Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] In 2018, some of you know the story. Danae and I had four kids and decided to adopt two more.
[00:00:09] And some of you have heard that story, adopting two boys from Ethiopia.
[00:00:14] But we've often been asked the question, when folks see our family and see that we have adopted two, that we're not biological, they begin to ask the question, a lot of questions, crazy questions. And one is, what did your four kids think about it?
[00:00:36] What did they think when you decided you were going to adopt two more kids? You had four, what did they think about that decision?
[00:00:47] And the truth is, I have no clue what they thought about that decision because we never asked them.
[00:00:53] We just decided to do it.
[00:00:55] And then a follow up question, which is kind of odd. But I understand why people ask, especially people who are in the adoption process, they're worried about this. They'll ask, how did you get your four biological kids to love their new siblings?
[00:01:14] And if you've seen my kids, you can tell they love each other. They're actually very, extremely loyal to one another. And when folks see that, they say, how did you, how did you make that happen?
[00:01:27] And there again, we didn't. We just brought two more home and said, here's two more. Love them.
[00:01:35] And they did.
[00:01:38] And also, I think a part of the story is that our four kids at that time, they were a part of.
[00:01:46] They saw the whole process. Process. Even though we didn't ask them what they thought or tell them what they were going to do, they just saw before them the whole plan.
[00:01:57] Yeah, we made this decision. We're going to adopt two kids from Ethiopia. And they saw the commitment that Danae and I had to that plan.
[00:02:08] They saw us talk about money and raising support, and they were a part of so many prayers that they began to just anticipate what was going to happen in our home the same way that Danae and I did. I remember during that time, we would be going to the store, the grocery store, and we would all get in the car or we were just going to someone's house, and the girls would ask because they were so a part of the plan and process, and they're hearing about the boys in Ethiopia. We, we would get in the car to go somewhere and they would ask, are we going to get the boys now?
[00:02:47] Because they were anticipating the arrival of their two new brothers, and they were a part of the process.
[00:02:55] They saw love. And so it just happened naturally that they began to love.
[00:03:02] And this is the principle that Paul is teaching in 1st Thessalonians when he is trying to explain why, what it means for the church to love one another.
[00:03:12] He says, you've seen love, and now you must love. Specifically, you've seen my love for you. Now I want you to love one another in that way.
[00:03:24] In this book, he's describing how these believers have now been adopted into this new family and they have siblings.
[00:03:34] And in essence, God is saying, you're a part of this new family. You have brothers and sisters in Christ. Now, love.
[00:03:42] The word brother is used 15 times in 1st Thessalonians to communicate this family that they're a part of. And in our passage today, Paul says, God isn't asking you if you're going to love your siblings. You just have to. That's a part of the deal.
[00:04:01] Love and by the spirit of God. As members of the church, that's what we do. But we see in our passage, Paul explains exactly what this love looks like. He calls them to love. But before he does, he says, I want you to understand what this love looks like. And we've talked about this a lot. In first Thessalonians, this word example, or this verb, which means to mimic. And Paul says, you've seen our example. You've seen what it's like to suffer for following Christ, and you had to mimic that.
[00:04:38] And now I want you to love.
[00:04:40] So what does that look like? The same thing. Just mimic the way that we love you. It's the same with love. Paul will say here, I love the church, and so now I want you to love the church in the same way I want you to love one another. And it's going to be necessary in light of your suffering. And so what is this love Paul has for the church? In verse 17, we see it is a love that wants to be present.
[00:05:10] Notice verse 17, he says, but since we were torn away from you. And another. This is another familial term here, this word torn away. It means to be orphaned. And he's explaining that we are family now in Christ and we have been torn away. It's the same as a child being ripped away from its parents.
[00:05:35] Remember, Paul goes to Thessalonica, he preaches the gospel, the church breaks out, and then Paul is ran off. He. He is thrown out of the city through persecution. And Paul says, when that happened, we were torn away.
[00:05:50] And it is as though we had just birthed children in this city through the Gospel, this new birth of the Gospel. We were your spiritual parents, and then we were. You were orphaned from us, and it broke our hearts. But notice again the word brother. These familiar terms are used 21 times in the book.
[00:06:14] Father, mother, children, brothers. And again, he's communicating. We are a part of a family and we were torn away. Notice for a short time, in person, not in heart. So notice how he is describing their relationship.
[00:06:33] It is the bond that we have in the gospel, this bond where we are family that transcends DNA. We are a spiritual family. And so even when we are not in one another's presence, there's still that bond in the gospel because of the Spirit of God. So even though we're not with you, our heart is with you in the gospel. And for this reason, he says, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face.
[00:07:06] Why did we want to see you face to face? Because we were family.
[00:07:11] Because we are bound together in the gospel. This supernatural bond of the spirit. And some of you know that this desire to be present with one another, this love to be present is supernatural. And you experience it every week during the greeting time because some of you hate it.
[00:07:34] Some of you absolutely hate it. And it is the worst part of the service for you.
[00:07:40] Let me tell you. The greeting time is gloriously theological.
[00:07:46] We are declaring a truth that we're not alone and that the body of Christ is flesh and blood and it's real. And you need to know that week after week, it's good and it's spiritual, spiritually healthy for you. Even if you don't like it, even if you're still trying not to look at people walking around you because they may talk to you. There's something good going on there. God is saying something to you. Look around.
[00:08:12] You're not alone.
[00:08:15] Nellie Ruiz tells the story of her first Sunday at Ashland, and the greeting time kind of took her off guard. All of a sudden, all of these people talking to one another and shaking hands and hugging and kissing and all the stuff that y' all do.
[00:08:32] And she was scared to death.
[00:08:36] She said, what is going on here? Now, Wes, her husband, loved it.
[00:08:43] That's why he joined here. They gonna do this every week.
[00:08:47] And he is running all over the place. And she's scared to death.
[00:08:52] Yet the supernatural love of this place.
[00:08:56] Now watch her during greeting time.
[00:08:59] She's all over the place.
[00:09:01] That's what the spirit of God does for us in the context of the church. It binds us together so that we want to be present with one another. It is a love that wants to be present, but it is also a love that is the reward.
[00:09:17] The love of the church is the reward. That we get in the church. Notice verse 18.
[00:09:23] We wanted to come to you. I, Paul, again and again because I loved you. We're family, but Satan hindered us. And in our passage, Paul's going to talk about opposition and spiritual warfare. Here he sees the opposition of Satan hindering him from returning to the city.
[00:09:43] It is Satan's work. Satan opposes the gospel, Satan hates the church. And so whatever he's talking about here, Satan is involved in keeping us apart.
[00:09:55] And he says, but why did we want to be with you so much?
[00:09:59] Why did we want to come serve you?
[00:10:02] Verse 19.
[00:10:04] For what is our hope and joy or crown of boasting?
[00:10:09] Here he describes a celebration at the end of a race.
[00:10:13] And you have a runner who has put on a crown which would have been the trophy, a wreath made of leaves that says, you are the winner.
[00:10:24] And Paul pictures the end of this race and the winner of the race is standing there and being celebrated and trophies are being given.
[00:10:37] There is joy and there is hope and there is boasting.
[00:10:42] Look at what I've done.
[00:10:44] And Paul says the church is his trophy.
[00:10:49] He's not looking for anything else but the church.
[00:10:53] The church is where he finds hope and joy.
[00:10:59] The hope is where are the church is where he boast in who he is and what he's doing. Notice before our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming. Is it not you?
[00:11:10] Are you not our crown of boasting? What Paul is saying here is it is enough to be with you and Jesus forever.
[00:11:20] Paul says, I don't want anything more than that. That is the reward for what I do. That is the reward for my ministry. That is the reward for my suffering and anxiety and stress. It is the church. You are my trophy, for you are our glory. You are the weight that we would receive from the race and the joy, the celebration of the race.
[00:11:46] So Paul, we're asking Paul, how do you love the church?
[00:11:51] Why love the church as if she is the reward?
[00:11:58] Not looking for anything from her in return.
[00:12:02] I'm not looking for reward from God.
[00:12:06] It is my reward that I get to serve you.
[00:12:10] It is my reward that I get to be with you. That's where I find joy and hope. That is all I need.
[00:12:19] Not anything from you or beyond you.
[00:12:24] I mean, imagine telling your wife, I love you for the rewards I'm going to get in heaven.
[00:12:33] How's that going to make her feel?
[00:12:36] No, you say to your wife, I love you because you're you and God has bound us together. And I love you. And the reward of My love is that I get to love you.
[00:12:49] And Paul says that is the reward of serving the church, is that I get to serve the church.
[00:12:55] And he says here, like an athlete who trains and disciplines his body and goes through all kinds of rigors to win the race and get the trophy. He says it's the same reason I will suffer, because I get the church. I get to serve the church. I. I get to be with the church. That's it.
[00:13:19] The blood bought bride of Christ.
[00:13:24] She's enough.
[00:13:26] And I want you to begin to think about that as you think about what you do in the church.
[00:13:32] Why do I do this?
[00:13:34] Some of us are here today and we're here today to try to earn favor with God.
[00:13:41] I do this so God will like me more.
[00:13:44] Some of us are here today because this is kind of the place where we have a name, people kind of know us.
[00:13:52] Some of us have leadership here and we get to kind of assert that leadership here like we don't get to do in other places.
[00:14:03] And that may be your motive for being here.
[00:14:07] You won't name, you won't credit. Maybe some of you are here for the programs we offer and you're just here for those things.
[00:14:15] But begin to think about this.
[00:14:18] I serve the church because I love the church.
[00:14:22] I don't need anything in return from her. I just love her because she is the blood bride of Christ. Jesus is what gives her worth.
[00:14:31] And so it is my joy to serve the church. No name, no credit, just I get to love the church. And that's what Paul says here. That's why I wanted to be with you, because I love you in that way. You are enough.
[00:14:45] And then we continue into chapter three.
[00:14:48] This love wants to be with the church, loves the church because that's enough.
[00:14:53] And then it's a love that wants to protect the church. Notice verse one of chapter three. He says when we couldn't bear it any longer, we were willing to be left behind in Athens. So Paul has been run out of Thessalonica. He makes it to Athens, but the whole time he's worried about Thessalonica.
[00:15:13] And he says it got to a point where we were willing to find out what's going on with you. So verse two. We sent Timothy, our brother, emphasizing he's a part of the family, God's co worker. He's establishing Timothy's authority before God and commissioning him with the Gospel of Christ.
[00:15:32] He says, we sent Timothy to find out how you were doing. Now even in that, Paul is displaying love in sending Timothy, first of all, it was dangerous for Timothy maybe to go back. There's bands in the city, don't preach the gospel. And here he's sending Timothy back. But it's also sacrificial.
[00:15:51] He loves Timothy. He needs Timothy with him.
[00:15:54] They're establishing the gospel in new places. They're planting churches.
[00:15:58] He says, but we loved you so much. We sent our brother back. Notice to establish means to strengthen and exhort. It means to give heart.
[00:16:08] Now the word exhort again means to give heart before battle. It means to rally the troops.
[00:16:15] And he says, we want it to establish and exhort you in your faith. We want it to make you strong. We want it to encourage you in your faith. Verse 3. That no one would be moved by these afflictions. For you yourself know that we were destined. Remember last week we preached a suffering Savior while we were suffering. If you believe this message, you're going to suffer. You knew ahead of time you were predestined to suffer for the gospel.
[00:16:43] And he says, for when we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction. This is a part of the deal.
[00:16:50] Just as it had come to pass. And just as you know, for this reason, when we couldn't bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith.
[00:16:59] He's in agony and he's stressing over the church and he's moving forward with the gospel and he's preaching the gospel in new places.
[00:17:11] And yet his heart for the Thessalonians is breaking. What is going on with them? And so he sends his most valuable resource, soldier in the battle. Timothy, go check on those folks.
[00:17:24] We have got to know what's going on in Thessalonica.
[00:17:29] But notice how he describes this for fear. Somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain.
[00:17:37] We were scared that what happened while we were there did not last because of the persecution.
[00:17:45] And notice he attributes the persecution to the tempter.
[00:17:50] Jesus tells a story or parable of soils when he's talking about the kingdom. And he says, the kingdom is like this. You're going to go out and you're going to preach the gospel and it's going to be like throwing seed on all kinds of ground.
[00:18:06] There's going to be hard ground, rocky ground, ground with thorns and thistles.
[00:18:11] And the seed of the gospel won't take root there. It won't produce anything because he's describing hearts that are hard, hearts that are like rocky ground in situations that are like thorns and thistles.
[00:18:30] When the gospel is thrown upon them, it doesn't grow because the thorns and thistles choke them out.
[00:18:38] And Jesus says, that's what happens when people seemingly believe the gospel and emotionally react to the gospel, but then they go through persecution and they turn from Christ. The pleasures and joys of this world cause them to not continue to follow Christ.
[00:18:57] And one of the things he says in that parable is it as though the seed was thrown on ground and Satan comes in and grabs it up.
[00:19:05] And Paul says, in all, all of those situations, we were fearful that you would not last, that the persecution would prove your fake, or that somehow Satan would come in and grab the seed of the gospel and he would tempt you as you suffer to turn from Christ and to abandon Christ.
[00:19:28] And so Paul says, I had to send Timothy to establish and exhort, to make sure that that gospel got deep within you. And so he had to come and he had to make you strong in the gospel. He had to come and he had to say, don't give up. Let's go, let's go. Keep believing, keep believing.
[00:19:51] He says, that's why I sent him, to make sure the seed of the gospel was deep and your faith was real and Satan couldn't snatch it up.
[00:20:02] That's the anxiety Paul felt, that his labor may be empty or in vain. But what we see here is perseverance in persecution, in spiritual warfare, that Satan and the forces of darkness are involved in that. And we have to wage war with the truth.
[00:20:24] It's not peace time when the gospel is going out.
[00:20:27] You preach the gospel to a group this size and you don't think Satan hates it, he despises it.
[00:20:36] And so we better be in the trenches together reminding one another of the gospel. And he says, that's why I sent Timothy, because this spiritual warfare and this perseverance, this I believe the gospel and I'm going to make it to the end, demands the presence of one another. I sent Timothy because you needed his presence.
[00:21:00] And what Paul is describing here is, as we combat unbelief and as we combat the pleasures of this world and as we combat Satan himself, we better be in the foxhole with one another.
[00:21:18] We better be able to look over and see our brother and sister in the trenches with us. We cannot fight doubt lies sin and endure suffering alone.
[00:21:31] We've got to get in the trench. And sometimes our brother and sister is so wounded we have to pick up the gun and we have to defend them. We have to fend off the enemy ourselves because they can't hold the gun.
[00:21:46] Sometimes we have to get in the hole with them.
[00:21:49] We have to call for help. We have to be the one praying because they can't do it.
[00:21:55] And we're there with them.
[00:21:57] We're in their presence.
[00:21:59] And why is presence so important?
[00:22:03] This week I used a lot of technology for ministry.
[00:22:08] Texting, emails.
[00:22:10] And it was necessary even with church members who are in different cities right now and making sure we're connected, making sure they're shepherded. Well, we had to use technology, but it's not enough.
[00:22:24] It's not enough.
[00:22:26] People need your face.
[00:22:30] People need your tears, they need your hugs. And they need your voice reminding them in their presence that the Gospel is as real and true as their flesh and blood standing in front of you.
[00:22:45] They have to be reminded of the truth of the Gospel with your presence. And so use all of those other things, but make sure you have patterns in your life where you are present with others, brothers and sisters who need you, and they need you in their face, reminding them that they are forgiven, reminding them that they are accepted, Reminding them that the promises of God are true and. And they don't have to turn back. Let's go, brother. Let's go, sister. This is true. Let's go. Let's go. We have to get to safety. We are in a war. Let's go.
[00:23:25] That's what love looks like in the context of the church.
[00:23:29] But we also see a love that wants to persevere together.
[00:23:34] Notice we protect, but we also want to see one another persevere.
[00:23:39] Notice verse six. But now that Timothy has come to us from you and has brought us the good news of your faith and love, so we sent Timothy, what's up in Thessalonica? You won't believe it.
[00:23:54] They are still following Christ. They're loving one another. And notice this. You always remember us kindly and long to see us as we long to see you. So you love us the same way we love you. Now think about Paul says we came in and we preached the gospel and we ruined your life.
[00:24:13] You lost your job, you lost your family, you're kicked out in the streets. I wonder what they think about us there.
[00:24:19] He says you think of us kindly.
[00:24:21] You're thankful we came and we preached the Gospel. We didn't ruin your lives. Notice verse 7. For this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction, we have been comforted about you through your faith.
[00:24:37] So Paul, this anxiety that's killing him, hears the good news in Thessalonica. And notice verse 8. For now we Live.
[00:24:49] We were on the brink of death emotionally.
[00:24:53] We were so worried about you.
[00:24:56] And when we heard how things were going, we lived.
[00:25:00] That brought us joy.
[00:25:02] From dying in worry to living in thanksgiving. Notice if you are standing in the Lord, if you're persevering, you haven't turned from Christ. Verse 9. For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you? How can we give God credit for this? Notice throughout this whole book, God is the one who does all of this.
[00:25:20] For all the joy we feel for your sake before God as we pray most earnestly night and day. That again. I'm not giving up on this. I still want to see you face to face and supply what is lacking. I want to fill in what is missing from your faith. He's committed to discipleship. I want you to make it to the end, but I just want you to notice the emotional description here.
[00:25:44] Paul's longing to see this group of believers persevere.
[00:25:49] He wants to see them protected.
[00:25:52] Keep believing the gospel. Don't believe the lies of Satan.
[00:25:56] And now that I hear that you are persevering, there's no greater joy in my life than to know that you are continuing to live for Jesus. No greater joy. I went from death to life.
[00:26:09] In light of what was going on with you.
[00:26:12] Now, Paul was bound together with this group of believers through intense suffering.
[00:26:18] Intense suffering. And so they were quickly bound together, like three weeks, little over a month.
[00:26:24] They became family that quickly because of what they were going through together.
[00:26:29] Suffering and persecution. So I want you to think about that and then I want you to imagine that we as a church stick together through every stage of life year upon year upon year upon year. And we just give ourselves to one another and. And we go through a lot of stuff together.
[00:26:49] If they can be bound together as family in this intense way, maybe a month.
[00:26:55] What would this church look like?
[00:26:58] We just committed to go through the stuff together and not give up on one another.
[00:27:06] See, Lord willing. And it is. It is one of the delights of my life, to be honest with you.
[00:27:12] I will be some of your pastor through every single season of your life.
[00:27:18] I've already experienced that. For some of you, halfway.
[00:27:23] And our love, I can't explain it when I say I love this church. I love this church.
[00:27:33] If you're a visitor here today, that's not just to get you to join here.
[00:27:37] I may not love you the same way I love everybody here. It's a joke. I will promise.
[00:27:43] I love this church.
[00:27:45] I have pictures of myself in Luke Prince and he's like 3 or 4 years old because we were in ministry with his parents together in Alabama. And I'm tying his shoe at a church event. He's sitting in a chair. He's got an Alabama hat on. I have a Tennessee hat on.
[00:28:06] You see the gospel even in that. And I'm tying his shoe.
[00:28:11] Denae and I used to keep the Prince kit. That's how we learned to parent.
[00:28:18] And then yesterday, I'm leaving my youngest son's graduation with my arm around Luke, and we're talking about his wife and his kids who are older than he. It's just mind blowing to me. We've been through a lot of stuff together.
[00:28:37] When I walked in in 2004, January to Ashland Avenue Baptist Church, the first two kids I saw, they were standing outside of my office were Caitlin and Carrie Duerson, like 9 and 10.
[00:28:55] And they're serving our kids so faithfully. You know what a joy that is to me, just to see them grow in the faith and serve Jesus here.
[00:29:06] I met with Aaron King the week that he was headed to Peru, where he would meet Amelia.
[00:29:15] And now they like Luke. They have a lot of kids here, too. That's just what you do here.
[00:29:22] But when I see them, it is such a joy.
[00:29:27] It is such a delight to my soul.
[00:29:30] And it's worth more than any paycheck or retirement community to me.
[00:29:35] I love this church because I love you.
[00:29:40] And the point here is we love to see one another persevere.
[00:29:46] And so we'll do whatever it takes to. To see one another persevere. And that's where real fellowship forms. Real fellowship isn't nice, warm and fuzzy. And you agree with everything I say and do, everything I want to do. And we never mess up with one another. No, we get in the trenches, we fight Satan together. And sometimes we get irritated with one another. But over the course of time, we're bound together. We have conflict, we resolve it, and we're bound together as family means we got to go through some hard stuff together. There's going to be conflict, there's going to be struggle, there's going to be death. And there's going to be times where I want to give up and you won't let me. And there's going to be times where you want to give up and I won't let you. And we're bound together this way. So if you're here today and you say, I just feel lonely, then engage in this place.
[00:30:38] Get connected.
[00:30:40] Take little small baby steps to begin with, because this is where fellowship, kinship, community is forged on mission together. First of all, we want to see the gospel get to the ends of the earth. And we fight and we work together. And as we do that, we're bound together. And then we go through a lot of stuff together and we have to apply the gospel. And we love and we forgive one another, get immersed in, into the church. You're not meant to be alone. It's not good for you to be alone.
[00:31:12] You want that, that, that, that bond with others. You need it.
[00:31:17] Well, that's how it happens.
[00:31:20] But finally we see that Paul says the love that he wants them to have is a love that perseveres. Notice verse 11. Now may our God and Father himself and the Lord Jesus Christ direct our way to you. Paul. Paul says, I'm not giving up on seeing you.
[00:31:34] I want to see you. And I'm praying in all my prayers that I would see you because I love you that much.
[00:31:40] And may the Lord make notice I said this, this perseverance is something God does.
[00:31:48] We've seen in chapter one. He saves us by his Spirit. The Spirit comes with conviction. And we're going to see in the weeks ahead that the Holy Spirit still is what sanctifies us. So he says, may the Lord increase, make you increase and abound. It means to overflow more than you need notice in love.
[00:32:09] How do you make it to the end? Love.
[00:32:13] And so I'm praying that God would cause you to love one another.
[00:32:18] By the way, that's what you need, is the love of one another to make it to the end. And so I'm praying that God would do that and that you would have more love with one another than you need. Even love that I could bring in. No, you have it in one another.
[00:32:35] Notice, he says, as we do for you, remember, mimic us, mimic our love. Why?
[00:32:41] That he might establish your hearts, your whole being, meaning to present you blameless, which means pure and above reproach and holiness before God and Father.
[00:32:54] What he's saying is, I want you to make it to the end so that when Jesus comes, you stand before him blameless. How do you stand before Jesus? Blameless? You keep loving.
[00:33:05] That is what genuine faith looks like. That is what holiness looks like, is that you just keep loving like Jesus. Jesus is holy, Jesus is blameless. And Jesus is the ultimate display of love.
[00:33:18] So keep loving like Jesus so that when you stand before Jesus, he sees a group of people that love. And by the way, the Lord is going to make this happen. He's going to cause you to abound in love.
[00:33:29] Notice at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all of his saints, Jesus is coming.
[00:33:36] So keep trusting in Jesus and keep loving. That's what perseverance looks like.
[00:33:42] And that's what it looks like when Jesus just we see in Ephesians 5, washes his bride with water and word to present her spotless before God. What does that look like? What is a pure and spotless bride of Christ look like?
[00:34:00] A church that loves radically.
[00:34:04] That's what it means. That's what Jesus is going to work in our church. If he's going to sanctify us, he's going to cause us to love. Now, I want to be clear. The only way you can stand accepted before God is to be in Christ and to be covered with his acts of love, not your own. But if you are in Christ and you believe and stand in the love of God, you will love.
[00:34:27] You will love. You will radically love one another. And Paul says, I want to see this. Why does he want to see it? Because I want to see you persevere. I want to see you love.
[00:34:39] But the only way you're going to persevere is if you love one another. So think about that. The way you don't give up is just keep loving.
[00:34:48] So when life's hard and difficult and you want to isolate and push others away, don't do that.
[00:34:54] That's what unbelievers do.
[00:34:56] No, you love others.
[00:34:58] You forget about yourself and you love others.
[00:35:01] That's what the Holy Spirit does in the life of believers.
[00:35:05] But the way I don't give up is your love for me. You see how that's cyclical.
[00:35:13] I love, I'm not giving up.
[00:35:16] And I love people who may be wanting to give up.
[00:35:20] They're loved by me, and so then they can love.
[00:35:24] And this is what perseverance looks like in the church. We love one another.
[00:35:29] We don't give up.
[00:35:33] We love, so we don't give up. Does that make sense?
[00:35:37] You can say, yes, but the reason Paul's so adamant about this is because he can't be there.
[00:35:46] I can't be present and show you love right now.
[00:35:49] So may God cause you to love one another this way so you keep persevering again so you don't give up. Notice he says, as we do, we would say, paul, how do you love the church? What does that look like?
[00:36:04] He would say, long to be present with the church because church is your family.
[00:36:11] Seek to protect the church. What does he mean by that? From Satan. The lies make sure your brothers and sisters know the gospel. Hey, look at me. Look at me. The gospel is true. You've been forgiven. Jesus died on the cross for your sins. He lived a perfect life for you. You're covered in his righteousness. I want you to remember that. Look at me. That's how you love one another and don't abandon.
[00:36:33] Immerse your lives together so that they're so intertwined that you live and die as one another. Persevere.
[00:36:43] The only way some of us here today will make it and stand before Jesus, your love.
[00:36:51] Do you understand that?
[00:36:53] There's folks across this room right now who are suffering.
[00:36:58] They've got news they did not want to hear, and life is harder than they ever expected and they may not make it through if you don't love them.
[00:37:09] God's abounding love in your heart by the Spirit is their answered prayer.
[00:37:16] Will you love them?
[00:37:18] I experienced this daily in my own life with this church.
[00:37:22] I literally would not make it without you.
[00:37:27] I wouldn't make it. I need this many people to love me or I wouldn't make it.
[00:37:34] I'm going to start saying that when people say, wow, your church is growing. Why is that? I guess I just need that many people for me to make it to the end.
[00:37:42] I need you.
[00:37:43] I wouldn't make it without you.
[00:37:46] There's folks here who will not make it without you either.
[00:37:50] And maybe you hear all this and you're having trouble.
[00:37:53] What does it look like to love? How do I do that?
[00:37:57] Well, start noticing how your father loves adopting orphans who do not deserve his love and yet committing to their good through a cross where his son dies for their sins, forgiving them and cleansing them and accepting them into his family and giving them every right. That is Jesus forever adopting sons and daughters, making a family of all peoples and places and nations who believe in his name and anticipating their arrival, anticipating when all of this is over and we are a family together forever with our brother Jesus.
[00:38:38] Well, if you start immersing yourself in that story, it becomes natural for you to love.
[00:38:43] And if the story is just distant, think about the way he's loved you.
[00:38:48] Think about your sin.
[00:38:50] Think about reasons why God should have turned his back on you. And yet he was committed to your good no matter what the blood of his son for you. He's saying love is just a part of your DNA. If you're a Christian, you see love, so you love.
