Westtown Church
Westtown Church
Love Is Not Rude and Does Not Insist on Its Own Way
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What does a moderately firm handshake, a limp handshake, a firm handshake, a kiss on the cheek--perhaps once, twice or even three times!--a bow, one's nose to the forehead, a smile and a nod, and sticking out your tongue all have to do with love? Come this Sunday and find out as we continue in the Love Chapter of 1 Corinthians 13.
Love
Speaker 1Good morning , so glad to be with you . Before we get started I will invite you to . If you have your Bibles , you can turn to them in 1 Corinthians 13 . We did have a baptism in the first service . One of the couples that went through our recent Belong class , jared and Jenna Brady . She was anxious to go ahead and take her vows publicly and get baptized because she wanted to participate in the Lord's Supper . So we did that in the first service . I wanted you to be aware of that and those of you who know them , you can give them a hug and others you can get to know them , hopefully , and encourage them as they encourage us .
Speaker 1But this morning we're going to continue in 1 Corinthians 13 , the love chapter . And if you've been with us , you'll remember that the first several verses of this chapter talk about the necessity of love . In other words , we can even give up our body to be burned , we can have faith . That moves mountains . But if we don't have a heart motivated by love , if love isn't in it , in God's eyes it means nothing . And then , as we move from the first three verses into verses 4-7 , that's where Paul wants us to not misunderstand that there's a difference . He wants us to realize there's a difference between love and mere sentimentality . Love is more than just loving feelings , although it certainly involves that . It involves action , and we see that in the fact that in our English Bibles , here in these verses 4-7 , they appear as adjectives and descriptors , but they're actually verbs , they're action . Love acts . It not only flows from the heart , but love comes through our fingertips and out into our lives . And so the way Paul handles this is he begins talking about the nature of love in these few verses here with two positives Love is patient , love is kind . And then he switches to deal with five things . Love is not , and here he's dealing with some of the darkness that we find in one degree or another in all of our hearts and minds and lives . And he's saying love does not envy or boast , it is not arrogant or rude , it does not insist on its own way . So there's five rapid fire things that Paul mentions of what love is not . And so , with that just brief introduction , we're going to continue on in this passage today .
Speaker 1It's one of those passages worthy of our extended reflection and meditation . So , if you would stand and if you're able and I'm going to read the first several verses of this chapter to you . This is the inerrant word of God . It's infallible and it's holy , and so he sends it to you in love . Receive it by faith .
Speaker 1Verse one 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 . Thank you , heavenly Father . We come now and we ask that you would give us , by your Holy Spirit , the grace to see the Lord Jesus Christ , in his beauty and majesty . Help us , lord , to grow in our love for you , for one another and for those in our midst . In Jesus' name , amen .
Speaker 1The main idea this morning is simply this Love is not rude and does not insist on its own way . Everything I say will be related to that this morning , so you can hang your hat there and we're going to try to unpack what Paul means here as he brings this important message to us . You may remember that a few weeks ago we looked at the fact that love does not boast and it's not arrogant . Boasting is a form of arrogance , so those two naturally go together . Well , this morning , in like fashion , love is not rude and it does not insist on its own way , and so insisting on our own way , being rude , is a form of insisting on our own way . So those two aspects go together . So that's why we're coupling them up to consider them together .
Speaker 1I think a good way to go about this is to first just start with the word itself , this word Paul uses for rude . We're going to find that the biblical word for rude is a bit more weighty than we often use it in our culture to just collapse it to bad manners . It does include that . But it's broader and weightier than that and I think we'll see that this word for rude has within it this rude idea of scheme . It's not the kind of scheming the devil does . It's not malicious scheming . It's scheme in the sense that we have a form or a pattern and when we're not acting and living according to a certain form or pattern or scheme that God has laid out for us in His Word and through in person , through the Lord Jesus Christ , the pattern of Christ , then we're being rude . And of course that does include social customs . There's a place for us to consider that aspect of it . But it does have this broader idea to it Love is not disgraceful , it's not dishonorable or indecent , it doesn't act in an unbecoming way , it doesn't act in an unseemly way , it doesn't act in an unpresentable way , is one way
Love Is Not Rude
Speaker 1that we can think of it .
Speaker 1As a matter of fact , paul , in chapter 12 , the 23rd verse he alludes to that which we'll see in just a second . But it's this idea that love does not have bad manners , love , it doesn't act in an indecent manner . In chapter 12 , paul uses that same root word when he says this that he's talking there about , how he's trying to use an illustration , and how he refers to our more private body parts as our unpresentable parts , unpresentable socially . That is . So if you and I came out into public and we didn't cover certain body parts what he calls unpresentable we would say that's indecent . And that's what Paul is getting at it's indecent behavior . Love is not rude . Love is not rude , it's not unpresentable , and so it doesn't behave in an indecent or an unpresentable way . And you can think about this .
Speaker 1You see , in the book of Genesis there's a godly man , a righteous man named Noah , and Noah , after the flood , he dips into the wine a bit too much and so he gets drunk on one particular occasion that we're aware of , and he was actually found by his son , ham , and he was found by his son , ham , drunk and unclothed , there in his tent . Ham was rude to his father . He did not treat his naked father with dignity and honor when his father was there in a somewhat vulnerable and shameful moment . Ham does nothing , he leaves him like that , he goes out and then he just tells his two brothers about it , shem and Japheth . Shem and Japheth respond appropriately . They go to their father , they cover him , they cover their father's nakedness and thus they restore some measure of dignity in his sinful failure , in that shameful moment . And that's what love does . Ham was not loving to his father . He was rude in that way . He acted in a shameful way , in an insensitive way to his father .
Speaker 1So love is not rude , and so part of what that means is is that love honors other people . Love gives honor to whom honor is due , something Ham failed to do with his own father , something the other two brothers did do . And so we see a good illustration of that . Love is sensitive , and so it doesn't exploit the sin and shame of other people . It doesn't do that . It covers other shame when they're at their worst . Because , you see , this is how Christ is . He's the form or the pattern that we're to follow . He's the scheme that we're to follow . We see that in Christ , god is love , and we see Christ revealing that love in his life and death . And so love covers other shame . It doesn't exploit these sins . It doesn't ridicule other people in their failures and in their shame . Our society seems to more and more delight in ridiculing people in this way .
Speaker 1I think we need to remember , when we look at Jesus Christ , he did bear our guilt on that cross , and I think that that's the emphasis of the Scripture . Thank God , he died for our sins and took all those sins off our record on the record books of heaven . For those who trust in Christ , we're forgiven of all of our sins . In fact , it's even better than that we're actually declared righteous by God on the record books of heaven , as if we'd fulfilled every jot and tittle of the law . But Christ also , I want to remind you and I think it's under taught I think it's important that we realize that Christ on that cross also bore our public shame . He was bearing our public shame not for his sins but for ours , so that our sins could be covered , so our shame could be covered . I say this because I've noticed as a pastor through the years that many Christians struggle to look forward to the day the trumpet sounds and Christ returns . And I think part of that is because we know that we'll all give an account to God , and we will . But I also want you to know if you're in Christ , the guilt and the shame of your sins is covered . God is not going to shame you before the watching world when he returns in glory . You need to , I think , understand that so that you look forward to that day when Christ comes back . It's going to be a great day for God's people and , yes , we will give an account and we need to take that serious . But he's not going to publicly shame you .
Speaker 1Christian Love covers a multitude of sins . Aren't you glad ? I need more of a Pentecostal amen for that one . Aren't you glad ? Alright , love's not rude , it's kind , it's gracious , it's compassionate . It's gracious , it's compassionate , it's sensitive . You see , our Lord , in one sense , is more like Shem and Japheth covering the shame of their father . We see something of Christ in them . Thank God , he's like that . God is love . And so we've seen how , in the Corinthian church , several of these issues that came up that Paul has addressed and we've talked about them before . But let's return to them again and relate them to what it means to be rude . You know this party spirit was in the Corinthian church . They were behaving rudely , they weren't behaving lovingly and it was dividing the church .
Speaker 1I remember Dr Godfrey , robert Godfrey . He's a theologian , history theologian , out in Westminster West in California . He flew in . One time I was at a Ligonier conference in Orlando and some of you may remember when Arnold Schwarzenegger became the governor of California . You remember this ? Yeah , I will be back . You can almost hear him . Well , dr Godfrey came up to the mic here in Orlando and I'll never forget . He says my governor can beat up your governor . And that was one of the funniest lines . Everybody laughed . It was funny . It still is .
Speaker 1But there was a one-upmanship in Corinth my spiritual mentor can beat up your spiritual mentor . I follow Apollos . Oh , I follow Cephas , that's Peter . Cephas being Peter means stone . Cephas is another name for Peter , because it's stone in Aramaic . So sometimes in scripture you'll see Cephas , it's Peter . Same thing . Others were saying Paul , I follow Paul . Others were I follow Christ , and you should , but just not with looking down your nose at others that are confused .
Speaker 1And so they were having these divisions . They were having these divisions , they were being rude . My spiritual leader can beat up your spiritual leader , you know , and really it was kind of childish Cannot , can too , cannot , can too . And they were dividing over it . And so you see here that love is not rude in the sense that it's not graceless . Love is gracious . That's part of what it means not to be rude , because you're being sensitive to other people around you , even in their failures . And that's what our God is like . He is love . That's his default , that's what his very nature is like . It's a wonderful thing to ponder that reality . And so the behavior of the Corinthian Christians was not fitting , it wasn't proper . It was not according to the scheme or pattern or form that we see in the Lord Jesus Christ himself . He was love incarnate . He still is in heaven and glory .
Speaker 1And so these divisions and this rudeness was rooted in pride and a lack of humility in the Corinthians . Wherever you see rudeness , you can almost always be guaranteed there's pride , Because it's with this attitude I'm just going to do what I want to do and I don't really care how it affects you around that are around me and there's a lot of that in our culture today isn't there . I don't care , think what you want . Well , I don't think that's biblical . Paul points out in the fifth chapter of 1 Corinthians that there was a situation there of a man who was in sexual immorality . It was a pattern of living , and the Corinthians weren't doing anything about it .
Speaker 1The leaders in the Corinthian church were not addressing this issue . In fact , paul makes it pretty clear he should have been put out of the church . No one gets put out of the church simply because of the sin . They get put out of the church because of unrepentant sin . There's a difference and of course we try to come to people and help them when they're caught in sin . But Paul rebukes the Corinthians and I think in particular , especially the Corinthian leaders that they were not doing any pastoral discipline in this scandalous situation .
Speaker 1One pastor , I think , was insightful . He said this and I think he's right here the Corinthians probably thought they were being loving . They probably thought they were being loving . Look at how loving we are . We accept everybody just as they are . We do not judge other people . They live their life , we live ours . We aren't God , we just love people .
Speaker 1Well , there's certain situations that that would be appropriate and in many situations you do want to have , we do need to temper . We don't want to be judgmental , but they were using a little bit of truth to cover over or to not address a multitude of sins and that's not good and Paul calls them out for it . They weren't being loving to this man , they were not being loving to the other people in the church by letting that scandalous , outrageous behavior and lifestyle continue without being pastorally addressed . Why ? Because it was unbecoming , it was indecent , it was not fitting according to the scheme or pattern that God had given us in his word and in his son , jesus Christ . God is holy , his love is holy . His love is not like the world defines love . His love is holy love and so it's to be pure . And , above all , it was rude to Jesus Christ . It was Jesus Christ whose name was being drug through the mud by not addressing that scandalous behavior in the church .
Speaker 1I remember Mark Dever years ago saying and believe me , I've had to do hard discipline through the years as a pastor . I'll just tell you I hate it , but you have to do it , just like you . Parents . Any loving parent does not like to discipline their kids . If you kind of get a sick delight out of it , there's something wrong . But you do it . Why ? Because you care more for their soul and their character than you do for their comfort in that moment , right , and so we as pastors than you do for their comfort in that moment , right , and so we as pastors sometimes , and elders and leaders have to do this and parents , but when you don't address things that are important and you can't be picking people apart and people sometimes take discipline passages and abusers hide under that garbage and that's disgusting . But there is a good way to do it . And if you don't address scandalous sin in a church , what we would be saying as Westtown Church to this community is you can live like that and you will not surely die .
Speaker 1And yet Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6 that those who live as a patterned way of living , in a sexually immoral way will not inherit the kingdom of God . And so there you begin to see why it's not loving to just let everything go . Proverbs says overlook much in love , and oftentimes we should be overlooking stuff and not be nitpicking and just leave it alone . It's not that important . But there are times we go to the other extreme , and Paul is addressing that in this letter . And so we're telling people just go ahead and live however you want , and they're going to stand at the judgment and if they continue down that road they will perish at the judgment . We have to care about their eternal souls , not just their present comfort . And this is why the Corinthians , they were being rude , they weren't addressing indecency as a church , and I think we see here something about the important distinctiveness of Christian love . There is a distinctiveness of Christian love that's different than the world , distinctiveness of Christian love that's different than the world .
Speaker 1There's some crossover , of course , but a rude person . They disregard social customs . But , as Richard Pratt says and here's what we got to remember Richard Pratt talks about , sometimes whole cultures are rude . Sometimes whole cultures have a system of sin that's bound , that's got people bound in an indecent manner , in an undignified manner , and sometimes it's right for us to go against social customs . I'll give you an example . Rosa Parks , when she refused to sit on the back of that bus , was not being rude . She was standing there , sacrificing , probably her own life . Frankly , why ? To restore dignity to those who are just like her , to those who have the same skin color as her , to those who have the same skin color as her . That is not rude .
Speaker 1There are times , as Christians , we need to do the right thing by breaking social customs , because those social customs are sinful . Christians love . How does it operate ? We have one eye on being culturally and socially sensitive , but then we also , all the while we're doing that and we need to do that we have to check things with the standard of God's Word and we need a lot of wisdom when to break a social custom , but sometimes it's quite obvious . This is the time . This is wrong and I'm not going to let it stand
Cultural Sensitivity in Christian Missions
Speaker 1any longer .
Speaker 1Missionaries have to think about social customs all the time . Right , if you were a missionary and you went into a foreign land , what's the heart of being sensitive to others' customs and ways ? Because you're not insisting on your own way , You're not insisting on how . That's how we do it around here , right ? And so missionaries have to do this all the time , and they do it so that they don't unnecessarily offend . There's a lot we as Christians can be flexible about . That has limits , but we can be flexible a lot , and so the missionaries will try to flex as much as they can to take away unnecessary offense so they can get to the real substance of the gospel and address the eternal souls of people .
Speaker 1There was an article in the New York Times called A Traveler's Guide when to Shake Hands , hug or Kiss . I get a kick out of this personally , but here in America , if you come to America , you're going to find that most Americans say hello with a handshake . Most , and usually in America it's moderately firm . Americans typically don't like a limp handshake , but they don't like the Russian squeeze either , because if you go to Russia they do a real firm handshake . That's kind of what's expected In India . It's expected it's more limp . That's the way that you show courtesy here in America . We're somewhere in the middle of those , I think is fair to say .
Speaker 1In Thailand you put the palms of your hand together when you greet somebody . In Japan there was a couple in the first service they just said they just got back from Japan . You bow , you bow . They just got back from Japan . You bow , you bow . In certain parts of New Zealand there's a traditional nose greeting . You put your nose against the forehead of the other and then they return the same . I told the first worship service we're going to start that next week and see how that goes .
Speaker 1I want to . What do you think of that ? Let's try it now Ready . No . I want to . What do you think of that ? Let's try it now Ready , no . But you see how we laugh because that would be so uncomfortable for us . And yet that's how they do it , right .
Speaker 1And so Rio de Janeiro . There's three kisses on the cheek . So in Palo , one . Kiss In certain parts of the world , like France . Kiss In certain parts of the world , like France . You do an air kiss . That's exchange . Four times in some places of France , I found out you do it just twice in others and once in other places , and they say that a faint smooching sound is expected . Don't forget the smooching sound . You don't want to offend them . Right In Switzerland .
Speaker 1We have friends there and I remember having the privilege to go there . They do three one here , one here , one here . Right In China , a simple nod and a smile will typically do . In Tibet , you greet one another by sticking out your tongue . Can you imagine me coming up here ? Good morning ? That'd be strange , wouldn't it ? Yeah , but you know , we just get so comfortable in how we do things , we just get comfortable in it . And Christ shows us in his death and in his suffering he's willing to become very , very uncomfortable and that's an understatement . Willing to become very , very uncomfortable , and that's an understatement .
Speaker 1Love's not rude . It's sensitive to what pleases other people . It does not insist on its own way , even if adapting to the ways and preferences of others makes us uncomfortable . So what do we make of this ? We need to be mindful of other people who are different from us . We need to be mindful of that . They don't have to be foreigners either . Many fellow Americans just do things different than we do it . You can go to different parts of the country and they just do different things , and we need to be mindful .
Speaker 1I like what John MacArthur when he talks about a rude person just simply doesn't care enough about the people that are around them . They just don't care . They don't care . They're all self-absorbed . And man is our culture going more and more and more to that ? How many of you sit in a restaurant and you hear the cuss words flying and no one seems to . They don't care who's sitting around , they don't care . They don't care if kids are there , they don't care if elderly are there , they don't care . Rudeness is crude and it's not good , and we as Christians are called to something better . We're called to be mindful of who's around , be sensitive , be respectful .
Speaker 1Remember the worship wars . Those have died down quite a bit , not completely , but there was a time there was pretty fierce worship wars in the Christian church and sometimes still happens , and there is a godly and biblical way to worship God . There are limits to what we should be doing in worship . That's true . God tells us in his word what principles to follow and gives us that guidance . But there are many fights over worship in Christian churches . Sadly , they're just about personal preferences .
Speaker 1You know , there are some people that love the traditional way of doing things and I have to remind them as a pastor . You know the organ didn't come in until about the 9th century and they didn't even the first early part of the church didn't even use instruments . As far as I know and I've talked to some they were trying to convince me . The guitar is from the devil , you know . And this and I know , associations are strong . I'm not mocking it . I mean , associations are very strong in our minds . But we've got to be careful . We're to be mindful and not fight over things that are our preferences .
Speaker 1I like to give the example here of the family dinner table where Johnny's mom puts carrots on the table . Again , johnny grumbles about the carrots for dinner and his mom has to remind Johnny that you know , that's your brother's favorite , that's your brother's favorite . And so Johnny begins to be mindful . Oh , it's not all about me . You see , worship can be this way too . And as Johnny grows and matures and becomes more loving by the grace of God , he begins to realize you know , I can actually . Even if I don't love carrots , I can now begin to appreciate them and get a certain delight in the fact that they're on the table , because I love my brother and I know he loves those carrots and he begins to delight in what brings pleasure to his brother . That's what maturity does over time and that's the mentality that we , as Christians have to have in our homes and in God's church . Some of the things that we do here at Westtown won't be your favorite thing , it's okay , because some of your brothers and sisters love that and they love carrots . So , william Barclay , love does not behave gracelessly , it's gracious . It's gracious . You see , often when we act toward others in a loving way , it's not that we so much have to do it in one sense right there , but it's mindful . It's just gracious . It's trying to bend .
Speaker 1Hudson Taylor , the missionary from China , learned this . He began to realize when he was over there . Isn't it incredible the fruit God has used from his labors here ? I think there was about 100,000 Chinese believers in 1950 when the Communist Party clamped down , and now they estimate God grew it to 100 million or more .
Speaker 1Hudson Taylor , god's , used his labors wonderfully , but he realized he had to implement that principle that the Apostle Paul implemented to become all things to all people so as to reach some . So what did he do ? He wanted to reach them with Christ . He wanted to get them the message of the saving gospel , of the forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus alone , that there's a free gift of God's love , saving love and eternal life that can come through faith . But sometimes we can't hear people because we're offended before they even begin to open their mouth . And so Hudson Taylor wanted to take all those things away , like the apostle Paul .
Speaker 1So he learned the Chinese language , so he could speak their language . He began to live like they did . Unless he felt one of their customs violated the word of God , he would stretch as far as he could . He dressed like the Chinese . He had the traditional or typical Chinese male haircut . He was British , so he put his own way of dressing aside and he began to dress like the Chinese , to identify with the Chinese . Is this beginning to sound familiar ? Our Savior coming down in flesh and bone to identify with us ? Christ the great missionary ? Even Hudson Taylor's wife began to walk a few steps behind , a little bit behind him , like the Chinese . That probably wasn't her favorite thing to do , but she did it . Why she put her rights aside . She just there was something more important at stake . It's a beautiful , beautiful thing to see , sensitive to the social customs and ways of the Chinese .
Speaker 1They sacrifice that's the word . They sacrifice their comfort , their way of doing things for the good of other people . That's the Christian and godly and Christ-like thing to do . That's what Christ did for us . Let me ask you , how comfortable was it for Jesus to be in the bliss of the Godhead from all eternity in heaven ? How comfortable is that ? Pure bliss , overflowing joy and love . But he became man , he put on flesh and bone and he entered this world of suffering and rejection . He entered this world of sin . He became human , like us , so that he could bear our burdens and become the sacrifice on the cross to pay for our sins and for our salvation and for our eternal benefit . He gave up this is the understatement he gave up his comfort for our eternal good . And so anytime we do that , even in smaller ways , it's reflecting something of the beauty of the love of God that we see in Christ . Remember when Timothy Paul says to Timothy hey , listen , I imagine him pulling Timothy to the side . Timothy , look , I know you're not circumcised , and it really doesn't matter to God one way or the other if you're circumcised , but it matters to those Jews right there , and if you want them to hear a word that you're going to say get circumcised , let's take that off the table . Let's move on . So Timothy did . He did for the sake of the gospel , for the sake of their eternal souls . He was sensitive to others .
Speaker 1Rude folks tend to be more like a bull in a china shop . They just don't care what's around them or what people think , and there's a hardness of heart that comes in there . They're a bit culturally deaf and blind and really , when you boil it down , it's just self-absorption . That's what it is . It's self-absorption . I'm here , you all deal with it , and that's just a horrible way and a very sinful and ungodly way to live . Love , though , is mindful of who's around . It doesn't insist . You know that's how we do things around here . Unless you're in the military , there is a military way of doing things . There are certain contexts . That's the way it's got to be , but in social relations it's different . We can't be like that .
Speaker 1I know from talking to Christians . Through the years I've had Christians say this to me . You know , when we gather for worship , it's about the glory of God and that's kind of it . That's like all they have to say about it . I said , well , yeah , that's right , it's about the glory of God .
Speaker 1It's not about Paul's going to address that in the next chapter , 1 Corinthians 14 . And what we'll notice , there is yes , back in chapter 10 , verse 31, . He says whether you eat , drink , whatever you do , that would include worship do it all to the glory of God . So the glory of God is always paramount in our thinking . It's always got to be about God's glory and honor .
Speaker 1But then in chapter 14 , paul says oh , we got to add a second principle to that . It's the edification of the saints . But he doesn't even stop with the edification of the saints . He goes on to talk about . We have to be mindful that there are other people in here that have no idea what we're talking about . They don't even know what Christianity is or they know little about it , and we need to be mindful of them . So , yes , it's about the glory of God , but we can't , we can never say as a church well , it's about the glory of God , and you know , if people can't deal with it , they can leave . I mean , that's just not . We never want to be that . I don't think we are that , but we never want to be that .
Speaker 1And glory of God , edification of the saints , mindful of others . And the principle is to flex as much as we can to reach some hopefully many To support missions as a way that we can have missional thinking financially . Morgan and Jennifer have led mission trips to Jamaica . We can go on a mission trip , but you can also be missionally minded by what you do every day already , by being flexible where you live , being mindful of other people , sensitive to them , so that we have credibility to speak into their life . Somebody that's a bull in a China shop at work is going to have a hard time getting anyone to listen to anything spiritual from them , and so we want to show people what Christ is like .
Speaker 1Modesty and manners . This is why modesty and manners matter . Why In our dress , in our speech , because we don't want to dress in a way that's not being considered of other people . We don't want to speak in a way that's not being considered of other people . Love remembers that . Love doesn't insist on its rights . It has rights , but it doesn't insist . We all have God-given rights , but love doesn't insist on those rights .
Speaker 1We see that at 1 Corinthians , chapters 8-10 , where Paul's dealing with meat that was offered to idols at the Corinthian temples and Christians divided over whether you should eat that meat or whether you shouldn't . Some said it was okay to eat it , some said , nope , can't eat it . Paul says you actually can eat it , but if you're with somebody who's in their conscience and convicted that if they ate that meat it would be sin , then , even though you have the right to eat it , you should sacrifice your rights so that you don't encourage them to sin and violate their conscience , even their misinformed conscience . Why ? Because if they would do that , if their conscience said it's sinful to eat and they go ahead and eat it , it's sin . And so love is sensitive , even when people are wrong , even when they're wrong . That's a beautiful way to
Order and Mindfulness in Christian Love
Speaker 1look .
Speaker 1You remember the love feasts ? You know the love feasts were not going well . People were not waiting for other Christians to get there , eat most of the food , taking the best seats , getting drunk . You're supposed to be doing the love feast along with the Lord's supper . Paul says no , no , no . Love does things decently and in order .
Speaker 1And so he talked to them about that , and he's talked to them too about speaking in tongues . In the apostolic era there was a lot of tongue speakers that , and what they were doing was talking over one another . We'll see that in this , in the next chapter . But they were talking over one another . They were speaking when there was no interpreter . And why is Paul saying to them don't do that , because it's not mindful of the people that are around . I may be having a wonderful spiritual experience speaking in tongues I'm not saying I do speak in tongues but if you can't understand it , how is it edifying to you ? And if everybody's talking over one another , that's not edifying . So , paul , what did he do ? He insisted on order , right ? First , have an interpreter . If there's no interpreter , don't speak . Secondly , if you do speak , let's limit it to two , because limits honors people that are around , it's mindful of them , and so on and so forth . So we have to think about what gives honor to other people .
Speaker 1I'm going to skip down just a little bit , but put yourself with Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before he died for the sins of the world .
Speaker 1The cross is weighing on him . He realizes he's about to go experience the greatest discomfort and that's not really a word that captures it . He's going to experience the horror of hell on that cross , when God pours out his wrath upon Christ for our sins and when he gets on his knees and he says Father , if there's any way that this cup can pass from me , but not my will , but your will , be done . Why did Christ do that ? He did it because he was mindful of us . He was mindful of us even when we were wrong , even when we were enemies of God , even when we didn't care what God thought , even when we were sinful and responsible . And you see , it's a beautiful thing . He did that so that we could just trust him , know that we have the forgiveness of all of our sins , all the times we were rude and insensitive and insisted on our way , and then go out and begin to live a life where we strive to show other people something of the love of God ourselves .