Go on? How?

When I was a young kid, so many years ago, like all the way back in the last millennia, or for some of you the last century, even though millennia is also correct. Anyway back then, when I was young, I saw a movie and it was so long ago that I don’t remember any of the characters names, title of the movie, or much of anything, it happened in the last millennia remember, anyway what I do remember is how the end affected me. There was a little girl, an elementary age kid, who was sick throughout the movie. And this girl was with two adults her mom and another man. They were riding in the subway with the girl. Everything was great, they had a great day and then the girl dies from her illness right in her mother’s arms on the subway. The adults are crying and panicking, and all I thought was kiss your daughter bring her back to life. Because I was a kid and love is magical and fixes it, but it wasn’t that kind of movie. It was realistic and kisses don’t bring people back to life. Maybe it was the moment when I really became aware of reality.

When bad things happen and they do happen, we remind ourselves every single week about a true hope that exists in each and every bad situation, we say it. Maybe you don’t catch it and I think we need to remind ourselves of the purpose we have as a church. When we read what we read each week before I speak, there is a legitimate hope that is there, not a magical hope but something real. We might say it so fast that we don’t realize how powerful it is. But in this series we can stop and take notice about the hope and the power in our vision for church as stated in Philippians 2:1-5

Philippians 2:1–5 HCSB

1 If then there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, 2 fulfill my joy by thinking the same way, having the same love, sharing the same feelings, focusing on one goal. 3 Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. 4 Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus,

This week we are only looking at one part of the list, 5 English words but four words in the Greek.

Nestle Aland 26th Edition Greek New Testament Morphological Edition (Chapter 2)

εἴ τι παραμύθιον ἀγάπης

I’m sure you are thinking exactly what others were thinking as they tried to translate this into English. I’m kidding, remember I’m just showing you something of what it looked like to the original hearers. But we live in 2024 and speak English and this phrase is tough to translate but this is how we read it:

Philippians 2:1 (HCSB)

if any consolation of love,

εἴ τι παραμύθιον ἀγάπης

It’s complicated because what does consolation of love mean, or as some like to say these days, explain it to me like I’m a third grader. I never hear people say the word “consolation” and rarely if ever hear someone say console, they might say something like “go console your friend over there” . It’s like a pat on the back, a “there, there.” If someone really is interested in consoling they might say, “go be there for your friend.”

Is it right to think this is, “if God ever patted you on the back and sais “there, there?

Is this about love?

Why does this matter? Where is the hope?

Here is what is even tougher about this little phrase in the Bible, one of the words used here, parametheon, the one translated as consolation is only used once in the entire Bible and it occurs right here. We can find it in other texts outside of the Bible getting a fuller definition, when you hear the fuller definition maybe you will hear why this matters. The definition goes something like this

a word meaning comes to the side of one to stimulate or comfort him.”

Let’s continue to get greater clarity, In a fascinating book a commentary on Philippians by United Bible Societies which helps understand understanding translating the Biblical Greek into many different languages today we can look at how a word like parametheon gets translated into other languages to help us understand it in English.

They write, “His love comforts you poses problems of translation in some languages because “love” in them may occur only as a verb; therefore his love must be translated as “the fact that he loves you. Sometimes one can say “the fact that Christ loves you comforts you.” In other languages one may use a passive expression, for example, “you are comforted because Christ loves you. In some languages comforts is expressed negatively as “takes away your anxieties,” or “causes you not to worry any longer.”

If we use this understanding as a guide, hang on, those of you who are wondering where this nerd is going with all this language talk, if we use this understanding we see clearer what is meant,

εἴ τι παραμύθιον ἀγάπης If in your darkest hour, in your hard times, in your realization of sin, in your sadness, if at that time the love of God brought you peace, hope, or rest.

That’s a fuller definition. Yesterday, I got a perfect example of this. I was talking with a friend who was chatting about old times and reminded me of my own sin and failure, to be fair they were thinking of their sin but my past got wrapped up in it. It’s horrible to think of how stupid or wrong or evil I have been, I imagine you hate it too. Then my friend said, well you can’t cry over spilled milk.

I stopped my friend right there. I know that is a lie, because I have seen people cry over spilt milk, I have seen people cry when we run out of milk and demand that I drive to the store right then and get milk. Oh, there is a whole lot of tears in spilt milk.

Anyway when I think about past sin there is no hope. There is no good that I can do that takes back the sin that was done. The hurt that was caused. Just because it happened in the past doesn’t fix it. Time doesn’t heal it. Way back then, man I can bring that right back up in my head. I can feel the pain. What’s worse is the consequences of it, I know even better now. Time hasn’t made it better but actually worse. It’s not ok either, it’s not ok then and not ok now.

But you know what, I also know another thing that is true. Time doesn’t bring justice but Jesus does.

Romans 5:7–8 CSB

7 For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. 8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

2 Corinthians 5:21 CSB

21 He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

John 3:16 CSB

16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

Jesus Christ paid the price for my sin. The hope my friend was mentioning was that things are in the past, and there is no hope there or now but the hope of the present is in Christ, because of what Jesus did, I and my friend who follows Jesus are forgiven!

Time reminds, Jesus loves!

I can be amazed that Christ doesn’t say oh well to the wrong I do, No, Jesus love did something about my sin, your sin, and when we accept Jesus forgiveness for our sin we are not saying it is OK. We are saying that our sin is awful, God thinks its awful, but Jesus’s in His love paid the punishment for it. My forgiveness was paid for with a cost. My comfort comes in that I am forgiven by the one who paid the price for my forgiveness, the one who made it right.

This love of God, this bringing of hope, peace and rest doesn’t stop with forgiveness of sin but with purpose and hope in death. That eternal life given to us by the act of a loving Jesus who rose from the dead gives us genuine hope to all who have faith.

if any consolation of love,

εἴ τι παραμύθιον ἀγάπης

We have the consolation of love In forgiveness of sin, and in resurrection, because Jesus promises resurrection to all who believe.

John 3:16

John 3:16 CSB

16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

Yet this consolation of love also matters for how I live right now.

Love meets you as who you are. Right in the who I am.

If you took a selfie right now, God’s consolation of love is for the person pictured in your selfie.

His consolation of love is way different than most people think of love.

The word love is pretty important, because it is a nice concept that gives permission for action.

You see in our language and culture Love is an ever changing definition.

An old popular saying was you can’t help whom you love, which sounds nice and means you should fulfill your sexual and romantic love with who you love, but the actual implications or the way that can be shown doesn’t work at all. If you can’t help who you love, then do you have permission to always act on who you love? What if you love someone doesn’t love you, are you now doomed? What if they are not yet of age? Is that then not your fault or is it all your fault? Does it also mean you can’t help or be concerned at all with whom you don’t love?

If we look at that kind of love I think a better definition of that word is not love but a better word is “attraction” and I will admit that you cannot help what attracts you, who attracts you or what you are attracted to, but what is done about attraction is very much an act of self-control. My attraction is not consent, permission or maybe even good.

I can control what I do but I’m attracted to oreo’s. My wife said those are her Oreo’s and I can’t eat them no matter how much I do love them. To say well I can’t help that I love them as an excuse to act or to try and believe that self-denial will cause immediate mental health problems or death is not true at all.

if any consolation of love is not about “want to” but about God’s self-control his specific act of love for us.

In fact on the way to the cross, when Jesus had a chance to pray, he asked God if he could do it any other way but in his love obedience would be first.

Luke 22:42 CSB

42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me—nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”

That is an amazing act of love.

Even some of you might have heard that the Greek language had a word used for God’s love that is call agape.

That isn’t totally true.

Agape doesn’t mean in itself, an overwhelming God love. It had many meanings of love that are not super spiritual. There is a theological dictionary to help us nerd out.

Lexham Theological Wordbook (ἀγάπη)

The New Testament employs the term (ἀγάπη) agapē in two basic ways. First, it can denote “love” in a general sense. Examples of this use include references to love as an idea (e.g., John 15:13; Rom 13:10) and love between people (e.g., 2 Cor 2:4; 8:7). Second, the NT writers use the noun agapē to refer to the love of God

In other words, the essence of the truth of God’s love is not in a Greek word the essence of How God loves is revealed in the scripture, the love of God is defined by God in the pages of the Bible and what that love means for you.

God does this many times but one awesome way is in 1 Corinthians 13 when we are told that spirituality, Gifts of the Holy Spirit require love. You know this because anyone who has known anybody who calls themselves a Christian or a church go-er but doesn’t love other people are truly awful jerks that don’t seem to be about Jesus at all. It’s true and you have seen or will see how much people get hurt by anything they do or say. It doesn’t matter how much Bible they can quote if there isn’t love there.

So God uses this piece of scripture to define the love we should have for people, You know what else, this is also how God loves you.

1 Corinthians 13:1–8 CSB

1 If I speak human or angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give away all my possessions, and if I give over my body in order to boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant, 5 is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs. 6 Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.

We can go over it to easily, missing out and one way to get a truly deep understanding of God, to really meditate on His word is to make it personal. So let’s do that, when I say you, I want you in your head to change you to “me”

1 Corinthians 13:4 (CSB)

4 Love is patient, (Jesus is patient with you) love is kind. (Jesus is kind to you) Love does not envy, (Jesus is not jealous of what He blesses you with) is not boastful (Jesus does not tell you he will do things He cannot), is not arrogant (Jesus doesn’t need to prove to us how much better He is than you),

1 Corinthians 13:5 (CSB)

5 is not rude (Jesus isn’t disrespecting you, He knows respect better than you do), is not self-seeking (Jesus does seek the plan of God, but this plan works all things for your good), is not irritable (Jesus doesn’t hate me because of a bad moment or mood), and does not keep a record of wrongs (Jesus chooses to remember your sins no more).

1 Corinthians 13:6 (CSB)

6 Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. (Jesus believes no lies about you, He knows you)

1 Corinthians 13:7 (CSB)

7 It bears all things (Jesus went to the cross for you, He can handle everything in your life), believes all things (He chose you), hopes all things (He gives you a hope), endures all things (Jesus promises a future for you).

1 Corinthians 13:8 (CSB)

8 Love never ends. (Jesus love for you will never end).

What does this mean on Thursday at 1:17 pm? A follower of Jesus always has hope, a future, someone who respects you, kind to you and so much more.

When you’re down, you only need to remember this truth. Jesus loves you like that . When you don’t know if anybody is listening to you anymore, Jesus loves you with hope, when others hurt you, Jesus loves you enough for you and more than enough for you to give His love to someone else.

I don’t have all the answers. when politics might not be going your way, when investments might be failing, when family is hurting, I can still have peace and hope because I’m not alone. I have a Savior, who is Christ the Lord and He loves me very much.

He loves you too!

Charles Spurgeon back in the 1800s wrote this about

if any consolation of love,

εἴ τι παραμύθιον ἀγάπης

He said,

Philippians (Exposition)

Consolation is the dropping of a gentle dew from heaven on desert hearts beneath. True consolation, such as can reach the heart, must be one of the choicest gifts of (God’s) mercy; and surely we are not (messing up) sacred Scripture when we (say) that in its full meaning, consolation can be found nowhere save in Christ, who has come down from heaven, and who has again (gone up) to heaven, to provide strong and everlasting consolation for those whom He has bought with His blood.

For all who accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, we have a love that brings peace, hope and comfort at all times.