The Bible tells us that the religious leaders in Jerusalem described the men who were followers of a man named Jesus as people who were turning the world upside down. You see, the first Christians, who were the first church, they made up the first Christian church in Jerusalem, were so radically different in some ways that the Jewish leaders believed they were totally changing the world. These Christians were having a dramatic effect on the way people thought, on what people believed, on how people conducted themselves, and especially how people related to each other. And they were having such a dramatic effect in these areas that the powerful people in Jerusalem thought these Christians were a great threat to society. They said they were turning the world upside down. We need to ask ourselves if we think that we, as Christians, as a church, can accurately be described as people who are turning the world upside down. If the answer is no, then we have a problem. And I think, personally, that the huge, overwhelming number of churches, even many Reformed Baptist churches, would have to answer this question no. So today, I want to talk to you about being people who turn the world upside down. Please open your Bibles this morning to the book of John, chapter 13, verses 1 through 35. Verses 1 through 35. of the book of John, chapter 13. This part of the Bible tells us what happens as Jesus and his disciples celebrate the Passover on the night that Jesus is arrested, the very day before he is crucified. These are the words of the living God. Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come, that he should depart from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside his garments, took a towel and girded himself, tied the towel around himself. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded. Then he came to Simon Peter, and Simon Peter said to him, Lord, are you washing my feet? Jesus answered and said to him, what I am doing you do not now understand, but you will know after this. Peter said to him, you shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, if I do not wash you, you have no part with me. Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. And Jesus said to him, he who is bathed need only to wash his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not all of you. For he knew who would betray him. Therefore he said, you are not all clean. So when he had washed their feet, taken his garments and sat down again, he said to them, Do you know what I have done to you? You call me teacher and Lord, and you say, well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, You also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. I do not speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen. but that the scripture may be fulfilled, he who eats bread with me has lifted up his heel against me. Now I tell you before it comes that when it does come to pass, you may believe that I am he. Most assuredly I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives me, and he who receives me receives him who sent me. When Jesus had said these things, he was troubled in spirit and testified and said, most assuredly I say to you, one of you will betray me. Then the disciples looked at one another perplexed about whom he spoke. Now there was one leaning on Jesus's bosom, one of his disciples whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask who it was of whom he spoke. Then leaning back on Jesus' breast, he said to him, Lord, who is it? And Jesus answered, it is he to whom I shall give a piece of bread when I have dipped it. And having dipped the bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. Now after the piece of bread, Satan entered him. Then Jesus said to him, what you do, do quickly. But no one at the table knew for what reason he said this to him. For some thought, because Judas had the money box, that Jesus had said to him, buy those things we need for the feast, or that he should give something to the poor. Having received the piece of bread, he went out immediately, and it was night. So when he had gone out, Jesus said, Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and glorify him immediately. Little children, I shall be with you a little longer. You will seek me, and as I have said to the Jews, where I am going, you cannot come. So now I say to you, a new commandment I give to you. that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this, all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. Today we're going to concentrate on verses 34 and 35, and these verses are contained within this part of the Bible which is a specific unity, and it's very important that we understand that these 35 verses are a combined unity. But our concentration is going to be on 34 and 35, although we're going to look at how the rest of this part of the Bible emphasizes what we find or communicates what we find in verses 34 and 35. The title of today's sermon is simply, Love One Another. However, that title does not really capture the extremely critical truth of what Jesus says here. So the main point or the big central message, big central truth or theme of the message today is that sacrificial love is the absolutely necessary characteristic of the church. And you have some sermon notes in your bulletin that might help you follow along. Sacrificial love is the absolutely necessary characteristic of the church. In order to be a true church, Christians must love each other sacrificially. If Christians do not love each other sacrificially, they are not a true church, they are just a religious club. There are four things Jesus says in these two verses that communicate this central truth, and we're going to look at each one of them. First, this is a new commandment. Second, Jesus commands us to love other Christians sacrificially. Third, by loving other Christians sacrificially, everyone will know that we really are Christians. And fourth, if we do not love one another sacrificially, we will not be a true church. Firstly, then, this is a new commandment. This is a new commandment. Jesus says, a new commandment I give to you that you love one another as I have loved you that you also love one another. Now, this is not one of the 10 commandments. This is not the greatest commandment, to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. This is not the second greatest commandment, to love your neighbor as yourself. This commandment is new. It is not a command to all people. It is a command to Christians. We know that because verse 35 tells us, So it's a command to Christians that if they love one another sacrificially, that's how the world is going to know that they're followers of Jesus. This command is only for Christians, and specifically Christians in the context of the local church. Also, this command tells us to love other Christians as Christ loved us, not as we love ourselves, which is part of the second commandment. So this commandment is a new commandment to Christians to the church. Secondly, Jesus commands us to love other Christians sacrificially. Jesus commands us to love other Christians sacrificially. Jesus says, love one another as I have loved you. You see, Jesus is talking about dying on the cross the next day. That's what he's talking about in these 35 verses. Peter did not want Jesus to wash his feet, but Jesus told Peter, what I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this. That is, after the crucifixion and resurrection. And Jesus also says, if I do not wash you, you have no part with me. Jesus is talking about washing away their sins. In Psalm 51, verse 2, King David writes, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. And in verse 7 of that same Psalm, David writes, wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. This is the washing Jesus is talking about. By washing their feet, Jesus shows them what he is going to do by dying for them. He will suffer hell in their place and forgive their sins. So the love Jesus is talking about is his death on the cross for their sins. That's the love he is talking about here when he says, love one another as I have loved you. Jesus gives them this example of foot washing to show them that they must love each other humbly and sacrificially. The Bible scholar John Stott writes, the foot washing in this part of the Bible, the foot washing is an acted parable, acted out parable of his washing away of sin through his sacrifice. Love is defined by the cross. It is love of that caliber which his disciples are called upon to express towards each other. In other words, this command is not talking about our feelings. Most of the time we read this command and think, oh, this means we're supposed to have warm, fuzzy feelings for each other. And I'm just so happy to go feel good about everybody in the church and obey Jesus. But that is not what Jesus is talking about here. He's not talking about having warm, fuzzy feelings for each other. This command means that loving one another as Christ loved us must involve putting to death things about ourselves for the good of other Christians. It must involve putting to death things about ourselves for the good of other Christians. There simply is no other meaning we can take away from what Jesus says here. That means self-sacrifice, and that is going to be painful, and it is something we must do continually. It's not just a one-time thing. If you are a Christian, I want you to look at how Jesus loved you. And if you're not a Christian, I want you to read what Jesus did to save you from being a slave to sin and spending eternity separated from God in a place called hell. Look at the love that Christ has for us as Christians. Open your Bibles to Mark chapter 15, verses 15 through 33. Mark chapter 15, verses 15 through 33. Here the Bible describes the murder of the Lord Jesus Christ. Beginning in verse 15, the Bible tells us, so Pilate, wanting to gratify the crowd, released Barabbas to them. and he delivered Jesus after he had scourged him, or beaten him severely with whips, to be crucified. Then the soldiers led him away into the hall called Praetorium, and they called together the whole garrison, all the soldiers, and they clothed him with purple, and they twisted a crown of thorns, put it on his head, and began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews! Then they struck him on the head with a reed, which is a hard stick, to drive the thorns into his skull. And they spat on him, and bowing the knee, they worshipped him. And when they had mocked him, they took the purple off him, put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him. Then they compelled a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as he was coming out of the country and passing by, to bear his cross. And they brought him to the place called Gotha, which is translated place of a skull. Then they gave him wine mingled with myrrh to drink, but he did not take it. And when they crucified him, they divided his garments, casting lots for them to determine what every man should take. Now it was the third hour, and they crucified him. And the inscription of his accusation was written above, the King of the Jews. With him, they also crucified two robbers, one on his right and the other on his left. So the scripture was fulfilled, which says, and he was numbered with the transgressors. And those who pass by blasphemed him, wagging their heads and saying, aha, you who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself and come down from the cross. Likewise, the chief priest also, mocking among themselves with the scribes, said, he saved others himself he cannot save. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross that we may see and believe. Even those who were crucified with him reviled him. Now when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, which is translated, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Do you understand what happened here? This is not a description of just the brutal physical suffering and physical death of Jesus. That's how we normally understand what goes on here. But Jesus cries out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? In a way that we cannot fully understand, Jesus in his human nature, his human body and soul, Suffer the eternal judgment of God against you and me for our sins. In that moment, as he hung on the cross and cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He was forsaken by God. Jesus suffered separation from God, which is the very definition of everlasting hell. The absolute worst, most horrible, unimaginable suffering and torment of hell is the absence of God without hope or being delivered by God or ever knowing God or experiencing God. That's hell. You see, that is God's judgment against us and every human because of our rebellion and sin. When Jesus says that whoever believes in him will never die, this is the death he's talking about. He is not talking about some excruciating physical death. He's not talking about the fact that we, he's not talking about not having to die physically. The fact is that we do have to die physically. All of us will die physically. He is talking about hopeless, never-ending absence of God, full of terror and agony and excruciating heartbreak and grief forever and ever and ever without end. And that is what Jesus suffered for us in that final moment on the cross. This is the death we will not suffer and we do not need to fear if we are truly followers of Jesus. However, if you are not a Christian, If you are not a Christian, you are separated from God right now. You have no idea or concept of the love and peace and comfort and goodness and freedom from slavery to your lust and appetites that comes only from being one of God's people. And if you're a child or a teenager, let me tell you, I'm speaking to you also. I'm not just talking to adults. I'm speaking to you. If you're not a Christian, if you haven't admitted your sin and trusted in Christ, you have no sense of the peace and comfort and love that comes from belonging to Jesus Christ, being born again and believing in Him. You are living in spiritual darkness even though it may not feel like it. You are living in spiritual darkness and death, spiritual death right now. But there is still hope because you have not died yet. and you're not yet separated from God forever. So this truth about death, about everlasting separation from God forever, if you're an unbeliever, if you're not a Christian, should fill your soul with terror and at the same time with a longing and a yearning to be rescued from this death and to be united with God both now and forever. Oh, unbeliever, if you feel God moving in your heart or mind at all, Admit you are a sinner in rebellion against God. Turn away from living for your sins that fill your heart. All of your own thoughts and desires and pleasures, those are your sins. Because you're living for yourself, you're not living for God. Turn away from those and believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who lived a sinless life for you and has already suffered hell for you. So the first two things Jesus tells us is that this is a new commandment only for Christians, and it is a commandment to love other Christians sacrificially. Thirdly then, Jesus tells us that by loving one another sacrificially, everyone will know that we really are Christians. By loving one another sacrificially, that is how people will know that we really are Christians. Jesus doesn't say, if you tell people you're Christians, they'll know. He doesn't say, if you go to church every Sunday, they'll know. If you do good works every Sunday, they'll know. Or every day. He says, this is how the world is going to know that you really are a Christian. By this kind of love, Christians, we shine the reality and presence of the person of Jesus Christ into the darkness of the world. The Holy Spirit of God lives in us and it is that being, that presence of Christ in us, that shines out of us into the world as we love this way. Because we can't love this way in our own human nature. It's impossible. Jesus says, a new commandment I give to you that you love one another as I have loved you that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. These disciples believed what Jesus said and obeyed this new commandment. The Holy Spirit of God worked powerfully in the early New Testament church to give us an example of what this kind of love looks like. Open your Bibles to the book of Acts chapter 2 verses 44 through 47. Acts chapter 2 beginning in verse 44. Here the Bible describes what happened after one of the disciples named Peter preached the first sermon after Jesus rose from death and rose into heaven. Beginning in verse 44, we read, now all who believed were together and had all things in common and sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. and the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. This is the first local church after Jesus went into heaven and sent his Holy Spirit to live in his disciples and establish local churches. This is a description of their overflowing love for each other that involves sacrifice, and sharing, and forgiving, and encouraging, and caring for, and enjoying each other, and strengthening their salvation. Now, verse 35, verse 35 is the only place in the Bible that tells us how people will really know that we are Christians. that they will see the reality of who Jesus is and what he has done by the fact that we love each other sacrificially. Please understand that without this sacrificial love for one another, we are just wasting our time. Let me repeat that. Without this sacrificial love for one another, we are just wasting our time. Nothing we do will bear any real fruit, and we will just be playing church, and we will just be religious. Open your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 13, verses 1 and 2, and listen to the Holy Spirit of God speaking through the Apostle Paul confirm what I just said. The Apostle Paul tells us, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. Do you hear that? Incredible words. The best preaching in the world. The greatest understanding and knowledge in the world. The purest doctrine in the world. The deepest theology we can possess. and the strongest even unimaginable faith mean absolutely nothing without this sacrificial love. Paul is not talking about emotions. Again, that's not what Paul's talking about. He's not talking about warm fuzzy feelings. He's not talking about just liking other people and making them feel good and feeling good ourselves. He's talking about loving one another the way Jesus loved us and died for us. The Bible scholar John Stott writes that a Jewish historian named Tertullian reported in the late second century the comment of the pagans in his day. The pagans were saying, behold, How these Christians love each other. How ready they are to die for each other. Their mutual love was the magnet which drew the pagan multitudes to Christ. It has the potential to do so still. And I agree with John Stock. It has the potential to do so still. We have looked carefully then at three things we find in this part of the Bible. This is a new commandment only for Christians. It is a commandment to love one another sacrificially, and by loving one another sacrificially, everyone will know that we really are Christians. These three truths are stated clearly and directly in verses 34 and 35. The fourth truth Jesus presents here is implied in verse 35, or indirectly stated, but clearly stated in the book of Revelation. The fourth truth tells us here, Jesus tells us here, is that if we do not love one another sacrificially, we will no longer continue to be a true church. If we do not love one another sacrificially, we will no longer continue to be a true church. In verse 35, Jesus says, By this, all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. And remember, he's talking about the kind of love he has for us, sacrificial love. Now, this statement also means, then, that if we do not have love for one another, this kind of love for one another, the world will not know that we are disciples of Jesus. or followers of Jesus. In other words, no matter how good the preaching and teaching is, no matter how God-centered the worship may seem, no matter how beautiful the music and singing is, we will not be showing the world that we follow Jesus. We will not be showing the world the reality of who Jesus is and of his work of salvation. We will not really be witnesses to the truth of God's message of salvation in the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because we will not be loving one another as Christ has loved us. And he says that that kind of sacrificial love is how people will know that we are Christians. Jesus states this fact very clearly in the book of Revelation chapter 2 verses 1 through 5. Revelation chapter 2 verses 1 through 5. Here Jesus tells the apostle John, To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, these things says he who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. And listen to this. This is what Jesus is saying to the church at Ephesus. I know your works, your labor, your patience, that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars. And you have persevered and have patience and have labored for my namesake and have not become weary. Did you hear all of those good things that these Christians in Ephesus were doing that Jesus recognized? Ah, but listen, as he continues. Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love. You have left your first love. Remember, therefore, where you have fallen. Repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent. A Bible commentator named Alan Johnson writes, the majority of commentators take the first love referred to here in Revelations 2, 1 through 5, to refer to the original Christian love the Ephesians had for one another. That understanding is supported by a statement in the Apostle Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus, in the book of Ephesians, chapter 1, verses 15, where he writes, therefore, and he's writing to the Ephesians, the same church Jesus was speaking to, therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and your love for all the saints, Do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. You see, the Ephesian church was known for its love for each other, its sacrificial love for each other. And what Christ says in Revelation is you've lost that love. You've lost it. And if you don't repent and start loving each other sacrificially again, I am going to come and take your lampstand. That means he's going to remove them as his representatives in the world. If we do not practice sacrificial love for one another, the Lord Jesus Christ will remove us as his representatives in the world. We will no longer be a true church. Jesus will remove our lampstand. The lampstand is the light of our witness to the truth of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ. And that's what he said he would remove. The light of our witness to the truth of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ, unless we love one another sacrificially. We might actually be saved ourselves, but nothing we do will display the truth of Jesus Christ to the world. It doesn't matter how much we say, unless we love one another sacrificially. Nothing we do will have any effect or produce any fruit. So here in John chapter 13, the Lord Jesus tells us these four critical things. First, he gives us a new commandment only for Christians. Second, it is a commandment to love one another sacrificially. Third, by loving one another sacrificially, everyone will know that we really are Christians. And fourth, if we do not love one another sacrificially, we will no longer continue to be a true church. These four truths dramatically declare that sacrificial love is the absolutely necessary characteristic of this church and any true church. Step away from my notes for a moment. I'll reveal a little bit of how old I am. There was a song many years ago, I think back in the 60s, that said, what the world needs down, can anybody finish that? Is love, sweet love. That's the only thing I've got plenty of. That's not the kind of love we need. But what the world needs down, what Christians need now, and what the church needs now, is to learn to love each other sacrificially. Now that we have heard this truth, how must we go about obeying this new commandment? How do we do this? How do we apply what Jesus says here? Well, the word sacrifice itself has something to do with death. It means putting to death something. And if we are to love the way Jesus loved, which was willingly to sacrifice himself, willingly to die, it means then that we must willingly put to death things in ourselves for the good of others. Therefore, in order to obey Jesus, we must put to death things in our hearts and in our thoughts and in our lives and in our habits and in our living for the good of others. Now loving, as I've mentioned previously, does not mean we're doing something so we will have warm emotional feelings about others or so that they will have warm emotional feelings about us. As we practice putting to death things in ourselves for the good of others, we may even find with some frequency that we don't have warm fuzzy feelings about that. And that person doesn't have warm fuzzy feelings about us. But that's not the test, that's not the measure, that's not the requirement. Warm emotions, good warm emotions might be involved in it, but they might not be. Scriptural love is thinking, speaking, and acting for the good of the other person. The emotions are not the purpose, and scriptural love is not emotion alone. It may include the emotion, but it is not emotion alone. Scriptural love is something that is for the good of the other person. Now this morning, in making application of what we've heard Jesus tell us, I want to suggest or outline 11 things that Christians should put to death in their lives as sacrifices for the purpose of loving one another in the same way Jesus loved us. Now, this is not at all the whole list. This is just the beginning. But if we begin striving to do these things, we will find the Holy Spirit of God working in us. to form the right attitude and to equip us and enable us to not only do these things, but to see the other things we need to put to death in ourselves in order to love others. Now, these things are not in any order of priority. They are all equally important and they are on the back of the sermon note sheets you have in your bulletin. Firstly, put to death your reasons for not becoming a committed member of a local church. Put to death your reasons for not becoming a committed member of a local church. Now, someone might think I'm speaking to you directly. However, I want you to know that the majority of people in this worship service this morning are not church members. So I'm not singling anyone out personally at all. I'm speaking to every Christian, whether you're in this congregation or however you might hear this sermon. I'm speaking in general to people who profess to be Christians. but for whatever reasons are not committed members of a local church. The Bible does not support any idea of a Christian not being a member of a local church. Now, there may be times when we're relocating and it takes its time to resettle into a membership in a local church, but in terms of simply not being a member of a local church, The Bible does not support any idea of not being a member of a local church. The Bible says Christ loved the church and died for her. Yes, he loved you as an individual, but he also loved you in order for you to be a member of a local church, which the Bible says is the spiritual body of Christ in the world. Being a Christian without being a committed member of a local church is a totally foreign idea to the Bible. You see, you cannot possibly love other Christians sacrificially the way Jesus is talking about here in a committed way unless you are committed to them and know them and are committed to them by your promises to them. which are promises to worship God together and serve God together and to love them sacrificially. Secondly, put to death the reasons you give yourself for not attending worship services. Put to death the reasons you give yourself for not attending worship services. Hebrews chapter 10 verses 24 and 25 commands us to attend worship services. And when we attend worship services, we encourage other Christians, we strengthen them, help them grow in their faith, and express our concern for them. And it's good for them. It's for their good. Of course, if we're actually sick or if our work demands that we have to work or lose our job, Those are circumstances for which the Bible allows us to miss worship services. Thirdly, put to death your shyness and those parts of your personality that keep you from greeting people or getting to know people in the church. Put to death your shyness or anything that keeps you from engaging with people and getting to know them in the church. In 1 Peter 5, verse 14, the Apostle Paul writes, greet one another with a kiss of love. Now, I'm not suggesting we all start kissing each other every Sunday. But that was how people greeted each other at the time that Peter wrote this. The point Peter makes is that we are to show affection to each other, smile at each other, shake hands, hug each other, say a few words. This might not be your natural temperament or personality. Someone might say, well, I will feel like a phony if I do that. But you would not be a phony. A phony is a person who acts like someone they are not in order to impress people or to fool other people or to manipulate them. If you put to death this shyness and this habit of your personality for the purpose of encouraging other Christians and showing them that you care about them and are interested in their lives, you are loving them like Christ has loved you. It might be awkward and painful for you, but that doesn't compare to how awkward and painful Christ felt as he suffered and died for you. Fourthly, put to death your hurt feelings and grudges. Put to death your hurt feelings and grudges. In 1 Corinthians 13, verse 5, the New International Version translation states that love keeps no record of wrongs. Love keeps no record of wrongs. Has someone in the church hurt your feelings or insulted you in the past? Think about the hurt feelings of Jesus on the cross dying for you and about how he was insulted. Your hurt feelings do not compare at all. Jesus commands you to forgive. In Mark 11, verse 25, Jesus says, and whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him. that your father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. You are commanded to forgive whether the other person even knows you were offended. You have to put to death your hurt feelings and grudges and forget them and show affection and concern and interest for the other person because it's good for them and it's good for you. Fifthly, put to death your pride. Put to death your pride. Put to death your pride. Anytime anything is repeated three times in the Bible and the Hebrew, that means there's great emphasis on it. In James, chapter 5, verse 14, the Bible tells us, confess your trespasses to one another. Confess your trespasses to one another. Do not let your pride keep you from saying you're sorry. Do not let your pride keep you from admitting that you make mistakes. Do not let your pride keep you from saying you were wrong. Do not let your pride keep you from considering whether or not you might be wrong. Do not let your pride keep you from admitting your sin and seeking forgiveness. In Philippians 2, verse 3, God tells us, Boy, that's hard to do. We think about ourselves like 70,000 times a day, according to people who study our thoughts. If we treat others as more important than ourselves, we display the power of the Holy Spirit in us. If we treat people as more important than ourselves, we display the power of the Holy Spirit in us. That can strengthen their faith and show them how to treat others also, and that is good for them. Sixthly, put to death your excuses for not practicing hospitality. Put to death your excuses for not practicing hospitality. Throughout the New Testament, the practice of hospitality was a vital part of the life of the church, of the lives of individual Christians. It was practiced by inviting people into their homes and treating them as honored guests. We read about that in Acts chapter 2 earlier this morning. And 1 Peter chapter 4, verses 8 and 9, the Bible commands us, above all, Keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaint. Notice that in these two verses, God connects fervent love for one another with the practice of hospitality. Treating other Christians as honored guests in your home is good for them. It encourages them. It shows them that Christ loves them by your concern and care for them. God does not care what your reasons are for not practicing hospitality. None of them are acceptable to him. Put your reasons to death and love other church members by practicing hospitality towards them. Seventhly, put to death your fear of practicing loving correction when another church member sins. Jesus says we have to go to a sinning church member by ourselves, one-on-one, before we ever say anything to anyone else, even the pastor. We're to go to the other sinning church member if we know we have evidence the person has sinned and we know it's a sin according to scripture. We're to go to that person one-on-one and talk with him or her about the sin. We must be motivated by love for them because it is good that we call them to repentance. It is good that we call them to repentance because sin is death dealing. Sin is destructive. It eats up the mind and soul and life of even a Christian. You never lose your salvation, but sin just rots your life. It is death dealing. That's why Jesus gives us this command to address it in the lives of other Christians. Learn what Jesus tells you to do in Matthew chapter 18, verses 15 through 17, and practice it for the good of one another. Eighthly, number eight, put to death your excuses for not tithing, for not supporting the church financially. The Bible teaches tithing. Tithing is God's plan for financing the work of the church. And you don't have to be a church member to be required by God to respond to God's provision for the church. If you're a Christian, you have an obligation to support the work of God in the world in the local church and to support that financially. Financial giving is God's plan for financing the work of the church. If anyone should tell you otherwise, they have a wrong understanding of the Bible. Every Christian is required by God to support the church financially by budgeting a specific percentage of his or her income to give to the church. And that specific percentage is not my money. It's God's money. You see, if you do not give a definite percentage of your income to support the church, that means that you are expecting someone else to pay the bills. Now, that's like me expecting my neighbor to pay my rent. And it's not good. For my neighbor, he wouldn't do it in the first place. But it's not good. And it's not good for other Christians to place the total load of financing the church on them. And that's what we do if we do not support the church financially. We are expecting other Christians to pay the bills. And let me clarify something. I've been in ministry about 35 years in five different churches. And in almost all of them except this one, I haven't encountered it here so far, but I've encountered someone who said, well, I tithe by my service, by the things I do. That's not tithing. That's just doing the work that God has given you to do. Thank God that you do that, that you use, and we'll get to that in just a moment, that you use your spiritual gifts and abilities and talents But that's not supporting the work of the church financially. Now, this is not a sermon to present the scriptural requirement for tithing. However, if you do not put to death your excuses for not tithing, you are expecting someone else to pay the bills, and that's not love for them. That's not for their good. The fact is that you will not tithe, you will not support the church financially unless you want to do so. The primary reason you should want to do so is because God has loved you and saved you and given the most precious, valuable thing possible, beyond all possible value, and that was his son, to save you. That's the first reason, out of love for God. The second reason is because God commands it. And the third reason is that by supporting the church financially, you are showing your love for other members by paying your share of the expenses of the work of the kingdom of God through the church. Ninthly, number nine, put to death your grumbling and complaining and criticizing. In Philippians chapter two, verse 14, God tells us, do all things without grumbling or disputing. And in James chapter 5 verse 9, God commends us. Do not complain, brethren, against one another. And in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 29, the Bible tells us that everything we say and everything we think should be for the purpose of building others up. Tenthly, put to death your habit of using all your free time for yourself. Put to death your habit of using all your free time for yourself. In Ephesians 5, verses 15 and 16, God tells us, Be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. We are to make the most of our time. Since Jesus commands us to love one another by putting to death things about ourselves, one of the most valuable things we possess is our time. Certainly, we have the privilege and obligation of using our free time for rest and recreation. However, we can use some of that time to help other church members and encourage them, to help other Christians and encourage them. We can visit them, send them cards if they're sick. We can help them move. We can babysit for them. We can watch their pets for them while they are on vacation. We can take the time to send them birthday cards and anniversary cards. to let them know that we're thinking about them and care about them. We can accept invitations to spend time with them and extend invitations to them to show them hospitality. We can invite them into our homes for a meal. We can send them text messages and emails telling them that we are thinking about them and praying for them. We can use some of our time some of our free time in these ways and many others for the good of other Christians, eleventhly and finally. Put to death any reasons you give yourself for not using your talents, skills, or spiritual gifts for the good of the church. Put to death any reasons you give yourself for not using your talents, skills, or spiritual gifts for the good of the church. In 1 Corinthians 12, verse 7, the Bible tells us, to each one is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good. Now here, God is talking about spiritual gifts. But the principle applies to our talents and skills and abilities also. Whatever ability or gift or talent or strength we possess that can bless and strengthen other Christians and the Church, we should use it and we should put to death our reasons for not doing it. Many of these things are being done, obviously done, and have been done by many people in the church. So I'm not saying that we don't, we haven't done these things or we're not doing these things. I'm simply saying that we need to understand Christ's command to love one another sacrificially as a command to put to death things in ourselves for the good of other Christians. And these are just some of the ways, some of the ways that we can do that. These 11 things are not a complete list of the things we can put to death in order to love other Christians. However, if we start with these 11 things, God will show us other things that we can put to death. Now, if you're a Christian, I do not want to leave you with a sense of a heavy burden of responsibility. I want you to know that the Holy Spirit of God Himself will enable you to love each other, love other Christians sacrificially. You simply need to commit yourself to obeying this command. Think about the command. Ask God to help you obey it and the Holy Spirit will change your mind and heart and give you all the ability you need to love other Christians in this way. And when you do, you will experience the supernatural presence and power of God himself alive and working in your heart and life. The living God himself will literally shine himself into and through your heart and soul by his living eternal Holy Spirit and through your actions in a way that will leave you speechless and trembling in awe. There is no earthly experience like it. Now, if you're not a Christian, you cannot love Christians sacrificially. because your human nature is in rebellion against God. Your human nature is no different than the human nature of any other human being. When the first man and woman sinned, the entire human race was thrown into sin, corrupted by rebellion against God. That is the reason you do not believe in God or worship Him and obey Him if you're not a Christian. You're not only unable to love Christians sacrificially, you are unable to receive such love from Christians fully because you simply don't understand it. Oh, but let me tell you, there is hope. If you're not a believer, there is hope for you. You can still believe in God. You're not dead yet. You can still believe in Jesus Christ. You can still know that your problem is not believing in Jesus Christ and not obeying God. And most importantly, you can still cry out to God and ask Him to give you spiritual life, to give you faith in Jesus, to forgive your sins. The Bible says that all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. If you're not a Christian, And again, I'm not talking to only adults. If you're a child or a teenager, if you're not a Christian, I beg you, believe the truth about Jesus Christ. Believe the truth that you are a sinner separated from God. Beg God to give you faith in Jesus Christ and to forgive you and to give you everlasting life. And if God saves you, you will begin to experience a love that is beyond human understanding, and you will have the capacity then to put to death things in yourself, your selfish, selfish, self, self, selfish self. You'll have the capacity to put that to death. One of our scripture readings this morning is Jesus says, if anyone would come after me, what? Let him deny himself or herself. and take up his cross, that means dying daily, and follow me. If you call out to God and God gives you spiritual life and faith in Christ, you will, for the first time in your life, be able to do something unselfish. Not because you're able to do it, but because the Holy Spirit of God, of Jesus Christ Himself, will work in you to make you new.