Welcome once again. It's really good to have you with us here in Fife's pulpit in the Kingdom of Fife in Scotland. Wherever you are in the world, whatever the weather's like, whether it's blazing hot sun or wind and rain, then let's get together around God's Word. And we're looking at our midweek studies on something of agape or the loveliness of Jesus, which should be displayed in all of his people. 1 Corinthians chapter 13, just a few verses from this as we wind our way through this great chapter. The Apostle Paul says, look, I'll show you an even better way. And then he says in verse 1 of 13, even if I speak human or angelic tongues, but do not have love, that's agape, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith that I can move mountains, But do not have love, I am nothing. And even if I give away all my possessions, and if I give my body over in order to boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Agape love is patient. Agape love is kind. Agape love does not envy. And we'll stop there. That's as far as we're going to be going, God willing, this week. But what I want to say to you and to share with you is something of the loveliness of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is demonstrated, should be demonstrated in each one of us. In Matthew chapter 7, the Lord Jesus Christ has some very stern words to say. He talks about people that are pretending to be Christians or think they are Christians. And he says this, you will recognise them by their fruits. In other words, what you see, what they are will display their roots. And they go on to say, but Lord, didn't we prophesy in your name? Didn't we cast out demons in your name? And didn't we do many mighty works in your name? And on that day, the Lord says, depart from me, for I never knew you. Paul is loving, but hard in his letter to the Corinthians. They were in a mess, just like the 21st century in the West. with divisions and pride and ill will, immorality and pure, a poor doctrine, a total lack of church discipline. So he firmly but lovingly lays down the canon of scripture, bringing theology and the teachings of Christ to bear upon their situation. He says in effect, the heart of your problem is the problem of your heart. And I want us all to look honestly at our root today. Because the fruit that you are producing shows me what your root is. And if you are producing bad fruit, then your root is all wrong and you are worldly, sensual and devilish. And this is what Paul said to the people. But he said this, I am treating you as believers. Remember, not many of you were like this. Some of you were like that, but now you're different. So I'm treating you as believers and I'm giving you this test and I'm reasoning with you. In effect, he preaches to them Christ and Him crucified. Now, remember, Paul had said that I would determine to know nothing amongst you save Christ and him crucified. Now, boy, if that was a church motto ever, then it would transform and change this world. So he tests them and us. What we need, he says, is a more excellent way. What we need in effect, what he's saying, is Christ at the root, then the fruit you produce will be his character. Our Lord Jesus told us that the fruits are the true way of understanding the root. This was his great emphasis in John 15 and Matthew 7. And that is what is important. You will know them by their fruits. You will know them by what fruit they produce. You'll know what kind of root that they have. So Paul brings to them, to the Corinthians and to us, a simple teaching. that not one of us can ever, ever miss. He says that if Christ is your Saviour and Lord, and you are a true believer, then you will have repented from your sins against God and received His Son's sacrifice and confessed your personal need of Him. You will have been regenerated by the Spirit. And the beauty then of Jesus has been communicated to you through the power of His Spirit and through your new life. Your old roots have been taken away And now you have a brand new root. You are, as he says in Ephesians 3, rooted and grounded in Christ. And the result of that rooting and grounding is that love grows. And it must grow. Now, when I talk about love, of course, and I'll make this, hopefully, I'll emphasise this throughout our studies, is that the love of God, the love of Christ, is not a love that accepts everything. like the kind of love that Christians say should be ours today. That is not what it is. It is a love for truth and a love for God's Word. In fact, here in our text, a bit further on, it says that love delights in what is true. It will not love that which is error. and which so many people do today. And we're accused as Christians of not loving this or that particular sin. Well, we're not supposed to, because our love has to be governed by purity. So love grows. Furthermore, you Corinthians, he was saying in a roundabout way, you know your Greek language. You know the words for love and you know that the highest love that a human can reach is philio, which is a deep, real, meaningful, brotherly love. And so you know that that love that Christ has brought to you from heaven is a very different love. It is divine love. It is called agape or agape. And this love is only, comes from heaven. It is only found in Christ. And therefore, if it is in Christ and Christ is in you, then love must be seen in you. If Christ is not in you, then you have no agape and you will be seen by the fruits that you have no root at all in Christ. So this is Paul's basic argument. This is my argument that we ought to be like the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is his logic. If a Christian or a church family is not demonstrating agape, but they're going off on one all the time, then where is Christ in them? And he starts by saying, OK, you might say to me, but I have done many wonderful things. I have preached in your name. I have cast out demons. I have healed or whatever. But after all, I'm a minister. Surely that shows that I have Christ. But Paul in effect says no. Look he says in verses 1 to 3 and he uses a hyperbole which is he throws out to the furthest limits a concept or an idea. He says even if I do many things to go beyond and he goes beyond that in this hyperbole to make a point You might say, I have amazing prophetic powers. And if possible, I have all knowledge. And I understand all deep mysteries of God. Other people come to me and knock on my study door to get wisdom, to get understanding of things. Even if I am able to give a right answer every time. If I can do amazing things, like throwing this mountain into the sea. if I give away all my money and have absolutely nothing? And what if I am willing to even die for the cause of Christ? Surely then, surely then, I have demonstrated that I am a man or a woman of God. Surely then, God is pleased with me. But Paul says, no, no, wait a minute. You can do that and have no foundation. no depth. And he illustrates this by using the illustration of an instrument that was used in the temple of Aphrodite upon the hill in Corinth. And I've been there and I've seen the ruins of that temple as it sits way over the old city of Corinth. And what they would do there, they had male prostitutes with long hair and female prostitutes with shaven hair. This is why Paul refers to the length of hair so often. But they would begin their worship by a loud clash of a cymbal, or a bong on a gong, and it would just be this one note, and then all sort of madness would break loose. What Paul is saying is, look, if you have a life like that, if you have a life that is just self-sacrifice without love at all, without love at all, then you're just a one gong, one note, one cymbal. In you, there is no truth, no tune, no beauty. You are just a noise. You want to be heard. You want to be seen. And Paul is using exaggerated, almost ridiculous language. to say really it doesn't matter how wonderful you think you are or how zealous you think you are unless you have agape brought by Jesus then you have nothing at all because you do not have Jesus if I think about all these things they all draw attention to the person involved look at me gong I am better than you are. Clash the symbols. Envy me. Envy my gifts. Gaze in wonder at my understanding and be in awe of me. See my sacrifice and weep. Albert Paul says to this, you're just a noise. You're just drawing attention to yourself. Oh, you see, Christians, don't you understand that it is not I but Christ? The I in me has been crucified with Christ and the I in me lives no longer. But the very life I, the I in me, I live is Christ. What does it matter if I labour hard? In the end, I am cast away because I did it for me. and without Christ in my life. And he will say, look, I never knew you. I never knew you. And this truth needs to be shouted aloud in churches today. You are too full of yourselves, too proud, too rather ministerial, too religious in thinking that you can please God by works. Always right. always putting yourself first. You want to worship in the way you want. So you invent things to make things better, to invent things to supplant God's word. And God says, look, your churches are filled with people that are there just for comfort, for respectability. They live on emotions without much understanding. You have built your own tower of Babel and you're reaching up to God and saying, look at me, you cry. How exalted I am. And God comes down and says through Paul, where is my son? Where is his beauty? Where is his holiness? Where is this agape that he gave to you? What have you done to my church? You are neither hot nor cold, so I spew you out of my mouth. You think you are rich, but you are poor. Return to your first love. Open the door and let Christ come into you. Without his agape, his controlling presence in your life, you are nothing. I think it was during the Hebridean revival when they were praying and one man stood up and said something to this effect. It may have even been in the Welsh revival. I think it was the Hebridean one. He says something to the effect, Lord, we have tried everything. Special meetings, outreaches, advertising and all of these things. But God is now saying to us, try me, try me, not these things. So here is my argument. If we are to build a biblical church, we must do it biblically. That is God's way. And God's way is having the Lord Jesus Christ walking amongst us through the candlesticks, living his life through everybody, every one of us without exception. No matter how young or how old you are, how fit you are or how ill you are, there is no excuse. You may think that you are not strong enough as a Christian, but in fact his strength is made perfect in your weakness. You may feel that you cannot often conquer besetting sins that come back day after day, almost hour after hour, but remember, His strength is made perfect in your weakness. And God needs you to be weak so that the Him in you can be strong. God needs you to be weak so that the Him in you can be strong. But how is Christ seen in us? Paul continues in very, very practical ways. The love of God streams from heaven like a moonbeam, bursts and hits the pages of Scripture in all these different descriptions of the Lord Jesus. You want to know what the Lord Jesus really looked like? Well, we cannot know physically and that's just as well because we'd make an image and we are idolaters at heart. But we can see what he looks like here in this chapter, see who he really is. And he describes the character of Jesus that God wants to produce in us. It's as if he says that pure agape of God comes from heaven, comes to us in Jesus, the perfect man, the perfect God. and his agape bursts on the pages of scripture through Apostle Paul in many beautiful visible colours and it's as if Jesus is laid bare in this chapter. If we are in him and he is in us. Now let's apply the rule, the measuring rod. This is going to be painful for us. It's intensely practical. And remember, please, please remember, that if you stop doing some of these things, or start doing the things on the positive ones, then that is not the issue. The issue is that you allow Christ to dwell and fill your life completely so that these things become a natural expression of Him in your life. You can't work at this or earn it. Is the Word of the Lord Jesus in your life? Is Him in your life? What would the Lord have been like? Be honest. What should you be like? The first thing that Paul says is that agape is a certain thing. And I'm replacing that agape with Jesus, because He is love. And I want to say this firstly, Jesus is patient and long-suffering. Agape is long-suffering and patience. Now then, what does this mean? The word macrothumeo means long-necked, long-tempered, long-fused. It has to do with patients with people more than it has to do with patients with events or circumstances. And that's important, isn't it? Sometimes we can have a little bit more patience with a circumstance and we say, well, que sera, sera, that's the way it is. But then when it comes to people, we always expect better. But this word means patience or long-suffering with another believer or everybody else. And the word literally means this. It is the ability to be wronged, wronged again and wronged again, and have the power to retaliate, but never to do it. In short, to have the power to really get at them, to make them suffer, to get even, to hit out, to sit in a dressing gown and let them really have it on Facebook. How many Christians do that? It's true, isn't it? Patience and long-suffering was not a virtue in Corinth. but a sign of weakness. And it's the same spirit in the world today. The Greek people, one of their philosophers taught that a man got even, he took revenge. And that's the same spirit in the world today. How many times have you heard people say, oh, well, I went straight up to them and gave them a piece of my mind. I always think, well, you're jolly fortunate to have a piece of your mind spare. I need every bit of my mind. But this is what people will say. I told them. It makes them a man or a woman. But it's really earthly, selfish and devilish. But that person has little of Christ in them. But Jesus is patient, long-suffering. See Him in action. How he puts up with the disciples' failings. How he puts up with his enemies' taunts. How he suffered on the cross at their taunts. And he had all power to get even. But love doesn't do that. It waits its time. It goes on loving. I think of his long suffering. with me, and I can look at biblical examples and think, well, yes, okay. But when it comes to his patience and long-suffering with me, that hits home. How many times I mess up, I sin, I get it wrong. How many times I must frustrate him. How many times I say, Lord, I won't do that or think those things ever again. And lo and behold, without warning almost, I'm doing it again. I'm thinking those things again. And how patient he must be with me, how I must frustrate him and try his patience. I learn something, then I forget it. I pray, then I forget. I preach and fail myself. preach a sermon and think, John, I have to apply that. Then comes a couple of days and I think, what was that sermon all about? I suppose that's a sign of getting old anyway. You younger folks listening there think, what on earth is he talking about? The silly old duffer. I don't feel that way. But often you do when you get a little bit older. You're there. You're in training ground. You'll be there sometime. But I learn something, then forget it. If I were him, I would have given up with me years and years ago. And this is the wonder of God's marvellous election, that he chose me knowing who I am, knowing all of these wretched, stupid, silly things that I would get up to, yet he still loved me. He is long-necked. He is patient with me continuously. And I praise God that He is. I do not deserve to take another breath. I do not deserve to face another day, if it were by earthly judgment. but it is by Divine and He is long-suffering with me, just as He is with you. So, here's my shoes. They're lying on the floor empty. Put your feet in them and you will know exactly what I'm talking about. And He's patient with me. So, if He is living in me and I claim to be a Christian, then surely I must be patient with people. If God has done that for me, or forgiven my sins, then how much more must I forgive others their shortcomings? If someone is constantly getting irritated with people, and some people are like that, they grumble and moan at the slightest things, and it's almost like a self-fulfilled prophecy. They know it's going to go wrong, and it does go wrong, and it happens that way. But they're always retaliating, always attacking people. Then we have to ask this solemn question, where is Jesus in their lives? No matter how right they think they are, there is no excuse for impatience. For when you are in patience, you are just fooling yourself and not others. John says, if you say you have no sin, then you fool yourself. You don't fool anybody else. They think they are right and others irritate them. They're lesser mortals than they are. So the first thing is this, and I told you these things were quite painful. Look into your own heart and be absolutely honest with yourself. Stop being irritated with others because everybody around you knows who you are. They know when you keep on grumbling and moaning and irritated with people, they look at you and think, where's Jesus in that person? That's a person I don't want to be with continuously, because it might rub off like the plague. We need to don face coverings and wash our hands when we come into the presence of such a person, in case we catch something. But the first thing is that Jesus, the Christian, should be long-suffering and patient, willing to put up with all things, knowing that God has this. The second aspect of this Agape, this love of our Lord Jesus, is that Jesus is kind. Long-suffering endures the injury of others. Kindness is the other side of the coin, because kindness pays back. with goodness and kindness. Long-suffering says this, I will take anything from my enemies. Kindness says, I will give anything to them. Now, the Greek word for kindness comes from the root, useful. And this is revolutionary. Really, it is. The Christian faith is like nothing on earth. When somebody does you wrong, not only you don't rise to it, but you go, this is difficult and I'm going to have to say it, but you go and you do something helpful to them and show a kindness. Think about our Lord Jesus Christ because He is the one who is living in you He took so much from people. And what did He do when they bitterly spoke against Him, when they opposed Him, when they took up stones to kill Him? What did He do? He went to the cross for them. Father, forgive them. He always did useful things for people. At the cross, our Lord suffered abuse, irritation, accusation and pain. He was despised and rejected, a man of sorrows familiar with grief. Spat upon, laughed at, falsely accused. But remain patient. He had the power to retaliate, but didn't. People passed by and said, look, if you are the son of God, come down from the cross. but it was kindness, dear ones, usefulness that kept him upon that cross. Whatever they did to him, he was long-suffering and he offered his own body in kindness to be useful for their salvation. I'm not minimising salvation by using those sort of terms, but that's what our Lord Jesus Christ did. In silence, he carried his cross. He was nailed to it. He took our sin and our punishment in his body. He, in kindness, did something helpful and died to set us free. If only his beauty could be seen in Christians today. Do you know who would drive people crazy? If they were irritating you or if they were criticising you or opposing you and you just did kind things for them. And that would drive them wild. But instead we attack each other. We criticize. We're impatient. We want to get back at people. We want to harm people. How different would it be if someone irritated you, you did something nice to them? As I said, it would drive them wild. But this is agape. And I think in many ways, not only was the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ a teaching that the Pharisees themselves should have been teaching and preparing the people for Messiah. But one thing that really upset the Pharisees, I think, was the kindness of Jesus. He didn't get annoyed, he didn't get upset at occasions, yes. He turned over the tables in the temple and we're still putting those tables in the temple by selling wares and Christianising stuff. But, you know, our Lord Jesus Christ was kind to people and that would be so different to people in those days. Thirdly then, our final one that we're looking at today, is that Jesus is not envious. Now you might think that this is obvious. How could Jesus, the Son of God, the glorious God, be envious of everyone? For He is God. But scriptures tell us in Philippians 2 verse 5, having this mind, have this mind in you, which is yours in Christ Jesus. who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself of no reputation by taking the form of a servant and being made in the likeness of man. You see, he didn't complain that he didn't want to leave heaven's splendour or was envious of the angels staying there. or complain that it was unfair that he had to suffer or die. He didn't say, why should I do this? And you, Father, stay in heaven. There is no envy at all in Jesus. Unlike the sin of Satan, he desired and envied the throne of God. He envied God. He had pride in his heart. And Satan is the prince of this world. And that sin of envy is in the heart of our society. Proverbs 14 verse 30 says this. Envy rots the bones. And there are two degrees of envy or evil jealousy. The first is this, I want what you have. He's got a nice home, a nice car, a nice wife, plenty of money. I would like that. The second envy is even more diabolical because it says this, I wish that you didn't have it. This is the meanness of the soul. You want the other person to lose what they have. And you hate them and hate what they have. And it develops into actions and hatred by trying to take away what they have. That is envy. And there's a root to this as well. I'll come on to that in a minute. But the Greek word means to boil, to seethe, to steam. To boil with envy over what someone else has. And that is at the heart of our society, the politics of envy. Equality for all, even if you don't work. I want what I want. There's me-ism, me-ism, me-ism. Envious of other people. In a church, one member is jealous of another. They see them getting better treatment. They're asked to do things that they are not asked to do. They feel that they are doing all the work and see others who don't seem to be doing too much. They become envious and they set about trying to bring the other down, to discredit them, to attack them. The soul becomes darkened and is coloured by envy and becomes bitter and it takes over a life. and only think of the one thing and we are consumed with bitterness. We boil, we seethe, we envy, we want what another person has. But what we fail to understand is this envy is not necessarily only against another person in our minds. It is actually rebellion against Almighty God. because it fails to accept the providence of God. It is saying, in effect, I don't like what God has given me. I wish I was like them or that person. I wish I had what this or that person has. I am unhappy. I will not rest until they are taken down. And this is what Satan and his demons have said. It was a revolt against heaven, against God. It is envy that rots the bones that intends evil. Satan is behind this, laughing, gloating, working his devices. He says, I will climb up to heaven and ascend to the throne of God. He is not content with being a beautiful angel. But what a difference when Christ comes to live in someone. Like him, they are grateful to do anything. It doesn't matter what others have, what other gifts they have. They simply say, Lord, I am yours. I am just so grateful to be your child. Lord Jesus, work your beauty in my life and let me be like you. Let me be like you. So envy. To envy something is actually a rebellion against God. It is a rebellion against His providence. I want this, Lord. I am not happy with what You have given me. I want that. I am not happy with that You have given me. So, it is not only a sin against people, but it is a sin against God's wonderful providence. Now, we've done enough for now. to damage the spirit of wickedness in your and my soul. Paul's chapter on agape love is so often read by the non-Christian at weddings. But few realise that this chapter is one of the strongest rebukes ever given to a church. Paul is saying that if Christ is living in you, you wouldn't be acting like babes, arguing, fighting, no discipline, an empty head and a proud partisan spirit. Understand you are supposed to be Christians. Here is Christ. This is who he is. Look at yourself. Use this measuring rod. Stop being ignorant. Agape is tough love, but it breaks the spirit, the proud spirit, and breathes into that person the beauty of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now we've all witnessed Satan at work by encouraging the lower sinful nature to act in wicked ways even within churches. Be aware he is behind all of this and he will keep pushing and pushing just as God is committed to holiness so Satan is committed to evil and will not rest with a little evil but will keep pushing until everything is painted black. It is diabolical and must be eradicated in any fellowship and dealt with. And oddly, of course, these folks that are very unlike Christ stick out like a sore thumb. They are clever, but they are tools of the enemy. So, dear ones, examine yourself to see if you're in the faith. When the all nature rises up, and it will, and you lose it, and you may, then the beauty of Jesus must be seen. Say to your old self, you're dead. You no longer have part of me. For I am a new creation in Christ. The old has gone, the new has come. I have a new master. And Paul is telling us in this great chapter, he's telling us to wake up, to get real, to get a life. If you are Christians and Christ is in you in the hope of glory, you're in his sight already, perfect, adopted, forgiven, washed, regenerated. filled with the fullness of God, loved and protected as a child of God. And understand this, by the way, that there will not be one mansion in heaven lying empty. It'll be full tenancy. We have a number of flats that help us a little bit over these difficult times, and one of our flats, it was just lying empty for a couple of years. And it just had a sign up to say that it was vacant. But there won't be a mansion lying with a vacancy sign in heaven. There'll be full tenancy. All will be filled up. And all of his children will be there. Not one will be missing. So wake up. Live in the victory. It is not you that can do these things. You can't be long-suffering. You can't be kind. You can't be content continuously with every providence. You can't, but He can. And if He dwells in you, then you will be like Him, which is most important. Actually, there's a clue again in the name, isn't there, what we're called? Christians. We are Christ in us people. So how have you done so far, dear ones? Well, I can say one thing, that you've certainly been very patient with me, as you have listened up until now. So best keep that up if you can, that's a good thing. But be kind to all, even when they hate you, and I know that's hard, and I know we'll probably be tested, and I, above all things, people will be tested on that. And be content with what you have, and don't try to tell God what you would be happy with. because he knows better than you. And the Apostle Paul knows a better way than your way, which is the way of Christ, the way of Agape. Well, dear ones, if this has been a blessing to you and a help, just let me know, because it would be good to know that we're hitting the spot when we minister to you, because what I try and do is to minister something that is important for me too, and I therefore know, well, I believe that it will be important for you. Now let me give you a blessing. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord turn his face towards you and be very, very gracious towards you. And may the blessing of God Almighty, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, rest and abide upon each one of you, that you may be filled with Christ, and you may astound all of those that are around you, and even astound yourself, and even astound those in your own family. May God bless you, as you go and live for Him in this world. Amen.