REVIEW
 
So after a couple of weeks off, I want us to pick back up this week on the series we have been doing for several months now on being “Imitators of Love.” In this series of teachings, we are learning more about our God, but not in the traditional manner of studying Scriptures that talk about His nature. No, we are looking at the verses that teach us how we ought to be loving one another with the understanding that these instructions/commandments must be the same way that God loves us. In other words, we are learning about the nature & characteristics of God by looking at the nature & characteristics of love.   
 
So, the specific passage of Scripture that we have been camping on is what I consider to be the best section of verses that teach us about the characteristics of love – the great love chapter, First Corinthians chapter 13.
 
First Corinthians 13:4-8 teaches us the nature of love – what it is and what it is not. But since we understand that God is love, we learned how we can substitute the term “God” for “love” here and learn what God’s nature is. So let’s do that now— “GOD suffers long and GOD is kind. GOD does not envy; GOD does not parade HIMSELF, HE is not puffed up; HE does not behave rudely, HE does not seek HIS own, HE is not provoked, HE thinks no evil; HE does not rejoice in iniquity, but HE rejoices in the truth; HE bears all things, HE believes all things, HE hopes all things, HE endures all things. GOD never fails …”
 
Most recently, we looked at the end of verse 5, where we are told that love thinks no evil. So as we’ve all heard of that old proverb principle in the world that says – “See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil”, the Bible speaks of another element to this – “Think No Evil.”
 
We asked the question – how is this even possible? How is one able to “think NO evil”? Because for example, we read in the Bible more than once that Jesus rebuked the religious leaders for their “evil” ways, describing them with words like “liars, hypocrites,” and even “children of the devil." Well, that sounds like Jesus was certainly “thinking” some “evil” of these guys, right?
 
So how do we reconcile examples like this with the law of love that says we are not to even think evil of others much less call them out on their evil? Yes, how can we as Christians keep from thinking evil of others, especially when it is the Bible itself that talks about how evil exists in mankind? That seems contradictory. On top of that, I don’t think it is the Lord’s intention that we go around pretending that evil doesn't exist either.
 
No, we saw how this is where it is important that we understand how to look up the words the writer used in the original language, and also how to utilize other translations. In doing so, we can come to understand what was truly being conveyed here instead of letting whatever terminology our Bible uses determine our interpretation of it.
 
We saw how this phrase would better be translated “(love) does not keep a record or account of evil & wrongs”, and this is actually how most translations translate this phrase. So this is a very helpful piece of information for our love walk:
 
You see, if I ever say or think something to the effect of – “You do this all the time!”  or “This is the 3rd time you did that” – then I am not operating in love because why? Love isn’t counting. No, it’s not adding up and recounting all the times someone has done something.
 
But we learned that this is also how God is towards us! He doesn’t keep a record of our faults! He doesn’t recall our mistakes! In fact, He is not even considering how many times you and I have missed it. We have a lot of other Scriptures that substantiate this about God, and we went through some of them. Verses like:

1. “God separates my transgressions from me as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12)
2.  “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.” (Isaiah 43:25)
3. In Hebrews (8:12 & 10:17), the Lord said, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

 
So it is written in the mouth of multiple witnesses that I am one of the blessed whose sins are covered—of which the Lord will remember no more. He chooses not to remember my sins and blots out my transgressions for His name’s sake. Praise the Lord!
 
Church, this is how God thinks no evil and reveals to us what He thinks of you and I. Yes, His thoughts for us that outnumber the grains of sand on the seashore are good thoughts, not evil ones. This is how love thinks, counting the good, true, and lovely things of the ones it loves. God thinks no evil; only good. This is what Jeremiah 29:11 conveys to us.
 
And we also learned how these precious thoughts He thinks of us are not hidden from us. No, we can know them! In fact, He desires for us to know them. That’s why He said (after that oft quoted verse that His thoughts and ways are higher than our thoughts and ways and they are past finding out) that He pours these “high” things from the heavens like rain & snow. Amen! That means He wants you and I to know those lofty thoughts, and He went on to say how they are known by His Word. Therefore, if you and I are going to come to know what God is thinking, then we need to study to show ourselves approved. Yes, we need to behold His written Word and let the thoughts of God become, in us, the mind of Christ.    
 
So the fact is, God does want us to know His thoughts and ways, and they are certainly aimed towards us. Yes, as the Lord told us to set our minds on things above, He sets His mind on us below. That’s right – We are His focus! Therefore, as Psalm 139:17-18 says, “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand …” Let that truth penetrate your heart today.
 
And all of this is because the Lord loves us! Just as when we fall in love, one characteristic of that love is our minds become filled with that other person. We think about them all the time when we are at the height of that love. And why are we thinking so much of that person? It is because they are in our heart! Saints, God actually holds us in His heart! He does not just tolerate us or make Himself “have to” think good things about us. No, He thinks good thoughts about us because we hold a special place in His heart! In other words, we are important to Him because you do not rent space in your heart to people or things that are not important to you. No, what is in your heart is what is valuable to you! Therefore, we must be extremely valuable to the Lord if His heart and mind are so inclined towards us! Amen!
 
LOVE REJOICES
                
So now let’s move into First Corinthians 13:6 where Paul goes on to describe not only what love doesn’t do, but also what it does do. In this verse, he said, “(Love) does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth.”
 
First of all, I want you to notice how Paul is essentially describing both what love will rejoice in and what it will not rejoice in. Therefore, rejoicing is the point of this verse.
 
Now to “rejoice” simply means to be glad, cheerful, or to get excited about something. So if the apostle Paul is talking about love’s characteristics, then there are obviously certain things that love will and will not become glad or excited about.
 
But did you even know that love rejoices? It sure does! It will get happy about some things while it certainly won’t get joy out of certain other things happening. Now the fact is, most people certainly get happy when good things happen to them. Yes, that’s what the majority rejoices in. But what does love do? It will rejoice when good things happen to others, and it certainly doesn’t rejoice when bad things happen to them.
 
Rejoice with those who rejoice, the Bible says (Romans 12:15). And what this is instructing us to do is to actually get as happy & glad as the other person is. Yes, these are not two different words that Paul used, so rejoicing with those who rejoice describes personally getting as excited as the other person does. And why? All because you love them!
 
So what we can learn from this is that love for others will essentially do the same thing as love for one’s self – it will get happy when good things happen to others like people get happy when good things happen to themselves. 
 
WHAT LOVE DOES NOT REJOICE IN
 
But I want you to notice how Paul describes what love does not rejoice in first. And he says that it’s in “iniquity.” This is actually a poor translation because the word Paul used was used more to describe “injustice or unrighteousness.” Therefore, specifically what Paul had in mind here was that love did not get excited when it sees injustice or unrighteousness occurring.
 
Now this has different shades of meanings, but one obvious truth we can find in it is that we are not to rejoice when justice isn’t being done. In other words, we shouldn’t get happy when we see a person not being done “right.”
 
How could that be love anyways? How could love actually get joy out of seeing someone else being done wrong? Well, perhaps one might root for someone who has been wronged to get revenge. More likely, one might desire to see someone they have offense in their heart towards fall flat on their face. I have seen it even get to the level where a person who has hate in their heart towards someone else gets joy out of some terrible thing that happens to that person because simply put, they are just bitter. So this can obviously occur on different levels, but the point is, love will not rejoice over someone else’s misfortunes.
 
Now the fact is, this word “justice” is part of the problem. I say this because what a lot of people are looking for is people to get what they feel is coming to them. Yes, they even get joy out of making sure this “justice” is done. But that is not what Paul was saying that love rejoices in. No, it’s not about our enemies getting what they deserve or about those who have harmed others getting their due. It’s more about how love WILL NOT rejoice in the injustice & unrighteousness, not how love WILL rejoice when justice is being done.   
 
The reason I bring this up is because far too many people who have bitterness & unforgiveness in their heart want their offenders to pay for their mistakes. Yes, they are glad when that person gets what is coming to them. That’s not actually what love will do. Love will not derive joy from someone else getting punished. And if we do get happy when someone else has bad things happen to them, then we might need to deal with some issues that haven’t been resolved yet.
 
Along these lines, I like something I read recently: This expositor recalled the experience Jacob had with the Angel of the Lord. You know, the one where Jacob wrestled with Him all night and obviously lost. Well, because Jacob was wounded in his thigh, Moses made a law that the children of Israel would not eat of the sinew in that area of the thigh. What does this teach us, you ask? Simply this – we are not to feast on the failures and shortcomings of others. I like that! Like one translation says, “Love doesn’t revel when others grovel,” This is the principle we are learning here.
 
No, a big truth that we need to get from this is that love roots for the underdog. It isn’t a crowd follower or one that gangs up on the one that everyone is picking on. No, love looks for what is right and justice. It will stand in the gap. It will go against the flow. It will look for that one lost sheep and move heaven & hell to find them. This is what love does.
 
LOVE DID JUSTICE
 
Now how does all of this apply to God? Well, God obviously does not rejoice in injustice either. If you don’t know this, you need to read your Bible.
 
Time and time again in the Scriptures we see one of the Lord’s pet peeves being injustice. Through His prophets, He is constantly correcting His chosen people in this area – of taking care of the widows and the orphans, how the poor were to be defended, and how injustices of any kind should not be tolerated. One of my favorite examples of this is Micah 6:8 where the prophet said, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”
 
Injustice and unrighteousness were obviously sore spots of Love Himself. In fact, even in the New Testament, we are told in James 1:27 that pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, which is one of the main things we see throughout the prophets of old.
 
So as we have seen, if God commands us to do something then we can rest assure that He is already fulfilling those things Himself. So, in the case of caring for widows and orphans, who are the orphans and widows that He is already caring for? The answer is simple – We are! We were the widows that He provided for! We were the orphans that He has cared for!
 
You see, there are two kinds of human relationships that the Word of God likens our relationship with God to under the New Covenant: Those two are a husband and wife and a father and child. So the truth is – God went above and beyond the duty that He gave us. Not only did He provide for us when we were widows, He actually married us so that He could meet our every need forever. Not only did He care for us when we were fatherless in Satan’s orphanage, He actually adopted us and made us His very own children.
 
You see, in His great love and abundant mercy, God did more than just help us in our hopeless state. He cut a covenant with us through the blood of Jesus—making us His bride and His children. He not only rescued us from the kingdom of darkness, but He translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son! What an awesome and loving God we serve!
 
So as the Lord laid out in Micah 6:8, He requires His people to “do justice” and to certainly not rejoice in injustice – all because He, in His joy towards justice & righteousness, extended them towards us freely by His grace! Amen!
 
WHAT LOVE DOES REJOICE IN
 
But what did Paul go on to say that love DOES rejoice in – It rejoices in truth. And again, that doesn’t necessarily describe when the truth comes out about a person who has done something wrong. No, love finds joy when it sees the objects of its love walking in the truth, not when it uncovers the lie.
 
So while it’s very clear that God is not happy with injustice, what it is that brings Him joy is TRUTH! Yes, He rejoices in truth! Yes, what God gets excited about is when truth is practiced and experienced. Yes, He loves it when He sees others walking in the truth!
 
We see a beautiful example of this in the beginning of the Epistle called Third John. In Third John 1-4, the apostle John says, “The Elder, To the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth: Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. For I rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you, just as you walk in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.”
 
Now I want you to notice the constant echo of the terms “love, joy, and truth” in these opening four verses of Third John. This speaks the same thing as the verse we are covering in First Corinthians 13:6.
 
But what people oftentimes make the mistake of is reading God’s Word of Truth through carnal glasses. In other words, with this Book, we know that the apostle John was the one who physically penned this Book of the Bible. But what we need to also realize is that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and that these holy men of God were moved by the Holy Spirit to author these Books of the Bible (Second Timothy 3:16 & Second Peter 1:21). Therefore, Third John is not just a Book authored by the apostle John; it is a Holy Spirit inspired Book ultimately inspired by the Holy Spirit. In other words, the Holy Spirit is its true author. Not only that, but another error people make is that when they read that it was addressed to a specific man named Gaius, they lose sight of the fact that everything in these pages (or in this case, page, because its such a short Book) are being written to us as well.
 
Some have commented on this verse, saying that the truth contained in it was simply the apostle John’s desire for Gaius, to whom this short letter was written. Therefore, they say that this verse does not express the will of the Lord for all believers for all time, but this is simply incorrect. For who are we to determine what parts of the Bible are intended only for the original recipients of the letters and what parts are applicable to us? If this were so, how would we know if what was written to the Romans were just promises applicable to the believers in Rome? Or how would we know if what was written to the Ephesians was just meant for the select church in Ephesus? How then would we know what parts of the Holy Scriptures were written to us?
 
The truth is that all of the Bible was written for our admonition and instruction! All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, being God-breathed so that we can know and understand God’s will for all of our lives. He is no respecter of persons! Therefore, what He moved the apostle John to say to Gaius is what God wills for all of His children along with Gaius to receive and embrace. So, Third John is God speaking to us!
 
So when we read in verses 3-4 how John evidently rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that was in this Gaius, that this was God’s heart as well. And oh, doesn’t this reflect the characteristic of love that we’ve been looking at today? Yes, this is the Holy Spirit’s heart of love in that He too rejoices when we walk in the truth. In fact, as we see in verse 4, the Lord has no greater joy than to hear that His children walk in truth.
 
Now walking in the truth certainly has a bunch of meanings: For one, it is walking in Jesus, because He is the Truth. Second, it is walking in the Word of God, because His Word is truth. And thirdly, it is walking in the Spirit, because the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Truth. So yes, God rejoices when we, His children, walk in His Son, His Word, and in His Spirit, but this is not all that makes God happy. Third John 2 contains some truths that show us the truth about everything God wants us to walk in …
 
Again, Third John 2 says, “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.”  So like we’ve seen, this is not just a verse that expresses John’s desire for Gaius; it shows us God’s will for all people for all time! So what is God’s desire for you and I? What does He rejoice when we walk in it? Well, let’s look deeper into this verse …
 
First of all, notice that God refers to you as His “Beloved”… This means that He is addressing those who (pardon the poor English) “be-loved!” In other words, since this verse is God speaking directly to us, by calling us His “beloved”, He is letting us know that we are greatly loved by Him.
 
You see, this simple truth, if understood correctly, should help us to embrace the truths contained in the rest of this verse that our Heavenly Father wants us to prosper in every area of our lives and live in perfect health. Why? Because how many of you parents out there who truly love your children want anything less than the best for them? No, you want them to prosper in every area of their life and you certainly don’t want them sick and suffering! Any parent that wills for their children to be sick and to suffer should be locked up with the key thrown away! Why? Because if any natural parent did the things to their children that God has been accused of doing to His, that parent would be incriminated in just about every culture or nation on the earth today.
 
So how can we believe God is any different—especially when His love for us far outweighs any love that we have for our children? No, you “be-loved” and because God loves you so much, He wants you to succeed and prosper on all levels! Thank you, Father!
 
And the fact that He “wants” this is reflected in this verse: Notice what the Lord starts off by saying to His beloved … He says, “I pray that you may prosper in all things.”
 
Now the word “pray” here describes “wishing & desiring.” So this shows us what God actually wants & wills for us, His children. Again, we can certainly relate to this, right? Yes, we all wish & desire for our children to walk in prosperity & health, right? Absolutely! But are all our children walking in this? Not all of them – illustrating to us how just because God desires for this to be the case for all of us, doesn’t mean its automatically going to happen. No, like it is with our children, they must choose this lifestyle. They have to make the right decisions, which would have all started by listening to their parents at a young age and taking our advice, right?
 
So I make this point because it answers that question that might come up that if God desires this for us, then why is it not happening for everyone. Well, the answer to that is the same as to why all of our children might not be walking in all of the things we want for them – because freewill is involved.  
 
WALKING IN THE TRUTH OF PROSPERITY
 
So notice what the first thing is that we are told that God desires – prosperity in all things.
 
What an awesome truth! God’s will is that we prosper in all things! Not just in some things; God wants us to prosper in everything! This leaves nothing uncovered! The word “prosper” literally means to be successful, to thrive, and to flourish. So, God wants us to be successful, to thrive, and to flourish in every area of our lives! Praise the Lord, our success, growth, and prosperity is God’s will, and He wants us to prosper in every aspect of our life.
 
Did you know God wants you to be successful in your career? He is not just concerned with what we consider to be the “spiritual things.” He wants you to be successful and to prosper in your business, and this happens as you seek first the kingdom of God in your secular job (i.e. as you practice godly principles and make your career’s aim to glorify God and be a blessing to others). He wants you to prosper in your vocation!
 
Did you know that God wants you to thrive in the arena of relationships? He wants you to have such a wonderful relationship with your spouse or significant other that you are in awe of the goodness and graciousness of God! He wants you to have such wonderful friends that add to you and that you can truly trust! He wants you to prosper in all of your relationships!
 
Did you know that God wants you to flourish in your finances? He does not want you struggling to make ends meet and living paycheck to paycheck! He wants you to have more than enough so that you can fulfill the blessing of Abraham that is on your life, which is being blessed, so that you can be a blessing! He wants you to prosper monetarily!
 
You see, being able to be a blessing to others is one of the main reasons God wants you to prosper in every area of your life. Sure, He wants you to be blessed simply because He loves you and wants the best for you, but He also wants you to thrive in every area so that you will not constantly be trying to fulfill yourself and can correctly put your focus on the needs of others. If you have needs that are unmet, that takes time and attention away from meeting the needs of others. God wants our cup to overflow so that we can share with others! Thanks be unto God!
 
WALKING IN THE TRUTH OF HEALTH
 
Then notice what else the Holy Spirit told us that God desires for us in this verse: Not only does God want us to prosper in every area of our lives, but He also wants us to “be in health.”
 
This verse alone should dispel the popular Christian doctrine that sometimes God sends sickness into our lives to teach us something. No, God’s will is that we are healthy, not sick. To live in sickness, disease, and infirmity is no more God’s will for our lives than for us to live in sin, transgression, and iniquity! And this is exactly what you see in Jesus’ ministry, which was a perfect reflection of God’s will (See John 14:7&9 and Hebrews 1:3)!
 
Acts 10:38 says that Jesus went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil! Why did He go about only doing good and healing everyone who responded to Him in faith? It was because this was (and always will be) God’s will!
 
But as great as healing is, I want you to notice that Third John 2 does not say that God wants us to prosper in all things and be “healed”; it says that God wills that we be in “health”! In other words, this verse tells us that God not only wills that we experience healing, but that we experience divine health. For example, God’s perfect will is for our bodies to be so charged with His resurrection power that when germs or viruses touch our bodies, they die immediately. His perfect plan for our lives is that everything from our eyesight, hearing, and overall health is strong and living well above the norm.
 
And this not only includes wholeness in our physical bodies but also health in our mind and emotions. The prophet Isaiah said that the chastisement needful to obtain our peace was laid upon Him. The Apostle Paul said that the Holy Spirit has been given to us so that we can have a “sound mind.” This describes a soul that is whole and not weak and sick. Jesus purchased not only wholeness in our bodies, but also wholeness in our mind, will, and emotions! He wants us sharp and strong in our soul too. Thank you, Jesus! 
 
WALKING IN THE TRUTH OF SPIRITUAL GROWTH
 
So, God evidently has a greater vision for our lives than we do for ourselves. He wants us to be successful, to thrive, and to flourish in every area of life—which includes prospering financially, relationally, and vocationally! Not only that, but He also wants us to be whole and strong in every area of our bodies as well—which includes being healthy physically, healthy mentally, and healthy emotionally!
 
Someone then might say, “Trey, if this is truly God’s will for everyone’s life, then why do we see so little of it fulfilled in our lives?” That is a good question; I’m glad you asked …
 
As we’ve already learned, our free-will is the big reason, but I want to offer you one more reason that we find in this very verse. Third John 2 ends by saying that God wants you to prosper in all things and be in health “just as your soul prospers.”  
 
Now the two words “just as” are extremely important because they show us how God’s will of prosperity and health is going to come to pass in our lives… These two words literally mean “according to”, or better yet “in proportion to.” So, what the Holy Spirit was saying was that our prosperity and our health is “in proportion” to our soul prospering. In other words, our prosperity outwardly is in proportion to our prosperity inwardly!
 
This is the truth God wants His children walking in, saints! And it’s the truth that He rejoices in—when His kids are prospering on all fronts, when they are healthy, and when they are growing up spiritually. He gets no joy out of us walking in injustice & unrighteousness – meaning, He never takes pleasure when we are not experiencing Third John 2. No, in His love, God wishes His best on us, and He rejoices when His best is experienced. Amen.

IMITATORS OF LOVE
PART 11 – THINK NO EVIL   
 
 
 
REVIEW
 
So this week, I want to pick back up on our current study entitled “Imitators of Love” where we are learning about God’s loving nature. We have based this on the apostle Paul’s instructions of imitating God as dear children from Ephesians 5:1, where we see the high calling of every believer—to be like God.
 
But what we are doing is looking at verses that teach us how we ought to be loving one another with the understanding that these instructions/commandments must be the same way that God loves us.  
 
So, several weeks ago, we started looking at what I consider to be the best section of Scriptures that teaches us about the characteristics of love – the great love chapter, First Corinthians chapter 13. And we started doing this with the understanding that since God is love, all of these things the apostle Paul teaches us that love does, describe to us God’s loving characteristics.
 
First Corinthians 13:4-8 teaches us how “love suffers long and is kind. (how) love does not envy; (how) love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; (how it) does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; (how it) does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; (yes, how love) bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
 
So we have been going through this list of the characteristics of love each week and what we have learned so far is …
 

• God suffers long – We saw how the apostle Paul starts off with the fruit of the Spirit, longsuffering, and how this is one of the chief characteristics of the love of God. So we saw how the Scriptures teach us of God’s divine longsuffering—from how He waited in the days of Noah when He judged the world by water to how He is waiting in this hour when He will judge the world by fire. The reason why it seems to be so long before the Lord brings His judgment is not because He drags His feet, but because He suffers long, not willing that any should perish, but that all would come to everlasting life. God suffers long!
• God is kind – Then we saw how God is not just patient; He’s also kind while doing it. And we learned how kindness (like longsuffering) is also a fruit of the Spirit, meaning that it is also fruit of God’s nature. Yes, there are a myriad of Scriptures that show us how God is kind - how everything from the giving of Jesus to so many other things He gives us throughout our life. God is kind!
• God does not envy – Then we started the section here where Paul begins teaching what God (i.e. love) is not. And he begins by saying that love does not envy. So, we learned that God does not desire to deprive someone else of something they have like envy does. Rather, He desires to give—because there is no bigger giver than our God. God does not envy!
• God does not parade Himself – This is certainly true of our God, amen? He does everything but “parade Himself” before His creation. In fact, He is the exact opposite. He purposefully does not put Himself on display when by all accounts, if anyone was worthy of doing so, it would be Him. But no, God has not made it a practice of His to reveal His glory to the world. In fact, very few have ever gotten a glimpse of just how beautiful He is. But we saw how this phrase literally describes bragging or boasting of oneself. No, love for others doesn’t brag about itself. Sure, love for itself will brag about itself, but the truth we need to understand is that we will brag about whoever we love. So this is what God does! In His love for us, He seeks to celebrate us and not Himself. God does not parade Himself!
• God is not puffed up – We saw how this next description of what love is, is very similar to love not “parading itself.” We learned how this phrase literally describes being “inflated, blown up, or caused to swell up.” Of course, Paul is talking about being full of pride here. So God is not full of Himself. No, while He certainly is all that and a bag of chips, even He chooses to rely on others that He loves to do things. The perfect example of this is how He has chosen us, His church, to be His hands & feet here on the earth. And I’ve been one to always talk about how much faith God has to entrust His body to accomplish His kingdom purposes, but I think it is also a reflection of His love too. Yes, in His love, He trusts His church to do what is right. That is awesome! God is not puffed up!
• God does not behave rudely – We learned that this phrase describes acting unbecomingly or behaving inappropriately. But we made the point that things that I might consider to be inappropriate, you might not be bothered by and things that you might consider to be unbecoming, I might be okay with. So, who’s to say what is truly behaving “rudely” and what isn’t? Well, we saw that the answer is love! Just ask yourself the question—What would love do? So we saw how God does not behave rudely either – meaning, He doesn’t force Himself on us. He desires a people who will see His value and seek after Him. In fact, He does the opposite—in His honor, He gives preference to us! And we saw how the Holy Spirit is a great example from the Godhead of how God operates this way: The Holy Spirit is honorable and a gentleman. Therefore, He is not going to force Himself on us and make us do something we don’t want to do. No, He doesn’t force His will on us. He doesn’t cram what He wants for us and from us down our throats. No, He let’s us choose what we want and how much we want. God does not behave rudely!
• God does not seek His own – We looked at some other translations of this phrase and learned that it describes being selfish (NCV) or self-seeking (NIV). The ESV says, “(love) does not insist on its own way.” I said how I particularly like the Message Bible: It says that love “isn’t always ‘me first’.” So what we saw in all of these translations is that love is not self-centered. And this is one of those things that we need to understand about God too—that He is not seeking His own. Yes, everything God tells us to do is because He is seeking our own and not His own. Everything from the praise He demands of us to the giving He expects from us. It’s all done in love. We saw how it’s like parenting—most of what parents who truly love their children tell them to do is not to benefit themselves. No, a good parent will give instructions and commandments to their kids because it’s what’s best for them. We don’t make our kids go to bed at a certain time, brush their teeth, or behave in certain ways because we are seeking our own. Church, everything God does is done in love. This means that with everything we read in the Bible and with everything we experience in our lives, we can be settled in the truth that God is seeking what’s best for mankind. God does not seek His own!
• God is not provoked – Now the last thing that we covered is how love is not provoked. We started by looking at some other translations and learned that this means that love is not “easily angered, irritable, quick-tempered or easily annoyed.” And we learned that the reason this is true is because all of these things are self-centered. Yes, all of these feelings in me are associated with how the other person is making me feel. So how can it be love for others if I am focused on how what someone else is doing is making me feel? No, love does the exact opposite. It’s not worried as much about how it feels as it is about the other person. In other words, love will be more sensitive to the other person than it is to its own feelings. So we then looked at the Amplified Bible which brings out something interesting about this phrase— It says, “love is not provoked [nor overly sensitive or easily angered]” We saw how this being overly sensitive seems to be a little more of the issue—for it is the root of one being easily angered, annoyed, quick-tempered, and irritable. Yes, even though we all can struggle with this, some are definitely a little more sensitive than others and can tend to get a little more easily irritated than others. So we asked the question— Why am I so sensitive? Why do I fly off the rails so easily when people do or say certain things? What is it in me that causes me to get irritated with things that the average person might not be annoyed by? And we got into some things that I call “soul bruises” and how to let those bruises heal. But again, we need to realize that God is not easily provoked either, meaning He is not touchy or easily angered. Of course, this does not mean that God doesn’t have limits. The Scriptures do teach us how God’s people have “provoked” Him to anger. And while I certainly believe that the Cross has made a big difference in how God responds to His people’s shortcomings & failures, the fact is, love does have limits and just because it is extremely longsuffering & patient doesn’t mean that one can never reach that last straw. However, God’s heart has and always will be one that is not easily angered, irritated, or annoyed. Many believe otherwise, however. I’ve run into many Christians who always seem to think that they are irritating God. They will bring up their constant shortcomings and how they fall short of His glory and seem to believe that God is simply exasperated with them. Nothing could be farther than the truth! No, as we learned in James 1:5, even in our requests for wisdom from Him, He gives “liberally and without reproach”—meaning, He simply & openly will give it and not revile you for it. Why? Because God is not provoked.

 
LOVE THINKS NO EVIL
 
Now, let’s move on to the next thing we see the apostle Paul address about love. At the end of verse 5, He says that love “thinks no evil.”
 
Now a good question would be – how is this even possible? How is one able to “think NO evil”? For example, we read in the Bible more than once that Jesus rebuked the religious leaders for their “evil” ways, describing them with words like “liars, hypocrites,” and even “children of the devil." Well, that sounds like Jesus was certainly “thinking” some “evil” of these guys, right?
 
So how do we reconcile examples like this with the law of love that says we are not to even think evil of others much less call them out on their evil? Yes, how can we as Christians keep from thinking evil of others, especially when it is the Bible itself that talks about how evil exists in mankind? That seems contradictory. On top of that, I don’t think it is the Lord’s intention that we go around pretending that evil doesn't exist either.
 
No, this is where it is important that we understand how to look up the words the writer used in the original language, and also how to utilize other translations. In doing so, we can come to understand what was truly being conveyed here instead of letting whatever terminology our Bible uses determine our interpretation of it.
 
But before I get into what this phrase literally means, let’s consider a couple of things about the New King James Version’s translation of it:
 
You see, the fact that we are told that there is a certain way that love “thinks” is important—because, of course, dealing with our thought life and what is going on in our heart is something that is vital for our love walk.
 
So we’ve all heard of that old proverb principle in the world that says – “See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil.” Well, the Bible speaks of another element to this – “Think No Evil.” The reason being is because, as you are about to see, if love thinks no evil, then it’s going to be extremely difficult if not impossible for it to see, hear, or speak evil. 
 
The Bible teaches us in Proverbs 23:7 that as a man thinks in his heart so is he. So, if I’m thinking evil in my heart, then the Bible says that is what I will be. Plus, as the Lord Jesus taught us in His Sermon on the Mount, God views the things we allow in our hearts as being as bad as the actual transgression itself. Therefore, what is important is not just our outward behavior; it’s also what we are “thinking” in our heart. So “thinking” “evil” of others is certainly not something that love will do, because true love is genuine and not just interested in behaving in a loving way while having a heart full of evil thoughts. Amen?
 
Now if you know me, you know that one thing that I wholeheartedly ascribe to is dealing with our thought life. Statements like – “Where the mind goes the man will follow” and “The Battle is in the Mind” have been phrases I’ve uttered many times, and the reason is because I believe that this is what the Bible clearly teaches. Yes, I believe if we can control our thought life and only think on things that God says we are to think on, there is no devil in hell that can defeat us. Amen?
 
So when it comes to this statement that love thinks no evil, it makes sense because, if I can, first of all, control what I’m thinking in my mind, then I can control what gets into my heart. And if I can control what I’m thinking in my heart, then I can control my behavior.
 
Did you know that you cannot be tempted by what you don’t first think on? In Hebrews 11:15 we are taught this when we are told— “And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return.” What this verse is saying is that if one does call to mind something, then that’s when they have opportunity to go there. So what if they never thought about it? Well, by this verse, we understand that they won’t have the opportunity to do so. Thus, we have the truth that we cannot be tempted by what we don’t call to mind or think on. Amen.
 
So, if my mind is how I am tempted to do evil, then my mind must also be how I choose to love.
 
Let’s look at a verse where we see this played out. It’s found in Mark 12:30 where Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment of them all was, and of course we know His response. He said, “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment.”
 
So Jesus said that what God wants from us is our love, but He was more specific than that. He wanted us to love Him with all of four things:
 
1.Heart:
2.Soul:
3.Mind:
4.Strength:
 
But I think it’s interesting how Jesus equated “the mind” with everything else He mentioned. The mind is very important to God because He knows that it’s the battleground.
 
So my point is that if God wants us to love Him with all of our mind, then I’d say that one of the ways we do that is by loving others with all my mind. In other words, when I love others through thinking loving thoughts of them, then that’s a way I can fulfill this, the Greatest Commandment, for whatever I do to the least of these, I’ve done it unto Him. Amen?
 
KNOWING GOD’S THOUGHTS
 
So I obviously believe that dealing with our thought life is imperative, but do you know what I think we don’t talk enough about? It’s God’s thought life. What does He think on? What is His mind full of? I believe these are also important questions to answer. And why? It’s because if we come to understand how God thinks and what His mind is full of then we will know how we too ought to be thinking. 
 
Now there is a large contingent of Christians out there who think this is impossible. Yes, they think we cannot know what God is thinking because, after all, His thoughts are above our thoughts, right? Well, let’s look at the verse where this line of thinking comes from because I believe we can learn a little something about what the Lord was saying there …
 
Sure, the Lord did say in Isaiah 55:8-9, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” But what we need to understand is that the Lord was not saying that to His people because He didn’t want them to know His ways and thoughts. He had just said to let the wicked man forsake His ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts (See verse 7), so when He goes on to say in the next couple of verses what He did, it’s clear that the ones whose God’s thoughts are higher than are those who were choosing wickedness & unrighteousness. Therefore, it’s not necessarily true to say that God’s thoughts and ways are too high for everyone. No, for us who choose His ways and thoughts above our own, there is access to them.
 
We know this because of what Isaiah went on to say immediately following this— He then said, “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”
(Isaiah 55:10-11)
 
Notice how the Lord immediately describes how the natural things of rain & snow (that come from higher up in the heavens) come down to water the earth and give us the things we need. This, to me, illustrates how His higher thoughts & higher ways are not meant to be kept in the heavens above us. No, they are intended to be poured out on us for our benefit; not kept from us because we are beneath them. Amen?
 
And I just love how verse 11 goes on to describe how the Lord has chosen to pour out His ways & thoughts on mankind – It’s through His Word. This encompasses everything from His written Word to His prophetic Word.
 
But the main point we need to see here is that God’s thoughts & ways are not things we cannot know. No! God desires to pour out His mind on us, and He has done this through His Word. God’s thoughts are contained & can be known through His Word! Amen! 
 
So we CAN know what God is thinking. Yes, we can come to understand His mind. In fact, the apostle Paul, when quoting from Isaiah, said, “Who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But then he went on to say, “But we have the mind of Christ.” (See First Corinthians 2:16). He had just said earlier in this chapter that “eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” (See First Corinthians 2:9). But then in verse 10, he says, “But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit.”
 
So church, under this new and better covenant, we can certainly know the mind of the Lord through His Spirit. The Holy Spirit living within us is the key to comprehending God’s thoughts—for He is the mind of Christ that we have.  
 
WHAT GOD THINKS ON
 
So how does the Holy Spirit show us God’s thoughts? What does His Word reveal to us about what God is thinking on?
 
Well, when I consider this truth that God thinks on us, I’m immediately drawn to one of our most loved verses, Jeremiah 29:11. In this beloved verse of so many, we have God’s heart concerning the plans He has for us. It says, “For I know the thoughts I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
 
First of all, I want you to notice that God is actually thinking about you and I … Did you know this – that the Lord actually thinks about us? Glory to God! We tend to spend more time talking about our own thought life and how we are to keep our minds set on Him, but did you know that God practices what He preaches? For example, He told us to set our minds on things above, right? (See Colossians 3:2) Well, He also does this, but He sets His mind on things below! Praise the Lord!
 
Psalm 139:17-18 says, “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand …” Wow! Now that is a lot of thoughts! And when David wrote this, he was referring to just the thoughts that God thinks of him personally! Glory to Jesus! And did you know that since God is no respecter of persons, His thoughts are just that precious and innumerable about you too?
 
Now most Christians do not have a problem believing that God is constantly considering them; what they do have a hard time believing, however, is that those thoughts are good and positive thoughts. But again, what does Jeremiah 29:11 say that He thinks about us? “For I know the thoughts I think toward you… thoughts of good and not of evil, of peace, to give you a future and a hope.” My brothers and sisters, God is not thinking evil about you! He is focusing on the good in you! And why? Because He loves you a whole lot more than you can possibly imagine! You see, this fact that we are constantly on His mind reemphasizes to us a very important truth, and that is that He loves us …
 
The Lord makes it clear in this oft quoted verse that the thoughts He is thinking towards us are good thoughts, not evil.  They are thoughts of peace. In other words, He is not angry and focusing on all the bad things we do. If He were, He would be violating the very instructions He gave us in Philippians 4:8 when He, through the apostle Paul, told us to only think on positive things.  No, saints, God is thinking only good of you. He is a wonderful Heavenly Father that treasures you in His heart and only desires the best for you. Let that truth penetrate your heart today.
 
You know, when we fall in love, one characteristic of that love is our minds become filled with that other person. We think about them all the time when we are at the height of that love. And why are we thinking so much of that person? It is because they are in our heart! Saints, God actually holds us in His heart! He does not just tolerate us or make Himself “have to” think good things about us. No, He thinks good thoughts about us because we hold a special place in His heart! In other words, we are important to Him because you do not rent space in your heart to people or things that are not important to you. No, what is in your heart is what is valuable to you! Therefore, we must be extremely valuable to the Lord if His heart and mind are so inclined towards us! Amen!
 
LOVE KEEPS NO ACCOUNT OF WRONGS
 
But back to this phrase “(love) thinks no evil.”
 
While it’s obvious that the Lord does not think evil of us, as I said earlier, this phrase is a little misleading. Certainly the idea of the mind plays a part in this, but actually this word “thinks” is a poor translation. It comes from the Greek word logizomai which means to credit, count, or consider. It was an accounting term that could be translated “to calculate.” So this phrase would be better translated “(love) does not keep a record or account of evil & wrongs” and this is actually how most translations translate this phrase.
 
So this is a very helpful piece of information for our love walk: You see, if I ever say or think something to the effect of – “You do this all the time!”  or “This is the 3rd time you did that” – then I am not in love because why? Love isn’t counting. No, it’s not adding up and recounting all the times someone has done something.
 
But, as we learn from this that I am walking in love if I am not keeping count of others’ faults, this is also how God is towards us! He doesn’t keep a record of our faults! He doesn’t recall our mistakes! In fact, He is not even considering how many times you and I have missed it.
 
We have a lot of other Scriptures that substantiate this about God. Allow me to remind you of some of them. In fact, let me remind you of these verses by showing you how you and I should be reminding the enemy of these truths when he comes against our minds with his lies.
 
So the next time the enemy comes to you, trying to get you to “count & consider” your sins, do this. Say, “Mr. devil, since you are trying to get me to consider all of the bad things I have done, I want to take you to ‘accounting’ class and have you ‘add up’ the following:
 

1. God separates my transgressions from me as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12)
2. For as the heavens are high above the earth, that’s how great His mercy is toward me because I revere Him (Psalm 103:11)
3. As a father shows compassion on his kids, that’s how my Heavenly Father has compassion on me (Psalm 103:13)
4. Furthermore, it is written in Isaiah 43:25 – “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.”
5. In Hebrews (8:12 & 10:17), the Lord said, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”
6. And in Romans 4:7, I am told that “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.”

 
Is that enough? So it is written in the mouth of multiple witnesses that I am one of the blessed whose lawless deeds are forgiven, whose sins are covered—of which the Lord will remember no more. He chooses not to remember my sins and blots out my transgressions for His name’s sake.”
 
Church, this is what God thinks of you and I. His thoughts for us that outnumber the grains of sand on the seashore are good thoughts, not evil ones. This is how love thinks, counting the good, true, and lovely things of the ones it loves. God thinks no evil; only good. 

This week, it seemed good to me and to the Holy Spirit to take a little break in the series we’ve been on about God’s love and cover something that I believe the Spirit is saying to the church in this hour.
 
This was something I shared at Healing School on Thursday morning that spoke to a lot in attendance. But even before I shared it, during my preparation time that morning, the Lord bore witness with me that this was something He wanted me to share on Sunday morning as well.
 
So I say all this to say, take this as a Word from God for you this morning …
 
Let’s first look at John 14:27 and dig out some of its treasures: In this verse, Jesus said to His disciples, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
 
So, apparently, when Jesus ascended on high, not only did the Lord give us the Holy Spirit, the love of God, joy, His name, etc., but here Jesus tells us that He has left us peace by saying, “Peace I leave with you.”
 
Now this peace is not something that God hopefully will give us one day; this peace has already been left for us. In fact, this peace was apparently left on our front door 2,000-plus years ago because it was when Jesus was leaving the earth. But like it is when someone leaves us a package, it doesn’t do much good to call the person who left us the package and ask them would they please give us what they already left us. What would their reply be? Something like— “Uh, I told you I left it there for you. Didn’t you pick it up?” In other words, if they already “leaved” it, then it wouldn’t make much sense for us to ask for them to give it to us. So, if we persisted in trying to get them to give it to us when they said they already left it, then that would just indicate that we don’t believe what they said. Amen? No, I can assure you that Jesus has already left us this peace we desire. So, we first must simply believe that Jesus has already delivered it to us.
 
And this is not just any old peace that He left for us either. No, it is not some generic form of peace that Jesus has delivered to us. This is His very own “piece of peace!” That’s why He went on to say, “My peace I give to you.” Praise God! So, do you know what this means, church!?!? The peace that has been afforded us is the very same peace that He possessed in the midst of the storm that enabled Him to sleep peacefully in the boat (a story we are about to look at)! So, this is the quality of peace that He has left with us and freely given to us! Amen!
 
But the fact Jesus said in this phrase “My peace I give to you” shows us that this peace is not earned or to be worked for either. No, it is a gift of grace to us! Amen. Like we just learned, peace is a fruit of a spiritually-alive and Spirit-empowered life. So, just like the Lord has freely deposited all of these other eight fruit of the Spirit in our born-again, recreated spirit—which are the Lord’s very own attributes and characteristics—Jesus’ peace has been freely given to us as well. Glory to God!
 
Then Jesus went on to say, “not as the world gives do I give to you.” Now this has a couple of possible meanings—both of which have truths contained in them:
 
Number one, it can mean that Jesus does not give us His peace like the world would give it. In other words, He does not have a bunch of stipulations and conditions to receiving and walking in His peace like the world might “give” something. No, when the Lord gives something, He really gives it—for the gifts and callings of God are without repentance (Romans 11:29).
 
Number two, it can mean that this peace of Christ is not the same kind of peace that the world speaks of—which is a total absence of conflict, wars and fighting. No, Jesus left us the peace of God which, in the midst of conflicts and troubles, we can have a total quiet and tranquil state in our hearts! In other words, this peace is a peace within, not necessarily a peace without. So, like in the example of Jesus sleeping in the boat that we are about to look at, while there was certainly not a rest, quietness and calmness on the waters at that moment, there absolutely was a rest, quietness and calmness in Jesus in the midst of the storm! Amen!
 
So, this peace of Jesus which describes a state of rest, quietness, tranquility and calmness of soul is resident within us. Jesus not only left it with us, but freely gave it to us. So, it’s there—like that package that was once and for all delivered to your front doorstep. This is the first very key and vital step to seeing His peace work in our lives—knowing that it is already ours. Amen. 
 
But as Jesus went on to say in this verse, we must let it! That is why He went on to say, “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” So, the understood subject here is us. The ball is in our courts. We are the ones who decide whether or not we are going to let our hearts be troubled or not. We are the ones who decide whether we are going to let this peace that is resident within us operate or not. 
 
Now let’s go over to this example in the Scriptures I have alluded to already and learn more about these truths that peace is already living within us and how we need to let it rule in our hearts. Amen?  
 
 
 
 
REST IN THE STORM
 
I believe that in Mark 4:35-41, we have this concept of walking in Christ’s peace perfectly illustrated:
 
In verse 35, this story begins with the following words— “On the same day, when evening had come …”
 
Now the first thing we need to understand and be prepared for is that “evening” will come to all of us—that is, the dark time where it seems like we have no light, and that trials and tribulations surround us. In other words, we shouldn’t live under the delusion that if I do everything right or if God loves me, that I won’t have troubles in my life. We have an enemy, saints. And He is absolutely going to try and sink you every chance he gets, just like he did Jesus and His disciples here.
 
Jesus promised us this—that in the world, we will have tribulation (John 16:33). You could say it this way: in the sea, you are going to have winds and waves. It is just to be expected if you’re out on the water that you will experience these ups and downs. Likewise, it is to be expected—that as long as you and I are in this world, there will be the winds and waves of life that will try and affect our boat. But I love that Jesus did not just say, “In the world, you will have tribulation…” He went on to say, “…but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.” Amen! What that says to me is that even when these winds and waves of life come against us, we don’t have to let our joy sink because Jesus already walked on those troubled waters for us! Therefore, we can walk on them too! Amen and Glory!  
 
But notice how these troubled waters occurred “on the same day” that Jesus taught them all of these principles of the kingdom. Did you know that this is an established kingdom principle? Yes, we have multiple witnesses in the Scriptures that teach us that Satan comes immediately to steal the Word that was sown in our hearts (Mark 4:15). So, it seems apparent to me that Jesus was preparing them for this trial of their faith in the evening by teaching them all day how the kingdom works. And this is why we are learning these things as well, church—because we are going to have ample opportunity to lose our peace. In other words, just as sure as we are going to have daytime, we will have nighttime as well—and particularly as the Word of God’s kingdom is being sown in our hearts. Amen or Oh me.
 
Then the next thing we see is Jesus speaking a very powerful statement to His disciples. Yes, He spoke a Word that I’m sure was not properly heeded because His disciples did not fully perceive or understand who it was coming through. The Word made flesh Himself said, “Let us cross over to the other side!”
 
And like it is with us, we hear the Word and don’t truly realize that these Words are not just the words of men that hold no power; no, these Words are life-giving and able to empower those who yield to them. In other words, these words by Jesus here in verse 35 had power in them to cause this very thing to happen, no matter how much adversity would come. Amen!
 
Now the terminology here is important: Notice that Jesus did not say, “We are going to cross over to the other side” or “I am going to take you to the other side.” No, He said, “Let us cross over to the other side.” Why? Because it was not just up to Jesus whether they crossed over the troubled waters. His disciples had to “let” it happen. This signifies to us that we have a part to play in overcoming the obstacles of life while getting to the other side and also maintaining peace throughout the journey. 
 
Now I wanted to make this point because we need to understand that we need to cooperate with the Lord. And one major way that we do not cooperate is by allowing ourselves to fear, worry and be anxious.
 
LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED
 
In looking back over at John 14:27, we see again that after Jesus described leaving His peace with His disciples, that He said, “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
 
Now this statement by the Lord speaks volumes, so let me ask you a few questions:

1. Is it ever ok for us to let our hearts be troubled or afraid? (In other words, “Is it ok to ever allow our hearts to become filled with worry, anxiety or fear?”) No, it’s not! As we saw last week, we have many Scriptures that directly forbid us to worry, be anxious and to fear. In Colossians 3:15 we are told to “let” the peace of Christ rule in our hearts. So, it is clear that it is not acceptable in the eyes of the Lord, nor should be in ours as well, to ever let our hearts be troubled or afraid.
2. Can we keep our heart from being troubled and afraid? Evidently, we can—because the Master would have been unjust to tell us to do something that we are incapable of doing. Amen? And as we’ve also learned, with the Word of God to do a certain thing comes the enablement to do it. In other words, accepting and believing God’s Word contains supernatural ability to walk in that Word.  
3. What can you conclude if your heart is troubled and afraid? (In other words, “So if your heart is troubled, how did it get that way?”)  We let it get that way! In other words, the reason our hearts get filled with worry, fear and anxiety is because we did not keep it from happening. Now this should not condemn us, but rather liberate us in knowing that we have this key to the kingdom. It is in our control, and we are not at the whim of our situation or circumstances.   

 
Now do I always do this? Certainly not! But should I? Certainly! Why? Because Jesus said I can, and the Word tells me I should. My prayer is that the Lord would elevate our experiences to match His Word instead of us watering down His Word to match our experiences. Amen!
 
Now it is important to note here that Jesus is talking about our hearts here, not our heads. What do I mean by that? I mean, we will certainly have thoughts come into our heads, tempting us to worry. We will certainly have feelings and emotions try to rise up in our flesh, tempting us to panic and fear. But the key is in understanding that we don’t have to let those thoughts and feelings impact our hearts. Amen?
 
As you likely heard me say before, “You can’t keep a bird from flying around your head, but you can sure keep him from building a nest there.” Likewise, we can’t keep the thoughts and emotions from coming, but we can certainly keep them from taking root in our hearts. This is when we need to do exactly what Jesus said here and not let our hearts be troubled even if our heads are screaming troubling things.
 
So, Jesus essentially was telling His disciples the same thing in Mark chapter 4 when He said, “Let us cross over to the other side.” He didn’t say, “Let us go halfway and then drown” nor did He say, “Let us go as far as we can and hopefully without a storm hindering us.” No, the God of the universe—the Master of the winds and the waves—said the other side was where we are going, and “dagnabbit,” that’s where we are going! Amen? 
 
HOW STRESS AFFECTS US
 
Now in verse 37, we are told— “And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling.”
 
You know, I believe this is a great description of how fear, cares, worry, and anxiety affect us: These “windstorms” describe the circumstances we find ourselves in in life. They are the trials, tribulations, and “mountains” that we invariably find ourselves confronted with. And when those “great windstorms” arise in our lives, they seemingly come out of nowhere (i.e. the word “arose” denotes unexpectedly and out of nowhere). This might be that alarming bad report given to us by the doctor, our children, etc. And when this happens, these bad reports usually catch us off guard. This is when these “great windstorms” produce waves that beat into our boats. I would liken these “waves” to the emotions, fears, anxieties that come as a result of the adverse situations and circumstances going on in our life. And this is when the stress begins to affect us—for these worries and cares like to “beat into” our souls to where we are “filled” with those troubled waters. 
 
So, you see, that is what the devil strives to do—to bring adverse weather conditions that will cause pressures to continually crash into our soul, until hopefully our hearts are filled and drowned with those intoxicating cares. In other words, his goal is not just simply to bring trials, tribulations and persecutions against us; his goal is to then use the worry and fear to beat into our boat to where we are filled up with the stress from the circumstances. This, my friends, is when he can sink us—when the stress fills our hearts with the cares which come from circumstances.  
 
But the good news in this is that the “great windstorms” of life cannot sink us in and of themselves; it is the waves that we let crash into our boat that will sink us. Glory!   
 
So, if we combine these two truths (i.e. not letting our hearts become troubled or afraid and let us cross over to the other side), we come up with a truth that is worthy of all acceptance--if we let our heart become troubled, we can keep ourselves from getting to the other side. In other words, if we do not deal with the winds that are crashing into our boat and we become filled with the water from those waves, it is going to be all but impossible to cross over to the other side. 
 
JESUS IS IN THE BOAT!
 
But notice what Jesus was doing while all of this was going on: Verse 38 goes on to say, “But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow.” So, in the midst of this great windstorm and the water that was filling their boat, Jesus was just taking a nap! Amen!       
 
You see, this story illustrates our lives: The boat in this story describes our lives—and because Christ was in the boat in this story, we see a picture of the truth the apostle Paul gave us in Colossians 1:27— Christ is in us, the hope of glory. Yes, because Christ lives in our boat, we have a hope of glory of getting to the other side! Amen! So, Jesus is in our boat resting and because Christ has put His peace within us, we can have peace in Him! Therefore, we can just rest, praise God, because Jesus is resting in your boat!
 
But as we know, Jesus’ disciples were not at peace in the least bit. Even though Jesus was in the boat with them, they were stressed out to the max trying to keep the water from filling their boat. But if Jesus’ disciples would have just considered that Jesus was in the same predicament that they were in, don’t you think it would have changed their outlook?
 
First of all, did they really believe that Jesus did not care about their plight? After all, was He not in the boat with them? If they would have honestly considered it, they would have known that the Lord was not going to drown. No, the Word said that they were going to the other side. That was their seed! They were to let that Word be planted in their heart and then let it produce its own results even though they might not know how. They could (and should) have stood in the midst of that great windstorm and said, “No, we will not drown, and you will not keep us from our destination. The Lord said that we were going to the other side. So, you might as well calm down storm because we are going to the other side!”
 
But as we’ve seen, not only did they have the Word that they were to go to the other side; they also had the Lord in the boat with them. So, if for no other reason than that, they should have known they were not going to sink.
 
Likewise, we need to understand that Jesus is in the boat with us too! He lives within us! He is in our lives! Therefore, He has a stake in the game! He is not going to let us drown! He is going to make sure we cross over the windstorms of this world and get to our destination! Hallelujah!
 
But the main reason why Jesus’ disciples did not consider these things is because they obviously did not fully know who this man was yet. Sure, they had plenty of evidence that He was more than a man, but their hearts still were not persuaded of all that He was. We know this because down in verse 41, after Jesus took care of the storm, we are told that the disciples “feared exceedingly, and said to one another, ‘Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” 
 
And did you know that this is why we too get drowned in anxiety? It’s because our hearts are not completely impacted yet as to whom Jesus is in our lives. If we “knew” whom we have believed, we would be more persuaded that He is able to keep those cares we have committed to Him (Second Timothy 1:12).
 
On top of that, we are also drowned in cares because we don’t know who we are in Him—because in other accounts of His disciples being caught in the middle of a storm on the water, Jesus indicated that His disciples could have done the same thing in His name.
 
DO YOU NOT CARE?
 
Now let’s look at what happened next in verse 38: They awoke Jesus, saying to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” You see, they obviously expected Jesus to be consumed with the same “cares” that they were because, after all, this is a real and serious problem they were in, right? And how many times have we done this? In the midst of an alarming situation and it seeming like the Lord is asleep somewhere, have we ever cried out— “Lord, do you even care!?!”
 
While I certainly sympathize with those who have had these types of situations, having had some of them myself, the truth is, that is not the right question to ask. Of course, Jesus cares! He loves us so much and cares about our welfare in many ways more than you and I do about our own welfare. But the real question is not, “Does He care?”; the real question is— “Why are we caring?”
 
You see, we must remind ourselves in those times where it seems like the Lord is not present in our troubles, that He truly does care for us and that He knows what we are dealing with. And then, because we know He cares for us, we cast those cares upon Him (see First Peter 5:7). On top of that, if Jesus does not deem it important enough to fret about, then why do we? We must stay on His side in these things—His side of the boat. So, while we might want to know why the Lord is not caring like us, He wants to know why we are not resting like Him?  
 
PEACE, BE STILL!
 
And I just love what Jesus did in response to their question: Verse 39 says, “Then Jesus arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace be still!’ And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.” Amen!
 
So, what did Jesus do again? First, He rebuked the wind—which we likened that wind to the circumstances themselves. So, He rebuked the problem itself—and to “rebuke” something means “to correct, admonish, instruct, or charge authoritatively.” So, this means He set the source of the problem straight by “speaking to the mountain”—which was the wind that was causing all the problems on the water.
 
Then, we are told, that He “said to the sea.” Now we likened the sea that was beating against the boat and filling it with water to those fears and worries that impact us as a result of the circumstances. So now what we see is Jesus speaking to the sea, and we are told exactly what He spoke to it— “Peace, be still!” What did He say again? PEACE! In other words, we need to speak the peace of God over our mind, will and emotions when those unruly waves are trying to drown us with cares.
 
Now these words in this verse “Peace, be still” describe “to hold one’s speech, to be quiet, remain silent, & to muzzle.” So what Jesus was literally saying to the sea was, “SHUT UP!” And did you know this is exactly what you need to do with those thoughts and emotions that are beating against your heart and mind—tell them that you will have peace and for them to be quiet! The world will say you’re weird if you talk to yourself, but I think they’re weird!
 
QUIETING OUR SOULS
 
This is what I see as the Psalmist’s describing the “quieting our souls.”
 
Of course, we have a lot of Scriptures that refer to us as speaking to our own souls—telling ourselves what we are going to do. One of the most obvious ones is Psalm 103:1 when David says, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name.”
 
I feel sometimes we hear these Scriptures so many times that we get on autopilot and don’t really think about what they are saying. But in this verse, David was talking to his own soul! He was telling himself to praise the Lord! In fact, he wasn’t just talking to his soul; he addressed “all that was within him” to praise God’s holy name!
 
So, a good question is: Why would one ever have to tell their soul to praise God? It’s because there will ample opportunity in one’s life to either forget or not feel like praising God. And this is when we have to give ourselves a little self-talk, grabbing ourselves by the ear, and making ourselves bless the Lord at those times! Amen. 
 
But just like David told his soul to praise God, in Psalm 62:5, he also said, “Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him” (NIV). God’s Word translation says, “Wait calmly for God alone, my soul, because my hope comes from him.”
 
So here, David was telling his soul to settle down. Almost like the admonition of a child, he speaks to his soul and says, “Wait calmly.” Do you think the Bible might be trying to teach us something here? 
 
And I really like this next one David wrote: Psalm 131:1 says, “Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor my eyes lofty. Neither do I concern myself with great matters, nor with things too profound for me.”
 
And did you know that is all that worry is—it’s being concerned about things that we cannot control. This is why Jesus said in Matthew 6:27 that we cannot, through worry, change anything anyway, so why do it?
 
Now David is also saying here that his heart is not “proud” or his eyes “arrogant” in relation to not being concerned with these things. Did you know that it is an arrogant and proud thing for us to be anxious and worry? It is basically us saying (without saying it) that we are going to concern ourselves with these things rather than casting it over on the Lord, in humility, and letting Him perfect those concerns.  
 
Then in Psalm 131:2 David goes on to say, “Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with his mother.” God’s Word translation says, “Instead, I have kept my soul calm and quiet. My soul is content as a weaned child is content in its mother's arms.” Amen!
 
So, again, David seems to be describing his soul like a baby that needs to be trained to grow up. Like when a baby is weaned, it won’t like it initially and might pitch a fit, but it will eventually adapt and do what it needs to do. Likewise, our soul must be put in its place and not be allowed to dictate our lives. That would be no different than letting our children dictate what we do and when we do it. No, our spirit needs to rule the soul well just like the parents need to rule their homes well.   
 
CONCLUSION
 
So, here is the takeaway from today’s message: This peace has been left with us because the Prince of Peace Himself lives within us. And since we have the peace of Christ, we know the ability to walk in this peace is in our control. Therefore, it is up to us to not let our hearts be troubled and to not let them be afraid. And when we let this peace rule in our hearts, this is when we let ourselves get to the other side just like Jesus & His disciples. No, it is not the storms of life nor is it the winds & waves that can sink us; it is only the troubled waters that get in our boat that sinks us. So, the good news is, if we can keep the troubles around us from getting inside of us, they cannot sink us. Amen and amen!
 
So, we have learned that Jesus said we are going to get to the other side! So, no matter what the storm, winds and waves are telling us, we too can stand up in the midst of those troubled waters of life and say to our soul— “Peace be still!” and experience a great calm—that is, that perfect peace that passes all understanding! Hallelujah, and amen.

IMITATORS OF LOVE
PART 10 – WHY SO SENSITIVE?   
 
 
 
REVIEW
 
Our current study is one that I’ve entitled “Imitators of Love” where we are learning about the true nature of God. We have based this on the apostle Paul’s instructions of imitating God as dear children (See Ephesians 5:1), where we see the high calling of every believer—to be like God.
 
Now someone will invariably say, “Aw, that’s impossible! We cannot be like God!” Well, I’d remind this naysayer that they better inform God of that—because He has said in various places in the Bible things like be holy as He is holy, to be perfect even as He is perfect, and to be merciful as He is merciful. So there we have three witnesses that should establish this truth to us that our high calling is to be like God. Amen?
 
So the way we are doing this is by looking at verses that teach us how we ought to be treating one another. However, the way this works is that we understand how God will not give us a standard of loving one another that He isn’t willing to abide by Himself. Therefore, we can look at all of these verses that teach us how to love and know this is how God is with each of us.
 
So, a few weeks ago, we started looking at a great section of Scriptures that teaches us about the characteristics of love – the great love chapter, First Corinthians chapter 13. And we started doing this with the understanding that since God is love, all of these things the apostle Paul teaches us that love does, describe to us God’s characteristics.
 
First Corinthians 13:4-8 teaches us how “love suffers long and is kind. (how) love does not envy; (how) love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; (how it) does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; (how it) does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; (yes, how love) bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
 
So we have been going through this list of the characteristics of love each week and what we have learned so far is …
 

• God (i.e., Love) suffers long – We saw how the apostle Paul starts off with the fruit of the Spirit, longsuffering, and how this is one of the chief characteristics of love. So love is characterized by how patient it is with people—which should not be strange to us when we understand the root of our impatience with others, which is usually just us being self-centered. In other words, we don’t put up with a lot in others because our flesh is tired of dealing with it. So once it becomes something we aren’t wanting to deal with anymore, our flesh starts showing out. But what we learned was that this is not just talking about our longsuffering; this is divine longsuffering that we are talking about—meaning, it’s God’s ability to suffer long and be patient, which I can assure you is much “longer” than our own ability to suffer long. So we saw how the Scriptures teach us that God is longsuffering—from how He waited in the days of Noah when He judged the world by water to how He is waiting in this hour when He will judge the world by fire. The reason why it seems to be so long before the Lord brings His judgment is not because He drags His feet, but because He suffers long. God’s longsuffering is always on full display to us! God suffers long!
• God (i.e., Love) is kind – Then we saw how love is not just patient; it’s also kind while doing it. And we learned how kindness (like longsuffering) is also a fruit of the Spirit, meaning that it is also fruit of God’s nature. Yes, all nine of these fruit of the Spirit are who our God is. And like we say God is good, we can also say that God is kind. Yes, there are a myriad of Scriptures that show us how God is kind - in everything from the giving of Jesus to so many other things He gives us throughout our life. Church, I’ll tell you—there is no one quite as kind as our one of a “kind” God. And He wants us to consider this kindness aspect of Him—for far too many of us have only considered the severe side of Him. But the truth is that there is a kind, gentle, and good side of God that He wants to reveal to us! God is kind!
• God (i.e., Love) does not envy – Then we started a section here where Paul begins teaching what love is not. And he begins by saying that love does not envy. We learned that envy is much more subtle than most think, and because it is emphasized so much in the Scriptures, that proves to us that it is more of a problem than most would like to admit. But at the same time, we learned that God does not desire to deprive someone else of something they have. Rather, He desires to give—because there is no bigger giver than our God. However, we ended on more of a sober note last week—that while God certainly does not envy, He is a jealous God. This means that like a spouse who loves his or her mate, God desires to have all of His bride’s heart and possess us totally for Himself. No, not in a selfish way like mankind tends to do it, but in a healthy, loving way. Church, in His great love for us, God desires us—so much so, that He is unwilling to share His Bride with anything or anyone else.
• God (i.e., Love) does not parade itself – We saw how this is certainly true of our God. He does everything but “parade Himself” before His creation. In fact, He is the exact opposite. He purposefully does not put Himself on display when by all accounts, if anyone was worthy of doing so, it would be Him. But no, God has not made it a practice of His to reveal His glory to the world. In fact, very few have ever gotten a glimpse of just how beautiful He is. But we learned how the majority of His creation do the exact opposite. Yes, most people live their entire lives “parading” themselves—that is, promoting themselves and proudly displaying all their talents, knowledge, beauty, etc. for others to see. But we saw how this phrase literally describes bragging or boasting of oneself. No, love for others doesn’t brag about itself. Sure, love for itself will brag about itself, but the truth we need to understand is that we will brag about whoever we love. So this is what love does. It doesn’t “parade” itself. Love seeks to celebrate others and not itself.
• God (i.e., Love) is not puffed up – We saw how this next description of what love is, is very similar to love not “parading itself.” We learned how this phrase literally describes being “inflated, blown up, or caused to swell up.” Of course, Paul is talking about being full of pride here. But considering the terminology here, if pride is being “inflated or blown up,” what do you suppose this person is inflated with? Themselves! Yes, they are full of themselves as we like to say it. Of course, this will make a person completely selfish & self-centered, but it does more than just that. It will cause a person to be wise in their own opinion, to think they know more than everyone else, to trust in their own abilities, to take matters into their own hands, etc. I could go on and on. But what I want you to understand today is that someone who is “puffed up” is not just arrogant and haughty; they can also be self-sufficient and self-reliant. The bottom line is that this pride can take on many faces and it’s not just the traditional view of pride that’s glaringly obvious. In fact, I could have a lot of pride and appear to others like I’m very humble.
• God (i.e. Love) does not behave rudely – We learned that this describes acting unbecomingly or behaving inappropriately—which obviously means to do things that are unsuitable, tasteless, or just plain flat out ugly. But we made the point that things that I might consider to be tasteless, you might not be bothered by and things that you might consider to be unbecoming, I might be okay with. So, who and what is it that determines what is unbecoming and unsuitable? Well, the obvious answer to that question is—God. He is the One who determines what is truly “rude” and what isn’t. So if we can find in the Scriptures where God specifically labels something as “inappropriate,” then that is something we need to all avoid doing. End of story. But we saw that when it comes to things that the Bible is not that specific about, even our interpretation of what God seems to think is unsuitable is sometimes skewed by our own upbringing, things religion has taught us, and even our own personal preferences. So who’s to say what is truly behaving “rudely” and what isn’t? Well, we saw that the answer is love! Just ask yourself the question—What would love do? We learned that the apostle Paul lived by this mantra where he was willing to live differently around others who might have had different standards than he did. And why? Because of what he called “the law of Christ”—which we know to be the law of love. And do you know what doing this essentially is? It’s honoring others. In fact, what it seems Paul had in mind here is to treat others with respect and in the right way. So yes, that certainly involves not being rude, but I like the NIV’s choice of words best. It says that love does not “dishonor” others. You see, in Romans 12:10, Paul instructs this body of believers to put others first by saying, “In honor, giving preference to one another.” So, if I am honoring others, I will be giving preference to them. That means I will let them lead and let them choose, I will proudly put them before myself and give them precedence, preferring them. However, if I am only honoring myself, I will be giving preference to myself. And what that will look like is me trying to be first, getting everything I want, talking about myself all the time, etc. So we saw how God does not behave rudely either – meaning, He doesn’t force Himself on us. He desires a people who will see His value and seek after Him. In fact, He does the opposite—in His honor, He gives preference to us! And we saw how the Holy Spirit is a great example from the Godhead of how God operates this way: The Holy Spirit is honorable and a gentleman. Therefore, He is not going to force Himself on us and make us do something we don’t want to do. Evil spirits possess people. They are the ones who make people do things they don’t want to do. Yes, they drive, force, and manipulate the people and things they live in. But the Holy Spirit operates like a dove—gently and graciously. He leads and guides us in an unassuming way—inspiring us, yet not driving us. In His great love for us, God gives us a free will. He doesn’t force His will on us. He doesn’t cram what He wants for us and from us down our throats. No, He let’s us choose what we want and how much we want. Of course, there are repercussions to our foolish choices, but even then, God does not make us choose anything. Love let’s the objects of its love decide. Amen.
• God (i.e. Love) does not seek its own – We looked at some other translations of this phrase and learned that it describes being selfish (NCV) or self-seeking (NIV). The ESV says, “(love) does not insist on its own way.” I particularly like the Message Bible: It says that love “isn’t always ‘me first’.” So what we saw in all of these translations is that love is not self-centered. It is not primarily concerned with getting its own way, seeking what benefits it, or always trying to get its own personal needs and desires fulfilled. And this should be self-explanatory about love, right? By no means will love focus on itself above others. So, what understanding this has done for me, is it has helped me to filter through my feelings at times, and thereby caused me to adjust my attitude. What do I mean by that? Well, at is has been with all of us, there have been times in my life where I’ve had feelings arise in my heart because of what others are not doing for me. Like, for example, say I’m going through a tough patch and during this hard time, no one calls me, no one checks on me, and no one seems to care (again) about me. And when this happens, guess what feelings arise. I’ve been tempted to be hurt and get offended. So how this has helped me during these times is that immediately (say immediately) when those thoughts have come to me that are focused on what others should be doing to me and for me, I remember that love does not seek its own, and cast down those imaginations and bring every one of those thoughts into captivity to the obedience of love. Why? Because love is the better way, and anytime I allow myself to stray from the love of God, I know I am headed down the wrong path that will ultimately lead me away from His life. Amen? And this is one of those things that we need to understand about God too—that He is not seeking His own. Yes, everything God tells us to do is because He is seeking our own and not His own. Everything from the praise He demands of us to the giving He expects from us. It’s all done in love. We saw how it’s like parenting—most of what parents who truly love their children tell them to do is not to benefit themselves. No, a good parent will give instructions and commandments to their kids because it’s what’s best for them. We don’t make our kids go to bed at a certain time, brush their teeth, or behave in certain ways because we are seeking our own. No, a loving parent will have their kids do these things because they ultimately want what’s best for their children. Church, everything God does is done in love—for He is love. This means that with everything we read in the Bible and with everything we experience in our lives, we can be settled in the truth that God is seeking what’s best for mankind. Yes, God seeks not His own, but He does seek our own.

 
LOVE IS NOT PROVOKED
 
Now the next thing that Paul says that love is not in First Corinthians 13:5 is “(love) is not provoked.”
 
So in my practice of looking at various translations, I see a common theme with this term “provoked.” A lot of translations describe this as love not being “easily angered” or “irritable.” A couple of other translations say that it is not “quick-tempered” or “easily annoyed.”
 
Do you know anyone like that? Is there someone you are friends with, related to, work with, or are married to that is like this? Of course, I ask this because the Lord would certainly lead Pastor Trey to talk to us about this to a group of people who are simply associated with others who struggle with this 😉.
 
Of course, I jest. The Lord wouldn’t lead us to talk about this for those who aren’t here. No, He will lead HPC into this because our church will have people who struggle with this very thing. Amen?
 
But the fact is, everyone struggles with this—some more than others. So not only will we in these pews have our own problems with this, but we will run with others who struggle with it as well. Yes, every person has the capacity to be easily irritated or annoyed, quick-tempered.      
 
But this point ought to be clear to us—Simply put, Paul was saying that love isn’t this way. No, love is not easily annoyed or angered. It’s not going to be quick-tempered or irritable because that is not what love does.  
 
Do you know why this is true? It’s because everything from being annoyed, irritated, and quick tempered are all self-centered. The reason being is because all of these feelings in me are associated with how the other person is making me feel. So how can it be love for others if I am focused on how what someone else is doing is making me feel? That would fall more under the arena of love for myself than love for others, right?  
 
I mean, just listen to our terminology when we are feeling this way— “They annoy me ... I am so irritated ... I’m so angry right now …” Oftentimes, you can find this ugly self-centeredness simply in our usage of these personal pronouns. Yes, if there are a lot of I’s, me’s, my’s, etc. in my conversations, then there might just be too much of “me” in those conversations.  
 
But, yes, my point is that love isn’t going to be irritable, easily annoyed, or “provokable.” Why? Because love is not focused on itself and how what the other person is doing is making them feel. Love does the exact opposite. It’s not worried as much about how it feels as it is about the other person. In other words, love will be more sensitive to the other person than it is to its own feelings.
 
WHY SO SENSITIVE?
 
Along those lines, I like something that the Amplified Bible brings out about this phrase in First Corinthians 13:5— It says, “love is not provoked [nor overly sensitive or easily angered]”
 
This being overly sensitive seems to be a little more of the issue, doesn’t it? For it is the root of one being easily angered, annoyed, quick-tempered, and irritable, right? Yes, even though we all can struggle with this, some are definitely a little more sensitive than others and can tend to get a little more easily irritated than others.   
 
So if this is me, some good questions would be— Why am I so sensitive? Why do I fly off the rails so easily when people do or say certain things? What is it in me that causes me to get irritated with things that the average person might not be annoyed by?
                    
Well, again, the first thing we need to understand is that the simple answer to these questions based on the verse we are covering is— It’s because we are not walking in love in those times. I say this because Paul clearly said here that love is not provoked.
 
So what this means is that in the times I am getting annoyed, irritated, or angered by what someone else is doing / saying, it’s because I am only thinking about myself and not thinking about them. In other words, I am being consumed with how what they are doing / saying is making me feel instead of what might be going on with that other person. So the real culprit here is love of ourselves and not love for the other person. Amen or Oh me?
 
But the good news in this is that love is something that we can all choose over self at any given moment. For example, I can be a person who totally struggles with being easily “provoked” and is completely self-centered on multiple levels, but then walk by a house one day that’s on fire and hear a child screaming for help from inside, and then throw all thoughts of myself out the window (no pun intended) and put myself in harm’s way to run into that house to rescue that child. Guess what I just did? I chose love over self.
 
So making the right decisions that are based on love is not rocket science. You don’t always have to get fixed to do the right thing. I can choose a life of love because God said I can.
 
However, there are certainly reasons why some of us seemingly are more sensitive than others. And that’s what I would like to deal with today—Why so sensitive?   
 
So why? Why are some of us a little more sensitive in these areas? 
 
I have come to discover that just as our physical bodies can be bruised, our souls can carry bruises as well. And don’t we know just how sensitive those physical bruises can be? For instance, if you had a big bruise on your arm from some accident and I came up to you today and squeezed you in that place, you’d feel it, wouldn’t you? And you also might have some kind of reaction like pushing me away, slapping my hand, or getting angry with me.
 
Well, that’s what happens all the time with so many of us. No, I’m not talking physically; I’m referring to the soul. Some of our souls are covered in bruises from where someone else hurt us or from where a circumstance/situation wounded us. And this is exactly why some of us are more sensitive to certain things others do or say. Now our flesh would like to tell us— “Oh no, it’s them, Pastor. It’s what they are doing/saying that’s the problem.” No, it’s not. And I’ll prove it to you: Does everything anyone does or says “provoke” the same response from others? No, it doesn’t. For example, if a person treats you and I in a certain way, it might totally be no big deal to you and absolutely offend me. So the point is that the same action can generate two different responses—proving that it’s not just what the other person does/says; it’s how we view their action, what our expectations on people are, what we are sensitive to, etc. That’s ultimately what determines our emotional response. 
 
You know, a great example of this is how a baby or little children act. An example would be if we had a youngster start crying during one of our services. That baby’s cry might irritate the snot out of some of you, getting you thinking— “I wish the parents would just shut them up!” But to others, they might be thinking— “Aww, what a sweet baby. He’s probably hungry.” So the same baby’s cry might generate completely opposite reactions—one being an irritated attitude and the other being a compassionate attitude. And why? Because of the way we are thinking and where our focus is.
 
HEALING THE BRUISES
 
So let me quickly give you a couple of ways that I have learned of how to let those bruises heal:
 
Well, my first key goes along the lines of how we let bruises heal in the natural— If I am one of those accident prone people who seems to compile injuries, then I might keep reaggravating that bruise, right? In other words, a person who tends towards having the same accidents over and over might continue to reinjure themselves because they keep putting themselves in the position to get hurt.
 
We’ve seen this before, haven’t we? Some people seem to just be drawn to getting into relationships with people who aren’t good for them. So they keep putting themselves in the position to continue getting hurt.
 
I think sometimes we need to realize that we might be drawn to the wrong people because of certain heart issues, and this is compiling the problem. The key is just being honest with ourselves and simply looking at our history. Amen?  
 
Also, if I’m one of those that keeps touching the bruise, pushing on it and poking it myself, it’s going to have a harder time healing, isn’t it? So this might describe the person who likes to pet their bruise—meaning, it’s their identity and they talk about it constantly. Friends, while there is certainly a place for talking about the problem that obviously exists in working through it, this can also be something we give too much attention to, which can work against us instead of helping the issue.
 
I’m reminded of the story in Nehemiah where, in the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, the people heard the words of the Law. This saddened the people, and they began to mourn and weep—to which Nehemiah responded to the people that this was not the time to mourn over their past failures and what had gotten them to this position of even having to rebuild these walls.   
 
So what all of this means is that, while  the Israelites were naturally tempted to look at their past and all of the things that went wrong, this was not the time & place to focus on that. So Nehemiah told them in Nehemiah 8:10 – “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
 
So the lesson in this story is that while there is a day where we might need to address the failures & hurts of the past, that’s not every day. There are days that are holy to the Lord and on those, we need rejoice in what God is doing in us today.
 
I’ve had the Lord specifically minister this to me during a time where my natural tendency to look at the negative needed some correction:
 
I used to be consumed with my failures & shortcomings. So one time, as I was asking the Lord when He was going to help me get free of my current issues, He reminded me of how far He had brought me in such a short period of time. This was a perspective change for me. I had never considered that it actually might be a healthy thing for me to relax and rejoice in how far I had come. To me, that was irresponsible. But the Lord knew I needed to chill out and not continue to be hyper-focused on the negative.
 
Church, I believe in order for some of us to grow past the place we are at, we need to change the channel and learn how to rejoice in some things. For example, it might be that you or I need to focus on the growth that has taken place in someone in our life instead of continuing to focus on what’s left to change in them. Hey, that might actually help the relationship. 
 
So we just need to simply use some wisdom of what our tendencies are to enter wrong relationships and choose more wisely and/or let the Lord show us how to direct our attention to more constructive things. These are just a couple of wise things that one can do to receive the healing the Lord has for us.
 
GOD IS NOT TOUCHY
 
But one thing that I believe is tremendously helpful to do that always works in seeing ourselves healed from the soul bruises of the past is to do exactly what you have heard over and over in this series – We need to see God! We need to understand how He is exactly what we desire to be.
 
Yes, if I want to forgive better, I need to see the Lord’s forgiveness. If I want to be more merciful, I need to behold His mercy. And in this case, if I want to not be so easily provoked and become less sensitive, I need to capture in my heart how He is not easily provoked.
 
So now for how our God is like this: One amazing thing about God is that He is not easily provoked. No, He is not easily irritable or quick-tempered.
 
Now let me say, first of all, that this does not mean that God does not have limits. The Scriptures do teach us how God’s people have “provoked” Him to anger. And while I certainly believe that the Cross has made a big difference in how God responds to His people’s shortcomings & failures, the fact is, love does have limits and just because it is extremely longsuffering & patient doesn’t mean that one can never reach that last straw.
 
This needs to be said because there are many in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ today who have done exactly what the apostle Paul warned us about where he said to not despise the riches of His goodness, longsuffering, and forbearance by not letting His grace turn us towards repentance. An utter lack of repentance is a dangerous place to be, church. So we don’t want to tread on that ground.
 
But for those of us who do desire to change and imitate God in all that we do, think, or say, there is certainly more than enough love & grace to make it downright difficult to provoke God the way that many of His chosen people have over time.   
 
God’s heart has and always will be one that is not easily angered, irritated, or annoyed. Many believe otherwise, however. I’ve run into many Christians who always seem to think that they are irritating God. They will bring up their constant shortcomings and how they fall short of His glory and seem to believe that God is simply exasperated with them. Nothing could be farther than the truth!
 
Again, many think this for a couple of reasons:
 
One is that they mistakenly put God in the same category with us. Meaning, because we have such short fuses and tend towards getting irritated with other people so easily, God must be the same. And I’m here to tell you today that He is not like you and I. Thank God! The fact is, we are carnal most of the time, and in our selfishness, we do not have much patience with other’s faults. But God is not selfish; He is spiritual. And as a spiritual being who is the embodiment of the fruit of the Spirit, He is most certainly nowhere close to our short-tempered, impatient, and easily-angered nature.
 
The other reason why a large contingent of Christians see God as being easily provoked is because they have a perverted view of Him. Meaning, they have become so hyper-focused on Old Testament examples of God becoming exasperated with the children of Israel and how He demonstrated His anger time and time again, that this is who they see God is. But what these have failed to do is consider how Jesus came to show us the heart of God—how He is truly the only way to see the true nature of God. So having only that Old Testament view of God engrained in them, they have never come to consider the kindness side of God in addition to the severe side.    
 
But there is a good & loving side of God that truly represents His nature. In other words, God will be who He needs to be. But love & goodness is who He desires to be. Never forget that.
 
So when it comes to this truth that love is not provoked, we need to realize that God’s core nature is to not be easily angered. But this goes beyond the judgment of sin. Some Christians have a hard time with the simplest of things.
 
For example, they feel they are bothering God or that they can anger Him by asking for certain things or by asking for too many things at once. But again, this is according to our own experiences, and we are basing this on how we would be. Again, God is not like us- thank God! He is not easily irritated or angered. He is far more patient and kind than we could possibly imagine! No, He doesn’t carry a chip on His shoulder or get irritated easily. We do not have to worry about God waking up on the wrong side of the bed, so to speak. He is not touchy, grumpy, or even in a bad mood. He loves to hear from you! He is honored that we turn to Him with our every need! This is who our God is.
 
LIBERALLY AND WITHOUT REPROACH
 
A good example of this is found in James 1:5:
 
This verse describes how if any person lacks wisdom, he or she needs to simply ask God for that wisdom—because He is always willing to give that wisdom “liberally and without reproach.”
 
Now the context concerns the various trials we find ourselves in. And sometimes those trials provide a lot of questions such as “Why did this happen to me?” or “How do I get out of this?” No matter the question, we always need wisdom from God when we fall into these various trials. So what are we to do? Ask of God!
 
While the Greek word used for “ask” here does simply describe a petition; it also denotes to “desire, crave and to beg.” So, the kind of asking that is being described here is a wholehearted kind of petition, not just some passing, flippant request that is half-hearted. This is important.
                             
But notice that James said that we are to ask of God. The word that is used for “of” here is the Greek word para and means “to come alongside of.” So, this describes the proximity of our request from God, which is right by His side. Therefore, it denotes that we have drawn near to God and ask.
 
This has so many shades of meaning, all of which are vitally important to understand: The truth is many are asking amiss. They are doing things independent from God (i.e. doing their own thing) and they have not come alongside of Him. This is the best way to receive from God, church - learning to draw near to Him and walk with Him on a regular basis. Entering into His presence through worship to where He is near, and you have His ear! This is coming boldly to Him in the full assurance of faith!
 
And James goes on to explain to his readers why that is - to be completely persuaded that when they ask, they will receive: It is because our God “gives liberally and without reproach.”
 
But what if the God that we come to is not the God who gives liberally and without reproach? In other words, what if we are making this request of a God that we are not convinced will give (number one) to all (number two) liberally and (number three) without reproach? Then the last part of James 1:5 might not happen for you (i.e. “it will be given to you”). In other words, our lack of understanding of who He is might impede us from receiving from Him.
 
You see, when we come to God, our view of Him does impact how we receive from Him. If we see Him as a harsh, critical and condemning Judge, it will be impossible for us to approach Him in the full assurance of faith because we won’t be sure of what He will do or say. But if we see Him as a good, liberal, and non-condemning God, there will be confidence that when we ask, we will receive.
 
The word James used for “liberally” here is only used this one time, and it literally describes something being done “simply, openly, frankly, sincerely.” One expositor stated that “singleness of mind is the central feature” of this word. So what we can see by the usage of this word is how God will “simply” give us the wisdom we ask Him for. He’s very “open” to giving us the answers we need. So “frankly” speaking, God will very freely give you what you are asking Him for.  
 
Now the phrase “without reproach” gives us even more insight into how the Lord responds to the requests we give Him. To “reproach” someone means to “revile, defame, or chide” them. So what this means is that, when we ask the Lord for something like wisdom, He is not going to respond to us by criticizing, mocking, and slandering us. In other words, what this describes is how some of us might respond when someone asks us something that “provokes” us. For instance, if someone asks us something for the 10th time, we might start getting irritated with them at that point, so we show that agitation by responding with something like— “How many times are you going to ask me that? C’mon man! Are you stupid or something?” So, even though you might end up giving them the answer again, those “reviling” words are a great example of responding “with reproach.”
 
So the point is this is not what God is going to do with any of us even though we ask Him for something over and over. No, He will simply give us what we ask for and never add any condescending response with it. And why? Because He, being love, is not easily provoked. He will not get irritated or agitated with us. His attitude will always be that of compassion, mercy, and grace.
 
Church, this is what heals those bruises—knowing that in His love, God has bruised His beloved Son (See Isaiah 53:10). Have you ever read that and wondered how God the Father could do that to Jesus? Moreover, how could it actually “please” Him to put Jesus on the Cross? The answer is simple: We saw that He did not get pleasure in causing to Him suffer; what pleased Him was how it would cause all of us to be redeemed, forgiven and made righteous once again! His pleasure was in us—and both He and Jesus were willing and happy to do what They had to do for you.  
 
So Jesus was bruised for us! In other words, He made Himself the substitute for our bruises and was bruised that we might be healed. This is grace! This is the power of the Gospel! 

REVIEW
 
So we are studying about the true nature of God based on one simple question—Would God give us a standard that He Himself is not first practicing Himself? In other words, would God tell us to treat our neighbors a certain way if He was not treating us the same? And the obvious answer to that is—No, of course He will not and does not. Therefore, a great way that I have found to learn about God’s loving nature is to look at how He commands us to love each other.
 
Now I have entitled this series of messages “Imitators of Love” because as we are told to imitate God as dear children, we can look at all of these other things God tells us to do as simply copying what He does.  
 
So, a couple of weeks ago, we started looking at a great section of Scriptures that teaches us about the characteristics of love – the great love chapter, First Corinthians chapter 13. We are doing this with the understanding that since God is love, all of these things the apostle Paul teaches us that love does, describe to us God’s characteristics.
 
First Corinthians 13:4-8 teaches us how “love suffers long and is kind. (how) love does not envy; (how) love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; (how it) does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; (how it) does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; (yes, how love) bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
 
So we have been going through this list of the characteristics of love each week and what we have learned so far is …

• God (i.e., Love) suffers long – We saw how the apostle Paul starts off with the fruit of the Spirit, longsuffering, and how this is one of the chief characteristics of love. So love is characterized by how patient it is with people—which should not be strange to us when we understand the root of our impatience with others, which is usually just us being self-centered. In other words, we don’t put up with a lot in others because our flesh is tired of dealing with it. So once it becomes something we aren’t wanting to deal with anymore, our flesh starts showing out. But what we learned was that this is not just talking about our longsuffering; this is divine longsuffering that we are talking about—meaning, it’s God’s ability to suffer long and be patient, which I can assure you is much “longer” than our own ability to suffer long. So we saw how the Scriptures teach us that God is longsuffering—from how He waited in the days of Noah when He judged the world by water to how He is waiting in this hour when He will judge the world by fire. The reason why it seems to be so long before the Lord brings His judgment is not because He drags His feet, but because He suffers long. God’s longsuffering is always on full display to us! God suffers long!
• God (i.e., Love) is kind – Then we saw how love is not just patient; it’s also kind while doing it. And we learned how kindness (like longsuffering) is also a fruit of the Spirit, meaning that it is also fruit of God’s nature. Yes, all nine of these fruit of the Spirit are who our God is. And like we say God is good, we can also say that God is kind. Yes, there are a myriad of Scriptures that show us how God is kind - how everything from the giving of Jesus to so many other things He gives us throughout our life. Church, I’ll tell you—there is no one quite as kind as our one of a “kind” God. And He wants us to consider this kindness aspect of Him—for far too many of us have only considered the severe side of Him. But the truth is that there is a kind, gentle, and good side of God that He wants to reveal to us! God is kind!
• God (i.e., Love) does not envy – Then we started a section here where Paul begins teaching what love is not. And he begins by saying that love does not envy. We learned that envy is much more subtle than most think, and because it is emphasized so much in the Scriptures, that proves to us that it is more of a problem than most would like to admit. So we saw how a lot of situations such as Jesus being handed over to Pilate by the religious leaders was motivated by envy and also how Joseph was betrayed by his brothers because of envy (interesting that those two things parallel each other). But the fact is, envy—which is desire to possess something that someone else has—can be something that we all struggle with, and it also can be the motivation behind the things we think and do. But at the same time, we learned that God does not desire to deprive someone else of something they have. Rather, He desires to give—because there is no bigger giver than our God. However, we ended on more of a sober note last week—that while God certainly does not envy, He is a jealous God. This means that like a spouse who loves his or her mate, God desires to have all of His bride’s heart and possess us totally for Himself. No, not in a selfish way like mankind tends to do it, but in a healthy, loving way. Church, in His great love for us, God desires us—so much so, that He is unwilling to share His Bride with anything or anyone else.

 
LOVE DOESN’T BOAST OF ITSELF
 
Today, I want us to look at these next two things that the apostle Paul said that love is not. The second half of First Corinthians 13:4 says, “love does not parade itself, is not puffed up.”
 
Now this is certainly true of our God, isn’t it? He does everything but “parade Himself” before His creation, nor is He “puffed up.” In fact, He is the exact opposite. He purposefully does not put Himself on display when by all accounts, if anyone was worthy of doing so, it would be Him. But no, God has not made it a practice of His to reveal His glory to the world. In fact, very few have ever gotten a glimpse of just how beautiful He is.
 
But oh, how the majority of His creation have done the exact opposite. Yes, most people live their entire lives “parading” themselves—that is, promoting themselves and proudly displaying all their talents, knowledge, beauty, etc. for others to see.
 
Now the phrase “parade itself” comes from the Greek word that means to brag or boast of oneself, and Paul was saying here that this is not love. No, love for others doesn’t brag about itself. Sure, love for itself will brag about itself, but the truth we need to understand today is that we will brag about whoever we love.
 
I mean, it’s not hard to see this, is it? We’ve all seen mothers brag on their sons, fathers boast of their daughters, grandparents glory in their grandkids, etc. And why is this? It’s because they love their kids & grandkids. Yes, they have a special place in their hearts, so they brag, boast, and glory in their accomplishments and so forth.
 
But again, if we love ourselves, guess who we will brag on and boast about? Ourselves! And we’ve all seen that as well, haven’t we?
 
You see, one of the core characteristics of pride—which is anti-love—is how it loves to talk about itself. It loves to brag about what it’s seen, who & what it knows, where it’s been and what it’s done, etc. It’s not hard to spot it in a conversation either. And we’ve all got a little bit of it in us—some more than others 😊.
 
Now the reason why pride so easily manifests in our words is because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So if our heart is full of ourselves, what do you think the main topic of conversation will be? Ourselves! Yes, there will be a lot of personal pronouns in those conversations—a lot of “I’s, me’s, my’s, etc.” However, if our hearts are full of others, we will brag about them. Yes, we will celebrate and “parade” them from our hearts when love is in our hearts towards them.  
 
So this is what love does. It doesn’t “parade” itself. It honors others. Yes, love seeks to celebrate others and not itself.
 
LOVE ISN’T FULL OF ITSELF
 
Now the next description of what love is, is very similar to love not “parading itself.” Paul says that love also is not “puffed up.” This phrase literally describes being “inflated, blown up, or caused to swell up.” Of course, Paul is talking about being full of pride here.
 
But let’s consider the terminology for a moment—if pride is being “inflated or blown up,” what do you suppose this person is inflated with? Themselves! Yes, they are full of themselves (as we like to say it). 
 
Now there is nothing much more repulsive than a person who is full of themselves, is there? Of course, it will make a person completely selfish & self-centered, but it does more than just that. It will cause a person to be wise in their own opinion, to think they know more than everyone else, to trust in their own abilities, to take matters into their own hands, etc. I could go on and on. But what I want you to understand today is that someone who is “puffed up” is not just arrogant and haughty; they can also be self-sufficient and self-reliant.
 
The bottom line is that this pride can take on many faces and it’s not just the traditional view of pride that’s glaringly obvious. In fact, I could have a lot of pride and appear to others like I’m very humble. How? By not necessarily bragging on myself or coming across as being better than others, but by being a person who doesn’t like to lose control. 
 
In fact, out of the seven times that this word is used in the New Testament, six of them are found in this epistle (i.e., First Corinthians). Therefore, the church of Corinth was a body of believers that apparently had a pretty big problem with this ugly stuff called pride.
 
In one of these verses, Paul tells us that “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (See First Corinthians 8:1), and what he was saying here was how knowing facts and even the truth can actually have the tendency to inflate those who know such things with pride. But what is the lesson here? It is that while knowledge tends to puff up, love builds up. In other words, if you and I are walking in love, we will seek to edify others and not tear them down because we know something they don’t.
 
So as Paul was saying here in First Corinthians 13:4, if I am puffed up, I won’t be building others up in love. So again, while love is not puffed up, love does build up.
 
The terminology “edifies” or “builds up” describes a house or building that is being “built up”—thus the restoration of a building, the rebuilding or repair of a home, etc. This is what love does with others! When it sees a person who is broken or even demolished, love seeks to build them back up, restoring and rebuilding their lives.  
 
Now pride is not generally going to be so concerned with helping build someone else’s house, is it? But it most certainly will exert all kinds of care and concern with building its own, right? And I am not just talking about the building of houses. I’m speaking metaphorically about building our own kingdoms, things that directly affect us. So this could be our own families, businesses, ministries, etc. Church, it’s easy for us to have our affections set on our own stuff to where that’s what we seek, what we think about, what’s on our heart, etc.
 
But the love God has called us to walk in will set its affections on other’s kingdoms and seek first their welfare even above our own at times. Yes, love will have its heart full of others, which will result in it treasuring the things which concern them and boasting in their victories and successes. I mean, it’s what the Lord has done for us, right?
 
THE HUMBLE GOD
 
You see, our main point today is that God is certainly the definition of humility—not parading Himself and bragging on Himself, and also not being full of Himself. And again, if anyone ever had a right to do this, it would be Him. But because of His great love for us, He has chosen to parade us, to brag on us, and have His heart full of us. That’s what love does, saints!
 
I know some of us might have a hard time accepting the fact that God is the epitome of humility, being the exalted, great God that He is, but even in His sovereignty, He possesses the utmost humility.
 
Now there is no better way to see the humble side of God than in the Lord Jesus. As we know, He only did what He saw the Father doing and only said what He heard from His Father. Therefore, Jesus was the image of the invisible God and the express image of His person. So whatever we see in Him is who our God is.
 
Well, the Scriptures reveal to us how the life & ministry of Jesus was all about humility. No, He never paraded Himself—bragging about who He was. He wasn’t puffed up in pride being full of Himself. No, as Jesus said in Matthew 11:29— “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart …”
 
So even though Jesus was God, He came in a “gentle and lowly in heart” manner. This is what He wanted us to learn about Him. So let’s talk a little bit about this humble side of God which is motivated by selfless love.
 
 THE MIND OF CHRIST
 
Yes, we are told in Ephesians 5:2 that Jesus not only served & ministered, but that He actually gave Himself! Let’s look at it …
 
After the apostle Paul gives the exhortation to be imitators of God as dear children, he went on to say that we can do this by “walk(ing) in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.” So what Paul is saying here is the way in which we imitate our Heavenly Father is by walking in love with one another the way Christ has loved us. And how He did this was by giving Himself for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God! Amen!
 
So let’s talk a little bit today about how Christ did this: What was the process by which He “gave Himself” for us? Now I believe this action of love is actually perfectly described to us in Philippians chapter 2. So let’s go over to Philippians the 2nd chapter and look at how Paul describes the mentality and attitude of Jesus Christ …
 
Paul begins in Philippians 2:3 to give some instructions to this church. He says, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.” Now obviously we are talking here about pride—for “selfish ambition and conceit” are descriptors of this enemy of love.
 
Regarding being conceited, this basically means “having an excessively high opinion of oneself” (Webster’s). In Romans 12:3 we are told not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. God wants us to think highly of ourselves. He wants us to realize that we are valuable to him and that we have an important purpose. He just doesn’t want us to think more highly of ourselves than we should. That is, thinking that our gifts and talents are of ourselves. God doesn’t mind us acknowledging our gifts. He just wants us to acknowledge the Giver of those gifts too.
 
Then Paul goes on to say things that are opposed to doing things through selfish ambition and conceit— “but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.”
 
You see, lowliness of mind is the opposite of being “high-minded.” It describes having a low estimation of one’s own worth and value. Not in the sense of who we are in Christ but in a sense of who we are in ourselves.
 
One of the definitions of pride is to be enveloped in smoke. This means that a prideful person cannot see reality. They are blinded by the smoke of self-deception. If we fly too high, then we can get our heads caught in the clouds and blind ourselves. I love how the Amplified Bible describes this phrase “lowliness of mind.” It describes it as “in the true spirit of humility.”
 
So it is “in lowliness of mind” that we are able to esteem others better than ourselves. We have to see ourselves as not being the most important person in the world before we will be able to truly esteem others better than ourselves. To “esteem” someone means to honor them. In Romans 12:10 we see this definition of honor… It says, “in honor giving preference to one another.” When you allow someone “to lead the way” (def. “preference”) you are honoring them. Ways we can honor others is to:

1. Let someone else go in line in front of you somewhere.
2. Allow someone to share what is on their heart before you do.
3. Let someone else choose the restaurant that y’all will eat at.

 
These are just some of the ways that we can esteem others better than ourselves. And living a lifestyle of honoring others like this will result in God honoring us because “the last shall be first!”
 
Now I want us to skip down to verse 5: Philippians 2:5 says, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”
 
Now Paul had just told us in verses 2-4 to walk in one accord with our brothers and sisters and to esteem other’s interests above our own. Now he gives us the perfect example of someone who fulfilled this to the uttermost—Christ Jesus!
 
Jesus strived to live in unity with God’s people - not at the cost of the truth but with the effort to reveal the truth to them. Jesus had no selfish ambition nor was He conceited. He truly esteemed others better than Himself. Jesus looked out for the interests of others above His own. He was the best example of humility that there ever was and ever will be!
 
The word “mind” here comes from the Greek word phroneo which means to think, to be mindful of, to have regard for, or to have a certain attitude. So Paul is telling us here to have the same attitude as Jesus. He wants us to think like He thought—to have His perspective on things.
 
Saints, this mindset that Jesus had has to be “in” us. It has to be an attitude that has become a part of us—that is, placed in our heart. It is only when this kind of thinking becomes a part of us that it will truly change the way we live. “As a man thinks in his heart so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7) Our actions are a product of the way we think. Where the mind goes the man will follow!
 
So what was Jesus’ mindset, attitude and way of thinking? We need to find this out because this is how we are exhorted to think as well!
 
Beginning in verse 6, the apostle Paul goes on to tell us the mentality of Christ. He says, “who being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God…”
 
Now the word “form” describes the “nature or essence” of something or someone. This means that before Jesus came to the earth He had the complete nature of God—for He was, in essence, God Himself as a member of the Trinity.
 
Now regarding the phrase “robbery to be equal with God,” the word “robbery” is a poor translation because it gives off the wrong impression of what Paul was trying to say. With this incorrect translation it would seem to mean Paul was saying that Jesus did not consider it “stealing” to say He was equal with God. But the whole context of what Paul was teaching was humility and laying down our own rights for others. Paul was teaching us that we are to lay down our privileges as children of God for the benefit of others.
 
The word “robbery” comes from the Greek word harpagmos, which describes “a prize held onto tightly, a treasure to be retained at all costs, or something valuable that is too good to let go.”      This is the “mind of Christ” mentioned in the previous verse, friends! Jesus did not consider or regard what He had in heaven when He walked in the full nature of God something that He could not let go of. Jesus considered us more precious and worth being apprehended than His own status and nature as God Almighty! That is awesome, saints!
 
In short, He loved and valued us more than He loved and valued His position in heaven! And this is how we are to regard other people: more valuable than our own position, fame, and glory. Sure, we are the righteousness of God in Christ. Sure, we are the King’s kids. But if we usurp those positions above serving others then we are not having the mind of Christ!
 
You see, Christ’s attitude here was the exact opposite of that of Lucifer’s (see Isaiah 14:12-15). Lucifer had one of the most important positions in heaven. He was close to the throne of God, but he was not satisfied. He desired to be on the throne of God. He was not satisfied with being a creature. He desired to be the Creator.
 
One of the main differences between Jesus and Lucifer was that Lucifer said, “I will” and Jesus said, “Thy will.” Lucifer thought only of his own promotion to benefit himself and Jesus thought only of His demotion to benefit us. Christ’s humility in love is a direct contrast to Satan’s pride in his selfish ambition!
 
Then Paul goes on further to describe Christ Jesus’ mentality in verse 7 … He said, “but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.”
By using the word “but”, Paul was saying that not only did Jesus not “consider” His position in heaven something that He had to retain at all costs, but He also acted on it by making Himself of no reputation.
 
We are told in First John 3:18 that we are to make sure we do not love in word or in tongue but in deed and in truth. James chapter 2 teaches us that faith without works is dead. We need to always judge our love walk to see if it is active. Jesus considered us of more value than His own position and then actively lowered Himself for us. Likewise, we need to not only see others as more valuable than ourselves, but we also need to willingly lower ourselves through selfless acts of love.
 
The words “made...of no reputation” come from the Greek word keno which means “to empty something.” This Greek word carries the idea in context that Jesus willingly emptied Himself of His divine privileges and glory that He had as being in the form of God. Saints, He willingly laid down all of His Godhead privileges! 
 
I do like how the word “reputation” is used here. A reputation is the general opinion of other people towards something or someone. Jesus had the greatest reputation while He was in heaven as God. All the hosts of heaven highly esteemed Him. But He chose to willingly forget about His reputation in heaven and come to the earth, where He became despised and rejected by His own creation. Jesus literally made Himself to have no reputation with man rather than having the best reputation in heaven. So many people worry about their reputation with men that they compromise what is right. In Christ Jesus we no longer have our own reputation. We died to ourselves on the day we received Him so we should no longer be concerned with what the world thinks of us.
 
Then Paul said that He “taking the form” … The word used for “form” here is the same Greek word translated “form” in verse 6. It means “nature or essence.” So after Jesus laid down His nature and privileges as God, He took up the nature and lack of privileges of a servant.
 
But what makes what Jesus did so powerful was that when He left behind all the glory and honor of heaven He came to the earth and took the least glorious and least honorable position attainable- a bondservant—for the word “bondservant” comes from the Greek word doulos and describes the lowest form of slave. Jesus said Himself, “the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve” (Matthew 20:28). He went from being the Highest to being the lowest!       
 
Then in verse 8, the apostle Paul went on to say, “And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” Notice that it says that Jesus “humbled Himself”… The word “humbled” means “to make low.” This is what Jesus did by becoming a bondservant (vs.7)—He made Himself low.
 
THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS
 
But perhaps no greater example can be given of how Jesus did all of this other than John chapter 13. So let’s take a look at it. Of course, this is the account of Jesus washing His disciple’s feet that most of us are familiar with, but I want us to notice a couple of important points from this story … 
 
John 13:1-17 reads: “Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” (So we see here that the topic of Jesus’ love for His own is the subject at hand of this chapter) And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, are You washing my feet?’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.’ Peter said to Him, ‘You shall never wash my feet!’ Jesus answered him, ‘If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.’ Simon Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!’ Jesus said to him, ‘He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.’ For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, ‘You are not all clean.’ So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, ‘Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”
 
Now does this mean that we need to have a ceremonial foot washing service from time to time? Well, not necessarily. You see, foot washing was something that was done in those days because it was absolutely necessary. They wore sandals which exposed most of their feet and they didn’t travel on asphalt. Their feet were exposed everywhere they walked and were absolutely in need of these occasional foot washings.
 
Now I’m sure as nasty as some of our feet are, they cannot compare to these guys! Therefore, foot washing was not an ordinance that Jesus was seeking to establish; serving one another was the true lesson that He was illustrating to us.
 
But the point is this is a great example of how the Lord became a bondservant & humbled himself while He dwelt among us. And what was the result of this humility? Paul tells us in Philippians 2:9 – “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name …”
 
The word “therefore” shows us that it was through Jesus humbling Himself by becoming a servant to man and obedient to the Father, God also honored Him by highly exalting Him and giving Him the name which is above every name. So it was only when Jesus decided to lower Himself through humility to the Father and man that God elevated Him and elevated His name.
 
The major lesson we can learn from this is how God will in turn reward us for our humility, servanthood, and obedience. While we will never be rewarded the way that Jesus was with the loftiest position and title, we will be exalted to a certain degree on the Great judgment day if we truly lowered ourselves through selfless acts of humility and love while we were on the earth.
 
So this is the way Jesus thought, and it is the way Paul said that we, too, ought to think. It’s the way love thinks, and Jesus loved us enough to not only lay down His Godhead privileges and to not only empty Himself, but to humble Himself and become the greatest servant this world has ever seen. Amen!
 
PRIDE – THE SUPER VILLIAN
 
But our point today is how true humility is the exact opposite of this pride that is full of itself and parades itself. In fact, I consider pride to be the biggest “anti-love” vice. In other words, our pride is the supervillain of love.
 
Yes, church, just like the Joker is to Batman and Lex Luthor is to Superman, pride is the archrival of our inner man. And just like it seems as though those comic book villains cannot be killed, this archrival of our inner man isn’t going to die either. It must be defeated daily because it will always resurface. Pride is the biggest enemy of our 'inner me'!"
 
But your inward man is meek, gentle, and humble. It has the nature & characteristics of Christ resident within it. Therefore, that villain called pride is simply a part of our carnal nature, which we are all born with. So it is for that reason that I don’t like to look at pride as mine. The real me—the eternal part of me that we call the spirit man—doesn’t have a lick of pride in it. Therefore, I see pride as my arch-rival and not a part of the real me. 
 
Like Paul teaches us in Galatians chapter 5:16-18, we have a war going on inside of us—the spirit versus the flesh. And while God wants us yielding to His humility and love that resides in our inner man, the enemy of our soul wants us yielding to pride and self-centeredness.
 
It’s a continuous fight, but it’s one worth fighting for—for the rewards of humility and love cannot be understated. Let’s let these characteristics of love become our priority and receive the Lord’s help and grace in the process. Amen?

REVIEW
 
Currently, we are studying the true nature of love in a series of messages that I am calling “Imitators of Love.” However, even though the series title might seem to indicate that we are looking at how we can imitate God, what we are doing is looking at verses that teach us how to love others, knowing that those teach us how God loves us.
 
I’ll tell you, church—this is a fun new way to study our Bible because it causes us to take a different look at verses. In this case, understanding that God won’t give us a standard that He isn’t practicing Himself, we can learn how God treats us by looking at verses that teach us how to treat each other.
 
Our golden text that we are basing this teaching on is Ephesians 5:1-2 where the apostle Paul instructs us to imitate God as His children. And I’ve made the point that being imitators of God would encompass everything else we could ever aspire to be in Him and for Him—because everything He tells us to do is simply meant for us to reflect the light that He is to this world.
 
So we spent several weeks looking at the verses that preceded Ephesians chapter 5 and learned how Paul got to this point of summarizing with this exhortation to imitate God—how God will not lie to us or steal from us, how He will speak to us in a certain way, and what His attitude is towards sin versus the sinner.
 
Then a couple of weeks ago, we started looking at another section of Scriptures that has been traditionally used to teach us how we are to love one another – the great love chapter, First Corinthians chapter 13.
 
First Corinthians 13:4-8 teaches us how “love suffers long and is kind. (how) love does not envy; (how) love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; (how it) does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; (how it) does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; (yes, how love) bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
 
But what we are doing is turning this around and teaching these verses from the same perspective that we have been—how because God is love, these characteristics of love teach us the very characteristics of God Himself. So I encourage you that as we go through these verses, read them as so: “God suffers long and is kind, He does not envy, God does not parade Himself, He is not puffed up; God does not behave rudely, He does not seek His own, He is not provoked, He thinks no evil; God does not rejoice in iniquity, but He rejoices in the truth; God bears all things, He believes all things, He hopes all things, He endures all things; God never fails …” 
 
We looked at Paul’s first description of love—that it “suffers long.” So, at the forefront of all of Love’s characteristics, we see that God is “longsuffering” (you might also say, “patient.”).  
So we looked at several Scriptures that clearly teach us how longsuffering our God is—both how He suffers long with His creation before the inevitable judgment and also how He suffered long with the likes of Peter & Paul. In fact, we looked at Paul’s own testimony of how God’s longsuffering was on full display in His life by how He both saved him and used him. 
 
Yes, God suffers long with all of us. In His love, He is totally patient with His creation. This is who He is and not just what He does.
 
Then last week, we saw how God doesn’t just suffer long, but He’s kind while doing it. How many of you know that it’s one thing to suffer long or be patient with others, but it’s a whole other ballgame to be kind while you’re doing it? In other words, someone might appear to be longsuffering on the outside, but on the inside, they have the wrong attitude while they are waiting.
 
But the fact is—we have a lot of Scriptures that teach us about the goodness & kindness of God. And like longsuffering, this is more than just what He does; God is kind!
 
We learned how these virtues like longsuffering & kindness are fruit of the Spirit—meaning, they are the fruit of who He is and what He Himself does! Amen! In other words, God has called His children to produce His very own fruit—that is, His will is for us to be just like Him!
 
Yes, love is the first fruit listed because this is the core nature of God Himself. Therefore, our call to produce the fruit of love is to simply replicate God’s nature of love. Even the fruits of joy & peace are a part of the nature of God. Did you know He is called the “Happy God”? Yes, God rejoices and is the possessor of all joy. Not only that, but He is called the God of Peace, and He is the Prince of Peace! And the list goes on and on—God is also longsuffering, good, and kind.  
 
So, we saw how in First Corinthians 13:4 that love is kind. So, if God is love, then that Scripture is clearly revealing to us that God is kind. Therefore, as we saw earlier, God is not only longsuffering with us, but He is also kind in the midst of it! In other words, He will still pour out His kindness in our lives while He is waiting for us to repent of our mistakes. What an awesome God we serve!
 
You see, even the “select elect” out there who actually believe God is patient and longsuffering have a hard time believing that God remains kind in the midst of our continual stumbling. They think that He is longsuffering, but He is tapping His foot in the midst of it. But no! God changes not! Therefore, He is still doing good and being kind even while He is waiting on us to live up to our potential.
 
We looked at several other Scriptures that teach about how God is kind—not just to His children, but also to those who are unthankful & evil (See Luke 6:35-36). As we learned, it is going to take all of eternity to reveal to us all the riches of God’s kindness towards us (See Ephesians 2:7). This entails everything from our initial salvation to all the other ways that He has shown forth His kindness towards us in our walk with Him. Church, how many times in the Scriptures are we made aware of the “lovingkindness” of our God?
 
LOVE DOES NOT ENVY
 
Now the next thing that Paul includes in his description of love in First Corinthians 13:4 is that love does not envy.
 
The word “envy” here comes from the Greek word zeloo and is simply defined as “to burn with zeal.” And the obvious way it is being used here is to be heated or to boil with envy, hatred, or anger. Therefore, it describes the warmth of feeling against someone.  
 
Now envy is very similar to jealousy, but they do have different characteristics. One difference is that while one might envy someone else’s spouse—desiring to have what they have—someone flirting with their own spouse might make them jealous. So, while jealousy can be involved with things that you already have, envy specifically desires to have something that someone else does. In fact, envy desires to have it even if that means depriving the other person of what they have.
 
So the fact is, envy is completely motivated by selfishness—yearning to take something that someone else possesses for themselves or, at the least, ruining it for them.
 
In fact, this is the word that was used to describe what motivated the chief priests to hand Jesus over to Pilate (See Matthew 27:18 & Mark 15:10)—for the root of their issue with Jesus was that they wanted the love, honor, and attention that He was receiving from the Jewish people. Therefore, they wanted Him crucified out of their envy.
 
So if I were to have asked you—why did the religious leaders want Jesus crucified? Well, some of us might have said it was because they thought He was claiming to be one with God and was violating all of their religious rules, etc. but the fact is they wanted Him dead because of their “envy & jealousy.”
 
This word “envy’ is also used to describe the envy that motivated Joseph’s brothers to sell him into slavery (Acts 7:9) and the jealousy that drove the Jews to gather a mob and attack a Christian’s home in Thessalonica (Acts 17:5).  
 
So while in both of these examples we might have just seen the sin of Joseph’s brothers harming & betraying him and the anger & hatred of the Jews gathering that mob to attack that believer’s home, the underlying issue was envy & jealousy.
 
So my point is that sometimes we might see something that a person does, but totally miss the root cause of why they did it.
 
Now envy is one of those vices that we see a lot about in the Bible, yet most Christians don’t see it as their problem. In other words, you will not find many believers who will say, “You know, I really struggle with envy & jealousy.” And I don’t think that’s necessarily because they are not owning up to it; I think it’s really just because most are blind to it in themselves.
 
But here is the truth—if the Bible has so much to say about things like envy & jealousy, that’s because it is much more of a problem in the Body of Christ than we might think. For example, both envy & jealousy are listed in Paul’s “works of the flesh” in Galatians 5:19-21. God even saw fit to include this in His Ten Commandments when He commanded His people to not covet what was his neighbor’s. These are just a couple of examples, but my point is that it is threaded throughout the pages of our Bibles.
 
For example, in both Psalms & Proverbs, notice how many times the Holy Spirit speaks about God’s people not envying the world:

• Psalm 73:3 – For I was envious of the boastful, When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
• Psalm 37:1 – Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.
• Proverbs 23:17 – Do not let your heart envy sinners, but be zealous for the fear of the Lord all the day;
• Proverbs 24:1 – Do not be envious of evil men, nor desire to be with them;
• Proverbs 24:19 – Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the wicked;

 
That’s a lot of instruction devoted to a people who don’t struggle with envy, isn’t it? But no, it must be more of an issue than most people think it is for it to be repeated throughout the Scriptures.  
 
But here is the main problem with envy—it’s that it’s not what love does. Again, the apostle Paul said, “love does not envy.” That means to envy is not to love because if you are jealous of what is your neighbor’s, then how are you loving your neighbor as you do yourself? No, if you envy what they have, you are just loving yourself. 
 
Now regarding envying what is our neighbor’s, let me remind you that Paul taught us that the commandments are fulfilled in this one word—the royal law of loving our neighbor as we do ourselves (See Romans 13:8-10). So when we fulfill this command to love one another, we fulfill the law because we won’t murder our brother, we won’t steal from our brother, and we also won’t covet what our brother has. Therefore, love will not envy because why would love desire to have what was someone else’s. Again, that is selfish & self-centered. Love will desire to give to someone what we have, not take from them what they have.
 
Church, true love—God’s love—rejoices when others are blessed. There is no room for envy. Love does not seek to benefit itself and it is content with what it has, because its focus is on meeting the needs of the ones it loves.
 
But we also need to understand that envy does not just cause one to do evil & wicked things; it can also cause someone to do things that everyone would think were good & noble.
 
For example, in James 3:13-18, we have an interesting section of verses that show that there were people in James’ church who seemed to be wise & have understanding. Heck, they were probably the supposed teachers and the leaders of this church!
 
And Pastor James describes their underlying motivation in verse 14—it was “bitter envy” and “self-seeking” in their hearts. And it was that envy & selfishness that was creating all the confusion and the evil works that were going on there (See verse 16).
 
In Philippians 1:15, the apostle Paul described how there was a faction of people who were actually “preaching Christ” from “envy and strife” and others who were preaching Him from “goodwill”—showing us again that even in one of the most noble things that a Christian can do – tell people about Jesus – it can be done from a bad motive.
 
So we need to be aware that this little fox that likes to spoil our vines can produce in us both good & bad things. But the underlying motive is what is important.    
 
GOD DOES NOT ENVY BUT HE CAN BE JEALOUS
 
But our point here today is that if love does not envy, then that means that God does not envy.
 
Now this one might be a little easier for us to swallow because certainly God has no reason to be envious of anything we have, for all that we have was given to us by Him to begin with. But we need to consider another description of this word “envy.” It also describes a desire to deprive someone of something they have. In other words, envy not only wants to possess something someone else possesses; envy also wants to deprive the one they are taking from.
 
But God is not like that, is He? No, He desires to add to us, not take away from us. Many like to quote verses like “He gives and He takes away” but that is not completely true. Although Job said that, when he said it, he did not have the understanding that Satan was the one who came to steal, kill, and destroy from him. Again, the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy from our lives but love has come to add to our lives—and that more abundantly (see John 10:10)!
 
So God’s nature, which is love, does the opposite of what envy does. While envy desires to take from others what they have, God desires to give to others and add to what they have.
 
I’ll tell you—you’ll never find a bigger giver than God! I can give you Scripture after Scripture that talks about how His will is to bless you and I exceedingly, abundantly, above all we could ask or even think. Yes, pressed down, shaken together, and running over does He desire to add to us!
 
One that proves this is found in Second Corinthians 9:7 where it describes how God loves a cheerful giver. Why do you suppose this is? It’s because the saint who is a cheerful giver is imitating Him! God is the cheerful giver!
 
In fact, this is why there are so many Scriptures in the Bible that talk about us giving. It’s because God is wanting us to emulate Him by being givers the way that He has given to us! Amen! So God is certainly not in the business of envying because He does the exact opposite. He’s too preoccupied with giving to us!
 
But just as God does not envy (in the bad sense), there are other verses that teach us how God does operate in the good kind of envy & jealousy. You might say, “I didn’t know there is a good kind of jealousy & envy.” Well, there actually is.
 
Like I said earlier, the Greek word translated “envy” means “to burn with zeal.” And while this certainly describes the kind of burning with zeal for what others have (thus, envy), there is a good and even encouraged kind of burning zeal to possess good things that God said are for us. In other words, in the good sense, zeloo describes being zealous in the pursuit of good. So just as this word means to be zealous to obtain something another person has in a wrong way, it can also mean to be zealous for something good that God says we can have.
 
We see it used this way in Galatians 4:17-18 when the apostle Paul said, “They zealously court you, but for no good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them. But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you.”
 
The phrase “They zealously court” comes from this Greek word zeloo which, like I said, has both a positive and negative connotation. It is positive in the sense that it describes “earnestly desiring” the gifts of the Spirit (First Corinthians 12:31, 14:1 & 14:39). When Paul (back in Galatians 4) went on to say, “but for no good,” he was not insinuating that being “zealously courted” was wrong. Good godly leaders should show a love, desire, and affection towards the ones they are leading, just not for the wrong reasons. And Paul says here that the Judaizers were operating with “no good” motives. And as he goes on to say, it was so that they could “exclude” them—which means to shut or lock them out for themselves. And here was their motivation— “that you may be zealous for them.”
 
Again, Paul uses this Greek word zeloo in the negative sense because he exposes these Judaizers motivation for zealously courting these Galatians. They did it all because they wanted themselves to be the object of the Galatians’ affections. Yes, they wanted the Galatian believers to look up to them and envy what they had and were not willing to share this with the apostle Paul. 
 
But as Paul goes on to say in the next verse— “But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always.” Again, Paul was not saying that being zealous was a bad thing. On the contrary, he says here being zealous is a good thing, as long it is being “fervent, passionate, on-fire, and dedicated” (synonyms for “zealous) about good things. In fact, he goes on to say that we ought to “always” be this way about the things of God (i.e., good). 
 
So here is the point I want to leave you with today— If it is always good to be “zealous” in a good thing, then how does God do this? 
 
Well, if your heart is open to see it, you can see how His heart burns with passion for us! Yes, like a person’s heart can burn with a desire to gain something that someone else has, God’s heart is to gain us! This is the love story of God’s kingdom!
 
Like I said a moment ago, in First Corinthians 12:31, 14:1, and 14:39, we see this same word used to translate “envy” in a positive sense when Paul uses it to describe how we are to “earnestly desire” and “covet” spiritual gifts.
 
Now it is obvious that this is not describing “envy” in a bad way. No, these spiritual gifts are not things that someone else possesses and are not for us. They are obviously things that the Lord has made available to any and all who are willing to go after them. Therefore, with that same burning heartfelt desire for something that is off-limits, we are actually encouraged to “covet” the best spiritual gifts! That means that we are to earnestly desire them at all costs and do whatever we have to in order to get them in our lives!  
 
I wonder if God has ever “earnestly desired” something like that? I believe He has—and that is YOU!
 
In Second Corinthians 11:2, notice how Paul described that he was “jealous” for the Corinthian church with a “godly jealousy.” That means that while there is certainly an ungodly jealousy, there is also a godly jealously—meaning, it’s a jealousy that God possesses.
 
Of course, we know that this isn’t a sinful type of jealousy—for God is incapable of sinning. So what this does teach us is that God is a jealous God when it comes to certain things.
 
We see this in Exodus 20:4-5 when God, in giving the children of Israel the Ten Commandments, said, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God …”
 
Now it is important to realize what God was saying here: It was not that He is a glory-hog and can’t handle not being given all the attention, etc. No, it’s more like a marriage relationship: If a man and a woman are joined together, it is totally reasonable for either spouse to have zero tolerance for the other being unfaithful to them or even looking at another man or woman, right? This is more of what God was meaning when He described Himself as a “jealous God.”
 
You see, we have a great example of this in the New Testament, where in James 4:5 we see it revealed that the Holy Spirit yearns for something like this: In this verse, the Word says, “Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, ‘The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously’?”  This is preceded by verse 4 that calls us “Adulteresses” if we make ourselves friends with the world. That is because we are “married” to God and when we try and have a relationship with our ex-husband, the world, we are being unfaithful to our current mate. The Holy Spirit represents that current mate here and the Word says that He “yearns jealously”.
 
A good paraphrase of this verse is “The Spirit that has come to settle down, make His home and permanently dwell in us, is bent with an all-consuming, ever-growing, excessive, passionate desire to possess us totally, and is envious and filled with jealousy toward anything or anyone who tries to take His place.” Ephesians 4:30 portrays this same picture. It says, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” The word “grieve” is the Greek word lupete. It is used to denote the emotions of a betrayed spouse, such as, being hurt, wounded, betrayed, misled, lied to, and abused. He is our spouse and partner, and He hurts when we are unfaithful.
 
But again, this is not that unhealthy form of jealousy that is only thinking about itself. No, whatever this “yearning jealously” for us by God’s Spirit is, we know it has to be done in love, because the Holy Spirit is God and God is love. Therefore, it’s not our own perverted form of jealousy that’s ultimately just love for ourselves. No, this jealousy is a healthy kind that is motivated by love for the one that this jealousy is aimed towards.
 
CONCLUSION
 
Church, in this world we live in, people envy those who possess things like silver, gold, and precious stones. Yes, they covet these things that the world says are valuable. But the truth is—the only thing of great value on this earth is the souls of men. That’s what God so loved the world enough to send His only begotten Son to redeem. Yes, we are the pearls of great price! Yes, we are the treasure hidden in this field! And that’s what God is jealous for. That’s what He earnestly desires to possess! It’s you. It’s me. It’s every human being on this planet, fully & completely.
 
So, what we must learn to do is to give Him everything. Yes, that means going into this lost and dying world and bringing people out of darkness and into the light. But it also means us giving our own selves completely over to Him—which is exactly what James was talking about in James 4:5.
 
So, while love certainly does not envy, love possesses a healthy kind of jealousy towards the ones He created in His likeness & image. He desires to own us completely and is unwilling to share us with the enemy and this world.
 
Hear the heart of the One that inspired the apostle Paul to utter these words today, the precious Holy Spirit, when he said in Second Corinthians 11:2 that he was “jealous for them with a godly jealousy.” This means that there is a jealousy that comes from God and that is the jealousy that a husband has for his wife to where he’s unwilling to share her with another man. That’s the way the Holy Spirit feels towards you today. He wants you as His own—because that’s what love does!
 
Church, while God certainly does not envy, He is jealous—and that’s because He loves you so much, He doesn’t want to share you with anything or anyone else. Amen.

REVIEW
 
In our series, “Imitators of Love”, we are looking at God’s true nature, but not in the traditional way. We are not looking at the verses that specifically teach us about His divine characteristics, but are looking at the ones that instruct us how to treat one another. In so doing, we are learning that if God tells us to love our brothers & sisters and even our enemies in a certain way, then that must be how Love Himself will love us. In other words, we are looking at the things He tells us to do and learning more about His loving nature because He wouldn’t instruct us to do something that He is not willing to do. 
 
Our keynote passage of Scripture that we are basing this teaching on is Ephesians 5:1-2 where the apostle Paul instructs us to imitate God as dear children. So, yes, being imitators of God would encompass everything else we could ever aspire to be in Him and for Him.
 
So we spent several weeks looking at the verses that preceded Ephesians chapter 5 and learned how Paul got to this point of summarizing with this exhortation to imitate God—how God will not lie to us or steal from us, how He will speak to us in a certain way, and what His attitude is towards sin versus the sinner.
 
Then last week, we started looking at another section of Scriptures that has been traditionally used to teach us how we are to love one another – the great love chapter, First Corinthians chapter 13.
 
First Corinthians 13:4-8 teaches us how “love suffers long and is kind. (how) love does not envy; (how) love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; (how it) does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; (how it) does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; (yes, how love) bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
 
I made the point that unfortunately, most of us have mainly only heard these verses expounded on at marriage ceremonies. I for one love how these verses are used in weddings because, how many of you know, a newly married couple needs to know that these are the things that love does and they will have every opportunity to practice all of these various characteristics of love in their marriage? But the sad thing is that these descriptions & characteristics of love are not just for a married couple. No, they are applicable to every Christian for any & all relationships.
 
But what we are doing is turning this around and teaching these verses from the same perspective that we have been—how because God is love, that these characteristics of love teach us the very characteristics of God Himself. So I encourage you that as we go through these verses, read them as so: “God suffers long and is kind, He does not envy, God does not parade Himself, He is not puffed up; God does not behave rudely, He does not seek His own, He is not provoked, He thinks no evil; God does not rejoice in iniquity, but He rejoices in the truth; God bears all things, He believes all things, He hopes all things, He endures all things; God never fails …” 
 
So, last week, we looked at Paul’s first description of love—that it “suffers long.” So, at the forefront of all of Love’s characteristics, we see that God is “longsuffering” (you might also say, “patient.”)—meaning that longsuffering with people is one of the most telling signs of where one’s love is.
 
We learned that this phrase from First Corinthians 13:4 (“suffers long”) come from the Greek word makrothumia and comes from two words. The prefix is makros, which simply means “long”, and the other word is thumos, which describes “passionate anger or wrath.” So, when you combine these two words together, you see a person described that takes a “long” time to get “mad,” or you could say they are slow to anger.
 
But again, we are not just looking at how we are to be longsuffering ourselves; we can read this verse as God suffers long with us because of His great love for us. So we looked at several verses that describe to us God’s divine longsuffering:
 
We looked at the apostle Peter’s letters, understanding that Simon Peter was certainly a man who understood about the patience & longsuffering of God.
 
In First Peter 3:20, we saw how Peter describes that it was “divine longsuffering” (i.e., God’s patience) that had Him wait in the days of Noah before bringing the flood on the earth—which we learned that sometimes we make the mistake of seeing God as quickly judging the world during the days of Noah, but while we might read about this event in one chapter of the Bible, the entire timetable that led up to this was much longer than it seems by just reading Moses’ account of it. And I can assure you that this was a several hundred years at the bare minimum from the time God pulled the trigger to flood the earth and the time it started to rain.
 
And we also learned in Second Peter 3:9 that Peter talked about how this same longsuffering is on display even with us today: He said, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” The apostle Peter goes on, in this chapter, to describe this “longsuffering” of God as the grace & mercy He gives us until His Second Coming. So, like it was in the days of Noah, the human race is still here, and the Judgment has been staved off because our God suffers long!
 
Isn’t the Lord described in the Scriptures as being “slow to anger”? In fact, I counted that, in the Old Testament alone, there are at least nine times that He is described this way. That’s a lot, church! And we learned that this is not our version of doing something slowly either. For instance, in the Book of Revelation, Jesus said, “Behold I am coming quickly!” right? Now He said that how long ago? Around 2,000 years, right? So, if 2,000-plus years is God doing something “quickly,” what is Him doing something “slowly”? Selah.
 
Yes, God in His longsuffering has given each of us much more grace & mercy than we can comprehend. The fact is, if it were not for this “divine longsuffering,” many of us would not even still be here. The very fact that you and I are able to gather together today is proof of God’s patience. He has certainly suffered long with each and every one of us. Amen? He is incredibly slow to anger, and He is certainly longsuffering.
 
LOVE IS KIND
 
But looking back over at First Corinthians 13:4, I want you to notice that the apostle Paul does not just say that love suffers long; he says that love suffers long and is kind.
 
How many of you know that it’s one thing to suffer long or be patient with others, but it’s a whole other ballgame to be kind while you’re doing it? In other words, someone might appear to be longsuffering on the outside, but on the inside, they have the wrong attitude while they are waiting. Let me give you an example of this— say someone is putting up with or tolerating another person’s tardiness. In other words, they are showing no signs that they are bothered by the person being late. However, they are fuming on the inside while they are waiting on them. Sound like anyone we know? Don’t look at your spouse😊
 
So, based on this, I see “kindness” as more of the attitude by which we do things for people. Sure, kindnesses are physical acts and things we do, but its more of an act of the heart that God is looking for. This is why as we saw in the first few verses of First Corinthians chapter 13, Paul was letting us know that even the most noble behaviors like prophesying into someone’s life, having faith that moves mountains, or even giving all of our goods to feed the poor mean nothing if they are not done motivated by love. Therefore, being patient with others has no real value if I don’t have a kind attitude while doing it. Amen?  
 
So let’s delve a little deeper into this virtue called “kindness.” In fact, it’s not just a virtue; like the fruit of longsuffering, the apostle Paul said this was one of the nine fruit of the Spirit.
 
You see, in Galatians 5:22-23, we have two fruit of the Spirit “sandwiched” right in the middle that are generally not given as much attention to—these are the fruits of kindness & goodness.
 
SISTER FRUITS
 
What is the difference between these two fruit of the Spirit? I mean, they sound similar, don’t they? Well, they are strikingly similar, but there must be a difference if the Holy Spirit inspired the apostle Paul to mention them both as two distinct fruit of the Spirit, right?
 
Like I said, I see “kindness” as more of the attitude by which we do things for people. “Goodness,” on the other hand, is what I believe to be the action accompanying the right attitude that we possess. But my point is that these two fruit of the Spirit work hand in hand. We might describe them as sister fruits, seeing how closely related they are. For example, some of you might describe the fruit of kindness in the exact opposite way—as the action itself and not the attitude—and the fruit of goodness as the inherent quality of a person.
 
But here is what we must agree on: that both kindness and goodness are to be produced in our lives seeing as they are fruit of the Spirit. In other words, Paul is describing two virtues that we can see evidence of in one’s life and are not just what a person is versus what they do. No, every believer is called to both be kind and do kind things, to be good and do good things. And do you know why? It is because like it is with all nine of these fruit of the Spirit, these are not just virtues that God picked out as being good ideas for us to produce. No! They are fruit of the Spirit—meaning, they are fruit of who He is and what He Himself does! Amen! In other words, God has called His children to produce His very own fruit—that is, His will is for us to be just like Him! Sound familiar?
 
Yes, love is the first fruit listed because this is the core nature of God Himself. Therefore, our call to produce the fruit of love is to simply replicate God’s nature of love. Even the fruits of joy & peace are a part of the nature of God. Did you know He is called the “Happy God”? Yes, God rejoices and is the possessor of all joy. Not only that, but He is called the God of Peace, the Prince of Peace is He! Next, we see the fruit of longsuffering—which we learned last week is a big part of His nature as well.
 
Well, just as these first four fruit are fruits of God’s character, the next two are as well: God is absolute goodness, and He is total kindness!
 
Let’s look a little at how “goodness” is a big part of who our God is:
 
GOD IS GOOD AND DOES GOOD
 
Now our Lord and Savior Jesus walked in the light and bore this fruit of goodness as well, did He not? We are told in Acts 10:38 that He went about “doing good” and healing all who were oppressed by the devil. Sure, Jesus performed miracles and healed thousands of people during His earthly ministry, but what people don’t talk about as much is all the good that He did aside from those spectacular things. Yes, Jesus bore an abundance of goodness in His life and ministry along with the healings and miracles He performed.
 
You see, over and over, the Scriptures speak to us about the fact that God is good, and He does good (Psalm 119:68). And these verses not only tell us He’s good, but some of them show us how He is good. Let’s look at a couple of them in order to learn how we ourselves can walk in His goodness towards others:
 
Psalm 34:8-10 says, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him! Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him. The young lions lack and suffer hunger; But those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.”
 
When the Holy Spirit begins in verse 8 by inviting us to taste and see the Lord’s goodness, I can’t help but think of this fruit of the Spirit. And this fruit of His goodness can be both tasted and beheld. In verses 9-10, we see what His goodness produces— “no want, lack, or suffering hunger.”
 
Let’s now look at the 84th Psalm: Psalm 84:11 says, “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.” 
 
You see, our good God is described here as a “sun,” and there are not many other physical things that we’ve been given that illustrate God’s goodness more than the sun. James 1:17 describes Him as the Father of lights that gives us every good and perfect gift. So, the sun itself is one of those good and perfect gifts. All we would need to become acutely aware of how good God has been to the human race is have that sun in the heavens burn out. Life would not be good, I can assure you.
 
Not only is God our sun, but he is also our “shield.” That describes Him as our protector. Oh, how much each of us have been spared from!?!
 
But notice what He is said to give—grace and glory. Church, in His goodness, He shares His glory with me. You could say, in His glory, He shares His goodness with me! That’s right! No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly! And what are these good things? Things that benefit and bless you and I. All of His grace and glory work on our behalf to meet our every need. Oh my glory!
 
So, all of these Scriptures that illustrate to us God’s goodness teach us that the Lord is the giver of good things—and only things that benefit and never anything that steals, kills or destroys (John 10:10). No, God only gives “good” and perfect gifts, and He does not deviate from doing that very thing. Pastor James told us to not be deceived in this truth. (See James 1:16-17).
 
May it be so with us, church, that as it is with the Lord, those around us will be able to both taste and see the fruit of goodness in our lives! Amen! 
 
THE RICHES OF HIS KINDNESS
 
Now while we certainly see a lot about the goodness of God in the Bible, we don’t see a tremendous amount about God’s kindness. Or do we? Although we might be dealing with a matter of semantics when we attempt to differentiate between goodness & kindness, I think there is a lot more mentioned about God being kind in the Scriptures than we realize.   
 
For one, we saw how in First Corinthians 13:4 that love is kind. So if God is love, then that Scripture is clearly revealing to us that God is kind. Therefore, as we saw earlier, God is not only longsuffering with us, but He is also kind in the midst of it! In other words, He will still pour out His kindness in our lives while He is waiting for us to repent of our mistakes. What an awesome God we serve!
 
You see, even the “select elect” out there who actually believe God is patient and longsuffering have a hard time believing that God remains kind in the midst of our continual stumbling. They think that He is longsuffering, but He is tapping His foot in the midst of it. But no! God changes not! Therefore, He is still doing good and being kind even while He is waiting on us to live up to our potential. Isn’t that amazing!?!
 
In fact, the Lord Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount that you are to “love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High.” Why? “For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.” (See Luke 6:35-36). Do you see how the idea of imitating of God is taught here by our Lord? And what is it that we are imitating? Yes, His mercy, but also His kindness. Amen!
 
So let me ask you this—if God shows such great kindness to His enemies, to those are unthankful and not reciprocating in any way, to those who are evil even, then how much more will He be kind to His own children? Selah and selah!
 
Church, the apostle Paul taught us that it is going to take all of eternity to reveal to us all the riches of God’s kindness towards us (See Ephesians 2:7). This entails everything from our initial salvation to all the other ways that He has shown forth His kindness towards us in our walk with Him.
 
Regarding the kindness shown to us at salvation, Titus 3:4 says that it was the kindness of God our Savior that saved us. We also see in First Peter 2:3 where after the apostle Peter encouraged us as newborn babes to desire pure spiritual milk that we may grow up in our salvation, that he said, “if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” The word “gracious” here is the same word as “kind” elsewhere. So the ‘kindness” of God is meant to be experienced all throughout our Christian lives! I mean, how many times in the Scriptures are we made aware of the “lovingkindness” of our God?
 
Finally, look over at Romans 11:22 with me. In this verse, we see something very important about the kindness of God … In it, Paul said, “Considering both the kindness and the severity of God …”
 
Church, I think most of us have only considered the severity side of God and not the kind side of God. In other words, far too many Christians have been trained to be hyper aware of God’s wrath, His anger towards sin, in an attempt to instill the fear of God in His people. And there is certainly a place for this, but what about the kindness side of God? Have we become as conscious of that as we are of His severe side? Sadly, most Christians have not.
 
Church, we need to become more aware of this One of a KIND God. We need to consider that side of Him and let His goodness & kindness impact our hearts to the extent that it impacts our lives, and we start replicating His goodness & kindness. Yes, let’s begin to behold how good He is and how kind He is so that those fruits of the Spirit will start being produced in our lives. Amen? 

REVIEW
 
So recently, we have been on a series which I’ve entitled “Imitators of Love” where we are learning the true nature of Love Himself. In it, we are looking at the way God instructs us to treat one another being the way He treats each of us. Therefore, we can look at the things He tells us to do and learn more about His loving nature because He wouldn’t instruct us to do something that He is not willing to do. 
 
We are basing this teaching on Ephesians 5:1-2 where the bullseye of Christianity is us imitating God as His dear children. Yes, being imitators of God would encompass everything else we could ever aspire to be in Him and for Him.
 
We learned that this word “imitators” describes someone who “mimics, copies, or follows after” someone else. We saw how in the original King James Version, this word is used seven times and is always translated as “follower(s).” So what we are doing is mimicking, copying, and following after God’s example when we love others, do good, show mercy, forgive, etc.
 
We see how in verse 2, the apostle Paul used Jesus as the example of following after God—as He is the perfect example of God’s true nature. And we looked at how Jesus, the original “dear child” of God, was certainly all about His Father’s business in that He went about doing good and reflecting our Heavenly Father in both word & deed. In other words, as Jesus’ life reveals how God desires to do things, He is the best example we have for imitating God.
 
So what we have been doing over the past few weeks is we’ve been looking back at the last several verses in Ephesians chapter 4 and saw how Paul got to this point of summarizing with this exhortation to imitate God.

1. We saw how Paul’s instruction in verse 25 to not lie to one another is because God cannot and will not lie to us. Also, as we are told to speak the truth with our neighbor because this is exactly what He does. Yes, all of what God says to us is true and He will by no means ever lie to us.   
2. We saw how in verses 26-27, God certainly has the capacity of anger, but His wrath is aimed at Satan, sin, and the other things that destroy us. So essentially God loves the sinner while He hates the sin.
3. We then saw in verse 28 that God does not steal but lives to give—meaning, He is not the one who is the thief. That’s the devil. God is the giver of life and the One who adds to us, not takes things from us.
4. And most recently, we looked at verses 29-30 that teach us that God’s Word and His Spirit are not what many think they are. No, His Words do not corrupt; they build up! His Spirit does not condemn; He justifies! This is why we could call the Word of God, the Word of Love, and the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Love. The Spirit of God and the Word of God always agree! And what they specifically agree on is to communicate things to us that preserve us, that build us & edify us, and that add to us! This is always what God’s written Word and His Holy Spirit will communicate to us.

 
LOVE IS THIS!
 
Now this week, like we have been doing with these verses in Ephesians chapter 4, I would like us to begin looking at another section of Scriptures that has been traditionally used to teach us how we are to love one another – the great love chapter, First Corinthians chapter 13. Let’s look at these verses …
 
First Corinthians 13:4-8 teaches us how “love suffers long and is kind. (how) love does not envy; (how) love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; (how it) does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; (how it) does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; (yes, how love) bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
 
Unfortunately, most of us have mainly only heard these verses expounded on at marriage ceremonies. I for one love how these verses are used in weddings because, how many of you know, a newly married couple needs to know that these are the things that love does and they will have every opportunity to practice all of these various characteristics of love in their marriage? But the sad thing is that these descriptions & characteristics of love are not just for a married couple. No, they are applicable to every Christian for any & all relationships.
 
But again, I want us to turn this around and teach these verses from the same perspective that we have been, in order to teach us the very characteristics of God Himself.
 
Again, do the Scriptures not say that God is love (See First John 4:8)? This means that in all of these characteristics where we are told love is this and love is that, we could actually substitute God for the word love. So I encourage you that as we go through these verses, read them as so: “God suffers long and is kind, He does not envy, God does not parade Himself, He is not puffed up; God does not behave rudely, He does not seek His own, He is not provoked, He thinks no evil; God does not rejoice in iniquity, but He rejoices in the truth; God bears all things, He believes all things, He hopes all things, He endures all things; God never fails …” 
 
Yes, these verses give us a clear description of the Lord’s character and reveal to us who He truly is. So let’s go through these characteristics one by one and learn about the loving and caring nature of our heavenly Father and what it is that we are imitating …
 
WHAT IS LONGSUFFERING?
 
Now the very first thing that we see love Himself being described as is the One who “suffers long.” So, at the forefront of all of Love’s characteristics, we see that God is “longsuffering” (you might also say, “patient.”)  
 
Now I see “suffering long” with others as one of the most telling signs of where our love is. In other words, if we want to “take our temperature” to see what level of love we are at, then we need look no further than our patience and longsuffering with others. I understand that this might be hard to swallow because for so many of us, our fuse might be very short when it comes to dealing with people who test every ounce of our patience, but the fact is, “love suffers long.” Yes, love is patient and will continue to be patient with others.
 
Now this certainly does not mean that if we are truly walking in love, we will have to endure any and every circumstance or people indefinitely. No, sometimes wisdom will dictate the time to remove ourselves from situations and to get out of certain relationships. So I say this to say, don’t think that you’re not walking in love because you do not continue to suffer through the situation & remove yourself from it. Sometimes that is necessary, and wisdom will show you when that time is. But what I would do is I’d suggest asking yourself in those times, am I looking to get out of this because I’m just tired of going through it or because the Lord is actually leading me to move on? Just objectively look for the love, and you won’t be led astray.  
 
But the fact is one of the major reasons that most people don’t “suffer long” with others is because they love themselves more than they love others. Therefore, we don’t allow ourselves to suffer very long because the “me” part of me doesn’t like suffering and certainly isn’t willing to suffer very long. Amen or Oh me?
 
Now the phrase “suffers long” here in First Corinthians 13:4 comes from the same Greek word that is used for the fruit of the Spirit called “longsuffering.” You might be more familiar with some translations that use the word “patience” to describe this fruit, but I personally like “longsuffering” better and let me explain why …
 
For one, the Greek word Paul used here in Galatians 5:22 (Greek makrothumia) is translated “longsuffering” many more times than it is patience. But the main reason I like the translation “longsuffering” better as it pertains to this fruit of the Spirit is because when you do a word study of “patience” and “longsuffering,” what you find is interesting …
 
You see, most of the time that this word for “longsuffering” is used, it is used in connection with someone being patient with another person. However, with the word for “patience” (oftentimes the translation of the word hupomeno), it is often used in connection with being patient in circumstances. Therefore, I believe that the difference between these two Greek terms is that one (the one that is listed as a fruit of the Spirit, mind you) is patience in regard to people (i.e., makrothumia) and the other (i.e., hupomeno) is enduring circumstances.  In other words, I think it is safe to assume that there is a patience that is used with people and that is called “longsuffering” and there is a patience that is used with circumstances and that is called “endurance.”
 
However, while longsuffering is certainly similar in nature to patience, the primary difference between these two virtues is that longsuffering keeps one from anger, wrath, etc. and patience keeps one from moving when the pressure is put on (Greek hupomeno— “staying under power”). So, longsuffering is not moved by negative emotions while patience is not moved by negative circumstances.   
 
Now is it incorrect to say that we can be patient with people? Certainly not! But since there are different words that were used in those days to describe how one patiently endures both people and things, I believe it is important for us to have different terms in order to make a distinction. However, based on the verbiage we use in our culture today, a better translation might be “patience” because the term “longsuffering” is not a commonly used word today. 
 
But this is where it gets interesting: As I stated already, both the fruit of the Spirit which we call “longsuffering” and this phrase from First Corinthians 13:4 (“suffers long”) come from the Greek word makrothumia and comes from two words. The prefix is makros, which simply means “long”, and the other word is thumos, which describes “passionate anger or wrath.” So, when you combine these two words together, you see a person described that takes a “long” time to get “mad,” or you could say they are slow to anger.
 
When it comes to makrothumia, I like to use the analogy of a stick of dynamite. But not just any ordinary stick of dynamite, but one that has a tremendously long fuse (i.e., that string that one lights on fire to ignite the dynamite). So, because its fuse is so long, you can “burn” it for a long time before it will ever “explode” on you. Therefore, the believer who is producing this virtue in his or her life is extremely “patient & forbearing” with others.
 
We see this described in Ephesians 4:2 when Paul says, “with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love.” In other words, it is with longsuffering that we bear with one another in love. So, the fruit of longsuffering enables one to bear with others because of their love for them. You see, the lack of being able to “bear” it, is a lack of longsuffering. But again, it is not bearing with them with gritted teeth; it is bearing with them in love.
 
CULTIVATING LONGSUFFERING
 
Now as we look at longsuffering, it’s important that we realize that in our flesh, we are limited in how long our fuse will be. But since it is a fruit of love and of His Spirit, then that means that it comes from God and enables us to do what we never could have done on our own. No, it, like all of the fruit of the Spirit, comes from the fruit of a spiritually alive and Spirit-empowered life.
 
While there are certainly some things that we can do to help us become more patient with others, such as a changed perspective and a renewed focus, the fact is that if we are going to produce the fruit of God’s longsuffering, we are going to need the Lord’s help to do it.
 
In fact, in Colossians chapter one, Paul was praying for this church and said that he desired that they be “strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy.” (Colossians 1:11). In other words, this prayer was for the supernatural strength and power of God to be poured into a believer’s life which would enable them “for all patience and longsuffering with joy.” So, if you and I are going to produce all of the patience (for every difficult circumstance) and all of the longsuffering (for every difficult person), then we are going to need God’s strength to do it—particularly, in order to be joyful while enduring.
 
So, yes, it is going to take the Holy Spirit’s help in us producing this fruit to the degree that we ought. However, like I said, there is still a part we have to play in producing this fruit. Yes, in order to wear the fruit of longsuffering in my life, it is going to take a certain attitude and mentality. So, let me give you something that will help one to have the proper mindset to wearing this particular fruit: 
 
In Matthew chapter 18, we see in Jesus’ Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, how the servant goes from asking his master to be longsuffering with him to then hearing his brother pleading the same from him and showing no patience with him (See Matthew 18:26&29).
 
What we can gather from this is that one of the reasons we don’t “suffer long” with others is because we are not being mindful to how “longsuffering” God has been with us. Therefore, it helps me to cultivate the ground of my heart for this fruit by consciously remembering how patient the Lord has been with me and the great debt He has dismissed in my own personal life.
 
The apostle Paul understood this well: In First Timothy 1:16, he described his life & ministry as showing all of God’s longsuffering in order to teach all who would turn to Christ after him how longsuffering God will be with them. In other words, God’s own longsuffering in his life propelled Paul into a state of being longsuffering himself (Compare Second Timothy 3:10).     
 
So, both being the receiver of God’s patience and living in the awareness of how much He has suffered long with us is a key to cultivating the ground of our heart. Which leads me to the main point of what the Holy Spirit wants us to see today …
 
DIVINE LONGSUFFERING
 
So we are not just talking about how we to imitate God’s longsuffering ourselves, but how He Himself is the epitome of longsuffering …
 
We see this mention of God’s longsuffering a lot in Peter’s letters. And why do you suppose that might be? I bet it was because Peter was a man who was in desperate need of this longsuffering nature of God, and he knew he had received a lot of God’s patience. Amen? How many other “Peters” do we have out there?
 
In First Peter 3:20, he describes how it was “divine longsuffering” (i.e., God’s patience) that had Him wait in the days of Noah before bringing the flood on the earth.
 
Now I think sometimes we make the mistake of seeing God as quickly judging the world during the days of Noah, but I want you to understand that while we might read about this event in one chapter of the Bible, the entire timetable that led up to this was much longer than it seems by just reading Moses’ account of it.
 
You see, we do not know how long it had taken to get this bad on the earth before God even called Noah to build the ark. I’d assume it was hundreds of years of wickedness before the Lord made the final decision to flood the earth. Not only that, but the Lord even gave them an additional 120 years (the amount of time that most believe it took Noah to build the ark) before judging the world. In this “long” period of time, we are also told that Noah was preaching the truth.
 
So, in the flood, where God judged the world for the wickedness in it, God certainly waited for hundreds of years, showing great longsuffering in doing what needed to be done.    
 
And in Second Peter 3:9, the apostle of hope talked about how this same longsuffering is on display with us today: He said, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”
 
The apostle Peter goes on, in this chapter, to describe this “longsuffering” of God as the grace & mercy He gives us until His Second Coming. So, like it was in the days of Noah, the human race is still here, and the Judgment has been staved off because our God suffers long!
 
We are familiar with a lot of this in our nation, aren’t we? It is clear that we are living in a world that is getting more perverse and twisted than we’ve seen it in our lifetime. And I’ve even heard many Christians question why this world continues to exist, and desire to leave this lost & perverse generation. But do you know things continue in this direction with God seemingly doing nothing to stop it? It’s because as Peter teaches us here, God is longsuffering, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
 
You see, those who are ready for the end to come are missing a very important point. And that is, that there are currently billions of lost people on this planet that Jesus came to die for. So, if Jesus were to return today, then all of those lost people will be condemned. Therefore, if we love people more than we hate the way the world is going, we too will pray for God’s longsuffering and patience on this world. 
 
Isn’t the Lord described in the Scriptures as being “slow to anger”? In fact, I counted that, in the Old Testament alone, there are at least nine times that He is described this way. That’s a lot, church!
 
And this is not our version of doing something slowly either. For instance, in the Book of Revelation, Jesus said, “Behold I am coming quickly!” right? Now He said that how long ago? Around 2,000 years, right? So, if 2,000-plus years is God doing something “quickly,” what is Him doing something “slowly”? Selah.
 
Yes, God in His longsuffering has given each of us much more grace & mercy than we can comprehend. The fact is, if it were not for this “divine longsuffering,” many of us would not even still be here. The very fact that you and I are able to gather together today is proof of God’s patience. He has certainly suffered long with each and every one of us. Amen? He is incredibly slow to anger! 
 
Finally, Romans 2:4 also describes this “divine longsuffering” when Paul said, “Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?”
 
We see in this verse that things like God’s kindness, forbearance & longsuffering are the fruit of His goodness. And the point Paul was making right here was that when we bear this fruit, it leads others to change. Thus, the importance of bearing the fruit of longsuffering: it helps others change.
 
For example, Peter talked about how this is one of the ways a wife can win her husband to the Lord (see First Peter 3:1-2)—by the fruit she’s producing in her life. So, do you suppose if I bear the fruit of longsuffering in my life, it might help convert someone? I guarantee you it can—for it’s the manifestation of God’s goodness (in us and through us) that leads man to repentance.
 
But what about God’s longsuffering with us? What do you think happens if we behold it? I guarantee you that it too will change us—and to a much greater degree.
 
This is why I believe Paul was encouraging us not to “despise” the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering. It’s because if we don’t value things like God’s longsuffering, it won’t change us. Let’s let His longsuffering change us, church! Let’s behold the beauty of His patience with us and learn to “suffer long” with others ourselves!   

REVIEW
 
A few weeks ago, we began a new series of teaching which I’m entitling “Imitators of Love.” And the reason I’ve entitled it this is because God Himself is said to be the epitome of love. Therefore, when we have verses like Ephesians 5:1 that instruct us to imitate God as dear children, then we are essentially imitating love because the One we are imitating is love.
 
But what we are doing here is not just learning about what we are to be imitating but we are seeing how what the Lord teaches us about how we are to treat one another shows us who our God is. In other words, we are learning from the loving things He instructs us to do towards our neighbor how He does these things Himself towards each of us.
 
So essentially, we are continuing our most recent study of God’s love for us in a different way: We are studying verses that teach us how to walk in love in order to learn more about how our God walks in love towards us. Yes, our Heavenly Father commands us to treat our brothers and sisters a certain way because He wants us to act like Him! He wants us to forgive, to do good, and to have compassion on our fellow man because this is how God treats us. So, in essence, you could say that everything God instructs or commands us to do in His Word can be summarized in one statement— Be like Me.  
 
So we’ve looked at our golden text of Ephesians 5:1-2 and learned some very powerful truths:
 
I made the point that I see this verse as the bullseye of everything that we aim to be as Christians. Why is this? It’s because being imitators of God would encompass everything else we could ever aspire to be in Him. Yes, if we were imitating God, then we would love perfectly. We would bless abundantly. We would do good to all, and our mercy would endure forever. The list could go on and on. So just mimicking the nature of our Heavenly Father would encompass all of the weightier matters of the law and fulfill its righteous requirement in our lives. Amen?   
 
We learned that this word “imitators” can make us think of someone who “mimics, copies, or follows after” someone else. In fact, in the original King James version, this word is used seven times and is always translated as “follower(s).” The apostle Paul liked to use this word in encouraging his churches to “follow” his example and “imitate” him.
 
Here are a few other translations of Ephesians 5:1 that bring out some of these other ways of describing “imitators”:

1. The Amplified Bible says, “Therefore become imitators of God [copy Him and follow His example], as well-beloved children [imitate their father];”
2. The JB Phillips New Testament says, “As children copy their fathers you, as God’s children, are to copy him.”
3. The Message Bible says, “Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents.”
4. The Contemporary English Version says, “Do as God does. After all, you are his dear children.”

 
We focused on the last part of Ephesians 5:1, “as dear children.” The imagery that he is giving us is of a child imitating his or her dad, but we highlighted that Paul said it was His “dear” children that did this. This word describes children who are “beloved”—which I believe to describe how a child who does imitate his or her parents is “dear” to the parents. Not that the parent loves the child any more because of their actions, but it describes how the parent holds “dear” the child that imitates them.  
 
You see, regarding this, all of us parents out there can see how this would be true, right? There are not too many things that can bless a parent more than when their child attempts to mimic them. At a young age, our kids might repeat what we say. Many times, they will want to do what we do vocationally when they grow up. They simply just get interested in what we are interested in because of their love and admiration for us. Then when they grow up, what a joy it is to any parent when their child follows in their footsteps by maybe choosing the school that their parents went to or following the same career path that they did.
 
Now, of course, this is not always the path that our children are to take, but when it comes to our Heavenly Father, following exactly in His footsteps is always the right thing to do. My point is that it pleases any parent to either see their young child doing their best to be like their daddy or seeing their grown-up children making the mature decision to be about their father’s business.
 
And we looked at how Jesus, the original “dear child” of God, was certainly all about His Father’s business in that He went about doing good and reflecting our Heavenly Father in both word & deed.
 
So as we learned in John 1:18 that even though God cannot be seen, His only begotten Son came to declare Him. This means that not only did Jesus declare Him in word, but He also declared Him in action. In other words, Jesus’ life reveals the true nature of the Father. Therefore, Jesus would be the best example we have for imitating God. So if we are told to imitate God as His dear children, then that means you and I need to emulate what we saw Jesus doing, right? In other words, we need to follow and practice the things we believe Jesus would do. This is how we imitate our Heavenly Father, right—by following His only begotten Son?
 
So I guess if you are one of those who believes God is putting sickness on people to teach them something, is causing tragedies in our lives to draw us closer to Him, or is taking people to heaven as He wills because He needs them there more than we need them here, then I guess you better get busy … I guess you need to start imitating Him by helping spread sickness to those around you, to cause grief and create tragedies in the lives of those who love you, and even (God forbid) start killing people and stealing things from them.
 
Of course, we know it’s foolish to even consider that, but it does prove a good point – that if we are supposed to be imitating God, then the things we know that are evil, wicked, and unloving things to do to others couldn’t be what our loving Heavenly Father could be doing to us. In other words, it’s safe to assume that God is practicing the very things He tells us to practice with one another or the things that are just common knowledge of how we should treat one another, right?  
 
Which leads me to the point I believe the Holy Spirit wants to make next – how the things Paul tells us in the verses just before Ephesians 5:1-2 teach us about how our Heavenly Father does things …
 
So I gave you a little homework a couple of weeks ago – and that was to determine why the apostle Paul said in Ephesians 5:1, “Therefore, be imitators of God as dear children.” In other words, I asked you to take a look at the end of chapter 4 and see why Paul might have said “Therefore” when talking about us imitating Him.
 
We specifically looked at verses 41-42 first where we saw how Paul taught us about “putting on” Christ’s clothing of being kind and forgiving one another while first “putting off” the behaviors of the old man. We even went over to Colossians chapter 3 and looked at some verses where Paul went into a lot more detail about this same thing.
 
Then with it being Father’s Day the following Sunday, we went back to verse 25 and looked at some of the things Paul said that show us what a good, good Heavenly Father we have. In other words, we are going to look at today how we can follow in our Father’s footsteps and do things like He does.
 
LOVE CANNOT LIE
 
He begins by telling us in verse 25 to put away lying and to speak truth with our neighbor.
 
Don’t you think it’s interesting that the apostle Paul had to tell the Ephesian church, which was probably one of the greatest churches in history, to quit lying. The reason this is so astounding is because we tend to over-glamorize the early church and assume that they were super spiritual. And while they certainly walked in greater power than the church does today, the truth is, these believers struggled with the same carnal things that you and I do. Yes, they struggled with lying, anger, stealing, hurtful words, and bitterness like we all do in the church today (vs.25-31).
 
But why do you reckon telling the truth and not lying is so important to the Lord? Why do you suppose it was important enough for the Holy Spirit to inspire Paul to write this? You got it – It’s because He does not (more accurately, He cannot) lie! It is just not part of His nature and is a complete violation to the truth that He is!
 
Here are three verses that establish the truth of God’s inability to lie:
 
Numbers 23:19 says, “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”
 
Titus 1:2 says, “in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began,”
 
And finally, Hebrews 6:18, “that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.”
 
In fact, we are told earlier in Ephesians chapter 4 to speak the truth in love (verse 15), signifying that speaking the truth is one of the things that love does. Now you can speak the truth and not do it in love, but you cannot walk in love and not speak the truth. Let me explain…
 
There are a lot of people (even Christians) who are proficient in speaking the truth. Yes, they will tell people the way it is and not balk at being brutally honest with people. The problem, however, is that not everyone who does this does it “in love.” In other words, they like to “call it like they see it” but they are generally not too concerned about the other person’s feelings. And sure, sometimes the other person’s feelings might be hurt when we tell them the truth, but my point is that we genuinely do care about the other person, so we are at least conscious of their feelings and wouldn’t treat them the way we wouldn’t want to be treated.   
 
Aren’t you thankful that God does not tell you everything He sees wrong with you? No, even though He is certainly aware with ALL your flaws and mistakes, He doesn’t go around telling you or others even a small fraction of them. Why? Because He is love, and while He is certainly the truth as well, He only tells people the truth when its best for them—not because He’s irritated by something they are doing or for some other selfish reason.
 
But on the same token, if we truly love someone, we will tell them the truth they need to hear in the moment because it will help them. No, there will not be this – “Oh, I don’t want to offend them” – because love is not as concerned about their response towards what we are telling them as it is about genuinely trying to help the person and doing what’s best for them.
 
But the bottom line is that if you lie, you are not walking in love towards the one you are lying to, because the majority of the time someone lies, they are thinking only of covering up something and protecting themselves. That’s not love, is it?
 
So know this- this is a BIG reason that God cannot lie. It’s because He is love! He is faithful to what He has said. So if the Lord makes you a promise, He will surely bring it to pass because He loves you that much!
 
LOVE HAS ANGER
 
Then in verses 26&27, we are told how love also knows how to channel its anger: Paul said in these verses – “ ‘Be angry, and do not sin’: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil.”
 
Now there has been a lot of misunderstanding about what Paul was saying in these verses because many have interpreted these verses incorrectly. I always heard people say regarding verse 26, “When you get angry, make sure you don’t sin by going to bed angry. Make sure you make it right before you go to sleep.” And while that is an okay standard to live by, I don’t think God wants us to harbor ill-will towards our neighbor for any portion of the day!
 
No, this verse is saying something totally different. It is actually commanding us “be angry” but “do not sin” –meaning, God wants us to be angry at something but just not let it turn into sin. This verse is actually telling us to not let the sun go down on that wrath - meaning, don’t let that wrath go to sleep.   
 
So a good question then is – Aren’t things like anger and wrath wrong? No, they are only wrong when aimed at the wrong thing!
 
You see, anger becomes sin only when it is aimed at God or other people. Anger is only appropriate when aimed at Satan and sin. In fact, we are told in this verse to be angry and to allow ourselves to stay infuriated against the devil. That is why he says at the beginning of verse 27 – “nor give place to the devil.” In other words, keep your anger, wrath and hostility against the devil awake and don’t give him any place! Amen! 
 
The word “sin” in its simplest sense means “to miss the mark.” So, Paul was essentially saying, “Be angry, but don’t miss the mark with that anger.” In other words, aim your anger at its proper target – not at people or God, but rather at sin and all its effects. By understanding this we are enabled to love our enemies that are in the natural realm and channel our anger towards our real enemies that are in the spiritual realm. However, if we do not understand this, then the devil will have us constantly channeling our anger in the wrong direction, and in so doing, we will be “giving him place” in our lives.
 
So when someone does something that angers us, we have to see the root cause of that hurtful action which is the devil. We must understand that flesh and blood is not who we are wrestling against but that it is the devil who is behind the scenes inspiring the offense. Then we can truly be angry and sin not. We sin when we focus our anger on our brothers and sisters – allowing ourselves to become bitter, resentful, offended, and unforgiving towards them. However, it is okay to be angry when that anger is channeled towards the devil.
 
So what does this have to do with the Lord? How is this imitating Him? Well, He certainly knows who the real enemy is, and His anger is aimed at him. Therefore, His anger and wrath are towards the sin and not towards the sinner. And why does He hate sin and the kingdom of darkness so much? It is because He loves us so much, and sin and Satan are seeking to steal, kill, and destroy us. Therefore, He does not let the sun go down on His wrath against all ungodliness. Why? It is because He loves the sinner and hates the sin, all because the sin hurts the ones His love is poured out on, namely you and me. 
 
Even in the Old Testament, the Lord was expressing His nature of love towards the children of Israel …
 
You see, this is one of the reasons that the Lord gave them the Law. We know from Paul’s epistle to the Romans that one of the main purposes of the Law was to reveal sin and cause His people to cry out for a Savior. But another reason that the Lord gave them commandments was for the same reason any good and loving parent gives their kids commandments. Why? It is because they love them, and they know the effects of those actions on their children! For instance, they tell them to look both ways before they cross the street because they are ultimately protecting them. Therefore, love will make every attempt to eradicate the sin from the object of its love before the sin yields death in them.
 
But my point is that love is not just passive and all-embracing. It does not just overlook the thing that is killing the one it loves. Love will seek to expose and remove that thing that is working death in the object of its love.
 
Friends, we have embraced what we call a “seeker-sensitive” type of love that is absolutely ungodly. When we ignore the absolutes and sweep the truth under the table all because we don’t want to offend, we are no longer walking in the pure love of God. But it is much better to speak the truth in love with the risk of offending than to ignore the darkness and watch the person continue to not walk in all of their God-given potential or even experience death in an area of their life.
 
But again, my entire motivation for speaking truth is because of my love for the people I’m sharing it with. Love always has to be the reason I am speaking truth—not my own personal agenda or my frustration.
 
LOVE DOES NOT STEAL; LOVE GIVES
 
Then in verse 28, we see yet another reflection of God in the form of a commandment towards us: Paul said, “Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need.” Actually, there are two aspects of God’s loving nature contained in this verse.
 
Number one, God tells us not to steal: And why does He command us not to steal? It is because He does not steal! But why do so many in the church today attribute the characteristics of a thief to their God? For example, the majority of the church today blames God for taking their health to teach them something, stripping them of their finances to humble them, or “taking” their loved one because He needed another angel in heaven. Is this really true?
 
I know that our Heavenly Father is the giver of every good and perfect gift. Therefore, all of the blessings we possess are gifts from Him. But to say that God is giving us a blessing and then turning around and taking it from us would be like me giving you $100, you putting it in your wallet, and then when I see your wallet laying around, I take it back without your permission. That would be “unrighteous”, right?
 
So why has the church accused God of doing things like that? And if this were correct, like I said earlier, it wouldn’t be wrong for me to do this to you because, after all, I’m just copying what God does like I’m told to do, right?
 
Of course, it’s foolish to think God would want us to imitate someone who steals from others. Likewise, it’s foolish to think that God Himself is doing the same. No, the reason we should be able to clearly see why the Lord is against stealing is because the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy and He is ultimately against us imitating the devil. Amen!
 
So how do we imitate God and not the devil? The answer is by doing what the second half of this verse says – being a giver! That is who God is! So if we want to imitate God, we need to learn to be givers! This is revealed in John 10:10 when after Jesus described the thief, He then described God’s nature by saying He had come to give life and life more abundantly.
 
Then Paul tells us in this verse what the whole purpose of the jobs that we have to earn money is – It is that we may have something to give to him who has need! Wow! That means that our whole attitude for working should be so that we can have enough to bless others with. And why? It is because this is who our loving Father is! God is a giver and that is what He lives to do!
 
My dad did this for his family when I was young: He worked a side job as a referee in high school basketball simply to earn money so that he could buy Christmas gifts for me, my sister, and my mom. How many of you know, that’s something God would do (and has done)?   
 
You see, selfishness only works for itself so that it can gather more into its own barns; love works because it wants to have more to give! Therefore, God wants us to “live to give” like He focuses on supplying all of our need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus! Thanks be to God!
 
 
PART 4 – THE WORD OF LOVE & THE SPIRIT OF LOVE
 
 
THE WORD OF LOVE
 
Then in verse 29, Paul instructs us in how to use our words by focusing on how they are affecting those who hear them: He says, “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” Essentially in this verse, Paul is saying that our words are not meant to tear down, but for building up. They are meant to impart grace to the hearers, not condemnation.
 
You know, the Bible has a lot to say about the power of our words. In fact, not only did the apostle Paul talk about our words in his epistles, the Lord Jesus said a lot about our words as well in the Gospels. But do you know what Book of the Bible has the most to say about our words? The Book of Wisdom, Proverbs, does. So this teaches me that a wise man chooses his words carefully, knowing that there is life & death in the power of the tongue. Seems like that should be in the Bible somehow. But wait! It is!
 
Proverbs 18:20-21 says, “A man’s stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth; From the produce of his lips he shall be filled. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”
 
First of all, notice that Proverbs 18:21 specifically says that those who love it will eat its fruit. Love what? Well, this could refer to the power that is in the tongue or the life that our tongue has the power to produce. Either way, embracing this truth that our words are powerful is an important part of seeing the fruit of it.  But the truth is, our tongues hold more power than most realize – the power to produce both death and life. No, not just life and not just death; our tongues hold the power to accomplish both!
 
But notice how this verse doesn’t say “life and death are in the power of the tongue”; it says “death and life …” And I believe the reason for this is because one must first realize what to stop saying with their mouths before they start learning what to say.
 
Notice in Ephesians 4:28, Paul did the same thing— He started by saying to not let any corrupt communication come out of our mouths before he focused on the good things our tongue is meant to accomplish.
 
Now “corrupt communication” describes words that can spoil or even kill. And, church, we need to know that words do indeed have that power … This corrupting & destructive nature of the tongue is mentioned all throughout Proverbs. Many do not understand this; they do not see how words can do so much damage. We say things like, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” That is so untrue, church! The truth is - words can hurt! Yes, they can even kill!
 
Proverbs 12:18 says, There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword… In other places, words are described as arrows, snake bites, fire (see Psalm 57:4, 64:3, 120:2-4, 140:3; Proverbs 16:27, 25:18, 26:21 & James 3:2-12). So yes, words can be used as weapons to demolish, destroy, condemn, and even kill.
 
But as Proverbs 12:18 & Proverbs 4:28 go on to say, words are not just instruments of death, they are also instruments of life. Therefore, we need to see how our words can be constructive; not just destructive.
 
I had the Lord correct me one time on this because when I first got the revelation of the power of our words, I only gravitated to the negative. It set in me a holy fear of not saying anything that I did not want to see in my life. I would avoid saying anything about how I felt in my body, what I was experiencing negatively in my life, etc. I knew that I did not want to say what I didn’t want to see. And while there is certainly truth to this, there was something I had not put into practice yet.
 
You see, although I knew that there was death in the power of the tongue, I had not put as much importance on the fact that there is also life in the power of the tongue. Therefore, I needed to adopt the principle of calling things that be not as though they were instead of just not calling things that be as though they were not. Both are truths that we need to learn, church – because, again, words can be both extremely destructive and extremely constructive.
 
Notice what the 2nd half of this Proverb says, “… but the tongue of the wise promotes health.” So, just as our words can be weapons and be used to hurt people and things, our words can also be agents of healing and health! (I wonder then what God’s Words will promote in those who have ears to hear them) Amen! So as the apostle Paul said, our words are supposed to do good, to bring necessary edification, and to impart grace to the hearers.
 
Likewise, Proverbs talks about the destructive tendency of our words, it also has a lot to say about the life that’s in our tongue as well:
 
Proverbs 10:11 says that “the mouth of the righteous is a well of life …” Most other translations describe the mouth of the righteous as a “fountain of life.” In other words, it is the source of life. You see, a fountain or well was their source of water in that day. Therefore, our mouths are where we need to look to when we are feeling dry, thirsty, and not experiencing the life of God. Our own mouths can change the narrative and give a life-giving drink of water to both those we might be encouraging and our own selves that might need encouraging.  
 
Proverbs 15:4 says, “A wholesome tongue is a tree of life …” So, a wholesome (or, healthy) tongue is a tree of life. What does this mean? Well, the tree of life did what? It gave eternal, everlasting life! So, how does one become satisfied with long life (see Psalm 91:16)? It is through a whole and healthy tongue!
 
Proverbs 15:23 says, A man has joy by the answer of his mouth, and a word spoken in due season, how good it is! Did you know that how we decide to answer things with our mouth can determine whether we walk in joy or not? For example, if a “barren fig tree” is in our path and we answer it with the right words, it can greatly determine us experiencing the fruit of joy. Regarding others, we need to be declarers of the “good report”- not running to bring bad news to others. I get joy when people call me with good news. 
 
Proverbs 16:24 says, Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones. In other words, pleasant, beautiful, gracious and kind words have a similar effect on us as good honey does: they positively affect us both emotionally and physically. Be an agent of words that both add to others and to you!
 
Finally, I want to draw our attention back to the last half of Proverbs 18:21, which says, “and those who love it shall eat the fruit of it.”
 
What fruit do you want in your life? What do you desire to partake of? Well, according to Proverbs 18:21, we see that we will eat the fruit of the words that we speak. “Eating our words” is a much truer statement than we realized, huh? 
 
Well, we have three verses in Proverbs that speak along these same lines. Let’s look at one of them that is coincidently located one verse before Proverbs 18:21. Quickly, the other two say:

• Proverbs 12:14 - A man will be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth, and the recompense of a man’s hands will be rendered to him.
• Proverbs 13:2 - A man shall eat well by the fruit of his mouth, but the soul of the unfaithful feeds on violence.

 
Finally, notice again that Proverbs 18:20 says, A man’s stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth; From the produce of his lips he shall be filled.
 
So, these are three witnesses that establish us in the importance of only speaking of the fruit we desire to partake of.
 
So now you know where I am going with this, right? If our words hold such power, what do you suppose God’s Word is capable of!?! It absolutely has the power to produce life and health! This is why Proverbs 4:22 teaches us how His Words are “life to those who find them and health to all their flesh.”
 
And Ephesians 4:29 teaches us exactly what else His Words have the power to do--
 
They are certainly not capable of “corruption” because Paul told us not to let any corrupt communication proceed from our mouth. This means that nothing God says to us will ever yield corruption or death; rather they “preserve.” The Book of Proverbs even talks about how His wise words will “preserve” us. In other words, God’s Words always produce life and lead to our fruit being fresh and flourishing.
 
Likewise, all of His words are good and are for necessary edification. This means all that He says is good, beneficial, and edifying. The word “edification” literally means to build up. Therefore, His words will always build us up and not tear us down.
 
And finally, His words always impart grace to the hearers: Didn’t Paul say over in Colossians 4:6 that our words should always be with grace. This is how God talks. Do you want to know what language God speaks in? It is grace! Grace is the language of love. So if God told us that our speech is always to be with grace, then how can we believe that His Words are not going to always be “laced with grace”? Yes, if the Lord told us to always let our speech be with grace and seasoned with salt, then you can rest assured that this is the way He is always going to communicate with you. In other words, His Words will always be in the specific flavor that you prefer them to be in.
 
Again, is this not what God’s Word does for us? It builds us up, it edifies us, it feeds our spirits, and it imparts grace to us, for faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. In this verse, God is saying that He wants our words to have the same effect on others as His Word does on us.
 
You see, there are different ways in which we can hear God’s Word. Some only hear it through the filter of condemnation, but this is not how God spoke it. His Word was intended to minister to us the same way as Paul said here our words are to minister to others – and that way is the way of love. This is why you could call the Word of God, the Word of Love.
 
THE SPIRIT OF LOVE
 
Then in verse 30, we have another eye-opening truth: Paul says in it that we are not to grieve the Holy Spirit.
 
Now this idea of grieving the Holy Spirit must be understood by the context. You see, I’ve heard a lot of squirrely ideas of what “grieves” the Holy Spirit, but this verse is sandwiched between the words of our mouth (vs. 29) and the taking off & putting on of certain behaviors. So the fact is, the Holy Spirit can be grieved when you or I choose to conduct ourselves in a certain way.
 
But again, will God give us a standard that He is not already living by? Nope! So this should tell us that He tells us not to grieve the Holy Spirit because He does not and will not grieve us! Wow! What a powerful truth!
 
Now it’s important to understand what this word “grieve” means: It comes from the Greek word lupeo which means to make sorrowful, to sadden, or to cause pain, injury, or distress.
 
Have you ever done something wrong and just felt an overwhelming state of sorrow? And no, I am not referring to a normal kind of feeling bad about what you did, but an oppressive kind of guilt that zapped you of your joy and left you with a dark cloud over your head.
 
You see, as the apostle Paul taught us, there is certainly a godly kind of sorrow that leads us to repentance, but there is also a worldly sorrow that yields death (Second Corinthians 7:8-11). So we need to be able to distinguish when the grief that we are experiencing is the godly kind versus the worldly kind.  
 
Now a great example of this worldly kind of sorrow is Judas: We all know that he made some very bad decisions and the very worst of mistakes, and we see how he was even very remorseful for betraying the Lord like he did. But His sorrow was certainly not the godly kind because there was no repentance. In fact, we see how he took his own life as a result—bringing to pass in the most literal sense what the apostle Paul taught us - that worldly sorrow yields death.
 
So, there is obviously a kind of grief that can come from making mistakes and stumbling in our Christian walk, but does that mean that it’s the Holy Spirit who is “grieving” us? Not necessarily! It might just be that our own heart is condemning us because of some value system that is set in it, or it could be the devil is heaping condemnation on us.
 
But what we do know is that the Lord will not grieve us anymore than He wants us to grieve His Spirit. In fact, we can see where Jesus taught us how the Holy Spirit’s own ministry is to not do this. The Lord Jesus showed us that the Holy Spirit is commissioned to “convict” (See John 16:8-11).
 
Now let me begin by dispelling a couple of popular belief systems that people have of these verses and about the workings of the Holy Spirit in general:
 
Notice, first of all, that Jesus said, “And when He has come (And He most certainly has come!), He will convict the world…” Convict who? “The world.” So, who is it that the Holy Spirit will convict of sin, righteousness, and judgment? The world! And we know that when Jesus refers to the world here, He is certainly including unbelievers because, in verse 9, when He goes on to explain why He will convict the world of these three things, He says, “of sin, because they do not believe in Me.” Therefore, this is certainly talking about those of the world who have not yet believed on Jesus. However, I also see it as including those who are in the world but not of the world as well (i.e., believers) because in verse 10 He says, “of righteousness, because I go to the Father and you see Me no more.”
 
So, this particular commission of the Holy Spirit in John 16:8-11 is what He is assigned to do for everyone living in the world, and not necessarily just for God’s children. This is important to understand, particularly as it pertains to the sin portion, because how many of us have heard how the Holy Spirit “convicted” one of our brothers & sisters in Christ of their sin—taking them to the woodshed and making them feel horrible for what they did wrong—and they used these very verses to substantiate it?
 
Well, I’m here to tell you that what a lot of Christians say is the Holy Spirit is not the Holy Spirit—which leads me to point number two: Part of the reason people misunderstand the workings of the Holy Spirit is because of this word we see in the King James version— “convict.”
 
You see, in our modern-day terminology, the word “convict” has more of a negative tone to it. To us, the word “convict” paints the picture of a courtroom and carries the idea of some judge who is looking down on the guilty and condemning them for their wrongdoing. And religion certainly has not helped this perception of conviction either: It has painted the picture that God is looking down on us with a lightning bolt in His hand ready to strike us down at any moment for our sinful ways. So, therefore, a good portion of the Church teaches that the Holy Spirit’s ministry is to constantly hound us—condemning us for all our various faults and shortcomings. Saints, this is not what the Holy Spirit is commissioned to do!
 
So, what does the word “convict” actually mean? The Greek word translated as “convict” carries more of the idea to “convince or to prove” than it does to “condemn.” In fact, the Greek word that the apostle John used here literally means “to bring something to light, and thus to expose it.” So, don’t get stuck on the word “convict” and let that word paint a negative picture of the Holy Spirit’s dealings with the world.
 
But the fact is (as we’ve made the point of already), Jesus specifically said that the Holy Spirit’s assignment to “convict” of sin is aimed at the world, and not at the church. In other words, the Holy Spirit’s job of convicting, convincing, and simply bringing to light one’s sinful condition is specifically targeting unbelievers.
 
Now does this mean that the Holy Spirit is not dealing with us—God’s children—as well? Since Jesus said here that the Holy Spirit is doing this commission of convicting & convincing to the world, does that mean that He does not show us things as well? I do not believe so.
 
No, just because Jesus only addressed “the world” as being subject to the Holy Spirit’s conviction here, does not mean that He does not fulfill this in a certain measure to the Church. We are in the world as well, just not of the world. I for one am thankful for all of the times that the Holy Spirit has shown me when I am missing it and what I ought to be doing.
 
I have seen many in the Church today reject even the notion of God correcting us or pointing out our mistakes because they see it as a negative thing. But the truth is, we all do stupid things, and we all need correction from time to time. So, who better to provide us with all of the instruction, correction, and direction that we so desperately need than the Holy Spirit?
 
Again, people take correction as such a negative thing. But this particular part of the Holy Spirit’s ministry is not a negative ministry; it is a positive ministry! He is an exhorter and an encourager, not a “beat ‘em down in the dumps” condemner (see Romans 8:1&34)! While He certainly does “convict” us when we do something wrong in the sense that He simply brings it to our attention, He does it in order to teach and train us to become more like Jesus in our attitudes and conduct, and not to make us feel bad. Church, He is a convicter, and not a condemner!
 
The question that begs to be answered then is: What is the difference between conviction and condemnation? Understanding the difference between these two is vital to being able to discern the difference between what comes from God, Satan, and even us.
 
Earlier in my walk with the Lord, He taught me how to tell the difference between these two: He said, “Conviction brings a state of hope; Condemnation brings a state of hopelessness.” What this means is that when you just feel bad over what you did and are basically void of any hope of ever getting back on track—then rest assured, what you are experiencing is condemnation and not conviction.
 
You see, condemnation only yields death. It does nothing but beat you over the head for the mess you are in and does nothing to help you out. It will lay on you such a heavy burden, but not help you lift it even in the least. Condemnation will even try and ultimately cause you to despair of life in general. In other words, it will not stop with making you feel hopeless with your individual mistake. It will end up trying to make you feel hopeless about your Christian walk altogether. Condemnation is a quitter! So, if you are ever being tempted to entertain the thoughts of quitting, know that condemnation is in there somewhere.
 
On the other hand, when you are receiving the conviction of the Holy Spirit, you might feel remorse, but it won’t be the kind of hopeless, guilt-infested sorrow that the world brings. You will sense hope to overcome, hope for change, and hope for forgiveness!
 
The way I personally can discern the conviction of the Holy Spirit is that I always end up feeling better after I receive it. During those times (which are more than I would like), I feel like I can genuinely say to the Holy Spirit, “Thank you sir! May I have another!?!” His loving and gracious rebukes do not make me feel like a failure. Instead, they infuse me with a hope for repentance and also provide the way of escape at the same time (i.e., the “how to” in regard to repentance).
 
But my point is that the Holy Spirit’s commission to convict is a positive, life-giving commission and not something that we should dread. His is a commission of conviction, not condemnation! Yes, church, we must know that the Holy Spirit never, ever condemns us! So, if we ever feel even a hint of condemnation over something that we did, then we should eliminate the Holy Spirit from being a possible suspect, which would leave Satan or ourselves as the only two possible suspects.
 
Have you ever known someone who just had a tendency to injure you with their words? They would say something that just plain hurt you, leaving you saying, “Ouch!” They had a sharp tongue and when they made remarks or statements, they were rather pointed and injurious. For instance, maybe you made a comment like- “Oh, I didn’t realize that” and then they would say something like- “Well, you should have!” That is just condemning! I mean, why would we reinforce to someone the mistake they made when they are already aware of it? How does that profit them if they already realize what they have done?
 
This is not how God wants our speech to be. And why? It is because His Words are not like this towards us! He does not talk to us like many believe that He does. There are many believers who think that God will remind us of our mistakes and shortcomings after we already realize them. This is not God! How many times do we hear of Christians who say, “Man, the Holy Spirit just condemned the mess out me today! He let me know how wrong what I did was and sent me to the woodshed. He told me, ‘I ought to be ashamed of myself and that I should feel bad about what I did.”
 
Now again, I certainly believe that part of the Holy Spirit’s ministry is to let us know when we are missing the mark, but what I totally disagree with is how many believe He does this. He does not grieve us anymore than He wants us to grieve Him. He is not going to send us into distress nor is He going to attempt to cause injury to our soul.
 
Friends, love does not condemn! Love always seeks to speak words of life that build up and don’t tear down! And this is exactly how God’s Word and God’s Spirit seek to communicate to you!
 
CONCLUSION
 
You see, church, the Spirit of God and the Word of God always agree! And what they specifically agree on is to communicate things to us that preserve us, that build us & edify us, and to add to us! This is always what God’s written Word and His Holy Spirit will communicate to us.
 
In fact, if you study what prophecy is meant to do, you can see clearly what both God’s Word—which is called the more sure word of prophecy—and God’s Spirit—which is the One who gives this gift in the first place—intend to do as they speak to us.
 
First Corinthians 14:3 says that he who prophesies speaks edification, exhortation, and comfort to men. Well, if that is what this gift of the Spirit accomplishes, then you can be pretty sure that this is how God will speak to us all the time. Yes, everything He shares with us through His Word and His Spirit will edify, exhort, and bring comfort to us. Amen.

INTRODUCTION
 
As most of you know, we have been looking at God’s love for us over the past few months—attempting to deepen our understanding & revelation of His love for each one of us. Well, today, I want us to move into something similar, yet a little different.
 
Yes, I want us to continue learning about God’s amazing love for us, but we are going to take a different approach than most do. What we are going to do is we are going to look at some verses that instruct us how to love each other, and by this, learn how God loves us in the same way.
 
Someone might ask, “How is studying verses that teach us how to love other people going to teach us about God’s love for us?” The answer is simple, but let me answer that question by asking you one: Would God give us a standard for loving others that He Himself is not already walking in? In other words, would God tell us to do something that He is not already doing? The obvious answer to those two questions is – Of course, He wouldn’t! Our Heavenly Father commands us to treat our brothers and sisters a certain way because He wants us to act like Him! He wants us to forgive, to do good, and to have compassion on our fellow man because this is how God treats us. So, in essence, you could say that everything God instructs or commands us to do in His Word can be summarized in one statement— Be like Me.  
 
So, what I am entitling this new series is – “Imitators of Love” – because we know God is love, right? So, if we are imitating God, then we are imitating love.
 
MIMICKING THE FATHER
 
I get this title from a verse of the Bible which I believe to be the most concise statement of truth concerning our role and responsibility on the earth. Yes, church, if there was one verse that I believe puts everything that we are called to do for the Lord in a nutshell, it would be Ephesians 5:1, which says, “Therefore, be imitators of God as dear children.”
 
You see, I see this verse as the bullseye of everything that we aim to be as Christians. Why is this? It’s because being imitators of God would encompass everything else we could ever aspire to be in Him. Yes, if we were imitating God, then we would love perfectly. We would bless abundantly. We would do good to all, and our mercy would endure forever. The list could go on and on. So just mimicking the nature of our Heavenly Father would encompass all of the weightier matters of the law and fulfill its righteous requirement. Amen?   
 
Now when we see this word “imitators” we think of someone who “mimics, copies, or follows after” someone else. In fact, in the original King James version, this word is used seven times and is always translated as “follower(s).” The apostle Paul liked to use this word in encouraging his churches to “follow” his example and to “imitate” him.
 
Wasn’t Jesus also known for calling His disciples with two words— “Follow me.” Well, what they heard (and probably most of us too) when Jesus invited them to do this was to lay down whatever they were doing and physically follow Him. But I believe Jesus was also saying the same thing that we read here—to follow His example and imitate Him.
 
Let me give you a few other translations of this verse that bring out some of these other ways of describing “imitators”:

1. The Amplified Bible says, “Therefore become imitators of God [copy Him and follow His example], as well-beloved children [imitate their father];”
2. The JB Phillips New Testament says, “As children copy their fathers you, as God’s children, are to copy him.”
3. The Message Bible says, “Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents.”
4. The Contemporary English Version says, “Do as God does. After all, you are his dear children.”

 
So let’s talk a little today about Paul telling us that we need to be imitators of God “as dear children.” The imagery that he is giving us is of a child imitating his or her dad. But notice that Paul says to do it as “dear” children. This word describes children who are “beloved”—which could mean one of two things:

1. It could describe how a father has already loved this child and how this child then imitates his or her father because they have been loved so well.
2. It could also describe how a child who does imitate his or her parents is so loved by the parents. Not that the parent loves the child any more because of their actions, but how the parent holds “dear” the child that imitates them.   

 
So if the apostle Paul intended my first point – to describe how a child who is dearly loved will tend towards mimicking their parents – then this shows the importance of us receiving what we have been learning over the past few months because the fact that we “be-loved” by God, being His “dear children”, should inspire us to be more like God. Yes, the more we receive God’s love and see how good He is, the more it should inspire us to be more like Him. It will create more of an admiration of Him, and the result will be us striving to replicate our Heavenly Father’s goodness. 
 
But if Paul intended to describe how much a parent loves it when their child mimics them, then we can see how this is a way that we can bless the Lord even more. 
 
You know, regarding this latter point, all of us parents out there can see how this would be true, right? There are not too many things that can bless a parent more than when their child attempts to mimic them. At a young age, our kids might repeat what we say. Many times, they will want to do what we do vocationally when they grow up. They simply just get interested in what we are interested in because of their love and admiration for us. Then when they grow up, what a joy it is to any parent when their child follows in their footsteps by maybe choosing the school that their parents went to or following the same career path that they did.
 
Now, of course, this is not always the path that our children are to take, but when it comes to our Heavenly Father, following exactly in His footsteps is always the right thing to do. My point is that it pleases any parent to either see their young child doing their best to be like their daddy or seeing their grown-up children making the mature decision to be about their father’s business.
 
So how about the Lord? Do you reckon Father God is pleased when His children begin to imitate Him? I guarantee you that this ministers to His heart as it does to any of us who are parents here. 
 
But, you see, the reason why this statement is what I believe to be all of the commandments rolled up into one is because ultimately everything God has told us do in the Word of God is a reflection of what He is already doing. In other words, in all of His commandments and instructions, He is saying, “Sons and daughters, just be like Me.”
 
WALKING AFTER LOVE
 
And if we are going to just be like Him, what will be doing? Well, the apostle Paul goes on to tell us in the following verse when he says, “And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.” (Ephesians 5:2)
 
So if we are imitating our Father God, then we are imitating love, right? Yes, us walking in love is us imitating God who is love. So based on what we’ve learned about imitating someone, us walking in love would be us “walking after Love”—that is, us following after Love Himself.
 
But not only are we imitating our Heavenly Father when we walk in love, but Paul goes on to describe that we are also imitating His Son, Jesus Christ, who “has loved us and given Himself for us …” And I believe the idea here is that since we have Jesus’ example here on the earth, we can simply look to His example and “copy that.”
 
You see, understanding one simple truth is key to understanding the nature of God—and that truth is that one Jesus gave us in John chapter 14 …
 
In John 14:7-9, Jesus had a conversation with His disciple, Philip, that holds a tremendous truth: Jesus started off by saying, “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
 
So Jesus shows us that if we have seen Him, we will have seen the Father. This truth is echoed in other New Testament verses as well …
 
Jesus was said by the apostle Paul to be “the image of the invisible God” in Colossians 1:15. Let’s look at this phrase in more detail …
 
Notice, first of all, that God is called “invisible” here. Jesus revealed to us that God is a spirit (See John 4:24). Therefore, being spiritual Himself, He would be invisible to the physical eye. However, Paul calls Jesus here “the image of the invisible God.” The Greek word for “image” is eikon and describes an exact stamp, representation, or manifestation of something or someone. This Greek word is actually where we get our word “icon” from, which is defined similarly.
 
Interestingly enough, this same word for “image” was used over in Romans 1:23, albeit in a negative sense when he said that pagans “changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man …” But in Jesus’ case, the image and glory of the invisible God was perfectly displayed in the life of a Man who is now incorruptible Himself! Glory! Therefore, just as the first Adam was created in the image and likeness of God (See Genesis 1:26), the Last Adam—Jesus Christ—is the perfect image and likeness of His Father.
 
Let me give you a couple of good examples of this word “image”: Sometimes stamps carry an image of a famous person. Likewise, Jesus is the exact “stamp” of the image of God Himself. Again, this is why Jesus said that if you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father (See John 14:9). Another example is of a coin. Just as coins generally bear the image of the head of a sovereign, likewise Jesus bore the image of the Sovereign God. All of this to say that Jesus was, is, and evermore shall be the exact image and representation of the invisible God—the express image of His person (See Hebrews 1:3).
 
Yes, even though God is invisible, and no one can see Him, His only begotten Son came to declare Him … John 1:18 says that no one has seen God at any time, but the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has declared Him. You see, you cannot truly see God’s nature by how He operated in the Old Testament—particularly under the law. That’s right— You do not see God in Moses because heck, not even he saw God’s face & fullness, just a part of Him. Now we see God the Father in God the Son. He (Jesus) has declared Him fully. Amen.
 
So, what does it mean that Jesus “declared Him (God)”? It means that He not only declared Him in Word, but He also declared Him in action. In other words, Jesus’ life—both words and deeds—reveals the true nature of the Father. Therefore, if you have seen Jesus, then you have seen God.
 
Yes, church, Jesus came to the earth to reveal the very nature and characteristics of God to us. Yes, He was God manifest in the flesh (First Timothy 3:16). The lesson then is this: whatever you see Jesus doing or hear Jesus saying in the Gospels is the perfect revelation of the will of God yesterday, today, and forevermore (Hebrews 13:8)!
 
Therefore, Jesus would be the best example we have for imitating God, amen? Absolutely! As Jesus said, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father”, we might say, “If you have imitated Jesus, you have imitated God.”
 
Now this whole idea Paul presents here of “as Christ also has loved us” is certainly reminiscent of what Jesus taught us in John 13:34 when He said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”
 
What Jesus was giving His disciples here was not a new idea; love was also taught under the Old Covenant as their greatest commandment contained loving God and loving their neighbor. The difference here was that while the law taught loving our neighbor “as we do ourselves”, the New Testament teaches us to love one another “as He has loved us.” Therefore, it’s not a new commandment in that love is a new concept; it’s just a new standard of love where we are loving with His love and not our own.
 
And this example Paul gave of how He has loved us is culminated in how He gave Himself for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. So the example of love that we are to be walking in can be boiled down to the laying down of our lives for others. But here’s the deal— the Lord did this first! It began with God so loving the world that He gave His only begotten Son (See John 3:16), and then His only begotten Son gave Himself after He got here. Amen!
 
And church, that is exactly the kind of love that we are called to imitate—loving the world enough to give them our very best and loving one another enough to give our very lives for them. This is the example we are to follow, mimic, copy, and imitate as His “dear children.”