Right and a Wrong Way: Thought Provoking Christian Love

Illustration: Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s 1963 “Letter From A Birmingham Jail” response to local white clergy’s criticism of the non-violent protests

In response to being labeled an outside agitator:

“Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid.”

Regarding being labeled an extremists and Jesus being an extremist for love:

“In that dramatic scene on Calvary’s hill, three men were crucified. We must not forget that ll three were crucified for the same crime- the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thusly fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. So, after all, maybe the South, the nation and the world are ind ire need of creative extremists.”

Concerning Rev. Dr. MLK’s deep love for the church:

“Yes these questions are still in my mind. In deep disappointment, I have wept over the laxity of the church. Be be assured that my tears have been tears of love. There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love. Yes, I love the church; I love her sacred walls. How could I do otherwise? I am n the rather unique position of being the son, the grandson and the great-grandson of preachers. Yes, I see the church as the body of Christ… There was a time when the church was very powerful. It was during that period when the early Christians rejoiced when they were deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society… I am meeting young people every day whose disappointment with the church has risen to outright disgust.”

Speaking to purity of the non-violent movement:

“Over the last few years I have consistently preached that non-violence demands that the means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek… T. S. Eliot has said that there is no greater treason than to do the right deed for the wrong reason”

Mentioning his desire to meet as soon as possible:

“I hope this letter finds you strong in the faith. I also hope that circumstances will soon make it possible for me to meet each of you, not as an integrationist or a civil rights leader, but as a fellow clergyman and a Christian brother.

Transition: Introduction To Body

In our text today Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit also rights from place of incarceration to graciously address a concern within the Philippian church:

Philippians 1:7 ESV

It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.

Body- Basis of Church Relationships

Philippians 1:7 ESV

Church The For Fellowship

Fully Justifiable Partnership (we are in it together)

It is right = proper or right in the sense of being fully justified

Why is it right?

Because Paul holds the church at Philippi in his heart

hold = to have or possess objects or property (in the technical sense of having control over the use of such objects)

heart = causative source of a person’s psychological life in its various aspects, but with special emphasis upon thoughts

partakers = one who participates with another in some enterprise or matter of joint concern (partner, associate)

grace = to show kindness to someone with the implication of graciousness on the part of the one showing such kindness

imprisonment = takes on a particular religious significance

defense - apologetics

confirmation = means “standing firm on the feet,” “steadfast,” “maintaining firmness or solidity”, to cause something to be known as certain

Philippians 1:8 ESV

For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.

Christ-Centered Affection & Compassion

yearn = to have a strong desire for something, with implication of need, long for, desire

affection = inward parts to experience great affection and compassion for someone, feeling or emotion

Illustrate: Hezekiah Walker’s 2002 Gospel Hit “I Need You to Survive”

I need you, you need me. We're all a part of God's body. Stand with me, agree with me. We're all a part of God's body. It is his will, that every need be supplied. You are important to me, I need you to survive. You are important to me, I need you to survive. I pray for you, You pray for me. I love you, I need you to survive. I won't harm you with words from my mouth. I love you, I need you to survive. It is his will, that every need be supplied. You are important to me, I need you to survive.

Why I love the audacity of Hezekiah Walker’s ‘I Need You to Survive’

June 19, 2015 by Alyssa Rosenberg of the Washington Post writes:

“I Need You to Survive” is certainly a religious song, but for a piece of music that assures listeners that “It is His will that every need be supplied,” it’s centered on the idea that humans have profound responsibilities to each other.

Philippians 1:9 ESV

And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment,

Above And Beyond Love

abound = to be present overabundantly, a degree which is considerably in excess of of some point on an implied or explicit scale of extent.

knowledge

discernment = to have the capacity to perceive clearly and hence to understand the real nature of something

Philippians 1:10 ESV

so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,

Visibly Tested Worth

approve = to make a critical examination, something as genuine or worthy on the basis of testing

excellent = to be of considerable value, in view of having certain distinctive characteristics

pure = judge in the light of the sun, meaning “warmth or light of the sun,” so that the full sense is “tested by the light of the sun,” “completely pure,” “spotless.”

blameless = being without fault because of not giving offense, undamaged, blameless

Psalm 34:8–10 ESV

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

Psalm 34:8-

Gives God Glory

Philippians 1:11 ESV

filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Gives God Glory & Praise

filled = complete

fruit = product or outcome of something

Galatians 5:22–23 ESV

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

glory = game and honor on extraordinary performance deserve further exploration

praise = approval, applause, to speak of the excellence of a person, object, or event

Jesus Christ Gets The applause for what He has done in the church

What has Jesus Done for the church?

Transition: Body To Close

Ephesians 3:14–21 ESV

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Ephesians 3:14-

Close

Recently talking to my oldest daughter about the New Jack Swing era of the mid-1980’s and early 1990’s

And going back down memory lane:

The key producers were Babyface & L.A. Reid, Bernard Belle, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and Teddy Riley.

The term "new jack swing" was coined around October of 1987 by Teddy Riley. The term "new jack swing" describes the sound produced and engineered by R&B/hip hop artist and producer Teddy Riley. Riley is an American R&B and hip-hop singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. He led the band Guy in the late 1980s and Blackstreet in the 1990s. Riley said, "I define the term [new jack swing] as a new kid on the block who's swinging it." The defining feature of Riley's music was the introduction of swingbeats, "a rhythmic pattern using offbeat accented 16th note triplets."

The term "new jack swing" describes the sound produced and engineered by R&B/hip hop artist and producer Teddy Riley. Riley is an American R&B and hip hopsinger-songwriter, musician and record producer. He led the band Guy in the late 1980s and Blackstreet in the 1990s. Riley said, "I define the term [new jack swing] as a new kid on the block who's swinging it."[11] The defining feature of Riley's music was the introduction of swingbeats, "a rhythmic pattern using offbeat accented 16th note triplets." In an interview with Revolt TV in 2017, Andre Harrell called Riley the inventor of the sound, hailing him "the king of New Jack Swing, because he invented it."[12]

Keith Sweat Partnering with Teddy Riley to produce “Make It Last Forever”

Make It Last Forever is the debut album of American R&B recording artist Keith Sweat. It was recorded at INS Recording and Power Play Studios in New York City.Released on November 24, 1987, the album went to #1 on the Top R&B Albums chart for three weeks (and topped the Billboard Year-End R&B chart for 1988), and #5 on the Billboard 200. Make It Last Forever was one of the earliest R&B albums to showcase the up-and-coming new jack swing sound, as it was mostly produced by Sweat himself and music producer Teddy Riley.

The album's biggest hit was "I Want Her", a #5 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and the first #1 R&B hit for Sweat. The title track (a duet with Jacci McGhee) followed "I Want Her", making the #2 R&B spot, while "Don't Stop Your Love" and "Something Just Ain't Right" were also major top ten hits on the Billboard R&B charts. In addition, album tracks such as "Right and a Wrong Way" and "How Deep is Your Love" received substantial radio airplay and can still be heard on quiet storm format stations.

Mmm, oh¡ My, my, my, my, my, my baby You`re mine, mine, mine, mine I`m gonna love you right, girl

You may be young but you`re ready [Ready to learn] You`re not a little girl, you`re a woman [Take my hand] Let me tell you, baby

I`m yours for the takin` So you can [Do what you please] Don`t take my love for granted You`re all I [I`ll ever need]

Hold me, hold me in your arms [Oh¡baby] Never let me go

A right way to love somebody, to love me right [There`s a good and a bad way to love somebody] There`s a good, oh¡whoa¡oh¡whoa¡oh¡ You do me good, ooh¡.

So don`t play no silly games with me, baby [No, no, no, no, it`s just not my fate] No, no, no All I need is your loving here [Hold me tight, baby, with the joy you can bring]

Mmm, take me I`m yours [Take me] I`m willin` [Ooh, baby] Hold me, hold me in your arms, hey, baby [I don`t want to let you go] Never let go You, you`re all I need in this world [Oh¡baby] Ooh, you got to know, you better know You better know my, my baby

You know, you know mean the world to me, girl [There`s a good and a bad way to love somebody] I`m gonna treat you good Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, baby, ooh, yeah

Ooh¡ooh¡hoo¡ooh¡ooh¡ooh¡ooh¡ooh¡ I want your lovin`, girl, all night long, all night long, all night long, girl We`ll be like two lovers in a tree Tweddle-lee-deeddle-lee-deedle-lee-dee Me and you, girl [Whoa, whoa, whoa] Ooh, you know my love is right, why can`t you see We`ll love each other eternally, just you and me, baby You`re a big girl now No more daddy`s little girl

There is a Right and a Wrong Way to view church and fellowship of the saints...

Matthew 25:31

Matthew 25:31–33 ESV

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.

Luke 18:7–8 ESV

And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

Luke 18:7

1 Thessalonians 4:1–5 ESV

Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God;

1 Thessalonians 4:1-

1 Thessalonians 4:9–12 ESV

Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.

1 Thessalonians 4:9

1 Thessalonians 4:13–15 ESV

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.