720 --> 00:05:36.399 He's writing to a church, like I say, in this Roman colony, to saints, to overseers, chief pastors, deacons, the leadership of this church. 00:05:36.639 --> 00:05:48.639 And he's writing on a particular occasion, he's received a financial gift, a support, as it were, while he was in prison, probably in prison in Rome and maybe the mid-60s A.D. 00:05:49.120 --> 00:05:53.199 That would be about 30 years or so after Christ's crucifixion and resurrection. 00:05:53.279 --> 00:05:56.720 And now Paul is in chains for the sake of the gospel. 00:05:56.959 --> 00:06:04.000 He's received a gift given by the Philippian church through uh Epaphroditus, who we'll meet later on. 00:06:04.319 --> 00:06:08.959 Epaphroditus, if he's not the pastor of this church, he's certainly one of the lay leadership. 00:06:09.279 --> 00:06:14.560 And he has offered Paul a report about how the church is doing and what they're up to. 00:06:14.720 --> 00:06:23.360 And Paul is writing a letter back, both as a thank you note for the gift, both as like we would sort of consider it like a missionary support letter in a way. 00:06:23.519 --> 00:06:25.199 Paul's sort of offering that back. 00:06:25.360 --> 00:06:29.839 But he's also offering a letter full of encouragement and just dripping with joy. 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:32.319 Some of Paul's letters are a little less joyful. 00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:35.279 They're a little bit more, you know, you guys need to figure this out. 00:06:35.519 --> 00:06:44.319 But this is a letter that is just dripping with joy and encouragement, and he wants to offer encouraging instruction in the Christian life. 00:06:44.480 --> 00:06:48.000 So verses three to four, we see Paul start to outline this already. 00:06:48.079 --> 00:06:56.879 He says, I thank God in all my remembrance of you, that's plural, you, church, because of your partnership in the gospel, verse five. 00:06:57.120 --> 00:07:08.160 He goes on to say, and I am sure of this, verse six, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. 00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:15.040 See, God has begun a good work in this small fledgling community, and he's committed to it. 00:07:15.199 --> 00:07:19.040 And Paul wants the church to understand that about themselves. 00:07:19.279 --> 00:07:29.759 And it's the kind of commitment that's going to be seen through to its goal, to the day of Jesus Christ, when he returns in glory and establishes his kingdom world without end. 00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:36.959 So to keep them in the midst of this good work that God is doing in their midst, Paul offers a prayer for them. 00:07:37.199 --> 00:07:46.160 And I think this is a prayer both of encouragement and intercession, lifting them up to the Father, but I think there's instruction to be offered in this prayer as well. 00:07:46.240 --> 00:07:51.199 I think there's instruction for us in Paul's prayer for the Philippi today. 00:07:51.519 --> 00:07:56.480 So let's zoom in particularly on verses 9 to 11. 00:07:57.120 --> 00:08:01.040 This is Paul's prayer for the Philippian church. 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:03.920 And his prayer is like this. 00:08:05.199 --> 00:08:06.560 This is what we learn from it. 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:14.800 When Christian love abounds, our affections are elevated, and our actions are consecrated. 00:08:15.120 --> 00:08:16.160 Let me say that again. 00:08:16.319 --> 00:08:23.279 When Christian love abounds, our affections are elevated, and our actions are consecrated. 00:08:23.519 --> 00:08:24.879 So here's Paul's prayer. 00:08:24.959 --> 00:08:27.279 Let's pay attention to what he has to say. 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:29.199 Verse 9. 00:08:29.920 --> 00:08:53.759 It is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. 00:08:54.320 --> 00:08:56.799 What's Paul's prayer for this church? 00:08:57.039 --> 00:09:05.600 His prayer is that your love, plural, your love, your agape, may abound more and more. 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:11.840 If you've been hanging out for the last little while, agape is a word that we've come across a number of times through the New Testament. 00:09:12.080 --> 00:09:17.440 It's translated love, but not in the sense that we might flippantly use the word love. 00:09:17.840 --> 00:09:20.480 It's a self-sacrificing sort of love. 00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:30.639 It's a love that wills the very best, the good of the other, even at one's own expense, perhaps especially at one's own expense. 00:09:30.879 --> 00:09:40.480 It's a sort of self-sacrificial love that is meant to characterize, to define what it means to be a Christian church, what it means to be a Christian community. 00:09:40.639 --> 00:09:45.120 This is what Paul writes to the Thessalonians and both of his letters to them. 00:09:45.279 --> 00:09:48.559 He echoes that their love may abound more and more. 00:09:48.799 --> 00:09:52.399 And it echoes itself what Jesus has to say to his disciples. 00:09:52.559 --> 00:10:00.879 He says, By this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. 00:10:01.039 --> 00:10:07.039 More than anything else, love will be how people know that you are my disciples. 00:10:07.200 --> 00:10:13.200 And Jesus goes on to say in John chapter 15, love one another as I have loved you. 00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:18.720 Now let's pause for a second and think about how Jesus loves his church. 00:10:19.600 --> 00:10:23.120 Love one another as I have loved you. 00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:31.039 So I think what Paul understands here is that agape, this sort of love, is what the church needs most. 00:10:31.360 --> 00:10:36.960 It's what glues the church together, it's what infuses the church with its Christian character. 00:10:37.200 --> 00:10:43.279 If there is no agape in the midst of the church, then there is no real Christianity. 00:10:43.840 --> 00:10:46.480 They're just kind of playing at church. 00:10:48.399 --> 00:10:58.799 Real agape means real Christianity because it is us loving one another as we have been loved in Christ and by Christ. 00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:05.519 I suspect this means for Paul that Christianity, true Christianity, requires community. 00:11:05.919 --> 00:11:12.799 It requires a fellowship, it requires a shared journey with brothers and sisters in Christ. 00:11:12.879 --> 00:11:20.159 I think Paul would be left scratching his head at this kind of modern contemporary phenomenon of a very individualistic Christianity. 00:11:20.320 --> 00:11:22.000 Do you find that can be the case? 00:11:22.559 --> 00:11:29.679 I became just so aware of this during the pandemic, and kind of necessarily so, like it's just the nature of being locked at home, right? 00:11:29.840 --> 00:11:37.120 But um, but it became like I started to realize just how many resources we have available to us at like a couple of clicks of the buttons, right? 00:11:37.360 --> 00:11:43.679 It's like a quick Google, and I can find some of the absolute best sermons ever preached in podcasts, right? 00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:47.759 And I can find some of the best worship music ever recorded, so to speak, right? 00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:52.240 And I can find some of the most helpful Christian bestsellers on Amazon, right? 00:11:52.399 --> 00:12:03.440 And so it can be very easy for me to think, well, I think I've got all I need just online, or I can pretty much curate my own kind of Christian life to sort of suit my needs. 00:12:03.679 --> 00:12:07.919 Maybe even better than the church would have to offer, right? 00:12:08.240 --> 00:12:09.679 Now, all of those things are good things. 00:12:09.840 --> 00:12:18.320 I want to acknowledge those things are wonderful things, and we should praise God that we live with the opportunity to have access to all this wonderful stuff. 00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:23.200 But here's what I think Paul would suggest that these things cannot do. 00:12:23.360 --> 00:12:27.440 They cannot provide us with a real opportunity to practice agape. 00:12:28.320 --> 00:12:36.080 They cannot provide us with a real opportunity to practice Christianity with one another, in real relationships with one another. 00:12:36.159 --> 00:12:38.639 And by the way, that gets messy, doesn't it? 00:12:38.960 --> 00:12:42.159 And we'll see that it gets messy for the Philippians, too. 00:12:42.480 --> 00:12:51.440 But this for us saints is our opportunity to practice agape with one another and do it imperfectly, but do it. 00:12:51.840 --> 00:12:54.639 That's what happens when we're in community with one another. 00:12:54.799 --> 00:12:59.360 Love that engages one another is an agape sort of love. 00:12:59.600 --> 00:13:02.240 And Paul gives a qualification for this sort of love. 00:13:02.399 --> 00:13:07.840 He says, love, an agape with knowledge and all discernment. 00:13:08.080 --> 00:13:12.720 This word for knowledge kind of speaks to the head, one's cognition and intellect. 00:13:12.879 --> 00:13:22.799 And discernment uh speaks to wisdom and perception, yeah, but some ancient literature suggests that this word sort of speaks to the emotions, to the passions, to one's heart. 00:13:23.039 --> 00:13:27.840 The sort of agape love that Paul is talking about is one that integrates our head with our heart. 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:29.279 It's not one that competes. 00:13:29.440 --> 00:13:32.639 Do you find your head and heart can kind of compete with one another sometimes? 00:13:32.799 --> 00:13:35.120 I think that's a normal human experience. 00:13:35.360 --> 00:13:46.639 The kind of love that Paul is talking about, the Christian community practicing, is the sort that integrates our head with our heart more and more over time as we give ourselves for the sake of others. 00:13:46.960 --> 00:13:48.639 Might seem counterintuitive. 00:13:48.879 --> 00:13:51.360 That's what Paul understands is the power of agape. 00:13:51.600 --> 00:13:54.879 It can bring our knowledge and discernment together. 00:13:55.039 --> 00:13:56.399 More than just fuzzy feelings. 00:13:56.559 --> 00:13:58.559 Love is a deliberate choice. 00:13:58.720 --> 00:14:03.120 It integrates oneself and it integrates a Christian community. 00:14:03.360 --> 00:14:05.200 Okay, are we tracking so far? 00:14:05.679 --> 00:14:11.279 Paul's prayer is that your love, your agape, may abound more and more. 00:14:11.440 --> 00:14:14.720 And Paul's got a few specific outcomes in mind. 00:14:15.039 --> 00:14:25.200 He wants your love, the church's love, to abound more and more, so that you may approve what is excellent, verse 10. 00:14:25.759 --> 00:14:26.720 What is excellent? 00:14:26.879 --> 00:14:31.440 You might say, what's valuable, what's worthwhile, you know, the real McCoy, so to speak. 00:14:31.519 --> 00:14:38.080 And this word for approve, it can you can translate it, examine, or, or the idea is you're putting something to the test. 00:14:38.240 --> 00:14:41.279 It's like the results are in, and yes, this is truly excellent. 00:14:41.440 --> 00:14:44.720 And sometimes we need to run those tests, don't we? 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:49.759 We might not otherwise approve what is truly excellent in life. 00:14:49.919 --> 00:14:53.600 How often do we settle for what's less than excellent, right? 00:14:54.480 --> 00:15:02.960 Paul understands that the Philippians are in danger of, I think, losing what's truly excellent in their community and what's truly excellent in their Christian lives. 00:15:03.200 --> 00:15:10.799 You know, I think about when I was in grade school, um, I was just, the first time we got to play with compasses, I was just so amazed. 00:15:10.960 --> 00:15:13.120 It and I'm still amazed by compasses. 00:15:13.200 --> 00:15:16.399 Like, it's a simple thing, but that's pretty cool, right? 00:15:16.639 --> 00:15:20.559 Anyway, that it just points north the way that it does if it's working properly, right? 00:15:20.639 --> 00:15:29.519 But I remember being just so floored when uh you could take a compass, and we've all done this, right, is you take a magnet and you kind of wave it around the compass, don't you? 00:15:29.679 --> 00:15:31.039 And what do you see happen? 00:15:31.279 --> 00:15:33.679 You see that, oh, someone is answering. 00:15:33.759 --> 00:15:34.240 I loved it. 00:15:34.399 --> 00:15:34.639 Okay. 00:15:35.679 --> 00:15:36.320 Yeah, that's right. 00:15:36.399 --> 00:15:38.879 You see the needle start following the magnet, don't you? 00:15:38.960 --> 00:15:45.519 And you can just make it do circles and circles and circles till the compass sort of loses its, you know, cohesion all together, right? 00:15:46.320 --> 00:15:49.679 And I think Paul understands the heart is a little bit like that. 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:58.799 The heart's a little bit like a compass that is meant to point to what is truly excellent, what the Lord has in mind for our flourishing, for our very best. 00:15:59.440 --> 00:16:02.240 But we live in a world full of magnets, don't we? 00:16:03.039 --> 00:16:05.759 Just kind of pull our affections this way and this way and this way. 00:16:05.840 --> 00:16:12.480 And sometimes at the end of the day, if if it's been a good day, I'm taking some quiet time at the end of the day, and you know, if it's a good day. 00:16:12.720 --> 00:16:18.480 And then I start to think, you know, Lord, on the list of things I love today, like you're lucky if you're in the top ten, you know what I mean? 00:16:18.559 --> 00:16:24.960 Because the world is full of magnets, and our affections are just pulled all around the place constantly. 00:16:25.600 --> 00:16:38.000 See, if our love is abounding more and more in Christian community with Christ at the center, loving one another as we've been loved in Christ, then that's gonna keep our needle pointing true north, isn't it? 00:16:38.480 --> 00:16:42.480 We're gonna be less drawn to the magnets that sort of seem to pop up. 00:16:42.720 --> 00:16:49.360 And instead, we're going to be a little bit more set in what's truly excellent for us. 00:16:50.480 --> 00:16:56.960 That's Paul's that's what Paul has in mind, that our love may abound so that we may approve what's truly excellent. 00:16:57.120 --> 00:17:04.240 And Paul has a second outcome in mind, and so he says, be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. 00:17:04.480 --> 00:17:10.319 Let your love abound more and more so that you can be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. 00:17:10.559 --> 00:17:12.799 That's sacrificial language, isn't it? 00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:14.400 Pure and blameless. 00:17:14.559 --> 00:17:27.680 That's that is offering a sacrifice to render something holy, to consecrate something to the Lord, to make it pleasing to him, to put away sin and to make something sacred to him. 00:17:27.920 --> 00:17:30.559 Paul's using that language very intentionally. 00:17:30.799 --> 00:17:37.519 That's the sort of uh, that's a sort of consecratory life that Paul has in mind for Christians to live. 00:17:37.759 --> 00:17:42.480 And he has it in mind that this life has a goal for the day of Jesus Christ. 00:17:42.720 --> 00:17:48.559 We said earlier that's when he returns in glory to establish his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. 00:17:48.720 --> 00:18:03.039 Paul understands that the purity and blamelessness, the holiness, the consecration that we are meant to have being set apart for God in Christ, is meant to point us towards that day when it will be fully realized at Christ's return. 00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:13.599 Living a life of holiness is what it looks like to be filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. 00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:17.440 This is the outcome of good works that please the Lord. 00:18:17.519 --> 00:18:23.759 And the outcome of love abounding means good has a way of following, doing good works. 00:18:24.079 --> 00:18:25.839 Don't you find that to be the case? 00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:30.559 Loving in our hearts has a way of preceding the good works that we do. 00:18:30.720 --> 00:18:34.160 And it is good works that God has in mind for us. 00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:43.519 Paul writes to the Ephesians, He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before the Lord. 00:18:43.759 --> 00:18:57.680 See, I think what the Lord has in mind for the church's purity, its blamelessness, its consecration is that when we gather together and we let our love abound for one another, we become sort of this microcosm of a new creation. 00:18:57.920 --> 00:19:05.200 It's hard to believe sometimes because we're very imperfect human beings, but that's what the Lord intends for us to be new song. 00:19:05.440 --> 00:19:15.200 To come together in worship and in supporting one another and start to realize this is something like a taste of what eternity is going to be like. 00:19:15.359 --> 00:19:24.160 When the day of Christ appears, this is something of the community that we're going to share to the nth degree forever and ever. 00:19:24.640 --> 00:19:34.960 That's what the Lord has in mind for us in purity and blamelessness, all centered in our abounding love for one another. 00:19:35.279 --> 00:19:40.799 So when Christian love abounds, our affections are elevated. 00:19:42.400 --> 00:19:47.200 What we love is truly excellent, and our actions are consecrated. 00:19:47.359 --> 00:19:50.720 We live out that holiness to which we are called. 00:19:51.359 --> 00:19:53.920 Now let me ask you a question, new song. 00:19:55.759 --> 00:19:58.559 Does our love always abound? 00:19:59.119 --> 00:20:02.400 Does my love always abound? 00:20:03.119 --> 00:20:05.839 Do we always approve of what's excellent? 00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:08.000 Or do I have a way of settling? 00:20:10.319 --> 00:20:14.160 Do I always strive for purity and blamelessness? 00:20:15.359 --> 00:20:23.920 See, all we need is love, that's true, but it might not be as easy as the Beatles make it out to be, is it? 00:20:24.160 --> 00:20:36.960 It's a strange thing, but it seems like we always have these barriers between the love we know that we're called to, barriers between realizing the love to which we are called. 00:20:37.119 --> 00:20:38.559 Don't we find that to be the case? 00:20:38.799 --> 00:20:44.960 It's like we withdraw, even sometimes in a way we know we should give of ourselves for the other. 00:20:45.440 --> 00:20:50.880 How many of us have sort of walked away from the situation going, oh, that's exactly what I promised myself I wouldn't do, right? 00:20:50.960 --> 00:21:01.359 It's like hard feelings or dislike or even indifference can have a way of settling into a community or into our very hearts. 00:21:01.519 --> 00:21:08.720 And it has a way of hardening our hearts in a way that they're meant to be overflowing and abounding with love, they seem to withdraw. 00:21:08.960 --> 00:21:14.720 And Christian community seems to get stingy and miserly and meager, doesn't it? 00:21:15.119 --> 00:21:28.319 I was reading a recent survey, and uh the survey said this that 55% of Americans surveyed in 2022 agreed with the statements that Christians are hypocritical. 00:21:28.720 --> 00:21:33.599 And 54% agreed with the statements that Christians are judgmental. 00:21:34.240 --> 00:21:39.200 And I'm willing to bet that Canadians are not far off there from our American brothers and sisters, aren't we? 00:21:39.359 --> 00:21:46.240 And I'm willing to bet too that even if we ourselves were surveyed, we might not necessarily disagree with those findings, would we? 00:21:47.039 --> 00:21:48.880 But it says something. 00:21:49.839 --> 00:21:53.200 Jesus didn't say we'd be known by our hypocrisy. 00:21:54.160 --> 00:21:57.680 That we're called to love, but we have a way of withdrawing our love. 00:21:57.839 --> 00:21:59.759 Jesus didn't say we're called to be judgmental. 00:22:00.960 --> 00:22:04.960 That we gather together just to feel superior, right? 00:22:06.880 --> 00:22:18.000 Whether or not it's fair to say the world has a way of seeing not so much that love characterizes us, but the lack of love so often has a way of characterizing the church, doesn't it? 00:22:18.240 --> 00:22:26.079 And when love doesn't abound, we are on this trajectory away from God, away from what He's calling us to, what He intends for us. 00:22:27.279 --> 00:22:32.000 And we just seem powerless to be able to soften our own heart and get back there, don't we? 00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:35.279 I mean, love is not the sort of thing we can just muster up, right? 00:22:35.599 --> 00:22:44.720 I think of, I mean, I spend enough time in youth ministry to have those conversations with parents, with very difficult teenagers, because what teenager isn't difficult at a certain point, right? 00:22:45.440 --> 00:22:56.319 And they'll say something to me like, you know, I told myself I was going to be patient this time, I told myself I was gonna be kind, that I was gonna use gentle words, and then I walked in the room and I just lost it. 00:22:56.480 --> 00:22:57.680 I don't know what happened, right? 00:22:57.759 --> 00:23:01.200 It's almost like, and that's that's a normal experience, isn't it? 00:23:01.920 --> 00:23:09.119 But we have a way of even when we want to engage in love, sometimes it seems like it just brings the worst out of us. 00:23:09.279 --> 00:23:11.519 That can be true in the church too, can't it? 00:23:11.680 --> 00:23:16.559 And that breaks our hearts to say, so this is a problem. 00:23:17.920 --> 00:23:21.359 But I think Paul's got good news to address this problem. 00:23:21.839 --> 00:23:29.920 Even this disconnection between the love, abounding love to which we're called, and so often what seems to be our lack of love. 00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:36.160 And the good news is this that Christ's love abounds for us. 00:23:37.359 --> 00:23:43.359 Regardless of how we do or don't struggle with love, Christ's love abounds for us. 00:23:43.519 --> 00:23:49.680 Keep in mind that Paul is writing, feeling all the affection of Christ for this church. 00:23:49.839 --> 00:23:57.519 Even this imperfect, struggling to figure out what Christianity means, kind of church, kind of like ours in that way. 00:23:57.759 --> 00:24:04.799 Christ's love abounds for us, and because his love abounds, it transforms us, both in our affections and in our actions. 00:24:04.960 --> 00:24:11.359 It calls our hearts and our hands to integrate and to pursue him. 00:24:11.599 --> 00:24:13.119 Paul writes this in verse 6. 00:24:13.200 --> 00:24:19.920 He says, I'm sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. 00:24:20.160 --> 00:24:22.880 So we should learn a couple of things from this verse, shouldn't we? 00:24:23.119 --> 00:24:25.279 One, who is at work here? 00:24:26.240 --> 00:24:28.240 It's not us, is it? 00:24:29.359 --> 00:24:31.279 The agent here is God. 00:24:31.680 --> 00:24:35.599 He's begun a good work in you, y'all church. 00:24:36.640 --> 00:24:41.519 He's begun a work of spiritual progress, and he's the one who's going to see it through to completion. 00:24:41.759 --> 00:24:43.519 Today's the day of Pentecost. 00:24:43.599 --> 00:24:45.920 We celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit. 00:24:46.079 --> 00:24:50.240 And the Holy Spirit writes the same Apostle Paul to the Roman church. 00:24:50.480 --> 00:24:58.799 He writes of the Holy Spirit that God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who's been given to us. 00:24:58.960 --> 00:25:12.480 And he'll go on to say in chapter 8 that it's by the power of the Spirit that we can cry out to God, Abba Father, with an intimacy that only a child, that only a son and a daughter have with our well-loved Father. 00:25:12.720 --> 00:25:17.440 This is the Holy Spirit at work in us, pouring God's love into our hearts. 00:25:17.599 --> 00:25:25.279 And it's only having God's love poured into our hearts that we can then even think about turning around and abounding in love towards one another. 00:25:25.440 --> 00:25:28.480 If we don't have that vertical, we will not have that horizontal. 00:25:28.559 --> 00:25:30.400 Don't you find that to be true? 00:25:31.920 --> 00:25:34.480 God will see it through to completion. 00:25:34.799 --> 00:25:39.200 He will bring it through to its final phase in our pilgrimage to eternity. 00:25:39.359 --> 00:25:41.279 So we live in that anticipation. 00:25:41.599 --> 00:25:52.240 See, it's only for us being loved by Christ that our otherwise fragile and fickle hearts can then abound for one another. 00:25:52.559 --> 00:25:57.519 So we need to rest assured, saints, how loved we are in Christ. 00:25:57.839 --> 00:26:09.680 If we struggle to love one another, if we struggle to love someone that we know we ought to love, but gosh, it's so hard to, maybe this is where we need to camp for a while. 00:26:09.920 --> 00:26:15.759 Maybe we need to camp in just how fathomless Christ's love is for us. 00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:34.640 Maybe we need to camp out in our gospel reading, or we need to camp out in John 13 to 17, or camp out in 1 John, which is like the letter of love, and discover just how overwhelming, just how fathomless Jesus truly loves you and I and his church. 00:26:34.880 --> 00:26:48.720 And it's when we let that love soak in and become our very center that suddenly we discover have an ability to love others because they too are loved by Jesus in the way that I've been. 00:26:49.519 --> 00:26:58.960 And so we begin to practice loving one another, to will the good of our brothers and sisters in every way we can, with every opportunity we have to do so. 00:26:59.119 --> 00:27:09.759 And we don't think about the cost, we don't balk at giving when it hurts, because love is a self-sacrificing love, that's an agape love. 00:27:10.079 --> 00:27:14.400 I will give myself to you just as Christ has given himself for me. 00:27:14.559 --> 00:27:16.240 That's Christian love. 00:27:17.200 --> 00:27:23.680 That doesn't mean it's always easy, but sometimes we take the actions and we let the feelings follow, don't we? 00:27:24.960 --> 00:27:32.400 Here's a quote from uh Augustine, who is a fourth-century bishop and is one of the most formative minds of the church. 00:27:32.720 --> 00:27:37.920 This is a very famous quote from a sermon of his, and I think it's appropriate to our subject matter. 00:27:38.160 --> 00:27:45.279 Once and for all, Augustine says, I give you this one short command: love and do what you will. 00:27:45.680 --> 00:27:49.519 If you hold your peace, hold your peace out of love. 00:27:49.839 --> 00:27:52.240 If you cry out, cry out in love. 00:27:52.720 --> 00:27:55.920 If you correct someone, correct them out of love. 00:27:56.160 --> 00:27:58.799 If you spare them, spare them out of love. 00:27:59.519 --> 00:28:02.160 Let the root of love be in you. 00:28:02.640 --> 00:28:05.519 Nothing can spring from it but good. 00:28:06.480 --> 00:28:13.599 If we love one another as Christ has loved us, what else will we be but a truly Christian community? 00:28:14.559 --> 00:28:17.359 All you need is love. 00:28:18.480 --> 00:28:28.319 When love abounds in Christian community with Christ at the center, our affections are elevated, and our actions are consecrated. 00:28:29.119 --> 00:28:31.599 But this begins not with our own love. 00:28:32.559 --> 00:28:33.759 This is love. 00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:42.160 Not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 00:28:42.480 --> 00:28:44.880 We love because he has first loved us. 00:28:45.039 --> 00:28:53.119 That's why we'll go to the Lord's table this morning, to hear the Lord say, with his body and with his blood, I love you. 00:28:53.839 --> 00:29:05.039 It is my prayer that your love, your love, Newsong, may abound more and more, so that you may approve what is excellent and be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. 00:29:05.359 --> 00:29:06.000 Amen. 00:29:07.759 --> 00:29:09.440 Thank you for listening today. 00:29:09.599 --> 00:29:15.039 We worship a generous God who calls us to follow Him in giving willfully, cheerfully, and sacrificially. 00:29:15.279 --> 00:29:21.759 Newsong Church's mission and ministry is one hundred percent funded by the generous gifts of those worshiping and journeying with us. 00:29:21.920 --> 00:29:29.519 If you'd like to offer a gift towards Newsong's ministry, please visit Newsongportberry.ca slash giving for more information on how to do that. 00:29:29.759 --> 00:29:32.799 May God bless you and keep you today and every day.