of God's Word. So we come to this passage where the Apostle seems to be changing tack. He seems to be changing the subject and seems to be changing the direction of what he has been talking about. It seems nothing to do with the previous chapters, does it? In the previous chapters, he's been talking about those who are proud, those who have caused these factions in the church wanting to appear to be more superior than other people in the church. That, again, has led to problems in the church like their reluctance to deal with the sin, the immorality that has crept into the church culminating in this terrible deed that has happened where one man has taken his father's wife to be his wife and nothing has been done about it. It's been tolerated in the church. And Paul has told them that they must do something about this, they must cleanse the church of this wicked deed and this man must be excommunicated unless he repents of what he has done so that he learns not to sin. And then he has gone on to show us that the right use of our sexual desires and that is within the marriage bond and exhorted the brethren to if they are married to stay married but to rather think about themselves as not being married in the sense that they should be fully committed to the Lord's work even if they are married and they shouldn't use marriage as an excuse not to do the Lord's work and not to be fully committed to the Lord's work. In fact, in a way, we as married brethren, if we are married, should be able to do more because we have the help and assistance of our husband or wife in enabling us to do the work. So we should be more than we are able to be as single people and that is really true for married people because that is what God has ordained for us knowing what is best for us knowing what will be best for our lives and will enable us to be the best Christians that we can be so in that marriage relationship we have this helpmeet to help us in our walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now Paul is talking about what meats that we should eat or not eat, whether we should eat those things offered to idols or not. And it seems to be a complete divergence from what Paul has been speaking about. But it's not. Because at the root of this problem is the same thing that it's at the root of all those other problems. What's at the root of this problem? It's the pride and the arrogance of these Corinthian believers. Here, they believe that they have some special knowledge, some special ability to understand, and some special wisdom in the things of God, so that they can make decisions based on what they know and what they think they know. And with disregard to what is best for their brethren and best for the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. So it's the same thing, isn't it? Here we have brethren acting out of their own wisdom rather than seeking the wisdom of God, seeking to do what's right and pleasing to the Lord, just like the factions that have grown up. Why have those factions grown up in the church? Because they want to seem to be intellectually superior to others. I'm of Paul, I'm of Apollos, I'm of Cephas, I'm of Christ. They're choosing a party to say, well, that party has superior knowledge over the others. They know best, so we will follow them, and only those teachings will we abide to, and we can then look down upon everybody else, can't we? And say we have this superior wisdom and understanding of the things of God over everybody else, do you see? Why haven't they tackled the immorality in the church? Why? Because they know best, don't they? They know best. They know that this is no big thing, no big deal, or they think to themselves, well, we're unaffected by it. This is one brother doing this thing. We may not agree with what he's doing, but that's what he's doing, but it doesn't affect us. And those two same sort of attitudes are prevalent in our church today. there are those people who think they have superior knowledge. I was speaking many years ago now to a student who I was being trained with, and this student, who is now in a very prominent position in a Bible college, he turned around and told me that pastors and people in positions like pastors have more light than anybody else. more understanding of the Word of God than anybody else. And that makes them able to preach the Word of God. It's nonsense, friends. Nonsense. We don't have any more light than anybody else. or what is available to anybody else. Of course, we may have more understanding because we study more or because we apply ourselves to the word of God and maybe there's a Christian who doesn't do that and neglects their study of the word of God. Well, then it's obvious we're going to grow in knowledge and understanding above those people who don't care, aren't we? But as saints, we have no more privilege in this. We have no more ability to understand the Word of God than anybody else. Our ability is to communicate the Word of God. Preaching is about communication and getting the Word of God across to believers. so that they can understand it and they can appreciate it and they can walk in the way of the Lord Jesus Christ. So it's communicating the word of God. It's taking the word of God and explaining it in such a way so that people can appreciate it and apply it in their lives. So this is prevalent in our churches today, isn't it? And immorality, when we're talking about immorality, I put forward some examples to you of how these things grow up in the church, thinking that we can be unaffected by what is happening in our church. Those people who are in churches to, in it to win it. Do you know that old phrase? Well, people are still in these churches and in these denominations, and their justification for being in these denominations is, well, I'm unaffected by what's going on in this denomination. I'm unaffected because I believe the truth. They do believe the truth. And that will stand against them. because they're still in those denominations that don't believe the truth. You see, they're not unaffected, are they? And they're not unaffected because they are under the banner, they are under the authority, they are under the stigma of what that denomination does. So it does affect them and what they do, doesn't it? But they think, well, you know, it doesn't affect us. You know, I'm not doing it, am I? So these things are alive in our churches today. They're prevalent in our church today. We've got to understand what Paul is saying. And we've got to understand that there is teaching here, even though in the explanation that Paul is giving, it seems to be limited to the Corinthian church, yet it's pertinent to us. And we must understand these things. We are contaminated. by those people that we have association with and those sins that people have as well. So we must stand clear of these things. That's what separation is all about. We've talked about separation before, haven't we, and those levels of separation. Well, you know, we have to stand clear of these things and be sure where we stand is for the Lord Jesus Christ and the Lord Jesus Christ can bless us and can use us. So coming back to this, it's very in keeping with what Paul has been talking about. The root problem is here and it's being explained here. You see, this is not so much about eating food offered to idols. It's more about the attitude of these Corinthians and why they are eating food offered to idols. You see? That's what Paul is really getting to here. But we, you know, and lots of commentators do this too. They take it as though Paul is just now dealing with a new subject, eating food offered to idols. And they miss the point. They miss the point that actually, no, Paul is dealing with something much more fundamental than that. Why do people eat food that is offered to idols? What effect does it have upon us? What effect does this attitude that we're going to be looking at, this attitude have on other believers in our congregation? You know, is it happening in effect? Is it just a simple thing that we should or we shouldn't do? And there's much more to it as we're going to see. Well, let's have a look at it then, shall we? Now, concerning things offered to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing, yet as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, this one is known by him. Now we'll just stop there, because the first section is 1 to 7, and we're just going to deal with this here. But we'll stop here, because this is the beginning of Paul's thought process here, and what he wants to get over to the church. He's laying down a principle for the saints here. And the principle is this, that knowledge for knowledge's sake puffs up. That's what it tends to do. It tends to make people feel superior. It tends to make people feel as though they know some great wisdom that is far above other people. It makes them proud of what they know. and proud of what they think they have attained. And that pride leads them to be complacent and arrogant and to act upon the so-called wisdom and knowledge that they have. And that ultimately leads to error and disaster in our churches. Puffed up people who think they know rather than relying upon the word of God and submitting themselves to the word of God and the teaching of the word of God and following that. Puffed up Christians. That's the first thing that Paul is dealing with here. Now what is the situation? Before we go into it, what is the situation that is happening here? I'm getting some things in my ear at the moment. Sorry. The situation is this, that the Corinthians have applied to Paul to deal with a subject. They want to know what's the right and wrong in this issue. You see, people have been eating food that is offered to idols. Now what was happening is that the food would be offered to the idol but not all the food would be used up in that offering and the sacrifice that was given over to the idol so that the priests would have some of the food and the rest of it would be sold in the marketplace, and the money would come into the temple coffers. And anybody could buy that food, but it was food offered to idols. Some of the food was also being used in feasts. They would have multiple feast days. And you know, any excuse for a good time, isn't it? And you know, they were the same. They wanted a good time and they would have, you know, all these feast days and they would use the food that had been offered in the sacrifices in those feast days. and people would be invited along to those feast days. So you weren't actually going along to a service of worship of an idol in the temple, but you were going along to a day that was celebrating something. But it would be in the it would be in the outer courts of the temple and it would be in recognition of the god of the temple and it would be eating the food that was offered as sacrifices to their gods. That's the situation that we find and what is happening is that some Christians are buying the meat in the marketplace and eating the meat, and they don't care whether it's offered to idols or not. Other people are going to the feast days in the temple, in the outer courts of the temple, and they're seen there, and they believe that they have a right to do that, will come on to that and find out why they think they have a right to do that, and they don't care of what it's saying to people because it's their right. And, you know, they don't care of the repercussions in the church. And these things are going on. So they're applying to Paul to find out what is right and what is wrong. But Paul sees the root of the problem. And Paul is dealing not only with the problem, but with the root of the problem. Because if you don't deal with the root of the problem, you won't solve anything, will you? It will just move on to something else. So you've got to deal with the root of the problem. You've got to suss out what people are about. Why are they doing these things? Not just what they're doing, but why are they doing it? And that's important in everything, isn't it, friends? If we're dealing with an error, we want to know why these people are doing these things. Not just what the error is, we can see that plainly from the Word of God, but why are Christians doing these things? Why are they turning over to contemporary worship? Why are these attitudes in the church that are ruining the church of the Lord Jesus Christ? In evangelism, you want to get to the heart of people. You want to try and think the way that they're thinking and get to the nub of what they're saying and the reasons why they're asking that question. Are they asking that question because they want to know the answer, because it's really troubling them? Or are they asking that question because they want to put a blockade up in front of you so that, you know, they think, you know, they've got you? Are they asking that question because they just want to deflect you? and not have to think about what you're saying, you know, give you something to think about, give you something difficult to argue about. They don't want to know the answer. They just want to deflect you. You see, you want to get to the nub of it, don't you? And you want to get under their skin. You want to know how to reach them, where they're coming from. And that's what Paul is doing here. He's getting to the root of it. He's getting to the heart of it. He's getting to the reason for it. Firstly then, the reason for it is that some people are puffed up. Look at verse one. Now concerning things offered to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Why is he saying that? Because that is the root of the problem here, isn't it? They think they know. They think they have a right to do things because they have a liberty, you know, in Jesus Christ. So they can do anything they want. They are puffed up with this knowledge that they think they have. They feel superior to other people. In fact, they now feel superior to God because they don't want to know what God says. They feel superior to the apostles. Look at Acts chapter 15. And verse 28, now you know what this is about. It's the problem that Paul has had with the Judaizing brethren, and he's had to go to Jerusalem. He's had to actually to face Peter and denounce Peter's attitude before the council, before all the brethren face to face. And now the brethren realize that this is, their attitude has been wrong. that the Christians do not have to be Judaized, but there are certain things that they are laying upon the church. So they send this letter back to the Gentile churches for Paul to take round to the Gentile churches. And verse 27, we have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who will also report the same things by word of mouth. For it seems good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things, that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourself from these, you will do well." Farewell. Now, Paul has no beef with those things at all. He's quite happy to take those instructions to the Gentile churches, isn't he? And he must have taken them to Corinthians. And the Corinthians know that. But you see, they now know better, don't they? They know what they can do, and they're going to exercise their liberty, because they are now free of these things, they are going to exercise their liberty in Jesus Christ. Come what may, it doesn't matter what people think, they're going to do it. You see, they're so puffed. up, so arrogant, so full of themselves now, aren't they? In the knowledge that they think they have. Knowledge puffs up, that's what it tends to do. But love edifies. You see, knowledge has to be tempered by love. by love for our God and our Saviour, and love for our brethren, and love for our neighbour. It has to be tempered by these things. And that doesn't mean that we do not stand by the truth, because we don't want to offend people, but it means we stand by the truth, understanding people and wanting the best for people. That sometimes means we have to stand firm and sure But it sometimes means that we have to consider the effect it will have on people and deal with it with grace and tenderness. It depends, doesn't it? You know, if there are troubles in a denomination and those troubles are such that we cannot stay in that denomination, we don't temper what we're going to say in the sense of saying, well, you know, we'll have to stay to show brotherly love and care. No, we stand firm. We have a God to honor and to glorify and him to love. and to stand for him. And we stand firm for our love for the brethren. Because if we do not stand firm, they will think these things are nothing. We can get by and let these things go. You see, if we really love the brethren, we will stand firm, won't we? And we will leave that corrupt denomination and stand for the Lord Jesus Christ. And in those two ways, we will be showing love to our brethren and love to the Lord Jesus Christ. But in all things, we must think about love. Love must temper our knowledge, mustn't it? So in that situation we're thinking about love and we can make a stand. In another situation we're thinking about love and we don't want to give a fence and we don't want to cause others to stumble and we'll be coming on to that in just a few moments. Paul goes on, but if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. So what Paul is saying there is, you know, look friends, look brothers, you may know some things, you may know the scriptures, you may know the doctrines, but that is something that is open to all people. You see, it's not special to you, he's saying. It's just the things that you ought to know. Because the hidden things of God, what are they? They're hidden. And you won't know them until the day when Christ comes again, when we will know all things. And then we will all know all things. There's no special knowledge for some people. There's no heightened knowledge that people can know. It's just common to all. You just know what you ought to know, Paul is saying. But if anyone loves God, this one is known by him. That's the true knowledge that we want, don't we? That is the special knowledge that we want. We want to know God. We want to know more of Him. We want to love Him. We want to glorify Him. We want to honor Him. We want to put Him first in our lives. And if we make God the center of all our knowledge and all our study in the things of God, then he will honour us and he will know us and he will bless us and he will be with us. So knowledge for knowledge's sake tends to puff up. Knowledge without love ends in disaster. Knowledge without love puffs up and destroys churches and destroys individuals. Now Paul goes on, he says, therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other god but one. Absolutely true, isn't it? And he's probably repeating some of the things that have been said in the letter to him, and he's agreeing with him. He's saying, that's absolutely true. Yes, it's absolutely true. But how do we use that knowledge? How do we apply that knowledge? That's the important thing, isn't it? For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, as there are many gods and many lords, now Paul is not saying that there are gods. He's saying, in a sense, even if there were, There's not, but there are many gods with a small g, you know, gods made by men, idols, and there are many lords that people bow to and scrape to. There are these figments of men's imagination that they have made into their gods. Yet, for us, there is one God. That's the truth of it, isn't it? For us, we know that there is only one God, and these other gods, they are nothing. of whom are all things and we from him. He is the creator of all things. He is the sustainer of all things. He is the giver of all things. And we are born again in him and we are his offspring. That's what Paul is saying. And one Lord Jesus through whom are all things and through whom we live. So all things came to us through the benefit of the Lord Jesus Christ applying and giving those things to us. We have all things in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we have our salvation and we have our lives. What we are, who we are now, we have through the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what Paul is saying there. Now, however, he says, there is not in everyone that knowledge. For some with consciousness of the idol until now eat as a thing offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. Now, this is the first thing that Paul is saying. Meat is nothing. You can eat meat. Meat is just meat, isn't it? But there are some people, he's saying, that they don't have a true understanding of their relationship with their God. They are believers, but because they've come recently out of paganism, and they haven't been taught properly in this church, and they haven't really been properly educated in the understanding of what idols are, all because they are still superstitious, They think, well, just in case there is something about these idols, just in case some of them are gods, we will continue to eat their meat and continue to practice or go along to the feast days. That's what Paul is saying here. But what are they doing to themselves? This is what the Corinthians firstly have to understand. What are they doing to themselves? For some with consciousness of the idol, you see what I mean, they think there is something about these idols or just in case they're hedging their bets, just in case. Until now they eat as a thing offered to an idol and their conscience, this is the result of it, their conscience being weak is defiled. Their conscience, you see, is now alive to the one true God. But because they are giving in and going along and eating these meats offered to idols, thinking that there just might be something in it, they have defiled their conscience. They have offended their conscience, haven't they? They've squashed their conscience. They've gone back to the old way of managing their conscience so that they can do what they want to do. They have defiled it in the sight of God and to themselves. They've spoiled it in its operation, which should be keeping them from these things. and keeping them doing those things that are right. So the first thing that we understand here is that eating meat that is offered to idols can bring us to this state where we are defiling our conscience. where we are offending our conscience. When we are doing things that our conscience is telling us we shouldn't really be doing. It doesn't feel right. It doesn't sit well with us. It's something that we feel is wrong, but for various reasons, we're going to do it. We're going to do it. And what we are doing to ourselves is offending our conscience, and in some ways spoiling our conscience, because then our conscience is a bit numb in that area, isn't it? We've made it numb in that area. So eating meat, it may just be meat, but it's not as simple as that, is it? Our knowledge might say to us, it's just meat. But we've got to consider other things. We've got to consider other issues here. It's not as simple as it seems. So that's the first thing then. There is this principle that knowledge, for knowledge's sake, can be detrimental to us if we do not apply it in the right way. If we do not bring that knowledge that we think we have to the scriptures and we submit it to the scriptures and to the scrutiny of the scriptures so that we truly understand what God is saying to us and we follow what the Lord Jesus Christ is telling us. But there is another principle here that Paul is laying down, and that's from verse 8 to verse 13. And that is this, that we must never willfully be a stumbling block to our brethren. Now a stumbling block is when we deliberately put something in their way that is going to cause them hurt spiritually. You know, sometimes in doing what is right, we offend people. We can't help that, friends, can we? The scripture says, as much as is in you, live peaceably with all men. But it's not within you what is true and what is right and what we are called upon to stand for. That is in God. God has dictated that we must obey. Whatever the consequences are, we must obey, mustn't we? But there are things that are within us, and we shouldn't deliberately cause a stumbling block or cause an offence if it's within our control. And we shouldn't do it, because why? Our knowledge and our understanding must be tempered by love. You see, that's the overall lesson that Paul is teaching here. We must be guided by our love. for our people and for the Lord's people. But food does not commend us to God, verse eight, for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worst. Now Paul states a truth there. There are three buts here, by the way, in the second section, and each one moves on his argument. The first one is this, food is nothing. Food doesn't mean that you are a better Christian or a worse Christian. There are some Christians who believe that we as Christians all ought to be vegans, or at least vegetarians, and not eat meat, and that we will be better off as Christians if we didn't eat meat. There are some Christians who teach that that is the way that was original in the Garden of Eden. And now that we're saved, we should go back to those ways, the Garden of Eden, the ways of Adam and Eve. That's what God intended for us. They ignore. They ignore the wealth of the rest of the scripture that teaches us that God gave us all the animals and then he taught us that nothing is now unclean and that we can eat any of it and as long as it's good we can eat it. They ignore those scriptures. Now, supposing we had dinner with one of them. And we thought, well, we have liberty, don't we, in the Lord Jesus Christ? We can eat what we want. Food is nothing. I can do what I like. So I'm going to have another juicy, rare pork or beef joint, not pork, don't have pork rare, but beef joint, and running with blood. That's the way I like it. I have liberty, don't I, to have it. It's not the way I like it, friends, but it's the way this person likes it. I can have liberty. That's the way I'm going to have it. I'll invite them along and I will do them a vegetarian loaf. I can't remember what it's called now. Nut roast, that's it. It's not, I was going to say a meat roast. It's not, of course it's not. They don't like meat. We don't put meat in it, do we? No, a nut roast. And we prepare a nut roast for them, but there we're sitting down carving in front of them, enjoying the blood running down our cheeks and everything. We're enjoying it. We have the, friends, it's only meat, isn't it? but we've given no thought whatsoever to the offence, the unnecessary offence that we are giving to our brother or sister, are we? And they will be deeply, deeply offended by what we are doing. Better that you had never asked them to your house at all for that meal than to rub it in with them in the way that you are doing. That's what Paul is saying. He starts off by saying, it is true, meat is nothing, it is just meat. But, that is not the only consideration. Look at the second but. But, beware that somehow this liberty of yours becomes a stumbling block to those who are weak. Exactly what we've been saying, isn't it? We've got to think, is my liberty, or what I think is my liberty, what I think I can do, is that actually going to cause a stumbling block to somebody? So he says, look, for if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol's temple, will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols? Now, Paul is not saying that you do have liberty to eat things offered to idols in the outer court of the temple. What he is talking, he's talking about those people who think they have knowledge, isn't he? because he starts off by saying that. For if anyone sees you who, who? You Christians who are doing what's right? You Christians who are just following your conscience? No, you Christians who think you have knowledge. You Christians who think you know what's right and you're only going to act on knowledge, what you think is right. That's what he's talking about. Those people that he was talking about right at the beginning. Those people who are puffed up. Those people who are full of themselves. Those people who will only ever do what they think is right in their own eyes. So he says to them, okay, you go and eat in a temple. Let's put aside the fact of what you're actually doing. He's saying, you go and eat in a temple. Now, what effect is it going to have on that person who sees you eating there and does the same thing? For if anyone sees you having knowledge eating in an idol's temple, will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols? You see, they're weak, they're not... They haven't studied, they haven't bothered, or they just don't care about these things. They do what they think they can get away with or what other people are doing. They see you eating in the temple. They think this is wrong, but they see you eating there. You are a person who has knowledge, remember. You are a superior person. You are a leader. So they see you doing it, and even though their conscience is saying to them, no, what do they do? Oh, well, if they can do it, I can do it, can't I? I'm going to go and eat there. I'm going to practice what the temple does and sacrifice to my idol even, maybe. Well, it doesn't matter, does it? Why doesn't it matter? Well, an idol's nothing, is it? Food's nothing. It doesn't mean anything. Therefore, I can do it, can't I? They're doing it. I can do it. But what's the effect of that, Paul says? And because of your knowledge, shall the weak brother perish for whom Christ died? That's a bit strong, isn't it? No, it's not. Not at all, friends. Look over to chapter 11. This is a different thing, a different situation. But look at what Paul is saying here. I won't read it all to you, you know the context of it. The last part of chapter 11 he's talking about the Lord's table and then he has this warning. Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this reason many are weak and sick amongst you, and many sleep." Do you know what that word means? They've died. For this reason, he says, they're under the judgment of God. They're feeling the displeasure of their God. And because they are acting in such a disgraceful way, some of them, because they have gone so far in this, there is no longer any reason for them to be here. So God has taken them. They're believers, but God has taken them. You see, these things are serious. And that's what Paul is saying here. He's saying, and because of your knowledge, because of what you have done, doesn't mean they won't perish as well, but because of what you have done, some people, some of your brothers will go so far down the line with this and take that, what you have done, and gone further with it so that they will come to the point where the Lord will not tolerate them anymore and will take them rather than let them continue here to dishonor him and to grieve him in the way that they are acting. That's the sort of effect we can have on our brothers and sisters if we do not think about what we are doing and the effect it is having upon them. But when you thus sin against the brethren and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. That's what we're doing. If we do not think about our brothers and sisters and what we are doing and the effect that we are having upon them, we are sinning against Christ. Why? Because Christ's commandment was that you should love one another. because Christ loves those brethren that you have caused this harm to. You're sinning against Christ by being belligerent, by being arrogant, by thinking you know, by acting upon what you think is your liberty to do whatever you want or can justify. No, you've got to think about it. And now look at what Paul says. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble. You see, we have to think about it, and we have to be so concerned, and we have to act in love, even to the point of giving up legitimate legitimate things if it means that we do not cause our brother to stumble. Now that doesn't mean that we have to give up meat because somebody might be a vegetarian. It means that we do not cause them offence. And if giving up meat would stop that offence, then we ought to consider it, Paul is saying. It might be for a time, you know, when we have them round for a meal. What do we do? Well, we have some of that nut loaf, don't we? I don't know what it tastes like, but I'm sure it's delicious. I've never tried it, friends. But there we go. So we would have nut loaf, you see, because it's my right to have a nice big roast of beef, but I don't want to give offence, you see. There may be some things even that we would give up completely, because we do not want to cause a stumbling block. to other brothers and sisters in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have to think about it, don't we? That's what Paul is saying to the church. You see, it's not so much about food offered to idols, is it? It's about our attitude. It's about those two principles that Paul is laying down. Knowledge without love leads to arrogance. and failure. And the second one is that we should never be a stumbling block, a willful, knowing, stumbling block to our brothers and sisters in Christ, because it will have a devastating effect upon us, upon our church, and upon our brothers, or could have. Let's pray. Our gracious God and our loving Heavenly Father, we come into your presence and we do praise and thank you, Lord, for your gracious love to us. We thank you, Lord, that you loved us and gave up so much for us to come into this world, to suffer and die on that cross, even giving your life your life for us. May we ever, O Lord, love one another as you have loved us. If we ask these things in Jesus' precious name. Amen.