Speaker 1: 0:07

I invite you to open, if you have your Bibles, to 1 Corinthians, chapter 13. 1 Corinthians, chapter 13,. We're continuing through the love chapter love him, as some call it call it. And we've seen already in this love chapter and the first three verses, the necessity of love. Paul talks about the necessity of love there. If we're not loving, it's viewed in God's eyes as that we're nothing. In that sense, in those moments we gain nothing when we do things without love. And that's because God is love. And so Paul emphasizes the absolute necessity of love in the first three verses. But then he moves in verses four through seven, which is the section we're in right now, to the nature of love, what love is like and what it's not like, and we might call these things the 15 priorities of the Christian life or the 15 priorities of the church. They look like adjectives in our Bible, but in these verses there's actually 15 verbs. And what's remarkable about this section on love?

Speaker 1: 1:18

Here Paul speaks about love as if it's a person, and I think there's a reason for that. Jesus is patient and kind. Jesus does not envy or boast. He is not arrogant or rude. Jesus does not insist on his own way, he is not irritable or resentful. He does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Jesus bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. The risen Lord Jesus Christ never ends. I think there's a reason. Paul speaks about love, personified here as a person, because it is a person, god is love and Jesus is God incarnate. And it's because Jesus loved God with all of his heart, mind, soul and strength, and he loved his neighbors, even his enemies as himself, and he did it sinlessly and perfectly. He was then qualified to be that perfect sacrifice, to go to the cross and to die there in our place, to take the full penalty for our sins, that we might be reconciled to God. And then he was risen from the dead, ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand of God, the Father as our champion, interceding for us there, at the right hand of God, praying for us, having the testimony of his scarred hands and feet in glory, that all of our sins have been paid for for us who believe. And that's important to remember as we approach the law of God, as we approach speaking about this high standard of love, because if we forget that then we might be tempted to despair. But this chapter. Hopefully it will cause us conviction, but not despair.

Speaker 1: 3:30

In light of Christ, paul says in Romans 5, 1,. Therefore, since we've been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And he says in Romans 8, 1,. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, and so we can live in peace, even as we continue. Each day we sin in word, thought and deed. But for those of us who are in Christ, who have faith in Christ, we're united spiritually with Christ. We can know that God has dealt with all of our sins, and this is important so that we can be honest before God, is important so that we can be honest before God. It's almost impossible to be honest about our sins if we're not confident of God's love. But if you're secure in God's love, that's when we are free then to be honest before him about the ways we need to grow as God's people, and so the gospel frees us in that way.

Speaker 1: 4:25

So far we've looked at the fact that love is patient and kind, those two positive aspects of love. And then last week we looked at the first of five negatives love is not. Love is not like such and such. Last week it was love does not envy. Well, this morning we're going to look at the second and third out of five negatives of what love is not. We're going to look at love does not boast and love is not arrogant. Those are sort of twins. We'll call those twins. They go together. So we're going to look at them together.

Speaker 1: 4:59

You can fill in your name in this love chapter. That's interesting. I've already put Jesus' name in there and that sounds right. But how does it sound when you say this before God, I do not boast, I am not arrogant. Westtown Church does not boast, westtown Church is not arrogant. Each man and woman search your own heart before God this morning.

Speaker 1: 5:32

But with that brief introduction, let's stand and hear God's Word. I would like to invite you to do so. If you're able, I'm going to read again up to the first part of verse 8 here in 1 Corinthians 13. Up to the first part of verse 8 here in 1 Corinthians 13. This is the inspired, infallible, inerrant word of the living God. It is holy and it comes with love from God to you, verse 1.

Speaker 1: 5:58

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal, and if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have and if I deliver up my body to be burned but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind. Love does not envy or boast. It is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way. It is not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of the Lord endures forever. God's people said amen, you may be seated. Heavenly Father, we come now to your word and Lord Jesus. We ask you as the good shepherd, that you and the Father would, by your Holy Spirit, feed us your sheep. We ask it in Christ's name, amen.

Speaker 1: 7:16

We're going to look at this in two parts. The first section we're going to look at and it's going to be the longer of the two sections Love does not boast. We'll also come back closer to the end and look a little bit more briefly at, love is not arrogant. But I want us to consider from verse 4 of 1 Corinthians 13 that love does not boast. There's various ways this can be understood. One way you can think about it is love is not a windbag. Love is not a windbag.

Speaker 1: 7:44

Now, I got quite a response from this in the first service. But I have to say, have you ever gone in to the grocery store, come home with that nice big bag of potato chips, open it up and realize you got about 20% potato chips, 80% air in that thing. Right, you know what I'm talking about. Well, love is not like that. Love is not all air. It doesn't boast, it's not pompous, it's not filled up with self-importance. Will Ferrell in one of his movies says to a woman I'm kind of a big deal. Right, I can't commend that movie, but it is funny that line. But pompous, an inflated ego, that's what love is not. Love isn't like that, because love doesn't sing its own praises, it doesn't walk around thinking or saying I'm kind of a big deal.

Speaker 1: 8:45

A wise person knows this and we see this from the book of Proverbs, where our Lord is trying to teach us how, when we live according to the wisdom of God. We understand these things. Proverbs 27, verse 2, for example. Listen, let another praise you and not your own mouth, a stranger and not your own lips. Proverbs 25, 27,. Listen, it's not good to eat much honey. Nor is it glorious to seek one's own glory. See, it's not glorious to seek one's own glory At the heart of it. What is sinful mankind's problem? You can sum it up like this we're glory stealers. We want to steal God's glory. That's our natural impulse. The famous story of the Tower of Babel is a good example of that. But that's all of our problems. We want to promote our own glory rather than being about promoting the glory of God. We want to promote ourself rather than promoting God's glory, which is why we're on this earth.

Speaker 1: 9:58

Jesus in Luke, chapter 14,. He speaks about this parable, about a wedding feast, and at this wedding feast he talks about these guests showing up and they chose the places of honor. It's kind of strange, isn't it? The guests come and they make the feast about them, and then Jesus goes through that parable. But at the end of the parable, here's what he says, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. I want you to really hear what Jesus says, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled by God, and he who humbles himself will be exalted by God. That's an iron law of the kingdom of God. And so when we're being proud and arrogant and boastful, we can know God will humble us. When we see the pride and arrogance of man around us, we can know God will humble that person. It's an unbreakable rule. It's how God operates. An unbreakable rule. It's how God operates. God is patient, but he will eventually humble those who exalt themselves.

Speaker 1: 11:33

Remember Carly Simon's song You're so Vain. You walked into the party like you were walking onto a yacht. What a great opening line. Your hat strategically dipped below one eye. Your scarf was apricot. You had one eye in the mirror as you washed yourself Gavotte. I found out that was a French dance. I had no idea what that was A gavotte. But you're so vain. You probably think this song is about you, don't you, don't you?

Speaker 1: 12:05

Yeah, love doesn't dream being the center of the party. It doesn't dream being the center of attention at church or amongst friends. It doesn't dream about being the most popular kid at school or in the group. Why is that? The simple reason is love is not consumed with the self. That's the simple reason. Love is concerned about the ones around. Love's concerned with promoting the glory of God. Love is concerned with serving and building up other people around. Love is concerned about, to the degree that you can, building up unity and bringing people together, especially bringing people together in Christ.

Speaker 1: 12:57

Think of the male peacock when he shoots out that train of feathers, out in a flash of brilliance, all those glorious colors, all the ladies, the turquoise and the green and the purple and the deep royal blue. It really is a stunning thing, isn't it, to see the peacock do that. That beauty, that flash of beauty. It draws attention. Well, that's fine, because that's how God designed peacocks. But we're not peacocks, we're people, and there's a sense in which love is not like that. Love does not put itself on display.

Speaker 1: 13:46

I remember growing up I grew up in a little town of 900, and I remember we used to have town parades. If you go to parades or you participate in parades, maybe some of you have done a float, or whatever the case may be, I love watching the Macy Day's parade, the Rose Bowl parade, all that Pretty incredible stuff. But what are parades? Well, in a simple way. We're just about bringing the community together, remembering, hey, we're all in this together, we're celebrating life together, have a little fun. But why do I say that? Because sinful boasting makes a parade for itself and that does not bring people together. That begins to separate people as we begin to promote ourself in an ugly manner, it begins to separate people. Love makes no parade.

Speaker 1: 14:48

Have you noticed in sports today the trend? I see it, it bothers me. I was in a lot of sports when I was younger, too much so. I thought I was too into it, to be honest with you. But from the professionals to the college players, now to the high school, and you even see it down in junior high, some, have you noticed, a team can be down 40 points with one minute to go in the football game and a guy makes a sack and he gets up and does the chicken victory dance. You know about 10 or 15 yards down the field and I'm thinking to myself what is he doing? Look at how great I am. Do you see that I'm a nothing wrong with passion? Nothing wrong with sports has passion. But there's there comes a place where it's kind of ugly.

Speaker 1: 15:50

One of the things I used to love about Walter Payton. I'm showing my age a little bit there, but I saw him play here in Tampa once, but whenever he'd score a touchdown he just dropped the ball. There's just a certain class he had and you see other sports figures like that Lou Holtz. He used to tell his players when they scored a touchdown, act like you've been there before. He didn't want all that. Look, I'm the greatest thing going on. Excitement's. Fine, you want excitement in sports. It's part of it.

Speaker 1: 16:23

But there's a line there and I think we've lost that line between excitement and arrogance and boasting. What does that have to do with 1 Corinthians 13? Act like all good things come from above, from God, because they do Everything good that you and I are able to do, anything that we're able to do well, any contributions you and I are able to make to encourage other people or to be a part. It all comes from God, it all comes from God and our natural instinct is to want to take that glory and rob God of His glory. Love doesn't beat its chest. It doesn't do an arrogant, boastful chicken victory dance in front of the opponents. It gives thanks to God, it gives glory to God. But that doesn't just happen in sports does it? It happens in the local church, and that's what happened in Corinth. His people were boasting. 1 Corinthians, chapter 4, the seventh verse.

Speaker 1: 17:38

Listen to what Paul says to the Corinthians, for who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? That's what he's saying. What do you have that you did not receive from God? And if you then received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive from God? And if you then received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

Speaker 1: 17:57

I like how Leon Morris puts it. He says love is concerned to give itself, not to assert itself. In other words, love is concerned to give itself to others, not to assert or exalt itself above others. That's, I think, a good way to think about it. Think about the Lord Jesus, christ, the King of heaven. If anybody had the right to boast, it would be Christ. We see the beauty of Christ. We see the beauty of Christ. We see how Jesus is the king, and yet he's about to die, on that Maundy Thursday, the night before his death. You would think if he was ever going to begin to focus on himself, it would be then. And yet he turns and takes the job of the lowest slave in the household, which is washing the feet. That's the lowest slave on the rung. That was their job and that's what Christ did with his disciples. And he even washed Judas' feet when he knew Judas was going to betray him. That's what love is like.

Speaker 1: 19:15

Jesus' opponents came at him in John, chapter 8. And here's what they asked him who do you make yourself out to be? Jesus answered them if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. Here's this very son of God. If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It's my father who glorifies me, of whom you say he is our God, but you've not known him, the apostle Paul.

Speaker 1: 19:45

Once a persecutor of the church got converted, the risen Lord Jesus showed up and revealed himself to Paul, who converted him to know the Lord, and then he made him an apostle. But Paul came to understand that his life and his gifts and his hard work and even his sufferings were not about him, but they were about glorifying God. We're all trying to learn that lesson in life. He tells these same Corinthians in 2 Corinthians, the 12th chapter, that God had given this painful thorn in the flesh. He allowed Satan to harass Paul. The Lord did and he put this thorn in Paul's flesh. We're not sure quite what that thorn in his flesh was, but we know that it hurt and it was painful because he pleaded with God three times take it away, please take this away. But what does God say to Paul? My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Paul then says, therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. It's an interesting spiritual lesson, isn't it what Paul says there? Paul's feeling his weakness. God could have taken it away, but he specifically did not take it away so that God could show how great he was, even through Paul's weaknesses, and in fact I think even especially through Paul's weaknesses.

Speaker 1: 21:28

I think, as we think about boasting, we can think about how big is God compared to people? Boasters care an awful lot about what other people think. They think a lot about what other people think. Is God big in our vision and people relatively small compared to God? Or are people big in our vision and what they think relative to God? Have we made God small? Who's big and who's small? And by small I don't mean insignificant, I just mean relative to God. Do you know that God delights to use your weaknesses as well as your spiritual gifts and talents and strengths? Why? Because when he does things through our weaknesses, he uses our strengths too. But when he uses our weaknesses, there's no doubt who gets the glory. He especially loves to use the weaknesses of his people.

Speaker 1: 22:31

Paul boasted in the cross of Christ more than anything. He came to learn it. He had to learn it. He had to learn it by the grace of God. It wasn't natural for Paul. God taught Paul how to boast in the cross of Christ, galatians 6.14,. Here's what Paul writes far be it for me to boast except in the cross of Christ. Galatians 6.14,. Here's what Paul writes far be it for me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. He doesn't mean by that nothing matters in the world. What he means is I'm living for heavenly things. He had this heavenly mindedness centered in the cross. Now things. He had this heavenly mindedness centered in the cross now. He wasn't in the grip of the world any longer.

Speaker 1: 23:15

And so it's the cross of Jesus Christ where the love of Jesus and the God, the Father for undeserving and boastful and arrogant sinners that's where it's on full display is in the cross. Who's Jesus dying for up there? Well, he's dying for boasters and arrogant people and sinners, of course. And so we see Jesus there. He's bleeding and he's dying and he's absorbing into His body and into His soul the wrath of God for our sins, for our sins. Why? That our sins could be forgiven, that we could then come to understand that love does not boast. Some people say well, if you can do it, it's not bragging. Yes, it is. Yes, it is, it is. Love doesn't promote itself. We see that in Christ. It gives itself for the good of others and the glory of God. That's the difference.

Speaker 1: 24:28

Jeremiah, the prophet who suffered mightily, chapter nine listen let not the wise boast of their wisdom, or the strong boast of their strength, or the rich boast of the riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this that they have the understanding to know me that I am the Lord who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on the earth, for in these I delight. If we want to boast of anything, let's boast. We know God. Let's boast about Him is the point. Here's how Paul puts it in the first chapter of 1 Corinthians. Listen chapter 1, verse 26. For consider your calling brothers. Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not to bring to nothing, things that are so that no human being might boast in the presence of God and because of him. You are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord, boast in the Lord.

Speaker 1: 26:09

The Corinthians had a pride problem, you and I. God's grace has to deal with our pride, our boasting. Jesus had to deal with the Pharisees. You see what they were about. They would tithe. They would tithe. They would give alms to the poor, they would go about their Sabbath keeping, they would pray. But why does Jesus point that out? He says, but you know what their motives were in all, that they wanted to be seen and praised by men. And why did they do that. They wanted to be praised by men because they were empty inside, and so they're trying to fill this hole in their hearts that can only be filled by the saving love of God. But they try to stuff it full with the praise of men to feed their own prideful self-righteousness, and Christ condemned it in them. The only thing that can fill that hole in us, the praise of other people, can't do it. We all need encouragement. That's not the point. But the point is that can't fill that hole. Only God can fill that hole, and he does it through faith in Jesus Christ. And then he comes and he lives in us and he dwells in us. So the Pharisees they were self-centered, they were applause seeking. They would blow their own trumpet and Christ wouldn't have it.

Speaker 1: 27:46

The Holy Spirit teaches us otherwise. What does the Holy Spirit himself do? He's always making much of Christ, and so when the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us, we begin to make much of Christ by the grace of the Holy Spirit in us. Ji Packer used to say the Holy Spirit has a spotlight ministry. The point of a spotlight is not to draw attention to itself, it's to draw attention to the sign. And the Holy Spirit, you'll notice, is always shining the light on Christ. Wherever you see Christ exalted and lifted up, you know the Holy Spirit's at work. And what was Christ always about Honoring the Father and what was the Father always about Honoring the Son. And you see, even within the person of the Trinity, how they were all honoring and lifting up and shining the light on one another. God is love and we see this self-giving even within the Trinity itself.

Speaker 1: 28:39

The first question of the classic Westminster Shorter Catechism what a great document that is In the 1640s the very first question gets to the biblical, a biblical summary of why you and I are even on this earth. What is the chief end of man which we, the way we would put it, what is the primary purpose of people? Why are we here? The answer according to the Bible, the primary purpose is that we would glorify God and enjoy Him forever. That's it, that's our purpose. But what does the boaster do? He has his own catechism. My primary purpose is to glorify myself and to gain applause forever. That's the boaster. It's about him or her.

Speaker 1: 29:26

So love does not boast. But I want you to see. Secondly, it's not arrogant. Love is not arrogant. It's not arrogant. It's also sometimes translated puffed up. Love is not puffed up. Boasting is just one manifestation of arrogance. Arrogance is actually the broader term. Boasting is one manifestation, one of the ways that arrogance comes out. But this word for arrogant or puffed up, it's used seven times in the New Testament. Six of those times are in 1 Corinthians. The Corinthians had a pride problem. It was one of their great sins. Colossians 2.18 is the other place you'll see it. But I've always said no one stands at the base of Mount Everest and brags about the size of their bicep. But that's what we're doing. We boast in the presence of God. Anytime we're boasting or we're arrogant, it's in the presence of God because God is everywhere. And so, as you see the foolishness of it, you know if we're boasting or become arrogant, you know that we've just lost a true sense of the presence of God, because if we could really grab hold of His presence spiritually, we would not be doing that Back in.

Speaker 1: 30:50

Let's look at several of these examples where Paul says that they're puffed up or arrogant. Within 1 Corinthians itself, back in chapter 4, the sixth verse, there's an example. Paul points out that they had this party spirit. They had this party spirit. You remember Some were following Paul. Some said, oh no, I follow Apollo. Some said, oh no, I follow Cephas, which is another name for the apostle Peter. Some said, oh no, we follow Jesus. We have the right answer. And they were all. They had this party spirit.

Speaker 1: 31:19

But Paul, it's interesting when he points out their sin there, with that party spirit, he says listen, do you notice that me and Apollos, we work together. But when we work together, we work together in view of the judgment of God. We're not about the business of judging other people, because we're concerned about the judgment of God. When you have a party spirit, you know people have lost any sense that they too will give an account to God. Because what is a party spirit? It's people trying to exalt their own group up over another group. Oh, our group's better than your group. No, our group's better than your group. We're wiser than you. No, we're wiser. And that's what was going on in the Corinthian church. We're more spiritual because we follow him. No, we're more spiritual because we follow him. And Paul's saying you've lost. Everyone's going to give an account. Quit judging one another. We're all going to stand before God's judgment, and so one way to battle boasting and arrogance is. Remember that we'll all give an account to God.

Speaker 1: 32:31

But later in that same chapter, chapter 4 and verses 18 and 19,. And then, in the beginning of chapter 5, we see something else. We see three more uses of this word arrogant or puffed up. And in the Corinthian church, paul's basically telling them you know, you got some empty talkers, you got some big talkers in the church, as they say in Texas all what is it? All hat no cattle. And that's what they had in the Corinthian church. Spiritually, they were all hat no cattle. And Paul's trying to point out to them you're just being arrogant. You're being arrogant. You've forgotten the purpose of God's church, which is to glorify God in all places, at all times, amongst all peoples. And of course we grow in that. Yes, but that's the purpose. And they had lost sight of the purpose. And it was evidenced by the way that they were talking arrogantly amongst themselves. It was evident clearly in the fact that they had incest going on in the church. They had lawsuits going on, one member against another member. They had people that were involved with prostitution.

Speaker 1: 33:45

Now why is that arrogant? It's arrogant because you see the same thing in churches today. That will not do any discipline. Why? Because they're more worried about what people think rather than what God thinks. And God expects leaders, when people are wayward, to lovingly discipline folks and sometimes discipline hurts and it's painful but it needs to be done. And when it's not done, you know your leaders are arrogant because they care more about what people think than what God thinks. God is very clear that discipline is a form of love. Our culture is trying to teach you that. It's not well, it is. And of course, when we discipline, I could tell you stories I wish we had time to go into stories this morning on on how I've seen people excommunicated and repent and come back. You know, love disciplines to the glory of God. You see, the world thinks licentiousness is love.

Speaker 1: 34:50

Paul's saying you're letting all this go on in your church and I'm going to tell you what the problem is. You think that's loving and gracious. It's arrogant because it's not pleasing to God and that's what you need to be concerned about. You see, that's what he was hitting on. I want to say this as lovingly as I can, and I do say this with a pastor's heart. If you're a person that thinks you only need to come to church once or twice a month. You need to know that's arrogant, because what you're doing is you're saying I know most of God's people. They probably need to go every week. But you know, I kind of got it down, I'm fine, once a month's good. And I just want to encourage you, god's not going to bless that. You could be so much more blessed by being obedient to God. He will fill you with more joy and it will honor him. And I say that in love to you. It's very important to honor God in worship.

Speaker 1: 35:58

And in the eighth chapter, the first verse, paul says that knowledge disconnected from love puffs up. The point isn't remain ignorant. That's not what he's saying. What he's saying is knowledge, when it gets disconnected from love, becomes arrogant. And Paul was trying to tell them in verse 2 here if anyone imagines he knows something he does not yet know as he ought to know, you know the NLT, the New Living Translation says they know all. The answers is how they put it. Well then, in verse 3, but if anyone loves God, he's known by God. Paul says If anyone loves God, he's known by God. Now I want you to slow down and think about this for a sec. You would think Paul would have said but if anyone loves God, he knows, like he ought to know.

Speaker 1: 36:45

But Paul didn't say that. He said but if anyone loves God, he's known by God. In other words, the person who truly loves God has been humbled in a particular way. This is what Paul is getting at. What he means is the one who loves God has come to see that what's so important is not so much what he or she knows about God, but what's really important is that he or she is known by God in this intimate, loving and saving way through Jesus Christ. Here's another way to put it People who know the saving love of God are amazed, and they're amazed because they can't believe, as deeply sinful as they are, that God would love them, and they're amazed at the love of God. You see, the Pharisees were self-righteous. They had no sense of their desperate need for Jesus Christ. But people that know God and are known by God come to just be amazed. God would love me and they're humbled. Remember Chris Tomlin's song Indescribable, incomparable, unchangeable. You see the depths of my heart and you love me the same. You are amazing. God Isn't God good? He sees you at your best and at your very worst. And his love for his children. He loves you just as much at your most vile and worst as he does when you're at your best. The love of God is a holy thing, it's a marvelous thing, it's beautiful.

Speaker 1: 38:24

Napoleon the French he always wanted people to go to public worship, but he didn't think he needed to go because he was not like other men. And that's the spirit we see with the Pharisees in Luke 18, who prayed thank you God, I'm not like other men. You don't want to be that. You don't want to be that person that says well, thank you God, I don't need to go and receive your grace and your word and be with your people and get that special blessing and worship each week. I'll just. I need you less than other people. You don't want to be that. That's a pharisaical spirit. I think one of the reasons God made me a pastor and I really mean this. I need to be here. I need to be here bad. We need the love and grace of God and we need to hear it often. And we need to be with other people. We live in a world that hates God. We need to be with other people who love God and be encouraged, and I want to encourage you to do that. God will bless you. He will bless you.

Speaker 1: 39:28

Look at Jesus, how his humble love serves others. He's got love took nails through his hands and feet. Love has a crown of thorns on his head. Love shed his blood not just for his friends but for his enemies, so that you and I could be forgiven of all of our sins, including our boasting, including all of our arrogance. Thank God for Christ that we could be just. Through faith we get that gift of forgiveness and eternal life and we're reconciled with God forever. In that moment, love doesn't boast and love is not arrogant. That's because Jesus does not boast and love is not arrogant. That's because Jesus does not boast and Jesus is not arrogant. And when his spirit dwells within us by faith, then we begin to grow to be more and more like Christ himself, even as we're secure in his love. God is good.