Love and Truth
I'd like to begin this morning by sharing this story with you and I want to tell you at the very beginning, I have the consent of the other party to share this story took place about twenty years ago. I've been here Britain Road for a couple of years at the office one day and Ron Beaver came up and he came in and you sat down on the on the couch in there. Don't have a couch in there now. But and you know, how you can tell when somebody's got something they're going to say it in a great year, the small talk thing but you know that this conversation is going further. And so we've talked for a little while and there's something I need to talk to you about. Okay, and they said I only say this because I love you. Nothing ever goes. Well after that, you do you know that this is going to be a problem, but he said you're fat.
And Houston. Do you know, It wasn't that I didn't know already. It was that nobody has ever said that to me before, even my doctor says what a precise, the diet and exercise. I don't use that use that word. Over the years Ron. And I talked about that a number of different times and he was trying to get my attention. And I know some of the rest of you have similar experiences with with Ron because he cared very much about your whole being and he felt like he needed to warn you and the so that warning was certainly a very very direct.
What it was because he cared, they really truly was. And I have some more that I'll say about that a little bit later on, we've been looking at 1st Corinthians chapter, 16, as a finish up, this concept of living victoriously in looking at the love description that's found there today, we're going to look at just one verse in the middle that typically is overlooked NS 1st Corinthians. 13:6, love does not Delight in evil, but rejoices, with the truth, I think a lot of times we eat, we read this passage and we go. Okay. Yeah, that we can know that. We understand that, and we can kind of Breeze by that very quickly. And as I wanted to talk from 1st Corinthians 13, I really felt like I need to take some time to develop the correlation between love and truth. Because in all of our relationships, whether their romantic relationships, whether their family relationships with their work relationships with it. There Agape relationships. Both of those things have to be there in order for that to mean anything.
We kind of live in a world of artificial love. People are willing to say that they love us. He were willing to talk about sometimes how much they love us or trying to impress us or manipulate us or move us in a certain direction. And frequently, we look for the truth behind those statements. The truth behind some expressions of affection. And that becomes a little bit. Difficult because they don't match up as well as we would like for them to hear as Paul talks about.
Real love. He says you do it. It's something that you would Delight in evil, but love Delights and rejoices in the truth. Now, that certainly would make total sense in looking at God's perspective on things. God is love. It says, I'm past that we've looked at recently in Hebrews chapter 6, verses 1890. I like to share it again. God did this so that my two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie. We will plan to take hold of, the hopes that the force may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for are so firm and secure it enters. The inner Sanctuary behind the curtain. It is impossible for God to lie. Know how many times has somebody told you that they loved you and what do you do the minute? You hear that? Will you start looking for proof? Where is the proof in what you live? Where is the proof as it manifests in your life? Do you really show the reactions that indicate that you do love? Is that really the way you're living your life? When we were, when I was it got three, we had a a guy backed up, husband and wife, they came and placed membership in the congregation that you're really nice people, just a lot of fun people enjoy being with them. And then about six months, they were gone and nobody kind of knew where they've gone. They were just gone from town, then it became clear that this guy had been selling bogus insurance policies, Had a real good personality for that, but one of the things that he had done, what he said, oh, I'm from that church up there. You got to build on this end. People started calling us saying we're just got to go. Will. We have a apple juice in live people present themselves as one thing and then, maybe when you trust or invest or do whatever, then you find out the truth, wasn't there. And the whole relationship was built on something that was completely opposite about you fart. There's a love truth connection and all of our love relationships, In Ephesians 4:25. Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully. for we are all members of one body has advised within the context of a Christian Church fan but where people interact with each other, it needs to be in not just when you're talkin about affection, was that How much you care? There's a commercial on and I'm not trying to, I'm not trying to give you a hard time. If you like this commercial very sentimental commercial, it's a Hobby Lobby commercial, been on for 45 years. Now, you'll know the one I'm talking about, I said, he gets its where there's an older arp arp family, kind of a middle-aged couple and they have two neighbors, young woman of the young man. And it appears to the course of the numbers to the, the commercial that they're kind of trying to promote this relationship with me too, so they make Christmas cards and give them to each other. And it looks like to me, they think that the other person and I'll do believe they kind of start to have a connection there. A good sentimental thought I always think of more of that story than then maybe you
15 years later, you know, they're living out in the suburbs now and they got three kids and it's Christmas time at the flu hit the whole family or covid or something like that. And are they can't go to Grandma's house and they can't even get out to the store. So we're eating cold hot dogs, and dried stale bread, and one of us together making that card and put them in my mailbox. the other one says, I thought you knew that you didn't make me the car and if they put it together, it's like must have been Carl and Mabel. You know, who put this is, they were kind of Hobby Lobby and we get it and we get a warm fuzzy but now it's about dishonesty. It's about a setup that neither person asked for or wanted. And sometimes we get the going in our minds and thinking that I have to be honest about it. And really what we're saying is that ends justifies the means, because if there would be matched up retracted to or whatever it is, actually being honest about it. but when we use love and truth, They're interchangeable. We're talking about the same thing, but same idea, really the same concept. Ephesians chapter 5 SUV.
then we will no longer be infants tossed back and forth by the waves blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunningness and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming We're presented very clearly with this picture of immaturity, Uvalda of the person who can be blown any direction and move any direction and then it goes into verse 15 and it says instead speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect. The mature body of who is the head that is Christ. Amateur mature, we want to be with you, or we want to be grown up, we want to be adults and Christianity and the passage leaves us, a pivotal moment, where it talks about speaking. The truth in love, Not always easy to speak the truth. And yet, if you love somebody, you will try to tell them the truth. Why well, their whole soul in Salvation, might hang in the balance of what you're discussing, or what you're telling, or what you're trying to share. It's an important topic and to just say I have affection for you. I like you, I hope you have a wonderful life. I hope you're having a better boy happiness. All those kind of things and they ignore
what the truth is. Is not really. Being a loving person. When we get to the place where we leave immaturity behind and we become mature, then we know how we're doing by telling the truth and I go back to the story of Ron. Cheesy Ron felt so strongly about people that he wanted to share with them even things that were unpleasant, because he felt like that was a way that you could help and that love and truth were closely related. I told you before, about the lady, that got three, let it get, who made her own hats and she would take like a straw hat and really fancy it up Carmen Miranda, you know, kind of hats. And then she would ask you, how do you like my hat? And I would say very interesting, your colorful, boards, Charming.
That's a harder question.
I mean, we're supposed to speak the truth in love and
Not always an easy thing to do. But I'm not sitting behind you most Sundays, because you're kind of hard to to see you around.
1st. John 3:18. his dear children, let us not love with words or speech, but with actions, and in truth When we move to Central Oklahoma back in 1986, the spring of 86, I needed to be here earlier than the family. And so I came in March. And then the family came in, And, you know, that was that was a real change for us. And it difficult for us and kids would say, especially to Sean, you know, where's your dad? Well, my dad went to work in another state and then this summer, we're going to move to that state. And there were kids, who said yeah, my dad said that too. It was kind of a afib that you told, you know, you didn't deal with what was really going on and it really, it really unfairly created. A lot of insecurities, and then certain be in our family because people didn't believe that story. That's the difference in what we're talkin about here. It's not about always say it's about what we do, it's about what her actions are now, please don't go and out here and say he said you didn't need to say it, you do need to say it. We we love people. We tell them that we love them. We show affection for them in touch and it all kinds of different kind of contacts, but what I'm saying is those acts there was to be those words and speeches don't matter. Until you're back it up with reality? Are you someone I can depend on? Are you someone? Who when you say yes to mean? Yes. Some you say no? You mean, no. Are you somebody that values. Only your security but my security so much. So That your rooms heavily invested in willing to invest in that process.
This time of year, we emphasize the love of God through the baby Jesus. And that's a wonderful thing to do. We have a Tennessee, sometimes not emphasize. Quite as much, the loving actions, that people would feel toward a loving God, who would sacrifice their own son. I probably share this story before, but it's, it's one or two touches. My heart. Full girl, who's after school, she and some of her friends, on the way home, they walked by a church that has a, a nativity scene. And it's a very cold raw day. And this little babies in the, in the manger, they are just a doll, but the little girl was just worried about it being cold. And so ultimately, she takes off her hat in her own scarf, and puts it on the baby Jesus, before she leaves. Child has an action, you know how I feel this for the baby Jesus, but how do I show? Did I have care? How do I show that? I'll try to make it warmer?
God loves us. He loves us so much that he sent his son to die for us. Jesus came as the swilling loving sacrifice, but he also came not just to be the sacrifice, but to be the manifestation of Truth. 2 teaches truth to teach us the way to live cuz he just the way to love things that for 2,000 years now still hold up to a practical point of view and really can't be argued against these things that are true.
If we follow the direction.
Jesus answered. I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the father, except through me. I'm the way. The truth. And the light as well. I want to see a little bit more about the wrong story.
About a year after that. He and I were in a discussion with the young man in and ronda's very, very direct with him. And he called me afterwards. And he said, do you think I was too hard? And I said, yeah, I think so. And so helium, an had another conversation after that. And the reason I point that out is because he empowered me. To be honest with him because he was honest with me, he said something that was going to be hard for me to hear. But when he did that he granted permission for others to say things that might be difficult to hear and so we don't want to talk about the things that divide us. We don't want to talk about the things that might cause difficulties between us. And God says it's important to speak the truth. The loop, the truth to share the truth in a loving fashion and we can do that. And when we do that, we empower, the kind of conversations that we really want to be able to have Would you play with me? Dear God, we thank you for your love and we thank you for the love of your son. Father we thank you for the tremendous sacrifice at that love fought about We understand that the love is the Y. father, we also know that the truth is the how That you were motivated to love us. That you are a motivator. Should give us the truth. The truth is how we relate to you and how we bring others to you and how we live our lives. So that you will approve Father, we ask that you would be with us. We asked if you would give us the grace to forgive others, when they send against us to ask for forgiveness, when we sin against others other, we thank you for the great truth that you have imposed in and given to us. We pray that we might love each other in that truthful fashion, and we pray this week,
As is our custom, we will offer an invitation to this point in time. There's anyone here who needs and wants to respond to that invitation, we encourage you to do that or we stand and sing together.
