WEBVTT 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:12.800 This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota. 00:00:21.679 --> 00:00:25.920 You would open your Bibles to Romans twelve. 00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:29.280 And we're gonna read there. 00:00:30.960 --> 00:00:34.640 Verse 9, and then verses 12 and 13. 00:00:38.240 --> 00:00:44.880 Let love be genuine, abore what is evil, hold fast to what is good. 00:00:45.280 --> 00:00:47.359 Then verse 12 and 13. 00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:59.920 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer, contribute to the needs of the saints, and seek to show hospitality. 00:01:02.159 --> 00:01:19.040 There's this story about a World War II pilot who crashed in the Pacific and somewhere marooned on a deserted island where he lived a solitary existence for over a decade. 00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:28.079 Finally, to his rescue came a bunch of uh sailors exploring the island, and here they found a lonely man with a very long beard. 00:01:28.879 --> 00:01:33.840 Perplexed at some of this man's habits, they looked at two structures. 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:43.040 The one represented something of a church with a steeple and a cross on top, and the other represented something of a homestead. 00:01:44.959 --> 00:01:50.239 The islander was asked by one of the sailors, he said, So what are those two buildings there? 00:01:50.400 --> 00:02:00.879 He says, Well, look, that used to be my church, but it was such an unloving church that I rather decided to do church at home. 00:02:02.879 --> 00:02:04.560 Some of you got that. 00:02:06.879 --> 00:02:19.520 You see, in the scriptures, in early Christianity, we find Christian believers devoting themselves to the gathering together. 00:02:20.080 --> 00:02:33.280 The gathering together was to devote themselves to the teaching of the apostles, and of course, for fellowship, the breaking of bread, and of course, prayer. 00:02:35.840 --> 00:02:45.599 We can also get a glimpse in the rest of the book of Acts of early church life that it was less than prosperous in perfect times. 00:02:46.719 --> 00:03:00.000 But the early church took to heart the words of Jesus Christ, who said, For by this they will know you are my disciples if you love one another, John 13, 35. 00:03:00.639 --> 00:03:06.400 And therefore they gathered as a community of people for the purpose of loving one another. 00:03:08.319 --> 00:03:14.479 And they gathered to love one another in less than perfect circumstances. 00:03:16.319 --> 00:03:24.080 Increasingly in our time, church gatherings have become more fragmented and more scattered than ever before. 00:03:24.240 --> 00:03:26.800 More and more people are falling through the cracks. 00:03:27.039 --> 00:03:43.199 While there's often a virtual connection with the church proper, the increased fragmentation has caused deeper isolation, and people are lonelier and oppressed than ever before. 00:03:45.280 --> 00:03:56.000 No doubt being part of a local church like our own presents itself with a fair share of difficulties, adversities, complexities, and even trials. 00:03:56.479 --> 00:03:57.120 Why? 00:03:57.759 --> 00:03:59.759 Because we are sinners, right? 00:04:00.960 --> 00:04:12.000 Yet there is no substitute for the agape love that is to be found amongst Christians who physically gather together. 00:04:12.479 --> 00:04:16.959 This is what author Alexander Strauk says. 00:04:17.439 --> 00:04:24.560 He says the essence of the gathering of the community of believers is to love one another. 00:04:25.680 --> 00:04:31.680 The purpose of gathering one another is to love one another. 00:04:32.319 --> 00:04:44.560 Agape love cannot be developed by being alone and outside the household of God, but it is to be practiced and learned within the household of God, says Strauk. 00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:45.839 Strauk goes further. 00:04:45.920 --> 00:04:57.839 He says, the church, with all its weaknesses and faults, is a place where love is taught, modeled, learned, tested, practiced, and matured. 00:04:58.959 --> 00:05:12.240 But Strauk is sober when he says this love is probably going to be an environment where you're going to deal with difficult people facing painful conflicts. 00:05:14.079 --> 00:05:29.439 It's going to be an environment where there's going to have to be forgiveness for longstanding hurts and injustices, reconciling and strange relationships and helping those needy members in the body of Christ. 00:05:31.680 --> 00:05:37.279 Where our love will not only be stretched, it will be tested and be matured. 00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:48.240 You see, dear brothers and sisters, when we enter a church, we think of it often as a place where we're going to be showered with love. 00:05:49.920 --> 00:05:56.000 Little do we know that our love will be tested and our love would be matured. 00:05:56.800 --> 00:05:58.399 Or the lack of it. 00:06:00.879 --> 00:06:05.920 We gather as a community of believers in order to love one another. 00:06:06.079 --> 00:06:12.000 Or how else will people know who are the people who love Jesus Christ? 00:06:13.839 --> 00:06:21.519 We are Christ's disciples, and the world needs to see our love for one another as our trademark. 00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:38.160 How love is learned, how love is modeled, how love is practiced, and how love is even stretched and matured. 00:06:39.040 --> 00:06:46.879 And that will happen, dear brothers and sisters, despite weaknesses and faults in the gathering of the saints. 00:06:47.920 --> 00:07:00.879 Or how else can we follow the commandment of Colossians 2, 2 that says, so that your hearts are to be encouraged and the people are knitted together in love? 00:07:01.279 --> 00:07:08.160 How are we to be knitted together in love if we are scattered and fragmented? 00:07:08.959 --> 00:07:20.319 You see, agape love is especially at best learned and refined in difficult times, especially times of adversity and times of scarcity. 00:07:22.639 --> 00:07:28.800 The church in Thessalonica experienced great scarcity and great adversity. 00:07:29.759 --> 00:07:38.720 And yet Paul says to them, Now, as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for me to write you anything. 00:07:39.040 --> 00:07:44.639 For you, you yourselves are taught by God to love one another. 00:07:45.600 --> 00:07:52.079 They were learning to love one another in less than perfect circumstances. 00:07:55.439 --> 00:08:02.079 Do we think God will teach us agape love in the presence of perfection? 00:08:02.800 --> 00:08:10.800 Is it not in weaknesses and faults, in our own weaknesses and faults, that we learn agape love? 00:08:14.959 --> 00:08:25.279 If we think we are a loving church, and I do believe we are a loving church, Paul would say the same thing to us as he said to the church in Thessalonica. 00:08:26.160 --> 00:08:30.399 But we urge you, brothers, to excel more and more. 00:08:30.639 --> 00:08:35.039 You are doing well, but we can do better. 00:08:37.679 --> 00:08:38.799 This is what Dr. 00:08:38.960 --> 00:08:40.559 Billheimer, Dr. 00:08:40.639 --> 00:08:53.200 Paul Bilheimer once said about church as a place where weaknesses and faults help us to move towards greater love. 00:08:53.360 --> 00:08:59.440 He says the local church truly is a spiritual workshop for the development of agape love. 00:08:59.840 --> 00:09:10.159 And one of the very best laboratories in which individual believers may discover this spiritual emptiness and begin to grow in agape love. 00:09:27.120 --> 00:09:39.519 And we may become critical of that, but that should say something about our own spiritual emptiness and our own call to grow in agape love. 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:51.360 You see, for many people who just simply attend church, they think of church as a performance, which they come to receive something and to critique something. 00:09:51.519 --> 00:09:55.200 In reality, it's more like a workshop or a laboratory. 00:09:55.440 --> 00:10:03.440 Those are you in high school and in college, the workshop or the lab class is not just something you can attend. 00:10:03.519 --> 00:10:05.679 That is something that you need to be involved in. 00:10:05.840 --> 00:10:08.720 You have to immerse yourself to get the full experience. 00:10:08.960 --> 00:10:14.240 And not only as you experience it, you learn through practical participation. 00:10:15.840 --> 00:10:29.360 Now, dear brothers and sisters, let me warn you that church gathered together is not a sterile or clinical laboratory, but at best have the smells and odors of a sheep pan. 00:10:30.639 --> 00:10:42.720 If we simply attend church, or we have this virtual connection with church, we will never understand the real reason why we gather. 00:10:44.240 --> 00:10:59.279 First, we will fail to discover our own spiritual emptiness and our need to practice and learn and grow and refine our agape love for people with faults and weaknesses. 00:11:00.080 --> 00:11:09.519 And dear brothers and sisters, adversity and scarcity somewhat highlights our need to love. 00:11:10.879 --> 00:11:17.039 And therefore the title for today's message is Love in Adversity and Scarcity. 00:11:17.279 --> 00:11:19.759 Love in adversity and scarcity. 00:11:21.120 --> 00:11:30.879 You see, agape love shines best against the backdrop of weaknesses and faults, or even better, in at times of adversity and scarcity. 00:11:31.039 --> 00:11:32.320 It is like the stars. 00:11:32.559 --> 00:11:36.159 The darker the sky, the brighter the light. 00:11:37.120 --> 00:11:43.039 Let's look here once again at Romans 12, verses 9, 12, and 13. 00:11:46.159 --> 00:11:51.759 The main sentence of that passage is in verse 9. 00:11:52.720 --> 00:11:55.440 Let love be genuine. 00:11:55.519 --> 00:12:01.279 And everything else following is subordinate to that thought of agape love. 00:12:02.480 --> 00:12:06.320 Love one, let love be genuine. 00:12:06.480 --> 00:12:06.879 How? 00:12:07.120 --> 00:12:08.159 Loving one another. 00:12:08.320 --> 00:12:09.679 Do not be slothful. 00:12:09.919 --> 00:12:21.360 Verse 12, rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer, contribute to the needs of the saints, and seek to show hospitality. 00:12:25.120 --> 00:12:31.120 As we look at that, we will see that agape love is best displayed in times. 00:12:32.159 --> 00:12:34.000 Sorry, that was a fly. 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:49.519 Love without a hypocrisy is typically shown and best demonstrated and best refined in times of tribulation and times where there are needs. 00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:55.360 And just the simple outline here: if we think of tribulations, we think of adversity. 00:12:55.519 --> 00:12:58.799 And if we think of needs, we think of scarcity. 00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:02.559 And so the outline is really simple: adversity and scarcity. 00:13:04.159 --> 00:13:09.519 Verse 12 rejoice in hope, endure in tribulation, persist in prayer. 00:13:09.679 --> 00:13:16.559 Now, God pay love, number one, is learned, refined, and exemplified in times of adversity. 00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:29.039 Now, if we think of the word tribulation, it comes from a Greek word of a pressure, thinking of a gr a millstone that is put on somebody's chest. 00:13:29.519 --> 00:13:31.840 It is it's a heaviness. 00:13:32.960 --> 00:13:51.039 We often, as Christians, sink into a discouragement and a despair when we experience adversity, trials, not so much outside the church, but within the four walls of a church. 00:13:54.080 --> 00:14:04.559 Christians often fall in hopeless despair because of internal turmoils and tribulations within the church itself. 00:14:05.600 --> 00:14:18.639 Isn't it funny that we live in a world that is so full of troubles and trials and tribulations, and then the moment we walk in here, we expect everything to be perfect and everybody to be perfect. 00:14:18.879 --> 00:14:21.600 It's not going to be the case, dear brothers and sisters. 00:14:21.840 --> 00:14:40.240 And this phrase of rejoicing in hope and being patient in tribulation or enduring tribulation does not mean that we will not experience these hardships of relational and situational issues within the body of Christ. 00:14:40.399 --> 00:14:42.240 We are not immune to that. 00:14:43.519 --> 00:14:53.600 But we are called to love one another so that the world can see that we are the disciples of Jesus Christ. 00:14:55.039 --> 00:15:09.679 People will often say to me, Anton, it's easier to bear rejection and criticism outside the church, but when it comes inside the church, it's so much more painful. 00:15:10.080 --> 00:15:15.360 Yes, endure, endure patiently, it says. 00:15:15.679 --> 00:15:19.200 Endure in a joyful and purposeful way. 00:15:19.600 --> 00:15:22.480 Endure hopefully. 00:15:23.360 --> 00:15:25.519 Rejoice in hope. 00:15:25.919 --> 00:15:29.759 We can endure because we have hope. 00:15:31.200 --> 00:15:49.360 More specifically, that word endure or persevere or be patient, as the ESV translates it, comes from the Greek word hupo money, which basically has a sense of abiding and remaining put under pressure. 00:15:51.200 --> 00:16:00.320 We know the saying, when the going gets tough, yes, but in churches it works this way. 00:16:01.279 --> 00:16:05.200 When the tough gets going, the tough people go running. 00:16:06.639 --> 00:16:14.720 You see, we are called to stay the course regardless, regardless of circumstances. 00:16:15.679 --> 00:16:20.639 Stay the course because that is how you love. 00:16:21.759 --> 00:16:27.600 How tragic is it when people jump ship at the slightest bit of adversity? 00:16:29.200 --> 00:16:34.879 Not even the first wave comes over the bell, and people abandon ship. 00:16:35.120 --> 00:16:36.480 The ship is sinking. 00:16:36.639 --> 00:16:38.399 No, you just got wet. 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:59.120 We as Christians can remain trustingly, patiently, enduring trials and tribulations, and we can do that in an even killed way because we have hope, and hope never disappoints. 00:17:00.960 --> 00:17:22.400 We have hope that even despite the adversities we may experience at some point within this congregation, we are called to lovingly and hopefully endure patiently, because the gates of Hades shall not prevail as long as we lovingly endure. 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:31.359 Christ is building his church, he is teaching us agape love. 00:17:34.559 --> 00:17:44.240 Do you think, dear brothers and sisters, agape love is best displayed against the backdrop of moonshine and roses? 00:17:45.839 --> 00:17:54.559 Christ did not love on a bed of roses, he just demonstrated his love on a rugged cross. 00:17:54.799 --> 00:18:04.480 Despite people saying, crucify him, crucify him, he responded by saying, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. 00:18:04.720 --> 00:18:09.759 Agape love is best displayed in times of adversity. 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:20.000 Whether inside the church or outside the church, we are patiently enduring, hopefully enduring, and staying the course joyfully. 00:18:20.880 --> 00:18:21.519 Why? 00:18:22.480 --> 00:18:24.720 2 Corinthians 4, 7. 00:18:25.440 --> 00:18:35.440 These are light and momentary afflictions, but they are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs our difficulties. 00:18:37.039 --> 00:18:44.720 When we enter into heaven, all these difficulties will be gone, and they will seem so minute. 00:18:46.559 --> 00:18:58.880 Yes, I've got no doubt, dear brothers and sisters, at some point you may experience some coldness here from somebody, some animosity, some hostility, some rejection, even persecution. 00:18:59.039 --> 00:19:06.240 But what a wonderful time to learn agape love, to demonstrate agape love and to refine your agape love. 00:19:08.799 --> 00:19:19.039 The problem, if we jump ship and say, Oh, such unloving people, just reflects our own lack of love. 00:19:19.599 --> 00:19:27.359 Because did Jesus not say in Luke 6, 32, if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? 00:19:27.680 --> 00:19:31.359 For even sinners love those who love them. 00:19:32.079 --> 00:19:35.839 If you can only love the lovable, then that's no credit to you. 00:19:35.920 --> 00:19:51.200 But if you love the unlovable, if you love those you experience animosity, rejection, hostility, and even persecution, that produces it an eternal weight of glory. 00:19:54.079 --> 00:20:04.160 The more painful the insult, the more challenging the situation, the more difficult the person, even more so to display the beauty of Agape love. 00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:12.319 But dear brothers, let me warn you, dear sisters, let me caution you, do not try to do this in your own strength. 00:20:12.400 --> 00:20:13.039 You cannot. 00:20:13.200 --> 00:20:22.000 You have to first experience the love of Christ, which is shed in your hearts if you receive Him as your Lord and Savior. 00:20:22.640 --> 00:20:28.160 But it says there in verse 12, be constant in prayer. 00:20:28.559 --> 00:20:31.599 Be constant in prayer, be consistent in prayer. 00:20:31.839 --> 00:20:39.279 Another translation: be devoted in prayer, be devoted to one another in prayer. 00:20:42.960 --> 00:20:47.680 To love and to love properly will take personal prayer. 00:20:49.839 --> 00:20:53.279 Jesus, help me to love so and so. 00:20:55.599 --> 00:20:58.160 It requires communal prayer. 00:20:58.400 --> 00:21:02.079 Jesus, will you help us to be more loving? 00:21:04.400 --> 00:21:06.799 It takes intercessory prayer. 00:21:07.039 --> 00:21:11.359 Jesus, will you allow brother A and Brother B to love one another? 00:21:11.519 --> 00:21:14.240 They've been experiencing conflicts of late. 00:21:15.279 --> 00:21:19.279 Would you shed your life abundantly into their lives? 00:21:20.400 --> 00:21:25.599 But it will also require a devotion in supportive prayer. 00:21:26.880 --> 00:21:30.559 Let me give you an example of what is supportive prayer. 00:21:31.039 --> 00:21:46.319 My wife and I went through just over a two-year period of uh fighting her cancer, and we went through very challenging times and some tremendous difficulties with treatments and surgeries. 00:21:46.480 --> 00:21:54.960 And we also experienced scores of people who said to us, We will pray for you. 00:22:00.720 --> 00:22:01.279 For you. 00:22:03.039 --> 00:22:08.400 But when somebody says to you, can I pray with you? 00:22:09.759 --> 00:22:13.680 Love reaches grand heights. 00:22:13.920 --> 00:22:28.640 When somebody is willing to stop what they are doing and put themselves in your shoes and say, Let me wrestle with you before the throne of God with your difficulty. 00:22:28.880 --> 00:22:31.119 That takes on a whole nother form of prayer. 00:22:31.200 --> 00:22:39.519 And by the way, dear brothers and sisters, how many of you have said, like I have, I will pray for you, and we never do. 00:22:41.039 --> 00:22:46.480 You get an email of somebody getting well or somebody dying, you go, you know, I never prayed. 00:22:46.559 --> 00:22:48.079 I totally forgot. 00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:59.920 Love takes on a whole new dimension if we are devoted to praying with one another, just not only for one another. 00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:06.079 And let me show you how you can stretch love to a different dimension. 00:23:06.400 --> 00:23:09.839 You see, we're quick to pray for someone else. 00:23:10.559 --> 00:23:15.279 Jesus, will you help to change Mr. 00:23:15.519 --> 00:23:18.160 So-and-so so that I can love them better? 00:23:18.480 --> 00:23:22.480 Just help them to be stop being such a knucklehead. 00:23:28.400 --> 00:23:31.519 It's a different thing when you say, I'm gonna pray with Mr. 00:23:31.599 --> 00:23:32.640 Knucklehead. 00:23:33.519 --> 00:23:43.839 And I'm gonna pray that God will just soften my heart and deepen my love for my brother, who I'm particularly having a hard time with. 00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:48.079 It's hard to hate somebody and truly pray with them. 00:23:49.839 --> 00:23:50.640 Try that. 00:23:52.880 --> 00:23:58.480 What a beautiful thing when we pray with one another. 00:24:01.359 --> 00:24:13.359 Before you and I want to rush over to speak our mind to so and so because there of their irksome behaviors, how about trying to pray with them? 00:24:15.039 --> 00:24:21.279 But sure remember yourself, remind yourself that love is without hypocrisy. 00:24:21.519 --> 00:24:24.640 Don't do this with an ulterior motive. 00:24:28.240 --> 00:24:36.160 Let the situation rather expose your own spiritual emptiness and the lack of your own love. 00:24:36.880 --> 00:24:44.240 While we can pray for people and certainly love them, our love is not limited to words, but to words and deed. 00:24:44.400 --> 00:24:45.920 Look at verse 13. 00:24:46.160 --> 00:24:51.279 It says they contribute to the needs of the saints, practice hospitality. 00:24:53.359 --> 00:24:58.720 Number two, agape love is learned, refined, modeled in times of scarcity. 00:24:58.960 --> 00:25:03.519 First, we learned that agape love is learned, refined, modeled in times of adversity. 00:25:03.680 --> 00:25:11.119 Now we will learn how it is demonstrated and learned and matured in times of scarcity. 00:25:11.200 --> 00:25:16.720 And here's just a two-fold observation in verse 13. 00:25:17.519 --> 00:25:23.839 Contribute to the needs of the saints, that speaks of scarcity of food for the stomach. 00:25:24.720 --> 00:25:31.519 Seek to show hospitality, that shows a scarcity of fellowship for the soul. 00:25:32.480 --> 00:25:36.319 The one is food for the stomach, the other is food for the soul. 00:25:36.480 --> 00:25:39.200 Let me unpack this for you quickly. 00:25:39.519 --> 00:25:46.160 You see, the English word there is uh is contribute, contribute to the needs of the saints. 00:25:46.319 --> 00:25:48.960 Or as the King James says, distribute. 00:25:49.920 --> 00:25:52.480 But the word is far deeper, dear brothers and sisters. 00:25:52.640 --> 00:25:54.400 It's the word koinoneo. 00:25:54.640 --> 00:25:55.839 Koinoneo. 00:25:56.559 --> 00:26:01.519 And that word is the same word that we get in English for fellowship. 00:26:03.440 --> 00:26:05.039 And what is he saying here? 00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:09.920 Means to have things in common, to share a common bond. 00:26:10.160 --> 00:26:14.640 How do we share a common bond with the saints who are needy? 00:26:15.759 --> 00:26:19.039 More practically speaking, it is this way. 00:26:19.839 --> 00:26:25.759 To be intimately and viscerally familiar with the true needs of the saints. 00:26:27.200 --> 00:26:31.759 What would be the opposite of having fellowship with the needs of the saints? 00:26:31.920 --> 00:26:43.519 The opposite would be being out of touch, being oblivious, being indifferent, being blissfully ignorant. 00:26:46.640 --> 00:26:57.680 The saints of Macedonia were not blissfully ignorant and unaware of the dire needs of the persecuted saints in Jerusalem. 00:26:58.880 --> 00:27:16.160 Because in Second Corinthians 8, Paul commends the Macedonian churches, despite their own scarcity, they insisted to give and support the needs in Jerusalem. 00:27:18.480 --> 00:27:27.200 Despite their own poverty and scarcity, they were intimately in tune with the needs of the saints. 00:27:28.079 --> 00:27:34.240 How in tune are you, dear brothers and sisters, how your fellow brothers and sisters are doing financially? 00:27:36.000 --> 00:27:40.400 Physically, materially. 00:27:41.920 --> 00:27:43.839 Let me give you an example here. 00:27:45.920 --> 00:27:56.400 What it means to be intimately in tune with the needs of the saints. 00:27:57.039 --> 00:28:06.160 We came here many years ago as an international student to attend seminary. 00:28:06.480 --> 00:28:07.839 My wife couldn't work. 00:28:07.920 --> 00:28:14.000 I was limited to 20 hours a week of work, which made us dirt poor. 00:28:14.160 --> 00:28:19.119 You try and live in Los Angeles at minimum wage at 20 hours a week. 00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:22.640 The math just don't add up. 00:28:23.839 --> 00:28:30.559 But here we are new in a strange country in a big city trying to make ends meet. 00:28:30.640 --> 00:28:35.519 And here comes the saints of the local church and they knock on the door. 00:28:36.079 --> 00:28:39.519 Oh, hello, we want to introduce ourselves, we'll be so-and-so and so. 00:28:40.319 --> 00:28:43.680 And they say, can we just uh visit with you a little bit? 00:28:43.920 --> 00:28:45.039 And they they did. 00:28:45.200 --> 00:28:50.960 And then they open up our freezer and our fridge and our pantry. 00:28:51.920 --> 00:28:54.720 Wow, these Americans are very intrusive people. 00:28:54.799 --> 00:28:56.880 Are they are they all like this? 00:28:58.079 --> 00:29:01.839 The sitcoms don't make it out that they like that. 00:29:03.359 --> 00:29:13.279 But you see, dear brothers and sisters, what I was seeing displayed there was Acts 2, verses 44 and verse 45. 00:29:13.440 --> 00:29:28.000 And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common, Koino, and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing with them all as everyone might have need. 00:29:30.960 --> 00:29:35.519 You see, an hour or two or three later, you would get a knock on the door again. 00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:42.160 Families standing, bags of groceries. 00:29:42.480 --> 00:29:44.400 How did you know we needed this? 00:29:44.640 --> 00:29:49.359 How did you need it know that we are running out of baby formula? 00:29:51.119 --> 00:29:57.920 That is what it means to have coinone with someone's need. 00:29:58.240 --> 00:30:01.200 This is what the late Jay Apecker once said. 00:30:01.359 --> 00:30:19.519 He said, it is a well-known fact that agape love is a sacrificial love, but it is also an involved type of love that always considers giving, spending, and impoverishing oneself for the sake of the well-being of the needy saints. 00:30:20.160 --> 00:30:41.039 Let's think about that for a moment, dear brothers and sisters, in terms of our fragmented Christian culture, our virtual church culture, how can we be in touch with the needs of the saints if we are cocooned in our little cocoons or our little palaces? 00:30:42.319 --> 00:30:48.640 Can we have a virtual connection with the church and be intimately aware of the needs of the saints? 00:30:50.480 --> 00:31:10.079 If agape love is known for its intimate awareness and deep understanding of specific needs amongst the saints, then what is definitely required is not virtual church but actual gathering of the saints. 00:31:14.559 --> 00:31:25.039 Next thing about agape love, in times of scarcity, it also looks for the scarcity that affects the soul. 00:31:27.119 --> 00:31:28.640 And that is verse 13. 00:31:28.799 --> 00:31:34.319 The last part of verse 13, it says, and seek to show hospitality. 00:31:34.480 --> 00:31:38.400 Some of your translations may read, practice hospitality, okay? 00:31:38.640 --> 00:31:39.920 Now that's okay. 00:31:40.079 --> 00:31:43.599 That's not a bad word, but it's not the best. 00:31:43.920 --> 00:31:46.799 Practice is not the best translation. 00:31:46.960 --> 00:31:50.640 The word pursue hospitality is accurate. 00:31:51.039 --> 00:32:00.559 It is the same word that is used in Acts where it is said that Paul pursued the saints to persecute them. 00:32:01.200 --> 00:32:08.720 It's this hot pursuit, this kind of bounty hunter pursuit of somebody who jumped Baal. 00:32:10.880 --> 00:32:21.440 Hospitality, dear brothers and sisters, is not to be practiced, it is to be pursued because it ministers food to the soul. 00:32:23.200 --> 00:32:30.480 You see, dear brothers and sisters, every believer hungers for community. 00:32:31.519 --> 00:32:38.480 In fact, every human being hungers for community and true fellowship. 00:32:39.119 --> 00:32:45.039 But the church is the only place where you can have true community and true fellowship. 00:32:47.519 --> 00:32:55.839 And if we if we don't offer and provide true fellowship and true community, guess what? 00:32:56.079 --> 00:33:01.279 People are going to go try and find it in the world. 00:33:01.519 --> 00:33:04.000 And that's when things go bad. 00:33:05.680 --> 00:33:16.880 We are the only organization that can provide true and meaningful fellowship and true and meaningful fellowship and community. 00:33:17.920 --> 00:33:22.559 Social media doesn't, Zoom conferences doesn't. 00:33:23.119 --> 00:33:29.680 Virtual church promises fellowship, but it only delivers the simulacrum of fellowship. 00:33:30.160 --> 00:33:41.599 No wonder people are lonelier and more depressed than any time before in church history because virtual church is failing to deliver what it promises. 00:33:41.920 --> 00:33:47.599 It cannot deliver fellowship and community. 00:33:53.200 --> 00:34:04.640 We are to provide for the physical needs of the saints, but we got to provide for the soul of the saints through true spiritual fellowship. 00:34:04.880 --> 00:34:11.199 And that, dear brothers and sisters, comes through the pursuit of hospitality. 00:34:13.280 --> 00:34:14.400 The Reverend R. 00:34:14.559 --> 00:34:14.639 C. 00:34:14.800 --> 00:34:25.199 Chapman, a very little-known preacher from Bond Stable in England, once said, Too many Christians preach Christ, but too few love Christ. 00:34:26.719 --> 00:34:27.760 Think about that. 00:34:28.159 --> 00:34:31.119 It's one thing to hear somebody preach Christ. 00:34:31.280 --> 00:34:37.760 It's another thing to see someone love Christ in times of adversity and in times of scarcity. 00:34:39.039 --> 00:34:48.880 Jesus noticed someone who had a hunger for true fellowship, and he shouted, Zacchaeus, hurry, come down, for today I must stay in your home. 00:34:49.199 --> 00:34:51.360 You know the song? 00:34:53.679 --> 00:34:56.719 One of the first Christian songs I learned. 00:34:57.760 --> 00:34:59.840 Jesus pursued Zacchaeus. 00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:02.400 Zacchaeus didn't pursue Jesus. 00:35:02.639 --> 00:35:08.880 Jesus pursued hospitality because in your home I must stay today. 00:35:10.320 --> 00:35:12.480 Come down, Zacchaeus. 00:35:12.719 --> 00:35:14.159 Let's go to your home. 00:35:14.400 --> 00:35:22.000 I have no home, but I hunger for your fellowship, and I know you hunger for my fellowship. 00:35:22.960 --> 00:35:28.480 Jesus didn't even have a home, and he was the most hospitable of people. 00:35:31.039 --> 00:35:36.320 Zacchaeus, deep down in his soul, hungered for fellowship and community. 00:35:39.360 --> 00:35:44.159 Dear brothers and sisters, hospitality is often confused with entertainment. 00:35:44.400 --> 00:35:51.519 We think we are hospitable when we invite our friends and family members over for elaborate dinner parties. 00:35:51.840 --> 00:35:55.760 That is not hospitality, that's entertainment. 00:35:57.760 --> 00:36:00.880 The word hospitality is a compound word in Greek. 00:36:00.960 --> 00:36:04.079 It means love and strangers. 00:36:04.719 --> 00:36:08.400 Love for strangers. 00:36:08.559 --> 00:36:15.519 Now I'm not saying we got to show hospitality to the first stranger you walk into leaving the church. 00:36:15.840 --> 00:36:21.039 But how many in this body are virtual strangers to one another? 00:36:22.159 --> 00:36:26.159 I mean, I don't know too many of you very well. 00:36:26.880 --> 00:36:33.280 Wouldn't hospitality be something where strangers become family. 00:36:37.760 --> 00:36:51.599 That day when Jesus invited himself over to Zacchaeus's house, I bet you that Zacchaeus was no stranger to Jesus, and Jesus was no stranger to Zacchaeus. 00:36:52.639 --> 00:37:05.840 And so here, scarcity, when there's a dearth of community and fellowship, is a time for agape love to rise to the top. 00:37:08.400 --> 00:37:14.480 Churches have something to offer that this world cannot offer, and that is true fellowship. 00:37:14.639 --> 00:37:23.199 And the best way to demonstrate true fellowship and to practice this agape love command is through hospitality. 00:37:23.920 --> 00:37:26.639 It's not gonna fall in your lap, dear brothers and sisters. 00:37:26.719 --> 00:37:28.320 You gotta hunt it down. 00:37:28.400 --> 00:37:33.199 You gotta hunt somebody down and say, let's eat together. 00:37:35.760 --> 00:37:43.519 Let me share you a quick experience here of a student that visited some churches in Southern California. 00:37:43.679 --> 00:37:56.400 Coming from another country, only used to a little congregation of about 25 or 30 people, found themselves visiting one church after another in the Southern California area. 00:37:58.000 --> 00:38:02.000 And for the first time, this person experiences a mega church. 00:38:02.159 --> 00:38:05.119 And here they get to this huge parking lot. 00:38:05.360 --> 00:38:13.440 And the first thing is the parking lot attendant greeted them and made eye contact. 00:38:13.760 --> 00:38:19.440 And this person said, Wow, that made me feel welcomed. 00:38:20.960 --> 00:38:30.239 Then they walked up to the big doors of the sanctuary and the door flung open, and an usher firmly shook their hands. 00:38:30.480 --> 00:38:32.719 That was pre-COVID times. 00:38:35.599 --> 00:38:41.119 He said, that made me feel appreciated. 00:38:42.400 --> 00:38:50.800 He said, then after the service, somebody walked them over to the information center where they were given a small gift. 00:38:51.360 --> 00:38:53.599 He said that was nice. 00:38:54.400 --> 00:39:00.880 That made me feel welcomed and appreciated. 00:39:02.320 --> 00:39:09.119 He commented that the preaching and the singing and the worship experience was very biblical, and that was comforting. 00:39:09.280 --> 00:39:24.639 But he says, what expressed to him that he was loved as a brother in Christ was the fact by noon that day he already received three invitations to go to lunch. 00:39:25.679 --> 00:39:30.880 So that made him decide to go to this particular church. 00:39:32.400 --> 00:39:46.239 Dear brothers and sisters, hospitality is something that we ought to pursue if we want to be true and faithful to the command to love one another without hypocrisy. 00:39:46.480 --> 00:39:51.119 What does 1 Peter 4 9 say about hospitality? 00:39:52.079 --> 00:39:55.920 Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. 00:39:56.159 --> 00:39:58.000 Now we might not be grumbling. 00:39:58.239 --> 00:39:59.119 Well, we might. 00:39:59.280 --> 00:40:01.360 You mean you're having people over, honey? 00:40:01.599 --> 00:40:05.440 Oh my word, I've got some stuff to watch on TV. 00:40:05.840 --> 00:40:07.840 People don't really speak that way. 00:40:08.000 --> 00:40:10.800 I'm just doing that for dramatic effect. 00:40:13.679 --> 00:40:16.239 But people do come up with uh excuses. 00:40:16.960 --> 00:40:17.679 Excuses. 00:40:18.239 --> 00:40:21.519 More excuses why life is busy. 00:40:21.679 --> 00:40:28.719 Can you imagine Jesus say, hey Zacchaeus, I would love to have fellowship with you, but you know, life is kind of busy. 00:40:28.880 --> 00:40:37.199 You know, I've got this very, very big ministry, and people are bothering me all the day with silly little things, but you and I need to catch up at some point. 00:40:38.239 --> 00:40:39.840 I gotta have you over for dinner. 00:40:39.920 --> 00:40:41.039 Oh, I don't have a house. 00:40:41.199 --> 00:40:54.159 I mean, hospitality should not be burdensome, dear brothers and sisters, because it is a joyful expression of love. 00:40:57.199 --> 00:41:01.440 Hospitality does not require a perfect home but a willing heart. 00:41:01.599 --> 00:41:06.880 It does not need to break the bank, but it rather needs to break down walls of separation. 00:41:07.760 --> 00:41:18.800 A virtual church cannot offer virtual hospitality just as much as Jesus' visit with Zacchaeus was a real visit, not a virtual visit. 00:41:20.079 --> 00:41:24.400 Hospitality does not need to get complicated, though we make it complicated. 00:41:24.480 --> 00:41:32.079 It is really as simple as saying, honey, maybe we should get a few sandwiches packed for church next Sunday and let's see who we can visit with. 00:41:32.320 --> 00:41:36.400 Maybe we can get to know this guy or this person better. 00:41:39.199 --> 00:41:44.079 We're either going to make people part of a community or we're gonna drive them elsewhere. 00:41:44.960 --> 00:41:52.159 This is what the late Francis Schaefer, almost in prophetical fashion, had to say back in 1970. 00:41:52.800 --> 00:42:02.960 He says, there is no use saying you have community or love for each other if it does not get down to the tough stuff in life. 00:42:04.000 --> 00:42:09.440 It must, or we are producing ugliness in the name of truth. 00:42:10.480 --> 00:42:18.079 There's nothing uglier than a church that preaches truth but does not practice the truth. 00:42:18.239 --> 00:42:28.320 There's nothing more ugly than a church that is convinced it is a loving church because it loves truth and does not practice hospitality. 00:42:29.599 --> 00:42:50.960 He says further, I'm convinced that in the 20th century, in our century too, people all over the world will not listen if we have the right doctrine, the right polity, and even the right views on things, but we are not exhibiting community. 00:42:53.280 --> 00:43:05.679 In other words, if we all scatter in our different directions, people might not bother with the truth that we preach. 00:43:08.000 --> 00:43:12.000 Think of the story of our guy who was marooned on the island. 00:43:12.639 --> 00:43:25.440 Somewhat of a comical story, then attributing to the fact that this guy thought he had an understanding of what church should be and should not be by living a solitary existence. 00:43:28.320 --> 00:43:38.320 If we can come to church and we don't, we are missing out on agape love. 00:43:38.480 --> 00:43:46.480 We are missing out at the opportunity to learn, refine, and mature our agape love. 00:43:48.719 --> 00:44:05.119 And that, my dear brothers and sisters, is not something we can do in our own strength, but by his spirit we can truly be a radiant community that is known for its love for one another. 00:44:05.280 --> 00:44:07.840 Let us pray, dear Heavenly Father. 00:44:08.960 --> 00:44:10.719 Indeed, a tall order. 00:44:11.920 --> 00:44:20.159 What does it mean to learn and refine and mature in agape love? 00:44:20.320 --> 00:44:28.000 But we know we can, we know we should, but we know we can, not by our own strength, but by your spirit. 00:44:29.119 --> 00:44:40.159 I pray that your spirit will mightily work amongst us so that we can be indeed a community of people who love one another. 00:44:41.599 --> 00:44:51.119 Let us be a community of believers who are intimately familiar with each other's struggles and each other's shortcomings. 00:44:52.159 --> 00:45:01.199 But let us patiently endure in hope because you patiently endure us. 00:45:03.440 --> 00:45:09.280 Transform our hearts and transform our mind and transform this congregation. 00:45:09.920 --> 00:45:14.320 We are doing good, but we should be doing better. 00:45:16.559 --> 00:45:30.239 And we acknowledge that God and we confess that, but you we know and we understand we can be a radiating community of people who love one another. 00:45:31.039 --> 00:45:44.480 No greater testimony can we have to the community that we live in than to love one another despite weaknesses and faults in each other. 00:45:44.800 --> 00:45:46.800 We pray this in Jesus' name. 00:45:47.039 --> 00:45:47.519 Amen. 00:45:49.360 --> 00:45:53.119 That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church. 00:45:53.280 --> 00:46:00.159 Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus. 00:46:00.400 --> 00:46:04.480 You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.