High Standard of Love

Introduction

If we have not had the pleasure of meeting my name is John Colunga and I have the privilige of serving as lead pastor here at New Day Pasadena

I also have the privilige of bringing this weeks sermon

So if you have your Bibles, please turn to Acts 2:42-47

If you forgot your Bible please use the one in front of you and if you dont have a Bible at all, please take home the one in front of you as a free gift to you

Illustration

High Standards -

Set Up

As we start todays message we must admit and submit that God has a high standard of what love is

And we find this high standard in 1 Corinthians 13

We know that we are told to love by Jesus

We are told to love everyone

And that there is no great love giving your life for another

But the Apostle Paul expounds on exactly what love is and how it is exemplified

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends.

And as often as these verses are quoted, used on pictures, used as part of wedding vows, I wonder if we actually grasp the weight and severity of what the Apostle Paul is teaching

1 Corinthians 13 in a sense should invoke some level of anxiousness because of just how high God’s standard of love is

And if we are honest, we find that we fail God’s standard of love, and at times, fail to love daily

The Apostle Paul is writing to a Corinthian church that is facing many many problems

And when the Apostle Paul writes 1 Corinthians 13, he isnt writing it in the context of marriage as we might think

Rather, he is writing to convey to the church how they are to love as believers of Jesus Christ

Paul gives what love is and also describes what it is not

And this is crucial for the church at Corinth but it is also crucial for us today

At the same time, what we find in Acts, is the example of the church exemplifying the love of God and the love for one another

Now the last couple of times we have looked at these verses - we noted that Church is important and so we should strive to gather for worship every Sunday

We have also noted that the church is the people - not the building - and so the church extends beyond Sunday

Lastly, we have noted that we trust God with our souls and then live within the model he has set forth to help care for our soul

And this is the very reason why our church takes Sunday worship seriously

We gather here for worship as the church to worship God - and then everything else centers around this time

We are a church who is Biblical - Missional - and a Family

Now we had a small ministry meeting where we talked about these things - but we accidently didnt get to the family part

And let me just say, I think it is because we all know, agree, and do a good job of acting like a family

We arent perfect, we can get annoyed with each other sometimes, but we are always there for each other and we love well

Yesterday was a perfect example of this - taking care of Mrs. Nells family and Mr. Charlie’s family

But it is because we arent perfect that we need to continuously meet for encouragement and growth

And so there are two primary ways in which we do that - Bible Study and Community Groups

And we model these after our passage in Acts 2

At this time, If you are able to stand I ask that you do so for the reading of God’s word. I’ll read it out loud and if you will please follow along -

Acts 2:42–47 “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

This is the word of the Lord, you may now be seated

Exposition

42 Love in Discipleship Makes the Church Better Together

chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul speaks on spiritual gifts and then he talks about how the church is one body with many members

Each member serves and uses their gifts for the building up of the church

To help the church to function

And as the Aposlt Paul starts to write chapter 13, he is continuing on this thought of gifts and members

And the overarching theme of his transition sentence into love is that it doesnt matter what your gift is

It doesnt matter who you are in the body of the church, if you do not love - you are uselessly serving

You are not being an effective witness for Christ

You might think you are being a good witness by appearing to do good

But at the end of the day, your efforts will be overshadowed by your lack of love for others

And here is what the Apostle Paul is also saying - It doesnt matter your status

You can be the prettiest person in the church, you can be the most affluent in the church, you can be the smartest or first one to arrive and the last one to leave

But at the end of the day - none of that matters if you do not love or if you do not know how to love

New Christian Love

Now, I put the caviat of know how to love - becuase we cannot deny there is a learning curve to love

To truly love as God wants us to love - our hearts must first be changed

God has to change our hearts and we must confess Jesus as Lord and Savior of our life

We are to repent of our sin and start striving to live for and like Jesus

And so the Holy Spirit changes our heart and through the Spirit we can grow closer to God

But when God changes your heart, you don’t have this supernatural ability to all of a sudden get rid of all of your bad habits

You dont automatically learn how to love as God wants you to love

But because of the power of the Holy Spirit, you have the ability to change

You do have the ability to grow in your faith and in your attributes and in your love

Agape Love

And love is the nature of who our God is

God does not need help growing in love - He is the perfect definition of love

And because our God is perfect - he displays the highest form of love - which is agape love

In the greek in which the New Testament was written in, the greek word used for love 1 Cor. 13 is agape

So it starts out by you having faith and then, becuase of your faith you are then able to display the highest form of love which is agape love

Which is the highest form of love that God posesses and displays

In Romans 5:5 it says that God’s love is poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us

And so we are able to love in its highest form

But more so we are commanded to love in its highest form

To love as God loves

Paul in chapter 13 is talking about agape love

And he starts telling us in verse 4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Co 13:1–13.

It is this love that the disciples had to teach and to exercise towards the church

They had to teach the church about patient but then they also had to be patient as they discipled

Thye had to teach kindness but then display kindness

They had to teach to put others first but then also put others first

They had to make sure that sin was never celebrated

And they had to have a zeal for truth

The disciples walked and talked and learned from Jesus and now they are responsibile for passing that on to the church

This includes how to love

And so in Acts 2 we find discipleship taking place

what we find is that the church devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Learning to love like Jesus

And this brings unity - brings commanality

44 Love in the Unity of Christ Makes The Church Better Together

44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common

Not seperated

Not isolated

Not seeking individual fame or recognition

Becuase they are unified in Christ and have the same mission and commands their lives were integrated

They were together constantly

And as they gathered and were together they had all things common

This means that as they fellowshipped - they shared in their burdens

They shared in each others needs

Now, there is a misconception that they all sold everything and then divided their posessions evenly

That is not what is happening here

But that when a need arose - those with little gave little and those with much gave much

They had a mutual and common desire to love, serve, and encourage one another

And so this commonality moves them into great action

45-47 Love Being Lived Out Makes the Church Better Together

45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ac 2:45–47.

A common every day thing

Balance

Case by case basis

Application

Discipleship with love in our groups makes us better together

We disciple in Bible Study and in Community groups

Biblical - we teach the truths about the Bible

(in context/with application)

We do not shy away from hard topics (theology / social issues / false teachings /

We always want to use application (how does this apply to my every day life)

Bible Study - Sunday School and Connect Classes

Biblical Lesson that engages you

Not completely a lecture - and its not completely a free for all - structured/teaching

Going through books of the Bible and breaking it up into digestable chunks for you to learn and apply

You will learn and you will grow

And you will learn and grow in love

Community Groups - eat a meal, share life, pray, do a deep dive in the previous sermon

We understand that we are all in different stages of our sanctification - love each other where we are at

We share our struggles/wins/life updates

When appropriate we encourage one another and strive to give Godly and Biblical advice

We do not do the “what does this passage mean to you”? question

If asked you can get 12 different answers and some will contradict (we know there is only one truth)

The pastors create discussion questions to help get to the heart/root of the truth and pushes to think through the text

There are scriptures of concience / ambiguous - we love and show grace in those texts

In every group that we have had there are usually at least 2 spiritually mature leaders helping to facilitate and lead

We disciple with love

(NOTE: Womens Bible Study - Kids Sunday School - New Day Kids)

Love of unity through Christ in our groups makes us better together

We grow in commonality through Bible Study and in Community groups

What God wants we want

We want our hearts in alignment with his

We can have philisophical differences as to how ministry can/should be done

But we should be in agreement that we should be doing something

But we can agree that we are here to minister to one another

We have unity in the important doctrines and issues of the church the gospel of Jesus Christ

Love being lived out in our groups makes us better together

Not only do we have a heart to do ministry but then we act on it

45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people.

We serve as a group (the church)

We meet needs

We take care of each other

And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Charlies funeral and reference to the number of people

Glorify God first and worship him

To serve him

And to know that God will use us to grow his Kingdom