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1 Corinthians 13:1,3 -The Prerequisite Of Love- Pastor Rick Beaudry 2024-09-15
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First Corinthians chapter 13. We're gonna look at verses one through three today. The love chapter. There's so much going on. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love, I'm become a sounding brass or a tinkling symbol. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned and have not love, it profits me nothing. Father, thank you for your holy word. Lord, we are sobered by the times in which we're living. Lord, you say it's high time to wake out of sleep for our salvation is near than when we first believed. And, Lord, I thank you that this group, this fellowship here, this flock is awake. And, Lord, I pray that we continue to be awake. I pray that you awaken us within our hearts, deep within our hearts, Lord. The preeminent, most important thing is that we love, and that love doesn't tolerate evil As we study this, love is not passive toward evil. But, Lord, teach us what it means to love. Teach us what you're saying here. Open our hearts and minds, and let us let us be active, Lord. Not just learn what love is, but, Lord, in the verb form, it's active. Help us to live out lives of love. Help us to be like Jesus. Anoint and use us, Lord. Teach us, we pray. In Jesus' name. Amen. He says in verse 31 of the previous chapter, verse 12, chapter 12, but covet earnestly the best gifts, and yet show I unto a more excellent way. What is that more excellent way? The excellent way of love. A lot of churches are trying to figure out how to grow their churches, and they've got programs. And, this program, that program, the other program, let's get more people in, nickels and noses, money, and and all that sort of thing. Well, this is where we wanna focus. Without love, we're nothing. The prerequisite of love. It doesn't matter what we achieve by the world's standards, by the world's value system. We could be a huge megachurch and be way outside the will of God because simply we don't love. This is the more excellent way of love. Chapter 12, the giving and description of the gifts. Chapter 14, the proper use of the gifts, is doing all things decently in an order. So we're gonna get back to the gifts in chapter 14, but sandwiched between twelve and fourteen is the what the current church of Corinth was missing. You can be very gifted. You can be sing great, have tongues, do all these things. But if you don't have love without the prerequisite of love, if if you don't have love, you're nothing. It means nothing. And so the proper attitude in chapter 13, the proper atmosphere and spirit, the proper motive and power, the more excellent way of love, the greatest compliment you could ever give me as a pastor, and I've heard it a few times, not as much as I'd like, the greatest compliment you could ever give would be Calvary Bremerton is a loving church, and that's because of you. If you're loving one another, we've hit the bull's eye. Everything else is doesn't matter. Oh, well, they don't have this. Oh, they don't have that. Oh, alright. I agree. But we could have all of that, not love and mean nothing. We could have our own building and be famous, and I could have whiter teeth and be skinnier and more hair and, you know, you could say, hey. That's my pastor. You know? But if I don't have love, it's nothing. Love is infectious. I mean, when when you when you sense that vibe, when you sense the spirit, hey. This is a safe place for me. They're not gonna pick me apart. They're not gonna condemn me. Hey. I've just gone through a brutal, brutal divorce, and they're not they're they're not gonna look at me funny. They're surrounding me and building me up and strengthening me. And, hey. I got a daughter. I got a son that that aren't doing very well, and my husband's not doing very well. And and, you know, they're gonna pray. They're gonna intercede. They're not clicky. I don't have to fight to get in their click in their group. They're loving. They've been through hard times themselves. They've been broken themselves, and god has god has filled them to overflowing with his love. The proper attitude, the atmosphere and spirit, the proper motive and power, the more excellent way of love. In verses one through three, the prerequisite of love. Next week, verses four through seven, the path of love. The following week, verses eight through 13, the preeminence of love. How do you describe love? I saw Becky excuse me. I saw Betty posted on Facebook this week. God is love. God is love. First John four sixteen. I would also describe the cross of Calvary as love. When you think of the cross, Jesus hanging on that cross, what nailed him to the tree? Love. No man took his life from him. He had power to lay it down. He had power to take it again. Pilate said, don't you know I have power to crucify you? Pilate, you don't have any power except that delegated authority from above. It's your moment. It's a moment for the powers of darkness. All this victory, all this authority, all this power that you guys think you have, no man takes my life from me. I'm willingly doing this because greater love has no man than this than a man lay down his life for his friends. How do you describe a Christian? What is a Christian? Boy, that's a hard one anymore. Scratch our heads. What is a Christian? Does a Christian look any different than a worldly person? How do you know a person is a Christian? Jesus said in John thirteen thirty five, by this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have love one to another. The early church was known by the Romans and the Greeks, by the secularists, as those that were willing to suffer, but, oh, how they loved. It was their love that captivated people. The way they cared for one another. We so often are at odds with one another in the church and divided within the church. But if we had a common enemy, if the government was after anybody claiming to be a Christian, oh, how we Christians would love one another. We wouldn't see each other as enemies. Love was missing at Corinth. This chapter is an oasis in a desert of problems of division. They were divided. I'm of Paul. I'm of Apollos. I'm of Cephas. You know? These cliques, these heresies. Idolatry. Immorality. First Corinthians five, the man that took his father's wife, and they just thought love was such that we can be permissive. Hey. Love wins. We'll take the White House. We'll change the definition of marriage. It doesn't mean one man, one woman. It can be whatever we want it to mean, And we'll put rainbow lights on the White House lawn, and we'll let everybody know love wins. That's not love. That's not true love. That's the opposite of what God intended. But, boy, they can sure use that word anymore for permissiveness and doing whatever we want. The only thing that's wrong is if we raise up a standard according to God's word. Now we're wrong. You mean Jesus is the only way? That's pretty unloving. Where's the exclusivity or the inclusiveness? Why so exclusive? Why is Jesus the only way? The pope just said that all religions lead to God. Do you know that's gonna be the big component in the one row religious system is that you can be who Hindu, Buddha, Christian, Baptist, no matter what, but everything's based upon being a good person and that you are God. You're all gods. They're gonna believe the lie. They're gonna be given over to a strong delusion. And the only thing that's gonna be wrong in that world is, as you hear already, judge not lest you be judged. Why are you judging me? Because the lifestyle you're living is a lifestyle that's gonna get you into hell. Faithful are the wounds of a friend. The kiss of an enemy are deceitful. I love you enough to tell you the truth. If I'm permissive and tolerant of this evil and let you go through your life with a with a false sense of security, then I'm guilty of your blood. God's gonna hold me accountable in acts 20. God's gonna hold me accountable in Ezekiel 33 because I didn't warn you. But if I warn you, I risk you hating me. Well, get in line. There's a lot of people that hate me. There's a lot more people that hate me than that love me because they don't like to hear the truth. They want their burger and do it my way. That's what they've been taught. They sing with Frank Sinatra, I did it my way. How's that working for you, Frank? The marriage, the gifts, where does love fit into these things? All the laws fulfilled in one word, even in this, love. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. The word love, and we have one word for love. Today, I am radically, radically in love with ribs and brisket. After this service, I'm going to a place of nirvana with ribs and brisket. And I'm gonna go there with a bunch of other savages that are gonna try and eat more than I can eat because we love ribs and brisket. We're carnivores. Most of us. Now I can also say I really love my Kathy, using the same word. I love my Brittany. I love my grandkids. I love you guys. I love a sunny day. I love In N Out Burger and fries, and I just love that stuff. How is the way that I love my wife, how would that compare to loving brisket and ribs and stuff? How do we do that? So the Greek has four different words for love. One is storge. Storge is family love. So the Greek would use a storge to describe the familial love of my family. I love my family. We went to the fair the other day. I love my family. I'm so thankful for Germ and Jessica and Wayne and Brittany and my grandkids and all that. I'm so thankful for Mary and Kathy and her parents and my parents and this family that I get to be a part of. I'm I'm I'm stoked. I'm not alone. I I I thank you, Lord. That's such an answer to prayer that I'm a part of a family. Family is important. The devil wants to destroy families. The devil wants to isolate people. We can be a family here even if we don't have a secular family as we love one another. There's another word, brotherly love, the city of brotherly love, which is Greek word phileo. Peter, do you love me? Jesus using agapeo. Yeah, Lord. You know I love you, and he's come back with filet. Oh, no. That's not that's not it, Peter. That's not it. There's a play on words there. Peter's not getting it. And then there's the word that's overused in our culture and overused in this culture is the Greek word eros, which is an erotic, physical, sexual passion that the world calls love. You don't love her. You don't love him. You lust him. You're lying to our kids. You're lying saying, if you if you love me, you'll lie with me. No. I'd just be satisfying your lust. And once you get me, you're just gonna go on to the next one, the next one, the next one. It's just an arrow. So it's a trying to satisfy the drive, the physical drive. You're living like an animal. It's on an animal level, beastly level. And we see that today. Paramount within our culture, the pornography and the the level of erotic stimulation that that's happening. That's not true love. The fourth word is agape, agapeo. It's in the verb form. It's not abstract nor is it passive. Love is something you do. We show our love by getting up at 03:30 in the morning, by driving to work and being abused at work all day long, unappreciated, sacrificing our bodies in those submarines and all these different places, the head games, the the going through this DEI stuff training. You know? You're a Christian. Now you gotta learn and go through class for diversity, equity, inclusion. You gotta go through all sorts of mind games just to keep that job. But you do it because it's one of the best jobs in the community. You can afford a house. You can get good insurance for your kids and everybody, but you're working by the sweat of your brow. It's a curse to work because of Adam's foolishness. Right? It's it's not supposed to be pretty and fun, but there's a death to self. There's a there's an expenditure. And then the you have children. Again, your body you're giving your body up. You're giving your figure up, you girls. Hard to get that figure back after a few babies. Right? And if you married an idiot, he's gonna cheat on you and leave you because you don't have that figure into your forties. Well, you gave it up. You gave it up to have kids. You're sacrificing your body. If he truly loves you, he don't care about that stuff anymore. But if he's a Nimrod, if he's an idiot, if he's weak minded, then he's willing to gamble all the true riches that God's given for five to twenty minutes of Eros, the erotic. Then he can't look in his children's eyes anymore, Can't look in his wife's eyes anymore. He's betrayed the person that loves him most. But you you're faithful. You're gonna be faithful. You're gonna work the next forty years in the yard because of love. It's simple. It's a no brainer. This is my this is my duty to provide for my family. When I get home, I'm gonna raise them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. We're gonna screen influences that come into their heart, mind, and eyes. We're gonna move in a direction of trying to get them into heaven, to get Jesus into their hearts and lives at an early age before the devil puts all the filth in there. Because the number one objective that God's entrusted me with these children for is that they'd make it to heaven, and you're their teacher. You're their representative of God the father, of authority, of a God of love, the willful, joyful desire to put the welfare of others above our own. Love is a prerequisite, an absolute must in serving the Lord. In verses one through three, it's a warning for substituting talent or gifts for love. A lot of guys can get into this pulpit because they're talented. They can get on stage because they can wax a good story. They can make people laugh. They can make people cry. But what kind of character do they have? How much of what they preach do they practice? Do they live out? They can be a hypocrite. They can be a person that's obsessed with money, coveting more and more and more all the time. They can see themselves as a Christian celebrity. And then you say, well, how much like Jesus are they? If I were to put Jesus next to him, how does their character compare to Jesus? Was he a Christian celebrity? A lot of times, it's what we choose not to do even though we can. We can, if we're a big church pastor, we can have a salary of a million dollars a year. We can do that. We can preach a sermon and get $25,000 per sermon if we want to. We can do that. We can get a board, and they can say, you know, you're like a CEO of a company. You know? And everybody can massage your ego, and now you're it. Houses and planes and cars and all the amenities, all the stuff the world wants. But just because you can doesn't mean you should. Maybe you hold back a bit, just a bit, because you wanna be Christ like. Foxes have holes, birds there have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. Maybe you wanna scale that back a bit. No. I couldn't do that. God's blessed me. He's blessed me, and, you know, blessings of the Lord maketh rich. That's me. I'm rich. Increased with goods and need of nothing. The prerequisite of love. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity in the King James, though I have not love, I'm become as a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. So speaking without love is nothing. It's only noise. We talk about betrayal. We talk about Judas. We talk about pants. In my heart, very, very important to me, my mom married seven times. I I saw breakdown. I saw chaos. I saw I saw things that should have never happened. Definitely wasn't love. I saw my mom trying so hard, didn't have the ability, didn't have the agape love, didn't have the help of the Holy Spirit. I saw her husbands trying hard. They didn't have it. They didn't have the ability. But, certainly, a pastor should be faithful. I I should I should hope that a pastor could be faithful to his wife, to his children, as a demonstration of love, as a demonstration of faithfulness, fidelity. I would hope. I care more about a pastor being faithful than I do how big his church is. I've been around long enough to see through it. It's fluff. It's smoke and mirrors. But every now and then, you meet a real one. It's so refreshing. It's so refreshing to to see people married fifty years. Pastor Raul Rees, his wife Sharon just went home to be with the Lord. But faithfulness, faithful in their marriage, such a great example. He didn't ask to be a Christian celebrity. God made him one, and he's handling it well. What's it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul, or what would a man give in exchange for his life? You step up to the teleprompter. You got your iPad here, and you went on AI, and you said, AI, I need a sermon on love. And AI prints it out for you. Oh, alright. Now I don't even know what I'm supposed to say. Well, I'm gonna wear an earring here if I'm wearing a dress. And this earring's gonna speak in my ear on this side, but I got so many voices in my head. I don't know. I'll just laugh. You know? There's so many voices. I I don't know which one to say. You know? He's such an eloquent speaker. No. He's not. Watch him when he doesn't have that teleprompter. Falling all over himself. And he give you a speech, and they're utilizing the oratory skills of an actor, a politician, a false prophet. And the audience is swooning. They're mesmerized by your charismatic ability to lie. Promising, promoting your idealistic change. In Acts chapter 12 verse 21, on a certain day, Herod arried in royal apparel and sat upon his throne, king Herod, and he made an oration unto them to those of Tyre and Sidon. Those of Tyre and Sidon were worried because Herod was really angry because Peter got out of there before he could execute him. And he's really angry, and he wants to take it out on Tyre and Sidon. They know it. So they're gonna worship him as a god. And he comes out there, and he gives him a great big old speech, and the people gave a shout saying, it is the voice of a god, not of a man. And he's taken it in. That's right. You got that right. And immediately, the angel of the lord smote him because he gave not god the glory and he was eaten of worms and gave up the ghost. Oops. Without love, I'm nothing. I'm to love god first and foremost with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength. I'm not to take god's glory unto myself. And he's got one of these Italian silver suits on and the sun's shining just right, and it's all glowing and everything. And now he's eating the worms. Boy, that'd be a great way to drain the swamp, wouldn't it? Every pretender that gets up there and lies to us, the lord says, alright, man. I'm gonna cause these worms right now to consume you. How quickly things will be cleaned up? Oops. Without love, I'm nothing. If that were the standard, the power to change lives is communicated in love. The woman caught in the very act of adultery in John eight. This woman was caught in the very act of adultery, but Moses says that she should be stoned. And Jesus is down on his knee, and he's writing in the ground. And he says, he that is without sin cast the first stone. And he's writing down on the ground. The finger of god that wrote the 10 commandments is now down on the ground writing in the dust. I know what he wrote, but I can't tell you. It's coming out in my book. But I think he's writing I think he's writing the names of these guys that were there and the women that they were with because they're hypocrites. They didn't bring the guy there because he's one of their friends. He's on Epstein's list, man. That's right. That's right. Can't show that. End of a career. And then from the eldest, they start moving out of there, and I picture them taking their sandals and trying to wipe out the dust of what was written there as they're going by. Big dust cloud there. And then he looks at the woman. Woman, where are thine accusers? Satan's the accuser of the brethren. He uses the letter of the law to condemn us. Be careful of that. You can use the word of God in such a way that it cuts to hurt. Hurt is okay. Pain's okay, but cuts to the point of condemnation. The Holy Spirit convicts. You can use the word of God to convict, but the Holy Spirit points to the cross. Whereas the devil can use that letter of the law to point to the pit of hell. That's where it's wrong, not mixed with love. That's why Paul says, if any man be overtaken into fault, you are spiritual, will restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, lest you also be tempted. So you go to that person in private. You don't pontificate and dominate and point them to the pit of hell and condemn them. You're reminded of Jesus' love. And this woman that was caught in the very act, where are thine accusers? She says, nowhere, Lord. And he says, neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. And she left the presence of Jesus, a forgiven woman. He's a god of the second chance. He's a god of the third chance. He's a god that continues to give chance after chance after chance. The Samaritan woman in John four, he knew that this was a woman that married five times. A woman that was empty, a woman that was thirsty, a woman that was yearning to be loved, and she was looking unto men to be loved. Women don't look unto men to be loved. Look unto Jesus. Only as you fall in love with Jesus and he fills that that place within your heart that he designed only for himself will you be able to receive the level of love your men are able to give? We can barely love us guys. We're more in tune to what can we get than what can we give. We're selfish, and we know it. Woman, I got water that you can drink. You'll never thirst again. Never thirst again. What a lovely, loving, divine appointment that Jesus purposely goes to the area of Jacob's Well to meet a Samaritan woman who has been through the devastation of five husbands. Now she's living with a guy, and Jesus purposely goes there to introduce himself as the answer to her emptiness. Pointing people to Jesus. Zacchaeus, he was a wee little man, short in stature, tax collector, hated by the Jews, and a whole throng of people are coming by, and he can't see over the top of them. And Jesus is coming, and he's a wee little man. But he climbed up into a sycamore tree, and Jesus comes over there and looks up into that tree. Zacchaeus, come on down. I'm gonna eat at your house today. Zacchaeus knew he's a sinner. Zacchaeus knew he is unworthy of Jesus coming to his house. But those words, the action of coming to his house, I must abide at your house. And Zacchaeus giving restitution to anybody he's defrauded, showing the fruits of repentance, knowing that he was living a sinful lifestyle, getting very rich through it, but I'll give I'll give it back. And Jesus said, salvation has come to this house today. There's a widow, the widow of Nain, and she's doesn't have a husband, but she's got a son, a young son to take care of her, to for her to take care of him, to love him, and to not be so alone. And there's a procession, a funeral procession going through the city of Nain. And Jesus sees he's he's there to see this funeral procession, and then carrying the briar with this this young boy there. And Jesus walks up to the young boy, to the mother, and says, weep not. Listen to these words. Weep not. Young man, I say unto thee, arise. You think you'd ever forget that moment? You think you'd ever take Jesus so for granted that you'd ever forget those words? I say unto thee, young man, arise. Love conquers death. The two thieves on the cross, father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss in the Garden Of Gethsemane, and the word comes from Jesus' lips, friend. Not hatred, not threats. Friend. Betrayst thou the son of man with a kiss, Judas? Pilate condemned him but heard no harsh threats come from Jesus. The sheep was the shepherd was smitten. The sheep scattered. Peter denied that he knew him. On three different occasions on one evening before the cock crowed. And what did Jesus say to him? Children, you caught any fish? Come and dine. And Jesus has some broiled fish there. I'm still thinking about brisket, but the image of fish. He's a barbecuer. He's got this barbecued fish there. Top chef. But more importantly, communion, fellowship with Jesus. Peter and the gang so blew it. They so incredibly failed that they were gonna go back to fishing. And Jesus said, no. You're not. I'm not condemning you. You guys will do you guys will do just fine as the Holy Spirit's poured out upon you. You're gonna be transformed. You're gonna be changed. You're gonna be new men. You can't do it in the arm of the flesh. Come and dine. Paul heard him say on the way to Damascus to incarcerate Christians to compel him to blaspheme, later describing himself as the chiefest of sinners, that he wasted the church. And he hears a voice and a light shining brighter, the kind of glory of God shining brighter than the desert sun at noon. Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Whom art thou, Lord? I'm Jesus whom you're persecuting. Jesus loving his flock, identifying with his persecuted flock, you're persecuting me. You hurt one of mine. You're hurting me. But, Saul, you're a chosen vessel unto me. I'm a show you what things you must suffer for my name's sake. How many greatly use your life and Saul of Tarsus was being groomed to be possibly on the upper echelon of the Sanhedrin, a Pharisee of Pharisees. And he said when he came to know Jesus, when the Lord revealed himself to him, he said, everything he had from the past, being a Pharisee of Pharisees, being being raised at the feet of Gamaliel, and all that he attained as Saul of Tarsus, he considered his dung as refuse for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. Why do some people not believe? Why can't they get it through their heads? Why do you? Why do you believe? Do you consider this excellency as the greatest thing that's ever happened to you that the Lord spoke to you, that the Holy Spirit spoke to you and and showed you the cross of how much Jesus loves you? Has it ever gotten old? Has it ever gotten rode? Has it ever gotten stale? Love is a prerequisite. Without love, I'm nothing. Verse two, and though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith. So that I could remove mountains and have not love. I am nothing nothing. Prophecy without love is nothing. In the book of Numbers chapter 22, there's a false prophet named Balaam. And Balaam prophesied, but God wouldn't allow Balaam to prophesy cursing against Israel. So Balak, the king of the Moabites, tried to hire him to do that, and he couldn't do that. Wasn't able. But what he could do is he could teach king Balak to seduce and allow the nation of Israel to curse themselves by going after an idolatrous practice, the Midianitish women that would get out there and dance provocatively. And as the the men would be seduced and go into these women and such, they would bring judgment upon themselves for disobedience unto god. That's what Balaam taught king Balak to do. Being a prophet without love, you're nothing. King Saul was able to prophesy in first Samuel eighteen eleven. He could prophesy. David was a prophet. David, the psalmist. Saul has killed his thousands, and David is tens of thousands. And king Saul was getting more and more jealous, more and more angry at David every day. And he picked up a javelin, and he threw it, and he tried to pin David against the wall, but David got out of there. That's not very loving, Saul. Without love, I'm nothing. Jonah was told to go to Nineveh. He went the opposite way. Why? Because he hated the Ninevites. He hated the Assyrians. He was a patriot. And as a patriot, he wasn't going to muddy his name trying to help their enemies. He was zealously an Israelite. God loved this Gentile people, this nation, these people who were who were on the verge of judgment. The the the message was forty days, and you're gonna perish. That's not a very loving message. And yet the most effective evangelistic campaign in all the Old Testament and all the New Testament until Revelation six and seven, innumerable multitude of people beneath the throne of God as they came to faith rejecting the mark of the beast. Why, Jonah? Why would you do that? God's heart is breaking. Jonah didn't see the people the way the Lord sees the people. Jesus said, look on the fields. They're white on the harvest. The laborers are few. There's so many people perishing. God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their wickedness. Where's your heart? Why doesn't anybody care? Who am I gonna send? Here am I? Send me, Isaiah says. Who's willing to go? In Jonah four eleven, and should not I spare Nineveh? He was so angry because they repented. And God repented of the evil, the judgment that he's to bring to the Ninevites. They enjoyed a reprieve of over a hundred years, and later they were judged. But God's looking at the nation, and he says, you know what? I know each one that's there. I know each child. I know each hair on everybody's head. My good thoughts concerning them. 120,000 small innocent children and cattle worth saving. God cares about the animals. He's a carnivore. He wants there to be lots of beef around there. Jesus ate meat. They're worth saving. And Jeremiah wept. Forty years of serving the Lord, and people just giving them lip service. These people do not near to me with their lips, but their hearts far from me, Isaiah, the prophet said. Jesus said, quoting Isaiah. Just lip service. And Jeremiah is the weeping prophet raining down showers of weeping and lamentation. Heart is broken. They wouldn't listen to the truth. They listen to the false prophets to their detriment, to their destruction. So to Jesus, he weeps over Jerusalem. How often I would have gathered you as a mother hen does gather her brood under her wings, but you would not. You had a choice. He came under his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God. He said in John five, I come in my father's name, and you receive me not. Another shall come to you, nation of Israel, in his own name. In him, you will receive. You will receive the Antichrist. But he's weeping over the city. Within forty years, general Titus is gonna surround the city of Jerusalem. He's gonna put a siege upon the city, and over 2,000,000 Jews are gonna die because they rejected Jesus, because they knew not the time of their visitation. They were not students of prophecy. Intellectually, they didn't know the time they were living in. Spiritually, they didn't know that God was incarnate, that he's the babe of Bethlehem, that the glory of God rested in this person. Without love, I'm nothing. And understand all mysteries and all knowledge, the mysteries, the divine spiritual understanding. Knowledge speaks of ultimate human understanding. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. We've all filled with facts going to seminary. Cemetery. You've got all the facts. You got all the info, but you got no love. They say it takes two years after seminary for god to begin to use you again because you're so filled with facts. Puffed up. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. Knowledge without love produces spiritual snobs, arrogant, self absorbed, sterile jerks. That's what it produces. Bible know it alls. And a lot of people cut down people that know their bible because they don't know their bible. It isn't always they're angry because you're arrogant. They're just angry because you have an answer from the bible, and they wanna go on feelings. And though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not love, I'm nothing. So your faith is giant. You're a giant of the faith. You're believing God for great things. You're trusting God to move mountains. It's interesting to me these big things you're wanting God to do. It always requires everybody else's money. And you don't move till you got $20,000,000 in the bank that you spent months and months bilking out of people, manipulating people, fundraising. Every time you talk, it's about giving. Making God out to be broke. Well, how about a impotent man lying there? And you're Peter and John walking by, and you say, hey. Silver and gold, have we none? But in the name of Jesus Christ, stand up and walk. How about that? One of the potpourri guys later had said, boy, looking at all the vast amounts of money they'd amassed, riches. Boy, it's sure good that we never have to say silver and gold, have we? None. And the other guy says, nor can we say in the name name of Jesus Christ, stand up and walk. Can't happen. Doesn't happen. In Mark eleven twenty two, Jesus said, have faith in God, for verily I say unto you that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he sayeth shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he say it. Does answered prayer make you proud? Let me ask you. Why has God blessed you? If people were to say, you know, you're really blessed. Why did God decide to bless you? Would you say back to them, it's because I have so much faith, because I've been so faithful. Because in the prosperity doctrine, if you don't have faith, you don't get blessed. So you're gonna tell people, hey. I'm blessed because I got faith, because I mimic the prayer. I send in the money. I put my hands on the TV set, and I believed. I believed. I believed. And checks started filling up my mailbox. You know? It's because I believed. You didn't believe. Is it because of your faith? Because you believed? In Lamentations three twenty two, Jeremiah says, it is of the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. It's his faithfulness, not ours, gang. It's his faithfulness that you and I are blessed. If we deny him, he remains faithful. He cannot deny himself. He's gonna get you and I to the finish line. He isn't depending on you for anything. You have the privilege and the blessing of serving him and participating in his work that he's doing in these days, but it's his faithfulness. It's his strength. It's his love. It all flows from his veins, from Emmanuel's veins. Without love, I'm nothing. The prerequisite of love. Verse three. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned and have not love, it profits me nothing. Generosity without love is worthless. You got the Rockefellers trying to change their public image. In the early nineteen hundreds, they became philanthropists. You got Bill Gates and these guys running around acting like philanthropists, like, we're gonna help the children of Africa. We're gonna jab them all for free. You know, it's just so sickening, so demonic what these guys are doing to these poor children around the globe. So incredibly demonic. In the name of love. Changing your food in the name of love. Mind boggling. They spend enormous amounts of money with the media to try and polish their reputation, to make sure that they're, you know, seen in a in a good light with most people. Fortunately, the jig is up with Bill. Everybody knows he's a demon, but I I hope they know. It looks like more more people are finding out. Generosity without love is worthless. What's your motive? Do you give to be seen of men? The Pharisees would give near the temple, and the temple would have these big vases. And they didn't have paper money, and they didn't have electronic fund transfer or take your card out. It was coins, shekels. And they would take these coins, and they put it in. And Jesus is purposely seated there with his disciples to teach them a lesson about money and about the heart. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. And so he's showing the motive of giving is an act of worship for the believer. You're giving out of love. You're giving out of adoration. It's a act of worship. The widow had just a few little mites. It was her daily living. It was she wasn't gonna eat that day. And she put this the the two mites in that that nobody even saw her give, but Jesus brought attention to it. But everybody was looking at the pharisees as their slot machine going off. Ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding. Everybody looking over there. Woah. Look at them. Look how much they're given. But Jesus pointed out that they actually gave less because they gave out of their abundance, and she gave out of her living. So God's measuring. How does God measure? God measures not by how much you give, but by what did it cost you to give. That means more to him because he doesn't need our money. He owns it all. And so in our selfishness, we give him the leftovers. We give him a tiny bit, maybe. And we oh, I did my obligation. I did the that may not be an act of worship. That may not be what he's what he's trying to communicate, what he's trying to get you to understand. We simply we're responders. We respond. When we get grips come to grips with how much he's given and how fortunate we are, then there should well up a a spirit of of gratitude in that we wanna give. Lord, you've given me so much. I wanna give back. And that's why we don't degrade God or demean who he is by spending inordinate amount of time on money and giving. Although the Bible has a lot to say on money, but it's simply to show us where our hearts are. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Generosity without love is nothing. Why are you giving what you're giving? Jesus said, take heed that you do not your alms before men to be seen of them. Otherwise, you have no reward. One day, there's a beam of seat judgment. The Lord's gonna reward you and I for what we gave, how we worshiped him. Of your father, which is in heaven, therefore, when you do your alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee as the hypocrites do in the synagogue and in the streets that they may be have the glory of men. Verily, I say unto you, they have their reward. But when you do alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thine alms may be in secret, and thy father which sees in secret shall reward you openly. So it's worthless without love. Every man according to as he purposes it in his heart, so let him give. Not grudgingly or necessity, for God loves a cheerful or hilarious giver. You're giving out of love. If you can't give out of love, then don't give. Keep it till the Lord changes your heart. He doesn't need it. He doesn't want grumpy givers. I had to give at church today. A bummer. Given response to god's love. And though I give my body to be burned and have not love, it profits me nothing. Sacrificial love, the cross. Agape love is measured best by the sacrifice, the cost involved, because by nature, we are selfish human beings. Satan said to God, skin for skin, all that a man has will he give for his life. Take Job's health away from him, and he'll curse you. We've already taken all of his stuff, and he naked came my end of the world. Naked, I go. The Lord giveth. The Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. You're wrong, Satan. These people will worship me for who I am. They're not mercenaries. They're not just here to worship me because I gave them so much. I could show you. I'll take away. No. Do you want God bragging on you this morning? No. No? No. Don't worry. Brag on somebody else, Lord. He's bragging on Job. Nobody knows not. But it's true. He's a man of integrity. You maintain your integrity? Why don't you curse God and die? You speak as a foolish woman speak, woman. Shall I receive good at the hand of the Lord, not evil? That which Job feared finally came upon him. He feared that that day would come. So then Satan, skin for skin, all that a man has will he give for his life, take away his health. Now a lot of you, a lot of us in this room here, you've had your health taken from you, and you still sing. You still worship. You still love Jesus. And you've prayed and you've prayed and you've prayed, and you've got lots of faith. And your family has lots of faith. And you have the faith of the apostle Paul. You prayed three times that this messenger of Satan that's buffeting you that God would remove, and God says, no. No. No. He answers your prayers three times. And you've got these crazy headaches. You got this crazy crazy painful debilitating thing that does what? Drives you to God. You need him more than ever. It's not a casual surface relationship. You really need your Jesus to get through each and every day. That's the kind of pain you bear because he's a man of sorrows. He's acquainted with grief, and we had his were our faces from him that I might know him, the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings be made conformable unto his death. It's in the pit. It's in the valleys. It's in the suffering that we truly get to know our suffering savior. He has a jealous love for you, a love that he's willing to afflict you to draw you ever closer to himself. Because, hey, when everything's going great, we're like teenagers. We only come back to the Lord like an ATM when we need some more money in that checking account. But we grow up, don't we? We mature. Though I give my body to be burned and have not love, it profits me nothing. Greater love is no man than this than a man laid down his life for his friends, Jesus said. David in second Samuel 24, he was enticed to go and number the people. This was a more egregious sin than David's sinning with Bathsheba. More egregious, more costly to the people of Israel than killing Uriah the Hittite. This numbering of the people prompted God to judge the children of Israel, and 70,000 people died as a result of David's sin. God was displeased with the nation, wanted to judge the nation, and God came to David and allowed him to be enticed. And once he knew that he sinned, God gave sent the prophet Gad, and prophet Gad gave him three choices. Here's three choices, David, of judgment. One is you're gonna have a seven year famine. Number two, you can run from your enemies for three months. Or number three, you can have a pestilence come in for three days. And David evaluated and said, I don't want judgment that involves man. I'd rather be judged directly by God. So you know what? I take door number three, the pestilence. And the angel of the Lord came over and caused this pestilence. Seventy thousand people died. The angel of the Lord was hovering over Jerusalem, ready to wipe it out. God stayed the hand of the angel of the Lord. And then the prophet Gad came to David and said, here's what God wants you to do. He wants you to go to the threshing floor of Varuna, and he wants you to purchase the erect an altar, rare up an altar there at the threshing floor of Aruna. And so David's coming toward Aruna, explains to him that, hey. I need to erect an altar here at your threshing floor. And Aruna says, David, it's yours. Here's the oxen. Here's the tools. Here's the wood. Here's everything you need to build this altar right here. It's yours, David. And David said, no. Very important. I will not offer to the Lord that which cost me nothing. Worship is always measured by the cost involved. David knew this as a worshiper. That threshing floor of Varuna was the very threshing floor that Abraham was instructed to offer his son Isaac a Moriah. It's the very place that God the Father demonstrated his love to you and I called Golgotha or Calvary that he offered his son Jesus at this very same place. David purchased the threshing floor of Aruna and spoke of a great principle of worship. We don't offer to the Lord that which cost me nothing. God measures the gift by what it might cost us. This widow casting in her two mites. He says, of a truth, I say unto you that this poor widow has cast in more than they all. For all these have of their abundance casting on the offerings of God, but she of her penury has cast in all the living that she had, the prerequisite of love. First Corinthians chapter three verse 13. Every man's work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. Everything you do, wood, hay, and stubble is gonna burn up. Everything we do for ourself is gonna pass. Only what we do for Jesus Christ is gonna last. That's the only thing left there. And the precious gifts that we've given unto him are gifts that we gave in secret and that we gave in an act of worship and true worship. Without love, we're nothing. Without love, my giving is worthless. The love of Christ constraining me, is that why I serve here in Bremerton? The love of Christ constrains me? If I tried to refrain, if I tried to quit, if I got a better gig somewhere in Hawaii or something, Would I be compelled because they'd give me a bigger salary or a better house or a better view? What motivates you to be here? What motivates me to be here? Is this where God's called us? Is it a joy? Is it a blessing to be in God's will and to be serving the Lord because the love of Christ constrains us? If we lose that love, if we're just going through the motions, the people will know. People around us will know. Your husband, your wife will know. Where's the love? It's the love of Christ that constrains me. Am I a responder to God's love? I have to first sit at the Lord's feet and receive and be reminded of his love each and every day, and it's with his love. That's why you hear me pray all the time. Lord, fill us to overflowing with your love. Because our ministry to others in serving the Lord Jesus is the overflow of the cup. If my cup gets low, I don't have the capacity to minister in love. But if I spend time near the fountain where the glory comes out and I and I take the water, if any man thirst, let him come into me and drink. If I'm drinking in the Holy Spirit and fellowship with the Lord, then there's an overflow of my life. So be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be being filled with the Holy Spirit. Be under the control of the holy spirit constantly. Allow the holy spirit to flow, and the holy spirit is love. God is love. We love him because he first loved us, the cross of Calvary. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love, I'm become as a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. Though I give though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned and have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind. Love envies not. Love vaunteth not itself. It is not puffed up. Let's try that again. Rick suffers long and is kind. Rick envies not. Rick vaunteth not himself. Rick is not puffed up. That don't sound right. Let's try it again. Jesus suffers long and is kind. Jesus envies not. Jesus vaunteth not himself. Jesus is not puffed up. There we go. Does not behave itself unseemly, seeks not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there be prophecies, they shall fail. Whether there be tongues, they shall cease. Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, Jesus, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child. I understood as a child. I thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I have known. And now abide a faith, hope, love. These three, but the greatest of these is love. The prerequisite of love. Without love, you and I are nothing. Let's pray. Father, oh, how difficult a time we have to love. But, Lord, you've commanded us to love, and you enable us to love. We need only sit at your feet and worship you, abiding in you, and our lives overflow with your love, Lord. So evermore, Lord, we desire fellowship. We desire the intimacy of communion with you that we might truly live the Christian life in the power of the Holy Spirit, your love overflowing our life, touching those around us. Lord, our greatest need is of you. You're the answer to all the problems we face. Evermore, Lord. Evermore, help us to enter into all that you have for us. At this moment, as we continue to pray, if there's anybody here, you don't know that kind of love, you don't know our savior, you don't know Jesus, you may be religious, but you just don't know him, and you haven't been born again. He isn't dwelling within your heart and life. You can't hear his voice. Your body and soul, God wants you to be body, soul, and spirit. He wants you, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to be born again. He wants to dwell within your heart. He wants to fill that emptiness. He wants to satisfy that thirst that you have for god with himself. Anyone here this morning, you're turning from your sins. You're convicted by the holy spirit, and the holy spirit's showing you the cross of Calvary. You're crying out to God, God, be merciful to me a sinner. The Lord Jesus stands ready to receive you. Said all that come to me, I will no wise cast out. And no man can come unto me except the father which has sent me draw him, and I'll raise him up at the last day. If you don't enter into heaven, it's because you wouldn't receive him. He stands ready to receive you. Anyone here this morning? You hear the call of God upon your life? Just lift your hand up. We wanna pray with you. Anybody here this morning? Father, thank you once again. Such incredible peace, Lord. All the chaos, the weirdness of the world just fades away when we focus upon you. Lord, let us not forget this moment. Let us not settle for the world's moments, but, Lord, cherish cherish these moments with you and with each other. Help us to live the Christian life overflowing with it agape love, Lord, the love of the spirit. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
About This Podcast
Calvary Chapel Bremerton - Sunday Service
Listen to Rick Beaudry, Pastor of Calvary Chapel Bremerton, teach the Word of God cover to cover, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse. Be edified and built up in your faith with solid Bible teaching. New episodes on Mondays in the Pacific Standard Timezone.
