Hope Bible Church, as our name indicates, is a Bible-teaching, Bible-centered church. We're committed to the faithful exposition of the whole counsel of God's Word. You guys know that. That's why many of you are here. That's why you chose to make Hope Bible Church your home church. When you come here each Sunday, you expect to hear God's word. You expect to hear it clearly. You expect to have systematic and doctrinal teaching. You expect accuracy in proclaiming the gospel of Jesus, and you don't want any of the unpopular parts taken out because you're committed to the truth of God. And I thank God for each one of you who are so committed and support this ministry. I think you are also aware that when it comes to truth about God, we live in very confusing times. Everybody just seems to make up whatever they want to say about what God's will is and what God is pleased with and God is just supposed to be okay with it all. You know what I'm talking about. False teaching or at best weak teaching, is pervasive in the church today. And frankly, the lack of discernment among professing believers is shocking to me that they can't tell the difference between certain things. Sadly, the American church has responded to all of this confusion and false teaching with weak teaching, inarticulate teaching, and selective Bible teaching, choosing what they want to teach about and skipping over other things. And so we have confusion. That's what we have in the church today. We don't have clarity. It's confusion that reigns in the church. And that, I believe, is one reason the Lord planted Hope Bible Church 11 years ago right here where we are. He has raised this church up, and it is His work, that we would be a voice of clarity from God's Word in the midst of confusing times. That doesn't mean we get everything right. But we are committed to clearly proclaiming what God has made clear from his word. My personal calling, as I've prayed and thought about my own ministry that the Lord has given to me, is to take God's word and make it clear to the minds and hearts of God's people. Why? So that they can respond with obedient trust and with lasting joy. This is just how God has designed me. It's how God has equipped and gifted me personally. And I don't think that it is a coincidence that the great need for our time and our area is to have clarity from God's word. It is what God has designed, what God has put together at this time. And you're here to support this ministry and expand this ministry and deepen this ministry by your growth and by the exercise of your gifts as well. Together, you, along with the leadership team, God is using in Hope Bible Church to use us in this community to be a clear voice for the Word of God at a time where things are getting just so incredibly confusing. It's like the Lord has taken this little church and set it up on a hill that we would be a light to many around who are wondering, what does God really say about those things? We are a hope to many, and many who have come here have said, this church has been a light and a hope to me. We are Hope Bible Church. And that means that you and I have a stewardship that has been entrusted to us. Since we have a stewardship from God, and since this is why God has planted us here, we need to ask ourselves, how can we faithfully discharge our stewardship? How can we become all that God intends for this church to be? What do we need to do to fulfill God's purpose for us? Well, pastor, that's an easy one. Just keep preaching the word of God. And people will hear, and then that's what we need to do. Well, I can't argue with that. God will do his stuff if we preach his word. That is true. But why preach the Bible strongly? Why preach the Bible with clarity and with force? What really is the point of doing that? Why be, as a church, committed to that distinction? What's the point? Isn't the reason really so that you and I would live out the Word of God in our lives? Yes? Speak to me. Isn't it really about us obeying the Word of God as we sit under the Word of God together, all of us listening to God speak to us? Doesn't God want more than just strong Bible proclamation? Isn't the point that we learn to obey what God's Word says, that God takes us and transforms us into the image of Christ so that we can live in a way that is pleasing to Him? Let me put it another way. Why point out the error in other people's doctrine, and there is a lot of it? If there is error in the way we live out the very doctrine we claim to believe, why proclaim the glories of Jesus Christ with theological precision only to walk out of this room and to love our sin and pursue our selfish purposes first? Why would we build up the faith of others if our faith lays dormant and inactive? If Hope Bible Church is truly to be a biblical church, we must do more than preach the Bible. We must apply the Bible to ourselves. Of course, there are many, many areas the Bible teaches on that we need to make personal and practical application. Can't cover all of them today. That's why we meet together weekly and while we have many classes and small groups to be involved in. I was really praying about our message today and praying what should I bring to us on this special anniversary Sunday, the service here. As I thought about it, there's one mega area of application that God continues to stress over. and over in his word, and that we tend to hear and we tend to let pass on, we don't focus on it enough and think about what God wants in this area. I think it is an area that is heavily stressed in scripture, and it is also an area that is strategic to how God will use this church in ministry in this community. And that is simply this, building a loving church community. Building a loving church community. If you think about it, and maybe you have, in one way or another, much of the doctrine and the teaching of the New Testament and the Old Testament is designed to remove selfishness out of our lives, sinful pride, self-reliance, coldness towards other people, being aloof and doing our own thing, pleasure seeking. wrong priorities that are driving our decision making, materialism, having to keep up with what other people own. It wants to drive all of that out of our lives so that we can learn to love other people first. We can learn to love particularly our brethren in Christ. And this is all so that we can be molded as we love and care for one another into a community, not just individual people loving. How do you do that? You have to love somebody. We love each other, and we become a loving community. I think when we're truly a loving community of believers in any church that would do this, where they're meaningfully being involved in each other's lives, where they're sharing the common faith, meeting each other's needs, Then I think we're living out what the scripture tells us to do. We're glorifying Christ and we will be much more effective in ministry. In other words, if we truly act like a community of believers, the truth of God will resonate from this place not only in word but in action. The Bible tells us that collectively we are the body of Christ. And if the body of Christ loves itself and cares for itself, then the love of Christ will be seen. And so today I want to bring our focus to one command, one and only one command, really is the center of our focus in the Bible. It's in 1 John 4, verses 7 and 8. Please open your Bibles there. The letter of John, 1 John 4, verses 7 and 8. We'll read it together, think about it, and then we'll launch into other areas of scripture as well in order to amplify this message. Verse 7, it says, beloved, let us, and I'll say the next words with me, love one another. And then he goes on. For love is from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. Back at the beginning, three paramount words for us. We've heard them so many times, love, one another. In Greek, actually, just two. Agapomen alelus, love one another. Since this command is dominant in the New Testament, pervasive throughout scripture, we're going to focus on it today, not just here in 1 John, but in many different verses. I'm going to cover three areas related to this commandment, three areas. We're going to first look at the meaning of the command. It should be obvious to us. And secondly, the importance of the command. And then last, and we'll spend most of our time here, the application of the command, the meaning of love one another, the importance of love one another, and the application of the command, love one another. First, what is the meaning? Well, there are two parts to the command. Let's see if we can understand this. There's love, and then there's one another. You got it? Does it really need any exposition? Do you know what love means? And do you know who the one another is? Put the two together, and we really don't need any exposition there. God should be teaching us to love one another. It should be simple. This command centers on the Greek verb agapao. You hear agape there. That's the noun that's related to it. What is being commanded of Christians towards one another then is agape love. You know what that is, don't you? Agape love. Agape love does not emphasize the emotional or feeling side of love. But it emphasizes the volitional side, that is, love that flows from a choice and your will inside, where you choose to set your love and your affection upon someone, to do something well for someone else. That's why it can be commanded. It emphasizes action that we would do to benefit other people, not the feelings that we have inside before, during, and after we do that action, feelings come and go. With agape love, you can love others even when you do not feel like it. With agape love, you can care for them even when they do not care for you. With agape love, you can work for their betterment even if they don't seem all that attractive to you. Agape is not street love. It's not cheap love. It's not even romantic love, nor is it even friendly love. Agape is God's kind of love. It is heaven's brand of love. It is love that does not originate from the human heart. We cannot produce it. We're too selfish. We're too sinful. 1 John 4, verse 7, where we just read, says, This kind of love is from, who? God. It comes down from Him. It is the love that is expressed in one of the best known verses in the Bible, John 3, verse 16, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. This kind of love from above is a giving love. It expresses itself in sacrificial giving. It is the love expressed in the Gospel of John, chapter 15, verses 12 and 13, where Jesus said, this is my commandment, that you love one another just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this than one laid down his life for his friends. Sacrifice. It thinks of others first. It lives for the benefit of other people. It rips you out of yourself and your self-concern and forces you to deal with other people around you. Often we're scared to give that kind of love. We don't want to give that kind of love. And when God so works in our life to do that, lo and behold, somehow we're taken care of and we're still happy. People often who are lonely are wrapped up into themselves and they need to learn to reach out with love. They'll find that their loneliness disappears as they care for other people and they sense greater fellowship with Christ in their spirit. This is so important. This is so important. You know, agape love doesn't wait for others to love them. Well, I'll start loving when someone starts loving me. You don't say it quite that way in your mind, do you? But isn't that how you operate? Unless somebody greets me, unless somebody notices me, unless somebody remembers me, unless somebody invites me over, unless, unless, unless. And that's how you function. That is not agape love. Look back in 1 John 3, verses 16 through 18, and we see the initiative from God in love. Chapter 3, verses 16 through 18, we know love by this, John writes, that he laid down his life for us. That came first. There was the initiative. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. That obviously would have to be initiative. But whoever has the world's goods and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God remain in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. Gape love is the kind of love that is expressed in Romans chapter 5 and verse 8. God demonstrates his own love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, translated, while we were disobeying God and unpleasing to him, Christ died for us. The greatest sacrifice for the people who least deserved it. This is the kind of love. that acts as God acted. It does not look at the evil in other people. It does not look at their shortcomings. It does not look at those things, but looks rather at their need and their problems and their misery, as God did for us in Christ, and then gives freely because God has loved us. This agape love is what God commands of each one of us in this room, every believer in Christ. But who are we to love? Well, we're to love all people, of course. We're to love our families. But verse 7 has the answer here. We are to love one another. And you know who that is, right? Love one another. That's where the focus of the command is here. It is God's specific concern that the church loves itself. that believers act in sacrificing ways for other believers to love one another. John is writing to believers in Jesus Christ, warning them of false teachers here. Christians are to love one another. That's simple enough. Church relationships are to be characterized by giving, by sacrifice, by mercy, by kindness, by generosity, that kind of love. And brothers and sisters, this is just reinforced in so many other passages of scripture. Just listen, don't turn there, to 1 Peter 1, verse 22, where Peter writes, since you have, in obedience to the truth, purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart. Again, the one another, the context of 1 Peter, writing to Christians, love one another. Focus on loving one another. Ephesians 5 verse 2, walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us. Well, that's what it is. If we're going to be biblical, we have to love like that. Second is the importance of this command, the importance of loving one another. How important is this commandment to God? How much attention does he give to it? How much focus should we have upon it? Well, look again, since we're still here in 1 John, look at chapter 3 and verse 11. 1 John 3.11, it says, for this is the message which you have heard from the beginning. What is that message, John? What have we heard from the beginning? What have we been taught from the very beginning of Christianity? It is what? That we should what? Love one another. It's so simple, it's so basic, but it can't be overlooked. Now look in the same chapter at verse 23. 1 John 3.23, this is His commandment. You expect to hear just one. This is His commandment. What is His commandment? What are we supposed to do? That we believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as He commanded us. What are we to do in the Christian life? Believe in Jesus, the Son of God. And love one another. That's God's commandment to us. That's the Christian life. Live in faith in the Son of God. Love one another. It's so basic. It's so important that he boils it down just like that. Just flip to chapter 4 and verse 11 again. Same book, chapter 4, verse 11. Beloved, if God so loved us, if this is the way in which God loved us, then what? We also ought, there's now an obligation upon us, we ought to what? Love one another. We should feel a sense of obligation to be giving to other people in this church. We should sense that obligation because of how God has loved us. If we don't love one another, we should have a sense of guilt because it is God's commandment to us. No need to keep that guilt. We can ask for forgiveness and be relieved from that, but we do need to love one another. Now please turn to the Gospel of John in chapter 13. I want us to look at the Upper Room Discourse to again see how the Lord Jesus emphasized this commandment. In John 13, 14, 15, and 16, and then with a prayer in John 17, we have what's called the Upper Room Discourse, the night that He's celebrating the Lord's Supper, the last night with His disciples before His crucifixion. And you can understand that the things He's talking about this night are very, very important to Him. Look at John 13. And verse 34, I'll start from verse 33. Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will seek me. And as I said to the Jews now, I also say to you, where I am going, you cannot come. So he's leaving them with something very important because he's about to leave them and depart from them. Verse 34, a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. Twice in that one verse it's given. The command is given and he says it is a command from him. It's not optional. Well, let's stay here in the Upper Room Discourse. Go to chapter 15 and verse 12. This, again, is my commandment, that you love one another just as I have loved you. And he goes on to describe how he loved them again. And while we're in chapter 15, go down to verse 17. Do you see it again? This I command you, that you love one another. It is emphasized three, four times right here. This is my commandment, Jesus said to his disciples. Now that is strong and clear Bible teaching. And if we are to be a strong Bible church, we need to apply this commandment. Wouldn't you agree? The Apostle Paul emphasized the commandment as well. Don't turn there, just listen to some of these. Romans chapter 12 verse 9. We read this in our scripture reading. Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Now there it's not agape love. It's phileo love, but that's an affectionate kind of love and so that's added as well. Romans 13 and verse 8. Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another. Do you see the obligation? Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another." We are under obligation to love. And then it goes on to say, "...for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law." That is the law of God from the Old Testament. The moral requirements of the law are fulfilled, at least in how we relate to one another, by that one commandment. That's how important it is. 1 Corinthians chapter 16 and verse 14. Paul writes, "...let all you do be done in love." In Galatians, chapter 5, verse 14, he says, the whole law is fulfilled in one word in the statement, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. In Galatians, chapter 5, Paul wanted to describe the characteristics of a man who's full of the Spirit of God and is walking by the Spirit of God. He has the fruit of God in him. And the first thing that heads the list is what? Love. Gape love. 1 Thessalonians, chapter 3, in verse 12, Paul says, may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another and for all people, just as we also do for you. First thing, again, is love one another in the church. Of course, you love all people, but there's always that special emphasis in disciples loving disciples. This is what we are to do. And by the way, he commends the Thessalonian church, how God had been teaching them to love one another. But rather than resting in that, he says, I want you to abound still more in it. When James in James chapter 2 questioned the reality of someone's profession of faith in God, the test that he gave his readers was whether or not they loved their brother in tangible ways. Saving faith, James said, is proven by the fruit of love expressed in tangible ways. Do we really need any more convincing about the importance of this command? Well, if you do, listen to these familiar words. If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, self-sacrifice for proud reasons most likely, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. No matter how skilled, no matter how gifted, all in all, a loveless person produces nothing of value, is nothing of value, and gains nothing of value. And then 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter, ends in verse 13. Faith, hope, and love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is what? Now, faith's pretty important in the Christian life. And hope is very important in the Christian life. But love is greater. Why? Because it remains on into eternity where we will continue to love one another in our relationships then. Well, I guess I should mention the fact that in Matthew chapter 22 and verse 39, loving your neighbor as yourself is called the second greatest commandment in all of the law of God. The first being to love God with all of our being. I hope you understand that when we focus on this command, it may seem too basic to bring up to a church that is astute in the knowledge of God. It may be too basic to bring up when we need to be studying some fine-tuning our eschatology in these days when the Middle East may turn into who knows what kind of war. But here is a message, beloved, that God wants us to hear loud and clear. not just for our obligation, but for our community and what we would be, how God would use us, how God would allow his power to work through us in our context and in our day. But you know, when you hear the words, love one another, in different people's minds, it may go in different directions because there are many applications that you could have. How do you apply the commandment, love one another? You may be convinced of its importance, you may understand its meaning, but still, what about the application? I think when we get down to the area of application, it really begins to help us evaluate ourselves and to teach ourselves how to do this. This is our 11-year anniversary, right? So I'm going to give you 11 applications of love one another. And you know how we're going to do this. We're going to go to the other one another commands, not where it says love one another, but where it says to do something else for one another. And we're going to see that those other one another commands, if I can get that out, those other one another commands are really just another way of showing us how to love one another. In Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 24, don't turn there, it says, let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds. That's what we're going to do with these 11 areas of applications. We're going to stimulate one another to love and good deeds in this church community setting. Here we go. Number one, application number one, first pray for one another. Would you turn to the letter of James? You've got to turn quickly because we're going to be flipping around. James chapter 5 and verse 16. James 5 verse 16. Turn there. I want you to see these. James writes, therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. As you read here in James 5, the context is about those in particular who were sick. They are exhorted to confess their sins so that if their illness was caused by sin, the Lord would heal them. Then they are also told to pray for one another more generally, not just in the area of sickness. So we love one another by having one another on our minds and interceding for each other before the throne of God. I want to add into this, don't turn there, just listen, Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 18. Paul writes, with all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the spirit. And with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints. Now, we're the saints. Believers are saints, according to Ephesians chapter 1, verse 1. Every believer is a saint. And so all of the saints are to be praying for all of the saints. It's that simple. We're to be praying for one another. We are not just to pray for our favorite Christian friends. We are to have a sense of love for everybody, and not just in this local church, but in that local church, or in that country where they're facing persecution. I heard someone doing that in our prayer meeting this morning, praying for the Christians in China who are suffering persecution. We need to pray for other people, for all the saints, and for one another here. The very fact that Paul exhorts us to pray for all the saints and that James exhorts us to pray for one another is a clear indication that God listens and God answers. How does prayer work? Well, here's how it works. Prayer isn't really the thing that works. There's no power in prayer itself. It works because God works. It's powerful because God is powerful. The power of prayer is God. And how he does it and in what manner and way he does it is up to him. God is not a genie that we command. He is a Heavenly Father that we beseech and we ask and then He grants. We love one another by praying for one another. There's a monthly prayer sheet that is kept by Debbie Montgomery. It's passed out at our morning prayer meeting. Nine, ten people. Come join us. All are welcome. We stand in a group in circles. If you don't want to pray out loud, you don't have to. If you do, you pray short prayers so other people get a chance to pray. And we pray for one another and for the church. And we have that sheet with us. And that sheet is also passed out in our small groups. And we should be using that sheet to pray for one another. Application number two. Be devoted to one another as brothers and sisters. Turn back to Romans chapter 12, which we read for our Scripture reading. Romans 12 and verse 10. Keep up with me now. Romans 12, verse 10. Be devoted to one another as brothers and sisters. That's our second application. That's what it says. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Give preference to one another in honor. Here in this list in Romans 12, there's a whole shopping list of practical commands Christians are given. This follows 11 chapters of doctrinal teaching about the great provision of salvation that God has given us in Jesus Christ. So someone who is saved and justified in the sight of God should be overflowing with thanksgiving and come to Romans chapter 12 and realize I'm going to offer myself as a sacrifice to God and I'm going to love the brethren and return a blessing for a curse in all of these applications. Being devoted to one another in brotherly love translates a word that means tenderly devoted or full of tenderness. The linguistic and exegetical key to the New Testament defines it this way. It says, the word denotes the delicate affections mutually rendered by those who cherish one another with natural affection as brothers and sisters. That's how we're to love one another. We need to have a tender care and a tender affection for one another in the body of Christ. You think of the others that you are joined to here in this room. Don't accept simply casual and distant relationships with the other people in this church. Don't be satisfied with that. Have an affectionate relationship as brother to sister. Grow close. Open up your lives to each other. Care for the brethren. You know, we already have quite a diverse community that God has provided for us here, right? If you had wanted to, you could have gone to an all-white church or an all-black church or an all-Hispanic church or an all-Asian church. You could have done that. There's plenty of them out there. But you chose to come here and to love one another across society's boundaries and to care for one another. That care should be the same for each and every person in the body of Christ. And by the way, that goes for whether they're in this local church or another. We care for them and love them. This is something special that God is doing to teach us to love one another beyond any kind of boundary, to care for one another, not to envy each other, to bite and devour each other, or separate and divide from each other. We, the scriptures say, are brothers. Brothers. We must act like brothers. Application number three. Greet one another. This one gets fun. Greet one another. We're in Romans, would you turn to chapter 16 and verse 16. In a section on greetings at the end of the letter, they did their greetings at the end rather than the beginning in those days. Greet one another with a holy kiss. Now don't get too excited, you don't know what a holy kiss is yet. All the churches of Christ greet you. Don't turn there, 1 Corinthians 16, verse 20, ends, all the brethren greet you, greet one another with a holy kiss. It's one of those things we just pass over quickly and go, yeah, that's not for our age. 2 Corinthians 13, 12, greet one another with a holy kiss. It's repeated. What was a holy kiss? It was a kiss on the cheek or the forehead showing a brotherly kind of affection. The holy kiss was an expression of the common life we share in Jesus and the closeness we feel to one another. They kissed in that culture at greeting and at departing. It was a common practice. Some cultures still practice it today. It gets to be more of a ritual than something warm and affectionate. It was not done in any sensual way. It was a holy kiss. We can capture the spirit of this and express it in the way that our culture expresses it. A very hearty handshake, affectionate fist bump, or a very strong and affectionate hug done in an appropriate way. Some obviously are more comfortable with emotional expression than other people. But these are passages that urge the showing of affection between brethren in appropriate ways. We are not to be cold. We are not to be aloof. We're not to straighten up when someone tries to show a little affection to us. We are to be like family. We are a community of believers. What do you do when you see others in the church? Do you just pass by them rather casually and not give any kind of eye contact or proper greeting where you're glad to see them? What if you bump into someone from the church over at Walmart or at a gas station? Do you look up and go, oh, I didn't expect to see you here? Or are you so glad to see him that you leave gas spraying all over the place? You greet them. They're important people to you. They're family members. I thought I saw you at Hope Bible Church. Have you been coming? Yeah, I was there earlier. And then you just start talking. They are one with you. We get out into society and all of this dissipates because we're so used to functioning and acting that way with everyone else around, not so with your brethren. I have seen Bible churches, strong teaching churches, that when they gather together, there's no affection for one another. They're cold. That's not a real biblical church. That's not the way it should be. We need to warm up, and we need to not wait for someone else to warm up to us. Fourth application, admonish each other. I've got to go quickly here. Romans 15 and verse 14. Romans 15 and verse 14, concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to, here it is, admonish one another. Please notice that is given not just to the leaders in the church, but to everybody. Admonishing was warning and exhorting. Some call it a loving confrontation, where in humility you see someone else that's straying and you want to teach them, you want to help them out. They have a bad attitude. You're humble, you come with a gentle voice, but you lovingly confront them and help them out because they're going through a tough time and their attitude is starting to sour and you're there for them. Am I my brother's keeper? Answer that. Yes. Cain said no. He killed his brother. What do you expect from Cain? We are the keepers of each other's souls, not just the under-shepherds under Christ. He's the great shepherd. Then there's pastors. We all shepherd one another and care for one another to a degree. And a community of believers does not keep each other at arm's length. You have to let people in, let them know your shortcomings, and receive your rebukes. You may be very strong in one area of the Christian life and quite weak in other areas. And in order to be well-rounded and to receive joy, you need to receive correction in that area. There's one small group leader that confided in us here at Hope Bible Church how their small group just trusts in each other and they share openly their deeper concerns, the problems that they're going through. That's what it's all about. And then they lovingly admonish one another. That's Christian agape kind of love. Application number five. Number five, don't judge one another, but accept one another. We're still in Romans. This is in chapter 14 and verse 13. Chapter 14 of Romans, verse 13. Therefore, let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this, not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way. Add to that also chapter 15 and verse 7, where it says, therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God. If you judge another, you're not accepting them. If you accept them, you're not going to be judging them. Now the context of Romans 14 and 15, I've preached on this in detail before, so you can go back and get the old CDs for more of the context here. But it is about judging others over things that really are not all that important. They're non-sinful things in this context, whether they were going to eat meat or not eat meat, and whether God allowed that or not. We start developing sometimes lists of things that we're comfortable with, and we assume these are commanded by God, but they're not really in scripture. We start developing strong convictions in certain areas, and we feel like God has led us to that. But if you look at the scripture, the scripture doesn't so restrict other believers that way. And when we do that, we start judging others that do not conform to our standard. What does that do to the community of believers? It fractures it, because there's some that feel they're far ahead of others. And that's not humility. In man-made rules, you hold convictions, strong convictions on little things. They do nothing to aid the community of believers, only hurts it. I hope you're not one. You can strain out a gnat and swallow a camel, as Jesus said. Be careful not to be one of those. A sixth area of application. We have to speak truthfully to one another. I can't get that word out anymore. Let's turn to Ephesians chapter 4. We'll stay in Ephesians a little bit here. Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 25. Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 25. Paul again writes of the one another and he says, laying aside falsehood, speak truth, each one of you with his neighbor. for we are members of one another. Now, Ephesians chapter 4, just like Romans 12, expresses how the Christian life is to be lived after Paul gave teaching about what salvation is in the first chapters. Paul is stressing here in chapter 4 the unity of the body of Christ and our new life in Jesus. We are to put off the old ways, and we are to learn the new and holy and righteous ways in Jesus. And he says, since we're a body of believers, we must not lie to one another. Imagine a body that's not communicating with itself well. It's lying to itself. It would become dysfunctional. And so a local church can be dysfunctional if the members are not speaking the truth to one another. Sometimes it's hard to tell the truth. We have to do it gently. We have to do it in humility. We have to do it wisely at the right time. But we must speak the truth in love, as it says earlier in the chapter. We need to speak the truth to one another so we will learn and so we will grow. And often people don't want to do it because they want to avoid the confrontation and they think that is love. It's not love. We need to speak the truth to one another in sensitive ways. The seventh application, and now that we're talking about the tongue, is to speak words that are uplifting and give grace to those who hear. Same chapter, just look at verse 29. Chapter 4 of Ephesians, verse 29. Down there it says, let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for what? Building up or for edification. And how's that defined? According to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Now you don't give divine grace, only God gives that, but this is giving help, giving aid. Your words are building up the faith of other people. We're told that no unwholesome word is to come out of our mouths. That's the word sapros. It's a word that is, well, here are the different ways that it's translated. Rank, foul, putrid, rotten, diseased, disgusting, decayed, worn out, bad, profitless, and worthless. Get the idea? None of those kinds of words. It's not just talking about cuss words. It's talking about any words that would tear down, decay, and hurt and ruin. They're unwholesome. Rather, we are to be asking ourselves, what does this person need to build up their faith? And then, when the wisdom comes to the mind, and only after the wisdom comes to the mind, the words speak forth, and grace is given, and the person is built up, and we are to be doing that for one another. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, don't turn there, verse 11, it says, therefore encourage one another, and build up one another, just as you also are doing. Many of you are quite aware of a lady in our congregation who calls many others to build them up and encourage them over the telephone. She takes the initiative. She's not intimidated. She calls just to give edifying words. Beloved, there ought to be more in this church like her. Eighth, we need to forgive one another. That's also in Ephesians 4. Don't need to turn anywhere. Right there in verse 32. Forgive one another. Ephesians 4.32 says, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God and Christ also has forgiven you. Do you know what it means to forgive? Do you know when you have forgiven somebody? Forgiveness means a releasing of someone's debt to you. They owe you something, and rather than binding and holding it to you, you say, you know what? You do owe me, but I'm letting go. You don't have to pay back. I'm releasing you of the whole debt. Forgiveness does not pretend not to be hurt. Oh, it was nothing. No, it was something, and it hurt. But nevertheless, you're not retaliating. You're not hanging on. You're not holding it against them in that relationship. Are you forgiving your brethren? Are you holding something against somebody in this church or maybe another church? Have you forgiven them? You know, I mentioned that Ephesians 4 comes only after Ephesians 1, 2, and 3 because the doctrinal teaching of Ephesians helps us to know how we're able to live the practical Christian life. Back in the first three chapters, we heard things like this. In Jesus we have the forgiveness of our trespasses in accordance with the tremendous riches of God's grace lavished upon us. Wow, you just contemplate how much you've been forgiven. Now go forgive them for that small thing. We also heard this in the earlier part of Ephesians. You were dead in your sins, but God, because of his great love, made us alive again. We also read this, I pray that you may be able to comprehend the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of Christ. How has he loved you in Christ? Forgive. If you don't forgive, that will fracture the church community. That will hinder relationships. That will hurt our testimony. That will hurt the work that we need to do. It gives the devil a foothold in the church. We need to forgive as we were forgiven. So I urge you to do that. But better yet, Jesus commands you to forgive one another. In Colossians 3.13, it says, we are to bear with one another and forgive each other. Whoever has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. A ninth application is we need to comfort one another. This time, we do need to flip to 1 Thessalonians. In chapter 4, in the letter of 1 Thessalonians, they're really concerned about end times. And here we have an exhortation in chapter 4 of 1 Thessalonians, verse 18. These words, therefore, comfort one another with these words. What words? Well, the words that Paul just wrote in chapter 4 of 1 Thessalonians. In this context, the church at Thessalonica was so sad that some had died in their church community. And Paul tells them about the rapture and the resurrection, and tells them, use this truth to comfort one another. Well, we have promises, magnificent promises from God. We need to know them and we need to use them to comfort one another. There are people who are lonely. There are people who have suffered loss. There are people who are just exhausted from work. There are people who are disillusioned, people who are confused. They need your comforting words. Bring them the promises of God and comfort them. This is why I often say that each one of us should be part of the care ministry. We should all be caring for each other. Look for people who have need of comfort, and stand there with them and comfort them. And don't assume someone else is doing it. Number 10. Be hospitable toward one another. Let's go to 1 Peter chapter 4. 1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 9. And that's exactly what it says. Be hospitable to one another. But then it adds this. without complaint. Be hospitable to one another without complaint. The word hospitable means one who has an affectionate concern for strangers. Hospitality offers other brothers and sisters, particularly those traveling from other areas, food and shelter, room and board and care. This hospitality in these days was more than a nice thing to do in the early church, for often church members would have to travel from place to place, and they would need a place to stay. Missionary work was enhanced through hospitality. It was far better in that culture to be in someone's home than in an inn where every vice was practiced. Peter adds that all of this hospitality should be done without complaint. See, when you open up your home to care for a missionary or someone who's traveling, or even to do so here in the congregation to help advance ministry, you are going to inconvenience yourself. It's going to take time. It's going to mess up your home. And it's going to cost you money. And God gives us the commandment, do that. And do that without complaint. Now, we don't have a facility yet. And so for us, it's quite strategic to use our homes for meetings, for evangelism outreach, for social events where you say, I'm going to open up my home and get different people together so we can learn more about each other and learn how to love one another more. I want to open my home up and use it. It's strategic. It's important. You say, I don't think that I have a home where I can invite people over. You've got some home you can invite somebody over. You can rent a park and invite a whole group out there and have a barbecue. It's a great season for that. We can all be showing hospitality in one form or another. One family in our church even opened up their home in West Virginia for the youth to use as a retreat place. That's hospitality. I heard also of someone who paid for a conference for another to go to. There's hospitality again. They don't have an inn in which to stay. I'll pay money for you to go and for you to be able to stay at the Holiday Inn or whatever it was and go to the conference. There's hospitality. Another person gave a GPS to a certain young lady in the church so she wouldn't get lost as she traveled different places. Maybe a modern way of hospitality as well. There are many ways to meet needs through some kind of hospitality and care for one another. Think it through. And 11th and last, serve one another. Stay in 1 Peter, it's in the same context. We were in verse 9, look down to verse 10. As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Manifold literally meant many colored. The manifold grace of God is here in the church to equip you to serve one another. The church is meant to be diverse. Oh, I don't mean just an ethnic background or in society's standing. It is to be diverse in the way we are gifted, in the kinds of ministries we're good at, in the ways in which we quickly respond with skill to the preaching of God's word and we want to apply it. We're diverse. We're manifold, and we're made that way so that we would serve in the way that fits the way God has made us. We're going to get into all of the spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12, the month of August, so I won't get into that too much right now. But I'll say this, the church has been equipped to serve and help the sick and the weak, some more so in the church than others. It is equipped to trumpet forth truth before a sinful world. Some do that very well. is equipped to administrate and organize resources, to counsel and exhort, to teach profound truth and to educate, to meet physical needs, to transform families and marriages. The church is equipped for all these things and more. We are to use it in serving one another. Galatians 5.13, you are called to freedom, brethren. Only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh. That is, I'm free. I'll serve myself. But through love, serve one another. Do you see? The command to love backs up the command to serve one another in tangible ways. Use your giftedness to care for others. Do that. Philippians 2.3. Here's the attitude we have to have. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, regard one another as a little less important than yourself. Is that what it says? just a little bit less important than yourself. That's how we apply that verse, unfortunately. It says it's more important than yourself. We don't do that enough. Galatians 6, 9 and 10, let us not lose heart in doing good. Are you losing heart in doing good? For in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, Why did he say that? Because Jesus is going to come back. Because you're going to die one day. Because you don't know anything about the future, and neither do I. Except what Jesus said in the Word of God. While we have opportunity, in other words, think about today, and what you can do this week, and what you can get done this month, the opportunities that are laid before you in the area of service. While we have opportunity, let us do good to all people and, you know how it ends? especially to those who are of the household of faith. I was told of a young man in our church who went and cut down a tree for another person that needed it cutting down. It was an inconvenient time, but he did it anyway. I remember we had to move four families in our church on one weekend, and the church was there to help them all. Another, I heard, needed a plumbing job in the home, and someone paid for the workers, and another for all of the work, and it was done. There were a few who put a lot of time into preparing the Thanksgiving dinner and the Valentine's Day time so we could share it as a community and love. Today, many have put time into the anniversary celebration. We ought to be thankful for them. I heard of one lending a car to someone else who needed it in the church. You need it? Go ahead and take it. I'll use my one car this week. Two older ladies have agreed to be like grandmothers for the younger mothers to let them, to babysit and let them go out on a date night. You probably wish I'd give the names out, but they'll do their own advertising. People come out to a flock group who have physical difficulties, have a hard time climbing stairs, and they do it anyways, while other people get home from work and sometimes say, I'm a little tired, I'm not going out tonight. The difference in attitude is dramatic. Another drives through rush hour to get a person to bring them to flock group. Another gave a laptop to an elder and fixed their computer so his studies would go well. These are all true stories of what's happening right here at Hope Bible Church. People serving one another. You know that giving money is an act of worship to God, but it is also an act of service to the saints. In 2 Corinthians 9, verse 12, it says, for the ministry of this service, that context was a collection of money for the saints, is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, but is overflowing through many thanksgivings to God. Giving money is an act of worship to God, and it is a service to the saints. We've dedicated much time to researching our facility needs here, beloved. We've spent much time looking for a facility. Most of us have labored in prayer for a facility over an extended period of time. We have prayed, we have prayed again, and we have prayed again. But you know something? God has already given us in this congregation the financial resources to go and get a rental facility. But some of us are holding back from giving. We're not giving as we ought to give. Some of you are giving very well. And others of you are for whatever reason, maybe tough economic times, but you're not choosing to give generously. We don't command a tithe in this church because God doesn't command a tithe for New Testament believers. But it is a way of evaluating your heart. We do want people to give because they are giving out of love and out of faith in God. But here's an opportunity. Beloved, if we want to reach out and have a facility, God has already given it to us. The money is already here. Our church administrator tells us that some 50% of our members who we know to be employed are still not giving in a regular and full amount like that. 50% of our members, some of our regular tenders are giving a tithe of 10%. Think about your heart, that's the main thing. Why are you not giving more? If you did give and you're not giving, could we not achieve our goal? Could we not be there in a few months? The answer to that is yes. Why are we praying to God to provide a facility when he's already given us the financial resources and some of you are holding back? Isn't that also service towards the saints? Wouldn't that also increase our ministry and allow us to fulfill our calling that God has? Do you know that we're only $5,000 or $6,000 a month away from being able to achieve a facility? That's all. We have 140 some households in this church. That's not too hard to do. We can do that if we're willing to make that sacrifice. Beloved, we've surveyed a number of different ways in which we can make application of the command, love one another. Maybe one or two of them really resonated with you and the others seemed like a blur. I'll trust the Spirit of God to apply it to your hearts because there was a lot to listen to and hear this morning. But I'd like to say to you that there, in closing, I just want to warn you that there are hindrances, great hindrances to this command to love one another in tangible ways. One is how busy we can be. Sometimes our workplaces demand so much from us and we keep saying yes to our workplace and we keep saying no to our family and to our church family. And you need to pray about how much time you're putting into work and whether or not by saying yes there and pursuing maybe a certain level, a lifestyle, a material kind of lifestyle, that by that decision alone you have so worn yourself out and so removed yourself from ability to serve other people that you can't obey the command. You can only do it here or there because you have no time. Sometimes we're in a season of life where we need to do that, but we need to evaluate our choices in what we're doing to serve the body of Christ. This is a command from God. Some of our difficulties have to do with distance and the rising prices of gas, which you don't need me to tell you about. We need to be wise and think through when we head out, how are things going to be? Can we do two things at one time? Can we swing by someone's home? Someone did that the other day. They swung by our home and said, I thought maybe that you'd have a need of a ride and so I'm just here. I thought that was wonderful. They apologized. I'm sorry. No, I'm so glad that you're here and you offered. Isn't that wonderful? Just out doing errands, you can do that too. You can think about how you can swing by someone's home or meet them at a place and fellowship with them while you grocery shop ladies or whatever you do, try to work that out. We need to be a community of believers. We need to think creatively and sacrificially. So I pray and I pray to God that you'll take this and you will apply this. You'll think through how you can increase your involvement in the lives of other people. Let this not be a message that lands flat. Ask God to work it upon your heart, that God would warm your heart and give you tangible ways in which to love the very people that are in this room. Amen? Now stay seated after I pray and the brother Ross, our church administrator, is going to come and he's going to tell us what we need to do following the service. Our Father and our God, we're so grateful to you for not only saving our souls, but putting us together as a group of saved people to work together and love each other. Look forward to the kingdom to come and bask under your lordship now. Father God, apply your word to our hearts. Teach us to love one another. Let your spirit fill us, that we may have your concerns upon our heart. Not love material things or self-pleasure, but get busy giving. And find you just strengthening our inner man, our inner person to love and keep loving. May you work that mightily in our congregation on this special day as we give you glory. In Jesus' name, amen.