SPEAKER_01: This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
SPEAKER_00: There is this uh virulent infection that is increasing, it's spreading, and it goes throughout the world, and it's hitting well, I'm getting a lot of echo here.
SPEAKER_00: I feel like I'm in a football stadium here.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's better.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Andrew.
SPEAKER_00: Let me begin.
SPEAKER_00: Again, there is a virulent infection.
SPEAKER_00: It's increasing, it's spreading, it's all over the world.
SPEAKER_00: It's hitting communities very hard.
SPEAKER_00: The infection is called prideful self-love.
SPEAKER_00: Prideful self-love is growing, it's manifesting, it's increasing, and it's infecting even churches.
SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, if left untreated will turn people into monstrous golems who will act only in self-interest.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, this pathogen is so dangerous that it poses great risk even to our own church here today.
SPEAKER_00: Every person in the local church is a potential carrier and a spreader of this pathogen.
SPEAKER_00: And there is currently no vaccine to this thing called prideful self-love.
SPEAKER_00: Yet there's an antidote that we can administer to ourselves daily, and it's called agape love.
SPEAKER_00: Agape love.
SPEAKER_00: And that we find in Romans chapter 12, and the title of this message this morning is Agape Love, the Antidote to Prideful Self-Love.
SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter 12, verse 9 reads as follows Let love, which is agape love, be without hypocrisy, abore what is evil, cling to what is good.
SPEAKER_00: And then he says, Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.
SPEAKER_00: Give preference to one another in honor.
SPEAKER_00: You see, we dear brothers and sisters, pride is so ingrained in us.
SPEAKER_00: It is at the very core of our being.
SPEAKER_00: And yet it is so contrary to this thing called agape, because agape is a love for others, not a love for self.
SPEAKER_00: Now, pride is at the very core of this self-love movement that has been going on for the past few decades.
SPEAKER_00: Very few people stop to think that Jesus never said we have to love ourselves more.
SPEAKER_00: But according to Matthew 5.43, Jesus says there that if we only love our neighbors the way we love ourselves, we would be living in a way pleasing to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: You see, the Bible never makes any recommendation to love ourselves more.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, the Bible does assert that no one ever hates him or herself, but we always cherish and nourish ourselves, according to Ephesians 5.29.
SPEAKER_00: I was reading this editorial on self-love, and this person uh wrote something which I found astounding.
SPEAKER_00: The person said, Self-love is important to living well.
SPEAKER_00: Explaining it.
SPEAKER_00: Self-love is not simply a state of feeling good.
SPEAKER_00: It is a state of appreciating oneself.
SPEAKER_00: So this morning I have to wake up and say, Anton, I appreciate you for who you are.
SPEAKER_00: And the person says here, uh if that's evident in our actions, it will support our physical, psychological, and spiritual growth.
SPEAKER_00: Which is absolutely contrary to the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel has a contrary mindset.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible does not, the gospel does not advocate for appreciating the self, but rather to show agape appreciation of another person.
SPEAKER_00: Our passage here this morning will give us a bit of a deeper understanding in this agape love of verse 9.
SPEAKER_00: We understand that agape love is to be sincere and genuine, never with hypocrisy, never with ulterior motives.
SPEAKER_00: If it is to be boring what is evil and clinging to what is good, it must be what it is in verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: A familial, fraternal love.
SPEAKER_00: Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.
SPEAKER_00: It is a agape love, is a concern for the well-being of the church as a whole, the family of God's people.
SPEAKER_00: And as we look at this passage, we will see that it goes against the cultural grain, which is all about self-love, self-appreciation, and indeed self-honour.
SPEAKER_00: Well, the honoring of oneself.
SPEAKER_00: It's a family type of love.
SPEAKER_00: It is a love that prefers others above self.
SPEAKER_00: And certainly it is a love that honors other people rather than self.
SPEAKER_00: Let's begin your with the first orientation of agape love.
SPEAKER_00: Agape love is a family-oriented love.
SPEAKER_00: We've grown so accustomed, even in churches of today, to this thing called rugged individualism.
SPEAKER_00: It's so prevalent.
SPEAKER_00: It's all about individualism.
SPEAKER_00: The Lazisphere of the day is all about independence, autonomy, and self-determination.
SPEAKER_00: We live in a culture that is enamored with self, but it's so caustic and erosive to this familial, congenial, fraternal, kindred-spirited bond within the church.
SPEAKER_00: You see, the church is to love and function like a family.
SPEAKER_00: It needs to look like a home, a family homestead, rather than looking like a gymnasium or an airport, which is all about the individual.
SPEAKER_00: Speaking of airports, I got a little glimpse about airports and what people are about.
SPEAKER_00: We came here in January in the midst of that colossal storm, and one flight after another was canceled.
SPEAKER_00: I never had the sense that I'm part of a family there at the airport because everybody was there for themselves.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody was like, I need to get on the next flight.
SPEAKER_00: People were just hurting like wildebeest to get to one place or another.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody was like, hey, come on, guys, let's just stand together here.
SPEAKER_00: Let's just take care of each other.
SPEAKER_00: Let's just cover each other's backs.
SPEAKER_00: But unfortunately, more and more churches look like airports rather than family homes.
SPEAKER_00: Faith, even free.
SPEAKER_00: Is it an airport or is it a family home?
SPEAKER_00: Well, that will depend how well we grasp this thing of agape love and how we are to be devoted to one another in brotherly love.
SPEAKER_00: Depending on your translation, the first command there is be devoted.
SPEAKER_00: Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.
SPEAKER_00: There are two phrases there in the Greek that connects with the word love.
SPEAKER_00: The one is a friendship type of love, and the other is a family type of love, a fraternal type of love.
SPEAKER_00: And probably the best way of looking at that verse is to take Dr.
SPEAKER_00: Ken Kughes' translation.
SPEAKER_00: It's very helpful.
SPEAKER_00: He says there, be devoted with warm family affection to one another in brotherly love.
SPEAKER_00: I like that.
SPEAKER_00: Be devoted to one another with warm family affection in brotherly love, just in case we don't get this family thing.
SPEAKER_00: Now, a lot of people think about church as family and friendships, but often or too often it's about the individual family or the individual friendship.
SPEAKER_00: And that only results in clicks and circles and little private communities.
SPEAKER_00: That's all about self.
SPEAKER_00: You see, the type of love here is a love that is committed to the family as a whole.
SPEAKER_00: We don't operate that way in a family where people would say, well, you see, mom and dad, we all about ourselves, and you kids, you you kind of do your own thing.
SPEAKER_00: No, we're all about the family.
SPEAKER_00: And so God calls us here to a commitment to this family and the type of love that is stimulated in a family.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, 1 Corinthians 12, 26 says, if one member suffers, all members suffer with it, because we are members of one body.
SPEAKER_00: And so as we think of this being committed to one another, we got to think the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And within this body of Christ, there needs to be this type of affection and endearment and love for one another that is very reminiscent of a family.
SPEAKER_00: A family where members in the family prefer the other person above oneself.
SPEAKER_00: Two hours later, you open up the fridge and you go, What happened here?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'm not the only one.
SPEAKER_00: What happened to prefer the other person?
SPEAKER_00: If I put that little slab of chocolate in the fridge, you know, and I just kind of tuck it away there, it means you don't eat it.
SPEAKER_00: At least share it before you consume it.
SPEAKER_00: But imagine this.
SPEAKER_00: This is our culture.
SPEAKER_00: This is how we've been trained to operate.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine you uh caught somewhere in a snowstorm, and there's one flight out, and there's a limited amount of seats on the flight.
SPEAKER_00: And there's a long line of people, and you're the first in line because you stabbed somebody in the eye to get in front.
SPEAKER_00: I can't imagine that somebody would say, you know what, I'm being a little bit absorbed with myself here.
SPEAKER_00: Let's just step away here.
SPEAKER_00: You you you can stand here in front of the line.
SPEAKER_00: You see, the sagape love says, when it comes to God's family, my people here, I would say, you stand in front of me.
SPEAKER_00: I prefer you being served here than me being served first.
SPEAKER_00: Agape has this orientation of preferring others above self.
SPEAKER_00: It puts others first.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, if you have the English Standard Version, it says outdo one another.
SPEAKER_00: Outdo one another.
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't mean out push one another or it means that you you let the other person go first.
SPEAKER_00: You see, we in a culture that says me first.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: You stand at a at a counter and there's a lot of people, and the person says, Who's next?
SPEAKER_00: Fifty people.
SPEAKER_00: No, no, they can only be one who's next here, right?
SPEAKER_00: Same for us as God's people, we need to have this orientation that says, I I'm gonna have this person go first.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna have this person have first dips on this.
SPEAKER_00: How can we call ourselves a family that is committed to the family if it's every man for himself?
SPEAKER_00: Church, unfortunately, has become of a bit of a Starbucks where everyone wants it their way.
SPEAKER_00: Me first, my own needs, I wanted my way.
SPEAKER_00: We come to church often saying we have a genuine affection for another brother or sister, but all we have in mind is that our preferences, our needs, and our interests are being met.
SPEAKER_00: But thinking of Philippians 2, 4, Paul says we ought to have the mind of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And what is that?
SPEAKER_00: Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
SPEAKER_00: We as human beings are naturally lovers of ourselves, we appreciate ourselves, we value ourselves, and we will serve ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: And we will make sure that we love and care for the people who take care of our interests.
SPEAKER_00: That was not the way with Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Did Christ not say, Take this cup away from me?
SPEAKER_00: But did He not also say, Not my will be done, but your will be done?
SPEAKER_00: You see, every human being in some ways or another prefer their ideas above another, their preferences above another, and their values always ranks at the top.
SPEAKER_00: And that is what we've grown accustomed to, because our culture has shaped us that way.
SPEAKER_00: You see, dear brothers and sisters, Satan has exploited this thing called pride.
SPEAKER_00: You see, pride will inevitably lead to a love for self.
SPEAKER_00: Satan knows how to exploit that.
SPEAKER_00: You see, people who love themselves will typically think that they are very important.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because I love myself so much, and I want you to adore me in the same way I adore myself.
SPEAKER_00: Did Satan not promise Eve importance and honor?
SPEAKER_00: Because after all, Eve, you ought to know what God knows, and you had to have the same glory as God has.
SPEAKER_00: Foolishly Satan tried to exploit this thing with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He used that old trick called the boastful pride of life.
SPEAKER_00: What did he say to Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: He said, Jesus, if you would just fall down and worship me, I will make you the most important person in the whole wide world.
SPEAKER_00: Foolishly he thought Jesus would fall for that.
SPEAKER_00: Romans 12 says, agape love is not about receiving honor or craving honor.
SPEAKER_00: It is about showing honor.
SPEAKER_00: How do we show honor if we don't think the other person is important?
SPEAKER_00: Who is the most important person in the room?
SPEAKER_00: Me, of course.
SPEAKER_00: At least when it comes to uh flights and when the airlines messed up my booking.
SPEAKER_00: I will always insist then that I get an upgrade.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Don't you feel that way?
SPEAKER_00: You they mess up your stuff, they lose your luggage.
SPEAKER_00: Well, you've stepped on the wrong person's toes here today.
SPEAKER_00: I need an upgrade, business class, and I want all the snacks free of charge.
SPEAKER_00: And in all honesty, we think ourselves very important.
SPEAKER_00: I mean you step on an airplane.
SPEAKER_00: What do you see first?
SPEAKER_00: It's like diamond class or first class or business class.
SPEAKER_00: Here I come in, unclean, unclean, unclean.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: But never have I had anybody who walked up to me and say, Anton, you all crammed up there like a like a giraffe in a mini cooper.
SPEAKER_00: Let's just put you in business class.
SPEAKER_00: And in fact, I'm gonna sit here in the back.
SPEAKER_00: I want to honor you.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody had that experience?
SPEAKER_00: Nope.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: We all think we deserving a business class.
SPEAKER_00: They should just make one class on airplane.
SPEAKER_00: Business class.
SPEAKER_00: We're all important.
SPEAKER_00: And that's at least how we have been shaped by culture.
SPEAKER_00: But look at what Romans 12, 2 says.
SPEAKER_00: Do not be conformed to this culture.
SPEAKER_00: Stop thinking like culture things.
SPEAKER_00: The fact is not that we might be conformed to culture.
SPEAKER_00: It is not that we've been shaped to think like culture.
SPEAKER_00: We have already been shaped and formed by culture.
SPEAKER_00: And we need to be transformed by the renewal of our minds.
SPEAKER_00: And how do we renew our minds?
SPEAKER_00: And it begins with a daily dose of agape.
SPEAKER_00: Agape has this orientation that honors other people.
SPEAKER_00: Now you would ask me, Anton, how do I honor another person here in church?
SPEAKER_00: Let's not get weird here.
SPEAKER_00: Let's not get strange and awkward and stuff.
SPEAKER_00: Just tell me simply, how do I honor the person around me?
SPEAKER_00: And how do we outdo one another in this honoring?
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: But then I thought, if I come here and say I don't know, you're gonna think I'm not important.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna give you the answer.
SPEAKER_00: It's actually really simple.
SPEAKER_00: Stop thinking about yourself.
SPEAKER_00: That's how simple it is.
SPEAKER_00: You see, I am so uh often thinking about myself.
SPEAKER_00: Am I comfortable?
SPEAKER_00: Am I being treated well?
SPEAKER_00: Are they thinking a lot good of me?
SPEAKER_00: Are they thinking bad of me?
SPEAKER_00: Are they thinking I'm stupid?
SPEAKER_00: Are they thinking I'm smart?
SPEAKER_00: We gotta renew our minds and not be conformed to the way that culture thinks.
SPEAKER_00: We gotta begin by thinking about ourselves less.
SPEAKER_00: See how culture has forced us in some way or another to have this sickly obsession about our own importance.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, for many years we've been told that if you don't think you're important, if you think you're unimportant, that's going to be awful.
SPEAKER_00: That's going to make you an unhappy person.
SPEAKER_00: That's going to make you a sad person.
SPEAKER_00: Society will be a terrible place if people think they're not very important, but I can tell you the very opposite has taken place.
SPEAKER_00: Now you might say to me, that's not me.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think I'm very important.
SPEAKER_00: I don't suffer of that.
SPEAKER_00: Well, imagine yourself as one of Jesus' disciples, and you spent two and a half, three years with Jesus, and there Jesus overhears your conversation.
SPEAKER_00: And the conversation is about between the 12, who's the most important here?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you would think, really, guys, it happened.
SPEAKER_00: Mark 9, 34.
SPEAKER_00: You can go read it up.
SPEAKER_00: And I thought, well, if they did that, I'm more likely to do the same.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus tempers the self-esteem of his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: And he says in Mark 10, 44, whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant.
SPEAKER_00: And whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave.
SPEAKER_00: Oh no, no, no, I'm no slave.
SPEAKER_00: I'm the main Mac here.
SPEAKER_00: Well, this is what Jesus says, for the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve others and give his life as a ransom for many.
SPEAKER_00: Why is it that the Bible often has to remind us about our overinflated self-esteem?
SPEAKER_00: The Bible actually doesn't call for a greater self-esteem, and it says your self-esteem needs a little deflation, because Philippians 2.3, very well translated in the King James, says, let each esteem other better than themselves.
SPEAKER_00: Esteem others better than oneself.
SPEAKER_00: It becomes very evident that as we work through Scripture, the call is not that people lack self-esteem, but they're obsessed with esteeming themselves better than the next.
SPEAKER_00: Go look there in Romans 3 12, 3.
SPEAKER_00: It says, Therefore, by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but think so as to have sound judgment.
SPEAKER_00: And what is Jesus saying there is Jesus or Jesus saying through the Apostle Paul, he says, you see, you will have the tendency to think too much of yourself.
SPEAKER_00: If you are invited to a wedding or a banquet, and there are seats that say VIPs, then you would go, and I would go and say, they made a spot for me.
SPEAKER_00: I'm so honored.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus said, lo and behold, there's something and someone more important than you.
SPEAKER_00: You see how society has been brainwashed and it's been drinking this Kool-Aid that it believes that it's vital for relationships to have people thinking much of themselves, to think of themselves as important, but but it's erosive to relationships.
SPEAKER_00: Relationships are destroyed.
SPEAKER_00: We first thought that if we could just boost people's esteem of themselves, if they feel more important and look more important, they will be happy and they will be fulfilled.
SPEAKER_00: But the contrary has shown.
SPEAKER_00: People are more unfold, more unhappier than ever before.
SPEAKER_00: It's hard to satisfy a very, very important person.
SPEAKER_00: If you take a look in 2 Timothy 3, I will give you a bit of a glimpse.
SPEAKER_00: And somebody in the previous service said to me, Anton, this is today.
SPEAKER_00: This is our times.
SPEAKER_00: 2 Timothy 3 says there in verse 1, but realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.
SPEAKER_00: And I go, more difficult times?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's really difficult up to now.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's a lot of things happening.
SPEAKER_00: But then in verse 2, it says for men will be lovers of self.
SPEAKER_00: Philatos is the Greek word.
SPEAKER_00: It's a combination of the word love and autos, which is self.
SPEAKER_00: It's a love for self.
SPEAKER_00: It is a it is somebody who is enamored with himself.
SPEAKER_00: It says there that they will be what?
SPEAKER_00: They will be marked for their obsession with wealth.
SPEAKER_00: They will boast.
SPEAKER_00: They will be arrogant.
SPEAKER_00: They will be abusive.
SPEAKER_00: They will disregard their parents.
SPEAKER_00: They will be very ungrateful.
SPEAKER_00: They will be unforgiving.
SPEAKER_00: They will be slanderous.
SPEAKER_00: They will gossip.
SPEAKER_00: They lack self-control.
SPEAKER_00: They brutal.
SPEAKER_00: They're not lovers of good, but they're rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure.
SPEAKER_00: Tell me, does this not reflect our cultural norms?
SPEAKER_00: And what is the root of these?
SPEAKER_00: People love themselves.
SPEAKER_00: You see, a person that brags is a boastful person.
SPEAKER_00: That person wants to parade all the gifts and abilities and accomplishments to the entire society.
SPEAKER_00: And they want recognition for that.
SPEAKER_00: They want to be honored.
SPEAKER_00: People do silly things.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, uh you just go on social media and you go, you know, you didn't do that.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that was not very smart.
SPEAKER_00: And then it's incumbent on us to like it, to put a little heart there, two thumbs up, smiley face.
SPEAKER_00: There's no longer this thumbs down thing.
SPEAKER_00: You can't do that.
SPEAKER_00: You can't put like an idiot emoji there.
SPEAKER_00: You can't say, like, that was stupid.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna invent the nitwit emoji.
SPEAKER_00: It says, you were not very smart doing that.
SPEAKER_00: But because you love yourself, you're gonna be, as this verse says, you're gonna lack self-control, you're gonna be impulsive, you're gonna be rash, and you're gonna do everything to draw attention to yourself so that people can lord your praises.
SPEAKER_00: You're a lover of yourself, you're not a lover of God.
SPEAKER_00: How many churches do you enter and you see people competing for each other against each other?
SPEAKER_00: And you say to yourself, are these lovers of God or are these lovers of themselves?
SPEAKER_00: This is not new, dear brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER_00: You can take some time and read the story of Mordecai the Jew and Haman the Chaldean in Esther chapter 5.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, Haman thought himself a very important person.
SPEAKER_00: And he thought that Mordecai the Jew was not honoring him.
SPEAKER_00: He was so prideful that he was so disgusted that this Jew, Mordecai, was not more fearful and scared of him and more respectful and like, whoa, here comes the mighty Haman, and nothing of that.
SPEAKER_00: And so you know what he does?
SPEAKER_00: He goes to his friends and he goes, like, guys, you know I'm a very important guy.
SPEAKER_00: I've done this, I've done this, I own this, I did this.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm somebody significant.
SPEAKER_00: And in the end of the meeting, they decided we gotta have this guy execute it.
SPEAKER_00: And you see the silly things that pride does?
SPEAKER_00: Pride is a nasty thing.
SPEAKER_00: Pride will make people brutal and abusive.
SPEAKER_00: What is an abusive and brutal person other than somebody who says, I'm gonna force you to recognize that I'm more important and more superior than you.
SPEAKER_00: And I will use violence and use force to impress that on you, just in the very same way as Amon did with Mordecai.
SPEAKER_00: My dear brothers and sisters, we infect it.
SPEAKER_00: Ever since the fall, we infect it with this thing called prideful self-love.
SPEAKER_00: We gotta watch for it.
SPEAKER_00: It takes over and it turns us into me monsters.
SPEAKER_00: Ever thought when somebody gives you a dainty little morsel of gossip, what are they trying to do?
SPEAKER_00: They are trying to make the other person look as bad as possible so that the person telling the story can look as good as possible.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, what they are saying is choose me, hate them, choose me, hate them, honor me, dishonor them.
SPEAKER_00: That is at the root of gossip is this prideful self-love.
SPEAKER_00: The gossiper and the slanderer, when they feel they're not honored and respected and regarded as important, or their views are not regarded as important, they don't use their fists to beat or their feet to kick, but they use their tongue and lips like poisoned arrows.
SPEAKER_00: Dear brothers and sisters, Agape calls for this thing to say, I gotta think less about my own importance here.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not that important.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone who's been in a church for any time frame would probably have heard this little phrase.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, around here we have too many chiefs and too few Indians.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure if that's even politically correct to say that, but that's what I've heard.
SPEAKER_00: Where I grew up, people would say, well, there are too many chefs here and too few bottle washers, or 90% of the work around here is done by 10% of the congregants.
SPEAKER_00: What is that a symptom of?
SPEAKER_00: That's a symptom of people who say, I'm more important.
SPEAKER_00: I'm more important.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not here to serve, but to be served.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not like Christ who is willing to sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: I'm here to gain.
SPEAKER_00: Outdo one another in showing honor is not easy.
SPEAKER_00: But it's simpler than you think.
SPEAKER_00: We gotta think less often of ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: This is what Tim Keller says.
SPEAKER_00: And I like his advice here.
SPEAKER_00: He says it is not thinking less of ourselves, but actually thinking of ourselves less.
SPEAKER_00: Did you catch it?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I had to read it like five times, and I'm like, ha, he's smart, this guy.
SPEAKER_00: What he is saying, he says, you don't need to think of yourself as this low life, worthless person.
SPEAKER_00: Just stop thinking about yourself and start thinking about other people and how they are doing.
SPEAKER_00: Keller calls this a healthy form of self-forgetfulness.
SPEAKER_00: A wonderful word of advice to you.
SPEAKER_00: Walk into the church and forget about yourself for a moment.
SPEAKER_00: Dear brothers and sisters, I've been infected too.
SPEAKER_00: I've been infected too with this thing called prideful self-love.
SPEAKER_00: I need a good daily dose of agape reminders that I gotta focus less on myself and more on others.
SPEAKER_00: I'm so inclined to think, are they appreciating me?
SPEAKER_00: Are they liking me?
SPEAKER_00: Are they thinking I'm cool?
SPEAKER_00: When I should rather be saying, how can I appreciate somebody?
SPEAKER_00: How can I truly value that person?
SPEAKER_00: How can I truly show that I'm thankful for that person?
SPEAKER_00: As a pastor, in former times, unfortunately, I've welcomed many people in my church, and I'm like, welcome, welcome, so glad.
SPEAKER_00: Where did you come from?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, we came from that church.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, why did you leave there?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, we were not feeling like we were appreciated there, and uh we weren't really valued over there, and people didn't really thank us all too often.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, okay, well, come here.
SPEAKER_00: We'll do that for you.
SPEAKER_00: But lo and behold, you can never value them enough, you cannot ever appreciate them enough, you can never thank them enough to their satisfaction.
SPEAKER_00: You see, selfish, prideful, self-love will say, You can never satisfy me because I am so important.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, the mindset of Romans 12 10 is that of how can I value you?
SPEAKER_00: How can I appreciate you?
SPEAKER_00: How can I thank you rather than pointing to myself?
SPEAKER_00: So let's get some practical practical pointers here.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, here's some practical pointers, and I'm gonna just go quick.
SPEAKER_00: Have a gospel orientation, have a gospel mindset.
SPEAKER_00: Think of Christ and his gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Christ was not egocentric but theocentric.
SPEAKER_00: Christ was not a lover of himself, but one who had a noticeable and practical self-forgetfulness that motivated him to take up the cross and walk the road to Calvary, not to benefit himself, not acting in his own interest, but to benefit and bless the undeserved, so that by that he can bring honor and glory to his Father in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: We gotta think more often what Christ did.
SPEAKER_00: The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to be a servant.
SPEAKER_00: Number two, you take the initiative.
SPEAKER_00: You see, agape love is not a reactive love.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a responsive love that says, okay, if you do this, I will do this.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, agape is known for its initiative, it's its proactiveness.
SPEAKER_00: It always acts first.
SPEAKER_00: Romans 5.8 says, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly.
SPEAKER_00: You see, while we were yet sinners, God took the initiative.
SPEAKER_00: God takes the first step because he loves us with agape love.
SPEAKER_00: We are to take the first step.
SPEAKER_00: Number three.
SPEAKER_00: This is a difficult one.
SPEAKER_00: It's very complex.
SPEAKER_00: Greet people.
SPEAKER_00: And you think of me, uh Anton, that's so dumb.
SPEAKER_00: That's so dumb.
SPEAKER_00: Well, but Paul in his epistles uses greetings and encouraging people to greet one another no less than forty-four times.
SPEAKER_00: Forty-four times.
SPEAKER_00: What is a greeting?
SPEAKER_00: A greeting is the most rudimentary way of acknowledging and honoring and recognizing a person.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you've probably experienced uh this.
SPEAKER_00: You can walk into a room and you stand there.
SPEAKER_00: Am I here?
SPEAKER_00: Can you see me?
SPEAKER_00: Do do I need to do something so you can see me?
SPEAKER_00: Dear brothers and sisters, you take the initiative, you greet.
SPEAKER_00: You tell me in the army, does the general greet the corporal first, or the corporal greets the general first?
SPEAKER_00: The corporal greets and salutes the general first, not the other way around.
SPEAKER_00: But if the corporal thinks he's the general, there's a problem.
SPEAKER_00: He will not salute the general.
SPEAKER_00: You see, we gotta see all ourselves as plain old servicemen here and greet each other with a greet of grace.
SPEAKER_00: How am I doing for time here?
SPEAKER_00: I've got five more minutes.
SPEAKER_00: Lower your expectations.
SPEAKER_00: We are to lower our expectations.
SPEAKER_00: You see, we often have these expectations that we lay on people.
SPEAKER_00: And we say, if they will do this and this and this and this, then I will feel honored, valued, and appreciated.
SPEAKER_00: And often when those expectations are not met, we walk about with hurt feelings.
SPEAKER_00: Tim Killer states it very well.
SPEAKER_00: He says, nobody stepped on your toes, they stepped on your ego.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody hurts your feelings, they hurt your pride.
SPEAKER_00: You see, pride, self, love, pride has high expectations that it enforces on other people.
SPEAKER_00: And say, if you meet these expectations, I'll be okay with you.
SPEAKER_00: That's not the way of agape.
SPEAKER_00: Number five.
SPEAKER_00: Take an interest in boring people.
SPEAKER_00: I know.
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of boring people.
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of boring people who have very boring social media pages.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I'm gonna fall asleep if I get one of your posts.
SPEAKER_00: I need somebody.
SPEAKER_00: Does something dangerous.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that how our culture functions?
SPEAKER_00: You gotta be someone for me to even see you.
SPEAKER_00: But what does Jesus say to us in Romans twelve?
SPEAKER_00: Romans twelve does he not say?
SPEAKER_00: Associate with the lowly.
SPEAKER_00: Romans twelve, sixteen.
SPEAKER_00: Be of the same mind towards one another.
SPEAKER_00: Do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly.
SPEAKER_00: What is lowly people?
SPEAKER_00: I don't know, are they just boring people?
SPEAKER_00: They nobody just ordinary people like me.
SPEAKER_00: Just just that's what we gotta do.
SPEAKER_00: We gotta be associating with those people.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: It's good for us.
SPEAKER_00: It does that prideful self-love, gives it a good blow.
SPEAKER_00: Did Christ not associate with the lowly?
SPEAKER_00: Was he not called a friend of sinners?
SPEAKER_00: So, my dear brothers and sisters, let's take a genuine interest in even those boring people around us.
SPEAKER_00: Those boring people, let's take an interest in their mundane lives.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because that is what agape love does.
SPEAKER_00: I once read an article about a man who visited a church and he was so overwhelmed by the agape love shone in the church, and somebody asked him, so so what made this church such a loving church?
SPEAKER_00: He says, I was so impressed with my first visit there that people seemed really interested in me.
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
SPEAKER_00: Is it loving to ignore someone?
SPEAKER_00: No, it's not.
SPEAKER_00: We'll greet them and acknowledge them.
SPEAKER_00: But is it loving to take no interest in another person?
SPEAKER_00: Self-love says, I've talked enough about myself now.
SPEAKER_00: What do you think of me?
SPEAKER_00: Some of you are a little slow this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Dear brothers and sisters, let's take an interest, like a family, right?
SPEAKER_00: If you've grown up in a family and you've got little brothers and sisters, and they tell you this long story, and you go, how long is this story gonna be?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I see some parents chuckling here.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you go, okay, land the plane.
SPEAKER_00: But we listen, we take interest, we ask questions.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Number one, they family, and number two, we love.
SPEAKER_00: So we take an interest.
SPEAKER_00: Number five, be quick.
SPEAKER_00: Be quick to show Jana interest, be quick to praise, be quick to demonstrate appreciation, be quick to care, be quick to value.
SPEAKER_00: Let us ask God to help us to become a community, a family of agape people.
SPEAKER_00: Dear Heavenly Father, I pray that we will break from this cultural mindset, this cultural paradigm that says, I am so important, I'm so in love with myself, I deserve better.
SPEAKER_00: Help us to not be conformed any longer to our culture, but to be renewed in our thinking so that we can be transformed into the image of the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: I pray, God, that we will indeed be a community of servants, a community of slaves to serve you by serving one another.
SPEAKER_00: Let our love not be just with word and with tongue, but in deed and in truth.
SPEAKER_00: I pray this.
SPEAKER_00: Let us pray for him and eagerly await his return.
SPEAKER_00: We pray this in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.
SPEAKER_01: Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.