Turn with me, 1 Corinthians chapter 12. We began looking at the giftings of the church a couple of weeks ago and we're gonna come back, pick up at the end of chapter 12 and go right into chapter 13 this morning. You can give your life to serving money and have it worth nothing. You can give your life in the service of pleasure, and in the end it will be worth nothing. You can give your life in the service of your own reputation, and in the end have it worth nothing. You can give your life in the service of God, and have it worth nothing. Look with me beginning at verse, chapter 12, verse 31. Paul says, but covet earnestly the best gifts, And yet I show you a more excellent way. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity, I become a sounding brass and tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and have not knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, And though I give my body to be burned and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Let's pray for a moment. Father, as we look to your word, I pray that we would understand the value of a love-driven life. I pray that you would be honored and that your Holy Spirit would awaken our eyes and our hearts to your truth, and may we find that every need that we have has been supplied by the provision of Jesus Christ. In his name we pray, amen. This passage indicates something to us. What we do for God may not honor God. It's not a matter of what we do for him, but how we do what we do that will ultimately matter to God. The Corinthian church was carnal and divided. They were self-seeking. There were problems in the church. And the Apostle Paul, as we come towards the end of this study, now we've been in this study for a long time, But in chapter 11, he said, here's one thing that's gonna help resolve your conflicts, communion. A right understanding of receiving the Lord's table, not in an attitude of selfishness, but in humility. A personal relationship with Jesus Christ means that you're gonna be grateful for God's gift of Jesus' shed blood, his body given on your behalf, and you'll come together with the church with a spirit of humility and unity, and you're gonna remember Jesus Christ in a manner consistent with the great gift that you have received in Jesus Christ. Communion, so the second thing we find in chapter 12, he says here's something else that's gonna bring unity in your church, it's gonna be called community. God has gifted the church, he's equipped the church to serve him. And each believer, every person who has put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ has been given by the Holy Spirit a spiritual gifting. a supernatural enablement to serve God with your life. And that is not intended to divide us, but actually to unite us, because we make up one body in Jesus Christ. He's our head. And then as we come to chapter 13 this morning, we're going to see that God intends to unite the church, and Paul's pen gives the recipe. Here's how. Here's how to find unity in the church, and it comes by a word, the word charity, charity. Communion was a matter of gathering. Community is a matter of gifting. Charity is a matter of godliness. It's actually a characteristic of God that he gives to his children. There are certain qualities of God, characteristics of God, that we would say are communicable. They're ones that God has that we can share in. There are many qualities of God that we will not, we will never be all-knowing. We will never be all-powerful. But we can certainly demonstrate this quality that God shows of love. God is not just one who shows love, he is love. But that's a quality that God intends for you and I to have. The Church of Corinth, boy, do they need this lesson. Let me say, guess what? Church of America, Church of Ohio, Church of Lima, Church of Blue Lake, guess what? Boy, we need this lesson, this message. There's a lot that we can do in the name of Jesus Christ, for Jesus Christ, and have it be worth absolutely Zero, zip, zilch, nada, nothing. Worth nothing if it's not done with this quality of God given to us by His Holy Spirit of love. No love, no good. If you were to offer a master class in exceptional ministry, The points hit in verses one through three of chapter 13. These would all be the keynote speakers, right? The first one, the one with tremendous oratory. Some would suggest perhaps he's speaking also here of the gift of tongues, which the Church of Corinth had elevated the ability to speak foreign languages that they've never learned, empowered by the Holy Spirit. But certainly we can include in here those who are great, persuasive, tremendous speakers. These are the people who sell out their TED Talks. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity. He includes the next one. He says though I have the gift of prophecy, proclaiming the deep truths of scripture, understand all mysteries, have all knowledge, have faith to remove mountains, I mean, you're the lady, you're the man, you pray, God hears, and everyone knows it, right? Each of these things, he says, those who give their, all their goods, they're deeply sacrificial, they're generous with what they have, and they've given everything for Jesus. And then those who are willing to be martyrs, who'd put their life on the line for their faith in Jesus Christ and would be willing to, in fact, die for him. These are the listings here, and he says, each of these people, each of these people who might fulfill the responsibilities of teaching a master class on an exceptional Christian ministry, these people, they can exercise those gifts to the fullest, but if they don't have love, it's worth absolutely nothing. You could say, I could never do those things. But Jesus Christ hasn't asked you to do those things. He's asked you to do the one thing that they lacked, and that's love. And you can do that. Turn with me to chapter one, verse 10. I wanna walk through the book of 1 Corinthians to bring you up to speed. I'm gonna move quickly, so follow along if you can. Chapter one, verse 10. Paul says, now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, that there be no divisions among you. but that you'd be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. These were true believers. They had put their complete confidence in Jesus Christ alone to give them forgiveness, to give them salvation, to be welcomed into the family of God. It says in John 1, 12, but as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. They have believed on Jesus. They've received his free gift of salvation. But Paul said, in the name of Jesus, I'm gonna point out something to you. There's divisions. There's a spirit in the church that's not pleasing to the Lord, and my appeal to you for this entire book is this. I want you to be of the same mind. I want you to think the same way. Look at chapter two, verse four. Paul gives his own testimony about how he came to the church. He said, my speech, my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power. Paul was a communicator. He was a thinker. But Paul said, when I came to this church, in light of the needs that you had, it needed to be all of God and not of Paul. I gave you broken messages from a broken body. And the reason was so God could work through me and you could see him, not me. Look with me at chapter three, verse three. He says, for ye are yet carnal, or fleshly. You're thinking of yourself. For whereas there is among you envying, strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal and walk as men? You're not living like Christians. You're not living like what you are called to be. And then over to chapter four, verse four. Paul says, for I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby justified, but he that judges me is the Lord. Here's the test. Not what you think of yourself, not what you think of others, but what God thinks, what God thinks. of you and I. It says in verse 7, for who maketh thee to differ from another? And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst received it? And he says, whatever you have, the gospel that they've received, the giftings that they had, They couldn't take credit for that. They couldn't pat each other on the back. They couldn't form a mutual admiration society. They had to do one thing, fall on their knees and give thanks to God. Who we are and what we have become is but by the grace of God. Look at chapter four, verse 20. For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. And he's going to elaborate this in the chapter we'll get to today. It's not just a matter of doing stuff in the name of God. We're told in chapter one that this was a very gifted church. They had a lot of spiritual giftings. By the way, God intended to use them in their giftings. They were truly saved and they were truly gifted. But there was a problem, wasn't there? They weren't recognizing the very key to the use of that power, and that was the Spirit of God flowing through them. Look with me at chapter 12, couple chapters back, verse seven. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man. to profit with all. The reason that God had gifted the church was so that they could build up one another, bring glory to God as they share the gospel with the lost. He says, God has given gifts to believers, not to divide you, but to unite you. And then over to verse 18, chapter 12, verse 18. But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body as it hath pleased him this is God's plan God made you the God who saved you has put you together in the body to serve him to glorify him and to unite the church according to his plan according to his design then down to verse 25 that there should be no schism in the body, no division, no divisiveness, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care one for another. God has intended for you and I to be united under the headship of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is Lord. He is the head of the church. And so, for this church at Corinth, 2,000 years ago, in a very carnal, idol-worshiping port city, I mean, it was, It was a growing city. It was a vibrant city. It had a rich history, Greek culture, Roman culture. It was a place of business and prosperity. People were wheeling, they were dealing. I mean, life was good, but God put a church there. In the middle of all of this, these people with personalities like we have. and unique qualities and characteristics and backgrounds and histories. Some of them coming from idol-worshipping pagan families. Some of them who knew nothing of Christianity had come to faith in Christ. And now, what had they done? They had latched on to certain leaders. They divided themselves up. They had found all kinds of problems and reasons not to be unified. But what was at stake? It was the glory of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so this church must be united. By the way, what's at stake for us? What's at stake in our community if we are not what God intends us to be as a church? The glory of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ. If we are not what God has called us to be, living the lives he's intended for us to live, you say, well, who's it gonna hurt? God and others. And so Paul comes to this crescendo in the book. You could say it's the climax of the entire book. Chapter 12 and chapter 14, we sense tension. But in chapter 13, we find a sweet spirit of unity. Paul, for a moment, waxes poetic, and he gives us something that's incredibly beautiful. It's interesting, he uses the pronouns I in me. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become. Verse two, though I have the gift, Though I have all faith, though I, I, I, which is interesting, for a man who's speaking on unity, why does he use these personal pronouns? There's a couple of things I want you to think about as we jump into this. Okay, number one, Paul was writing it. In each of these incredible characteristics that he talks about, like incredible oratory, this great faith, the willingness to sacrifice everything, all of those characteristics are actually very true of the Apostle Paul. And even the gift of tongues we find over in chapter 14. He says, above all people, in verse 18 of chapter 14, he says, I thank God that I speak tongues more than ye all. He was an incredibly gifted man. He was an apostle of Jesus Christ. There's a couple of things that happened in him to keep him humble. One, his past. He was an enemy of the cross. He was a murderer. He was holding Stephen's cloak when he was martyred. But in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, we also find that God allowed Satan to pinch him and pinch him hard. He had a thorn in the flesh that God allowed by way God could keep Paul humble and let his grace flow into his life. But Paul, as he writes in 1 Corinthians 13, he could say these things. Essentially, he could say, I could live this way of a super Christian and yet not have love and it will not do any good for me. There'll be no eternal value in me using these giftings God's given me if I do it without love. That's one thought. The second one is that he was dealing with the church that was very much focused on the individual. Unlike many in their culture, family units were valuable. But the church at Corinth seemed to be subdividing according to their own opinions. There was division in the church. And could it be that Paul was giving this example And maybe some were listening thinking, well, I wish I could speak with a tongue like an angel. I wish I had the gift of prophecy and of deep knowledge, understanding the deep things of God. Boy, I would sure love to have the kind of faith that continues to move mountains. I wish I had the faith to give up everything I have and follow Jesus. Give it all to the poor. I wish I had the faith to be a martyr. And perhaps he draws them in with these personal pronouns here in order to help them understand the very word he's going to introduce to them has nothing to do with the individual, but it has everything to do with the collective, giving of yourself to other people. Love is not self-serving. Love is never for you. God gives you and I love so that he can be seen in us. In fact, we're told in 1 John, excuse me, 2 Peter I mean. 2 Peter chapter one and verse four, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Jesus Christ wants you to be like him. And he's given you, actually through the cross of Jesus Christ, the ability for you to become Christ-like. Never sinless, never perfect this side of heaven, but day by day, as we obey the word, submit to the spirit, as we respond rightly to injustices and hardships, day by day, what's God doing? He's chiseling and he's chipping and he's shaping, he's forming God's character into you. Christlikeness, that's what he intends. And so that's what he intended as well for the church at Corinth, for them not to be self-focused, God honoring and others focused. I'm gonna give you three thoughts this morning to help us come to understand this. Number one, refuse to value spiritual gifts more than God. This is what was taking place in the church at Corinth. They had elevated one particular gift above the others, but they had lost sight of a characteristic or quality of God, that of his love. In verse 31 of chapter 12, he says, I'm gonna show you a more perfect way, an excellent way, a Christ-like way. And what was that way he was going to show them? You remember he was talking about gifts in the church. How do you use those gifts in a way that honors God? You must use them with love. So refuse to value spiritual gifts more than God. You're gonna have to adjust your estimate. And sometimes we value gifts or we value people who are gifted and we put them on a platform. We appreciate them, I value them and boy, That's how God's work is really done. But even these people who are incredibly gifted, if they don't have love, what's it worth? Nothing, absolutely nothing. Number two. So number one was refuse to value spiritual gifts more than God. Number two, review your thinking of Christian ministry. As you think about your own life and your own service, it's right for us to ask the question, how am I serving? Not just what am I doing for God, but how am I serving the Lord? Am I doing it with this Christ-like quality of love? Sometimes we use the word charity in different ways. We might speak of giving to a charity, some kind of charitable organization, right? That's not what he's talking about here. In fact, one of the descriptions he said, you could give everything you have, sell it all and give it to the poor. and yet not love, so he's not talking about that. Sometimes we use the word charity and like how we would treat other people, like, well, he's treating him charitably. It means that you're kind of gracious, it means that maybe you overlook their faults, and while those are maybe a good thing, that's not what he's talking about here. The word charity is the idea of love. There's three words used for love in the ancient world. One is not in the scriptures whatsoever. It's the word eros. It was a husband-wife type of love. It's not used in scripture and that's not the word that the Apostle Paul chose to use. That the Holy Spirit did not want to include that word or for it to be mixed up with this idea of God's love. There's nothing wrong with that love. God created that type of love. He intends it. In fact, if you need a review, 1 Corinthians chapter seven, husbands and wives, is a place where God describes, hey, this is how that type of love should be functioning in your marriage. The second word is phileo. Sometimes we talk about Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. It's kind of the idea. It's a brotherly love, but maybe more than that, it's also a type of love that's shown between parents and their children. It's a deep love. It's a real love. In their culture, the word agape was used, and they used it kind of interchangeably, and it just meant love. It could mean to think fondly of, it could even include maybe caressing, caring for somebody. But here's the thing. As the Holy Spirit used it, as the Authors of scripture used it, they elevated the term when they introduced us to Jesus Christ. True agape love is a love that is only possible through what Jesus Christ did for us in the cross. How did Jesus Christ elevate the term? He used it not just as a matter of warm-hearted, friendly affection, not in an erotic and immoral way, He used this idea of agape to mean more than just, okay, I care for you. You know, the commercial, the people, boy, I love my shampoo. Do you really love it? Well, the type of love he's talking about here is the kind of love that Jesus offered to us when he sacrificed himself on the cross. And so the Apostle Paul, as he's introducing this word here, this word charity, don't think he's talking about, you know, rose petals and tulips and walking through the garden. Oh, I just love you and I feel so warm and fuzzy about you. This is not Hallmark movie love. He's talking about self-sacrificial love that will die for the benefit of the other person. And he says, if you do all these things yet you do not have that type of love, the love that is only possible through Jesus Christ, it's of no value. Your ministry is worth nothing. It doesn't matter how many people come, how much money comes in the offering plate, it doesn't matter how many people know about you or whether you've gone viral, whether you've hit 15 million views, it doesn't matter. There's no love, it's worth nothing. That's what he's saying. So the type of love that he's introducing us to, the type of love we're going to have, I don't know about you, I quickly look at that kind of love and I say, oh, I fall short. Yeah, we all will. Because it's only possible through the cross of Jesus Christ. We need to review our own thinking of our own Christian ministry. Evaluate, am I truly, am I truly doing it because of a love for God and an absolute humble service of others? Number three, renew a spiritual mindset in your service. Concentrate on your calling. What has God called us to do? You might insert some other words. I'm just gonna give you some for instances. You could say, though, I have the strongest of biblical positions. I have the greatest of theological knowledge. And have not charity, it's worth nothing. Or, I have the highest of Christian standards. and have not charity, it's worth nothing. You fill in the blank, there's a number of things we could put in there. But ultimately it's this, whatever you are doing in the power of the flesh apart from the spirit of God flowing through you, it's worth nothing. So what does charity say? Charity says I submit myself to the welfare of another. It says that in Ephesians chapter five, just before they were introduced to the topic of a husband, wife, Relationship. He says submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. And the idea is I put myself below you. If I'm going to care for you, I'm going to submit myself to the welfare of another. What's gonna be best for you? That's the problem with how the world uses love today. We talk about love like it's a romance novel or it's some romantic comedy movie. Well, that's love. Well, no, love is not self-seeking, it's not lust-pursuing. True love is self-sacrificing. I always want what's best for you. So for those who would say, whatever the guy or the gal in the relationship, and they say, I love you, sleep with me. Well, that's not love. If you're not truly married, if you have not followed God's word, you're not seeking God's best for that other person. You're seeking yourself. That's not true love, that's lust. By the way, it's fornication and God calls it sin. Paul said to Timothy, he said, you know what God's will is for you? Avoid fornication, stay away from it. Sexual relationships outside of marriage are out of bounds. They're sinful. Whether you're looking at it, whether you're participating in it, whether you're focused on it, it's sin and it's wrong. But what does God intend for us? He wants to have the kind of love that's unlike what the world thinks of love. It's a Christ-like love. It's one that can only be described in the scene that we find on the cross. where Jesus Christ died for us. So charity says I submit to the welfare of another. Charity is something that is supplied by the Holy Spirit of God. It can only come by way of the cross. Only the Spirit can do this. And who does he do this in? He does this in those who are children of God. Romans chapter five and verse five says this, and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. When you trusted Jesus Christ as Savior, the Holy Spirit moved into you. You were sealed. He's indwelling every true Christian. And not only has He gifted you, He has equipped you. He has given you His love. It's God's love that will flow through you. That's the kind of love that will love people in impossible circumstances. Unbelievers can love. They can put up with, they can bear with, they can endure, they can be kindly affection, they can show care and concern. But Christian, let me remind you, there is a type of love that you have in Jesus Christ that nobody else has but Christians. It's God's love put in your heart. And John chapter 13 tells us it's so remarkable that it will be evident in God's people together. The world will recognize that we're Christians because we have this out-of-the-world love, this unmistakable characteristic. It's God's love because they don't have that. But in Jesus Christ, you do. You have that potential. So, Charity says, I submit to the welfare of another. The Spirit is the one who's supplying what could only come by way of the cross. And then, I serve sacrificially. Love, as it's often used in the New Testament, again, is not a bouquet of flowers. The kind of love we're talking about here is Marine Corps, self-sacrificing, willing to give everything for the sake of the other kind of love. I'm willing to serve sacrificially. And so you could submit the word serve often in the New Testament for the word love. It's not just something you feel. It's not just an emotion. It's something you put to practice in daily life. It's taking the lowly place and serving one another. It's what Jesus did with the disciples at the Last Supper when he took a towel and he took a basin and he washed their filthy feet. And he says, do this, be like me. That's what he's called us to. It's true, sacrificial love. You could spend an entire lifetime in serving God without love and it will mean absolutely nothing. So we have this picture here. Prized gifts. People who could be a mouthpiece for God. When they spoke, they spoke God's word and they believed it and they knew it and everyone else knew it. It could be the people who grasp the deep doctrines, deep truths about God. It could be a person who's a mighty prayer warrior. Somebody who is extremely generous. They're extreme in their generosity. And it could even be somebody who is actually, actually a martyr. I mean somebody who is actually dying for their faith. But if they miss out on love, they miss out on everything. It could be like money. We could be broke spiritually, like financially broke. We could be operating in a ministry deficit, serving beyond our means because we're serving maybe in the power of the flesh, maybe in a way that honors God, but we are doing it without his love and it's of no value. But friend, guess what? If you have Jesus Christ, you have his love. And it's unlimited. And God will let it flow through you. You're not gonna run out. The account isn't going to run dry. If you had Elon Musk's bank card for 15 minutes, what would you do with it? If you had it for 15 days, what would you do with it? If you had it for the next five years, what would you do with it? Well, your mind can spin, can't it? Maybe you've already paid off your mortgage and your car payment, maybe you've started investing in your neighborhood, you've already given to the church, amen, wow. But my friend, what God offers to you and I through Jesus Christ on the cross, the love that he offers to you is something so much more valuable than money. And there's no limit, you've already got the card. Spend it, be generous with it. And maybe the first five minutes you think, well, I've got Elon Musk's card, I'm gonna think of myself. And then maybe you begin thinking of your family in the next 15 minutes, and maybe in the next 15 days you begin thinking about your community. Then before long, if you've got it for five years, you're thinking about what can we do in the world to make a difference? And again, it's gonna be hard for us to understand this, because we value money so much. We could read 1 Corinthians chapter 13, and we could say it this way. And a lot of people, many Christians would agree with this. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not money, it profiteth me. It's a sounding brass, it's a tinkling cymbal. have the gift of prophecy, understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so I can remove mountains and have not money, it profiteth me nothing. And most people would nod their head, yeah, because money is everything. Let me remind you, money is not the root of all evil, it's the love of money. We so value money that sometimes we cannot see the value of something that is eternal, that is divine, such as charity. This is God's love given to you and I, spread abroad from our lives. And if you're a Christian, you have got it. No spending limits here. You're not gonna reach the end of it today. You're never gonna go bankrupt. You can give and give and give and give. The ministry machine we read about in chapter 13 I mean, think of a high-octane machine. You know, the trucks that rumble through Lima. They rumble and whistle at the same time. Every once in a while, I'll see one on the side of the road with its hood up, and I have to snicker. I said, you know what that thing can do? Yeah, but it's not doing it right now. Here's the thing. These ministry gifts, while this passage seems to minimize them, God does want to work in the world through gifted people in ministry, right? The gifts are his gifts to us from him. I mean, they're ours from God. And so he's not minimizing the gifts, he's just saying, don't forget to put the oil in. Holly and I, we had a, I think it was a 1989 Chevy Corsica when we first got married. It was a wonderful car given to us by a family member. We were so grateful for it. Went to an oil change place. Friday morning, had the oil change, was so excited, you know, we just got in this car, we were enjoying it. Actually, it was a piece of junk, but it was the kind of car you go to a stoplight, you had to shift it to neutral and rev the engine, because otherwise it would shut off every time. But we were so grateful for it. It looked a whole lot better than my last car, my college car. It was kind of embarrassing. But we were so excited, had the oil change, and that was this Friday night. We were so very busy in our first few years of ministry, and we were gonna go to the mall. We were living in Denver, and just outside of town, there was this brand new, beautiful mall, and my wife was excited about it. We were gonna just spend the time together, gonna go out to eat, have a little date, and walk around the mall. Young people, that's what people used to do back in the day. Now you're like, walk around the mall, there's nothing there. They're tearing it down. But anyway, back then it was fun, and it was actually something very special for us to do this. So anyway, we were driving there, all of a sudden the car makes a little bit of a moaning noise, and then that moaning gets a little louder, and all of a sudden, I start pulling off the side of the road. Called up my friend, Jim Moore, who's a mechanic in our church. I said, Jim, I don't know what happened. He says, you know what you did? You blew the engine. Sure enough, I got my oil changed. They didn't put the cap back on tight enough and all the oil was gone. Of course, I didn't save my receipt. Hmm. That awesome machine of mine. That incredible car. Well, it was done. Same can happen in our ministry, though. We can do a lot of things in the name of Jesus Christ in this church. We can serve, we can be feverish in our activity, we can be busy, busy, busy, serving, serving, serving. We love to serve, we love to serve. We can do all this stuff in the name of Jesus Christ, but if we do it without the oil, cha-chunk, worth nothing. But guess what? You've got the oil. The Holy Spirit's put it inside of you. So guess what you get to do as a Christian with God's love? Speed. Go as fast as you want. Rumble and whistle down the road. You and I are on the spiritual autobahn. Nothing is slowing you down from letting God's love rip it. Let's do it. No limit there. One last illustration. Maybe. Let's say that this ministry in which we serve is the most important thing in all the world. Let's just say this is a life-saving serum. It is. Let's just say our ministry is the cure to cancer. Everybody in this room has somebody they know who has cancer. I dare say everybody in this room knows somebody who has passed away in the last year or two of cancer. We live in a world rocked by cancer. Let's just say our ministry is the cure, but the vial that holds it is cracked. You and I can have the serum, but if it spills out, of what use will it be if it's not given to those who need it most? You and I have got the cure. It's the gospel of Jesus Christ. And he's given it to us. But what is what is the vial that's holding that gospel of Jesus Christ? It is the love of Christ. And if my love is cracked. The gospel is not going to go out like it needs to. It's not going to save eternal souls. Well, where does love come from? Our time's about done, but let me just answer a couple of questions. Number one, where does love come from? It comes from God. Galatians 5.22 tells us it's a fruit of the Spirit. If you've received the Holy Spirit, He has given you the capacity to let God's love flow through you. Christian, you've already got it. Use it. Now, question number two, what does love look like? In John chapter 14 it tells us that love for God looks like obedience. That's what it says in John chapter 14 in verse 23. What does my love for God look like? It looks like somebody who's willing to do what God says. God has given us actually a record of his opinion. It's called the scriptures, the Bible, the Holy Bible. Are you willing to do it, to live it, to follow it? If you love God, you're going to want to obey him. It says this in verse 23, John 14. Jesus answered and said, if a man loved me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and will come to him and make our abode with him. Look at verse 24. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings, for the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me. Jesus said this, if you love God, it's gonna show up in something called obedience. You're gonna do what God says. The word obedience has fallen on hard times. There was a time when parents taught their children what it said in Ephesians 6.1, that it's their responsibility before God to obey mom and dad. And the reason is given right in the verse. It says, for this is right. Obedience has fallen on hard times, but Christians, let's not forget, you will demonstrate your love for God by being obedient to him. How do I demonstrate my love for other people? It's over in John chapter 15, one page over there. In verse 12, I will show my love towards other people, how? Jesus says, this is my commandment that ye love one another as I have loved you. Well, how has Jesus, how do I show my love to others? Like Jesus showed it to us. How did he do that? Look at the next verse. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. How do I show my love for others? I sacrifice myself for their best interest. I give up my rights so that I can help them, even if that means that I give up my life for them. So what does love look like? It looks like obedience to God. It looks like sacrifice for others. I don't have time to turn there this morning. John 21 is a great example of this. Peter. was asked the question by the Lord Jesus, do you love me? And Jesus' response was, feed my sheep. So if you love me, you're gonna obey me. And how do you obey me? Well, it's by serving other people. And then, by the end of the chapter, you get to verse 19, and he describes for Peter, when you do this, it will mean your life. You will give your life for me. in doing this. So it's I obey, I serve, and I die. I heard Terry Schmidt years ago give the answer for an effective life from this passage, and he said it this way. To me, it's what love looks like. Sometimes we're like, I wanna have the faith that can move mountains. I can pray and whole cities will have revival. I wanna be that guy. Or I wanna be the one to take the podium and speak and thousands of people hear the gospel, thousands of people get saved. Or I wanna be the one who unfolds the word of God in a way that mesmerizes others, like wow, how did you see that there? That's wow! And you can do all those things and find that there's no value there. So Kerry Schmitt said it this way, if you wanna have an effective life, it's gonna be made up of certain things. Number one, he says simple repetitive routines. Things that are monotonous. True love will be seen day by day in self-sacrifice and service of other people, beginning with those closest to you. If you have a family in your home with you, it's through serving them. If you have a mate, it's through serving your mate, serving your kids, serving your neighbors, your community, your church. It's giving of yourself for the service of other people. But it's, It's not just like one and done, like I did this really great thing today, and you never do it again. No, it's simply day by day doing those simple, repetitive acts of humble service. You say, well, there's no fun there. That's where God's grace flows. That's where love flows. Secondly, he said, an effective life places people in relationships first. The real missing ministry of ministry is ministry. In other words, the greatest thing I can do is not the stuff I do for God, it's the people I serve for God. Jesus washed the disciples' feet, and it might be you stopping, looking, helping, not being so consumed with yourself, your own agenda, your own schedule. By the way, that would include, I'm a pastor here and I'm gonna say it, that would include making sure that your life isn't Giving God the leftovers of your schedule, it's honoring him and his house as a priority in your life. Why? Because you come for God, but you also come for others. Especially those of the household of faith. We're to value one another as Christians that we will go and spend time and be with. Certainly that means scheduled church services and activities. That would be good. But also inviting and including and bringing into your life and your home one another. You're to value one another. That's what the world will see and say, there's something different there. When your neighbors see these cars coming over every other day to drop off something for you or to pick up the dishes, the things that you did for them, and they see people doing this, they're like, what is going on there? Had a neighbor ask me this week, they said, now, what company did you hire to take care of your landscaping this year, Jason? The life builders at our church. I said, not enough people signed up to get help, and so they offered to help old, decrepit me. She says they did a fantastic job. You know, they gave me a chance to be a witness to my neighbor about the love that was shown to me by the Life Builders group in our church. So it's unmistakable. So what is real love? It's simple, repetitive routines. It's placing people in relationships first. And then lastly, it maintains a servant's perspective. You say, what do you mean by that? Mopping. I mean, mopping. I mean, things like mopping. I mean, some people float around the church and they'll only do the things that if I'm asked to do this, I will certainly take charge of that. I would love to do that. Here's the mop. They're gone. I was 14 and I was working in a little corner grocery store. First day of work, Tom Baker hands me a mop and he says, come here, Jason. I'm gonna teach you how to do this. It's a three-step process. I'm going to teach you this once, and then you're going to do it on your own. Next employee that gets hired, you're teaching them. I paid attention. I listened. And I realized, you know what? Mopping can be fun. And boy, it's satisfying until people start walking on your freshly mopped floor. But it's being willing to take the low place. In the Christian family, in the body of Christ, there should be nobody who says, well, I don't do windows. I don't vacuum floors. No, what do we do? What are we as a body of Christ? We're people who serve one another. We serve the Lord together. It's true, genuine love and charity. It's not something that needs to be hired out. It's something that needs to be lived out. It's what we're called to do in Jesus Christ. So who is best equipped to show this kind of love? You know, the best people to show God's love are the people who are best loved. You may not have been loved like that in your home. You may not be loved that way in your community or your workplace. You may not be loved like that at school. But I can guarantee you, child of God, if you've trusted Christ as Savior, you are loved that way by God. First John chapter four, verse 10. We find out the kind of love God shows us. He says, beloved, excuse me, here in his love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. God showed his love towards you by sending his son to die for you. That's the kind of love that we show to other people. Who is best equipped to love? Those who are best loved. Christian, guess what? You're best loved. The greatest love this world has ever known, you've got. Look at verse 11. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another, irregardless of race, creed, background, socioeconomic level, whether you like the color of their pants or not. You're called to love them. Love to God, showing itself in love to man. That's what we're called to do. So no love, no good. It's not gonna work. Charles Ryrie said this, love is a quality of God giving yourself away. It's something that God has, that God is, and we show it by giving ourself away. You're going for broke. You're living like you got your daddy's credit card. And you're spending his love on others. Christ Jesus is our answer, isn't he? Because I don't have that kind of love in myself. The natural man doesn't have that. It only comes by the Spirit of God. And Christian, guess what? You can hinder that love from flowing from you. Self-seeking, self-serving, the Church of Corinth had all the love they needed, but it had been damned up. They needed someone to take a spike and a hammer and pop a hole in that dam and let the love of God flow from them. What had damned it up? Pride, selfishness, self-seeking, self-interest. What keeps the love of God from flowing from our lives into our community, into our fellow family members of the church? What keeps it? Pride, selfishness, self-interest, self-seeking. Our own schedule, our own time, our own budget, our own whatever. Our own. He says, though I speak with this, though I am become, have the gift of prophecy, though I, though I, though I. But what is charity? We for Him. I don't have that kind of love, do I? No, not by myself, but in Jesus Christ you can. If you've never trusted Jesus Christ to be your personal Savior, you don't have that love either. You don't have the Holy Spirit of God in you, but if you have trusted Him, if you believed on Him, you've got it. And you can live it. God's equipped you for it. The rest of the chapter we'll look at next week, but it unfolds for us the details of what that kind of love will look like. It's completely possible through the cross of Jesus Christ that you and I can live the kind of love that's willing to take the lead. to sacrifice, to serve, to help, but ultimately to point people to Jesus Christ. You've got it. Are you using it? Father, thank you for your word today. Thank you for Paul's challenge to us. There's a lot of things that we can do, a lot of things we do do, but how humbling to think about the fact that if we do not do it with your nature flowing through us, your quality of charity, it's of absolutely no value. Father, forgive us for that. Help us today to realize what you have offered to us through Jesus Christ, the great love you showed us is the same love that you want us to show towards others. That's gonna come by obeying you and serving them. I pray that we would humbly seek to serve each other in Jesus' name. In your name we pray, amen.