Love Incorruptible

Introduction

Greetings...

Together as we have traveled through the book of Ephesians we have journeyed with God in examining the “Glorious Church Of Christ.”

We have seen that the “glorious church of Christ” was in the eternal plans of the Father.

We have studied of the great dangers of being outside of His church and dire need of being in it and apart of it.

We have come to know the importance of not only the eternally planned blood bought church but the Law that was created to govern it and the beautiful unity it created.

We have witnessed in our studies how proper leadership will guide those that are “new in Christ” to walk “not in futility of mind” but “according to truth and love, sacrifice and submission.”

Paul then, in his letter, begins to explain how one stays strong and firm in such endeavors.

How husbands, wives, children, masters, slaves, and everyone else can walk according to truth and love, sacrifice and submission.

It’s with the special armor God made just for us.

Over the last several weeks we have looked at all six special pieces of armor, the Belt of Truth, Breastplate of Righteousness, Shoes Prepared for the Gospel of Peace, the Shield of Faith, the Helmet of Salvation and the Sword of the Spirit the prayer life that binds them all together.

Today we are going to examine Paul’s final words, to our Ephesian brethren, in .

Ephesians 6:23–24 ESV

23 Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.

As you can see Paul ends this fantastic letter to the church at Ephesus by reminding them that the grace of God is enjoyed by those that love the Lord with an in corruptible love.

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In other words if these brethren wanted to stay in God’s grace they must have a never fading love for Christ.

Today we are going to examine an acronym for the word LOVE.

This acronym should help us see what is needed to Love the Lord with “Love Incorruptible.”

Leaves Everything Behind

God is first, “everything” & “everyone” else is second.

Everyone that wants to follow God must put God first everyone else in a distant second.

Luke 14:26 ESV

26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

Luke 14:33 ESV

33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Lk 14:33

Matthew 10:37 ESV

37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Luke 10:27 ESV

27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

Summery

Now when I said everyone and everything must be in a “distant second” that didn’t mean we don’t care about those around us.

It does mean that neither our father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, or anyone else should have our attention more than God.

That means our family should never keep us from assembling with the saints to worship our God.

Not our husbands or wives or children’s activities should keep us from worshiping our God.

Let me be clear, if we try and justify not attending every offered worship service, “that we can possibly make” with “God doesn’t command I meet more than once a week” than we have already missed what it means to have an incorruptible love for God, because we have already been corrupted.

Now I can almost guarantee someone is going to say Landon said we couldn’t miss any service without having corrupted love but that isn’t what I said, I said when “we try and justify not attending every offered worship service, “that we can possibly make” then we have already been corrupted.

Why, because as we see in our next point we are not “Obsessing Over God” like we should.

Why, because incorruptible love...

Obsesses Over God

Loving God is obsessing over Him in every way.

We are to be consumed with God.

Psalm 65:1–4 ESV

1 Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion, and to you shall vows be performed. 2 O you who hear prayer, to you shall all flesh come. 3 When iniquities prevail against me, you atone for our transgressions. 4 Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple!

Psalm 63:1–4 ESV

1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. 3 Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. 4 So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.

Ps 65:

Psalm 65:5–8 ESV

5 By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness, O God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas; 6 the one who by his strength established the mountains, being girded with might; 7 who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples, 8 so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs. You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.

Psalm 63:5–8 ESV

5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, 6 when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; 7 for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. 8 My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.

We are to be consumed with God’s Word.

Psalm 119:9–12 ESV

9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. 10 With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! 11 I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. 12 Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes!

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Psalm 119:13–16 ESV

13 With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. 14 In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. 15 I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. 16 I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.

Summery

Having a love for God that keeps from being corrupted from God is only done through putting God first by obsessing over Him.

Each and everyday our goal should be to grow closer to God and be more and more obsessed with loving Him through His divine Word.

We have been given the mind of God in written form just for this purpose, to obsess over God the Father, Son, and Spirit.

When we do this we will see the necessity of loving God with an incorruptible love requires an understanding of the value of a soul.

Why, once again because incorruptible love...

Values The Soul

The soul of God’s creation cannot be measured.

God has done everything He can to demonstrate the value of the soul of man.

God values each soul so much He set in place a plan to redeem man after the fall.

Genesis 3:15 ESV

15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

God values each soul so much He sent Jesus to earth to “learn obedience & become our mediator.”

Hebrews 5:8 ESV

8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.

1 Timothy 2:5 ESV

5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

God values each soul so much He sacrificed Jesus to bring us back into the fold.

John 3:16 NKJV

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

The soul of God’s

Satan has done everything He can to demonstrate the value of our soul to God.

Satan ushered in sin upon mankind.

Romans 5:12 ESV

12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

Satan fights for our soul to hurt God.

1 Peter 5:8 ESV

8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Luke 22:60–62 ESV

60 But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. 61 And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” 62 And he went out and wept bitterly.

Summery

A love that seeks putting God first by obsessing over Him will see the great value God has placed on every soul.

A corrupted love cannot see the value of every soul but the one who loves God does and will not allow anyone to change that for them.

In fact the one that loves the souls of others as God does will...

Excels In Righteousness

Spiritual stagnation & righteous living aren’t compatible.

There is no way to keep loving God without continually growing closer to God.

We are to “give up childish ways” and mature.

1 Corinthians 13:11 ESV

11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

We are to “grow in the grace & knowledge” of our God everyday.

2 Peter 3:18 ESV

18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

We are to “leave the elementary doctrines” for spiritual meat.

Hebrews 6:1 ESV

1 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,

Hebrews 5:14 ESV

14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

We are to “be mature in our thinking.”

1 Corinthians 14:20 ESV

20 Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.

Summery

An incorruptible love for God seeks first the Creator in everything by being obsessed with Him.

This allows those whom have an uncorrupted love to see the value of every soul and to seek righteousness for all not just their selves because they are not satisfied be stagnant but active spiritually.

Conclusion

Ephesians 6:24 ESV

24 Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.

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As Paul states here, if we want to stay in God’s good grace we must love our God with love incorruptible.