Love Endures - Love

Scripture Reading

Will you please turn in your Bibles with me to 1 Peter 1. We'll be looking at verses 22-25 this morning. You can find 1 Peter 1 on page 1076 if you're using your New King James Provided Pew Bibles. 1 Peter 1 verses 22-25. Hear now God's Word. Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible through the Word of God, which lives and abides forever.

Because all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as a flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever. Now this is the word by which the gospel was preached to you." Brethren, it says that the grass withers, and the flower of the grass will fall off, but the word of our God does endure forever.

Prayer for Illumination

Let's pray. God, I plead with you that you would please help today. Lord, we need your spirit to apply the gospel to our hearts today. Lord, I pray that you would please let the things that come out of my mouth and the teaching and explaining of your word be faithful to your word and to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Lord, we plead with you that you do not let us place unbiblical burdens upon ourselves or others. Yet, Lord, when we need correction or encouragement and conviction, Lord, we pray that your Holy Spirit would apply. Lord, we plead with you that your Spirit work through the preaching of your Word to provoke us to love into good works. But most of all, Lord, we pray that during this time, Jesus Christ would be exalted and that your name would be glorified in our hearts, in our homes, in the congregation and in the community. We pray these things in Jesus's name. Amen.

Sermon

What motivates your love? Why do you love people or what makes you love people? What motivates your love? Is it based on your feelings? Is it based on what somebody else does to you? Is it your love for someone else motivated on how they behave or their emotional state? What motivates your love? Is it rooted and based in something temporal or something conditional? Or is your love rooted in something foundational and eternal?

The latter is what the Lord calls us to today. That you have been redeemed by Jesus Christ. You who are in Jesus Christ have been made a new creation. The gospel has transformed your heart. And because you have been reborn, you redeemed love. like God. We're called to love fervently, not because it's easy, but because God's great love towards us has been displayed in Jesus Christ. And so because of the love of Jesus Christ poured out in our hearts, we then turn and love others.

And so this is what I hope that you'll take home today, that you born of God ought to love like God. If you have been reborn by God, you ought to love like God. So first, let's look at the text and go through the explanations of some things that might need to be expanded. So first, in verse 22, look with me there.

Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit, in sincere love, love the brethren. Love one another fervently with a pure heart. What is it talking about in verse 22 when it says, since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth? How did you obey the truth? How did you purify your souls? How did that actually happen, right? This is a past participle in the Greek. It's something that happened in the past but still has meaning for you today. So what does it mean?

Well, this purification does come by the obedience to the truth. This obedience is what you did when you clung to the gospel. When you heard of what Jesus Christ did for you upon that cross and you confess that Jesus Christ was your Lord and you believed in your heart that God raised Him from the dead. That is how your heart was purified. And from that obedience to the gospel, we're transformed internally. Our hearts are changed in both how we love God and how we love others.

And notice Peter's writing to both a Jewish people and a Gentile people. And there was this whole system behind, especially in the Jewish people's mind, about how they were purified. All the ceremonial washings and all the dietary laws and all the going out outside the camp for the evening because you were unclean until you were declared clean and you were able to come back in and then you would be purified.

And Peter says, no, it's not any of that. Your purifying of your souls was in obeying the truth through the Spirit. You obeyed the call of the gospel. It's not the externals, but it's the internals. Romans chapter 12 verse 2 says, And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. You are sanctified more and more, purified more and more, as the gospel takes root in your heart, and then as it takes root in your heart, the love of Jesus Christ, as it reaches deeper and deeper, purifying your soul, changes how you love, how you love God, and then how you love others.

And notice how this love is described. It's a sincere love of the brethren. I gotta back up just a second real quick because I know that there's some of you who are saying, right, love is just like this loaded word and it's got a whole bunch of bad meaning behind it. We're going to address some of that. But there's one thing I need to talk about. Love, how it's used today in our culture. Typically when people use the word, you gotta love, that just means you gotta tolerate anything and everything. That's not what this is talking about. It's clear that that's not what this is talking about because Peter has no problems correcting people for ways in which they're living that he needs to correct them in love.

I loved, I loved, it was a great encouragement to me when my pastor defined love as wanting somebody's eternal well-being. Are you doing something for somebody's eternal well-being? That's where love comes from. Is it because of an eternal well-being that you desire for them?

And it's when you have that idea of love that you have sincere love for the brethren. Now, you know one of these words actually, the famous city in our country was actually named after this, when it says that you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit in sincere love of the brethren.

That love of the brethren is one word, philadelphion. And I need to point out to you, right, there's a way in which I'm going to say, yeah, you operate to all humanity, but especially within the church. Do you love the brethren? Do you love your brothers and sisters in Christ? Well, what about this word sincerely?

How do you have a sincere love that seems like it's coming through the Holy Spirit, The sincere love, the actual word behind it, is unhypokriton, without hypocrisy. You love without hypocrisy. That's how you sincerely love your brothers and sisters. Hypocritical love is a type of love that's self-serving, self-glorifying. A type of love that is all superficial and not actually desiring to care for the other person. But sincere and true love comes from a purified soul in a sacrificial and fervent servant. Romans 12, 9 through 10 says, Let love be without hypocrisy.

Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate toward one another with brotherly love in honor giving preference to one another. Did you see it? It's not this tolerance that you just accept everything. Actually, that's insincere love. Sincere love without hypocrisy is that which abhors what is evil and clings to what's good. Biblical sincere love is being kindly affectionate towards one another. Having a heart that you actually desire somebody else's well-being because you honor them even above yourself.

But there's another word here, another adverb that's difficult for us. Love the brethren. Love one another fervently with a pure heart. And that idea of fervently, that's a hard one. We might think of fervently as like turning up the heat in an intensity, but it's not the intensity that this word is actually getting at. This word is actually getting at enduring, long-term, steadfast. unwavering type love.

This is the type of love that's knit and bound together by covenant oaths. This is why you make commitments to your spouse in marriage. That you're going to love them and cherish them. Because you've purposed in your heart that no matter how bad it gets, no matter how sick you are, no matter how poor you are, no matter what goes on in life, you are going to love and cherish that person.

Because it's a fervent love. It's an enduring love. It's an unwavering love. It's not limited by convenience or ease. A fervent love pushes past difficulties and discomfort. This is that pure-hearted, fervent love towards the brethren that God is telling us we ought to express towards each other. It's not just about intensity, but it's about unwavering devotion. Because we've been born of God. Because that's how God loves us. Because that's how God is committed to us. So look with me now at verse 23.

As we have been born again through the imperishable word, having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible through the word of God, which lives and abides forever. The source of your being born again there, as it says, having been born again, by the way, people in our culture don't like born again. By the way, if you haven't been a born again Christian, you're not a Christian. A Christian is one who has been regenerated, born again. If you have been regenerated, if you have been born again, if God has taken out your heart of stone and given you a heart of flesh, you love.

That's the source. That is the foundation. This is not a type of pick yourself up by your bootstraps, love because you ought to love, because you need to love, because I'm telling you, God commands you to love. No, you love because God's made you a new creation. A new creation to love Him. A new creation to love others. Because you've been born of imperishable seed.

Notice the contrast here. When I first came to this passage, we love the grass withers, the flower fades, and the word of our God endures forever. And at first when I was studying this passage, I thought, oh man, this is a sermon about the word. But it's not a sermon about the word, it's not a text about the word. Notice what's contrasted here. There's something imperishable and something perishable. There's something that you're born of and you die, and something that you're born of and you don't die. That's the contrast in verse 23.

It's between a perishable human birth and an imperishable spirit birth through the word of God. This rebirth is not a fleeting change, right? Your being born again is not just something fast and can go away, but it's an eternal transformation rooted in God's love shown to us in His Word.

And we know that that's the truth because if we just look down at verse 25, now this is the word by which the gospel was preached to you. That's the word it's talking about. The good news of Jesus Christ that was preached to you that took like a seed in your heart. And when the sunshine, the rays of God's gospel were put upon the field, your love sprouted. Your new life in Jesus Christ sprouted.

This rebirth is eternal. And it's a response to the gospel. This is exactly why Peter quotes Isaiah chapter 40 verses 6 through 8. What happens in verse 24 when he says, the grass withers and the flower fades. But what was just before that? Did you notice that in Isaiah 40? What came before the grass withers and the flower fades? make straight the path of the Lord. Whose mouth was that upon?

John the Baptist speaking of Jesus Christ, the eternal word of God, the divine logos. So we have a living an abiding word of God, the gospel which we heard and obeyed and believed that was preached to us. This is the word of God. It's not just only the message of salvation, but this word of God, as it continues to work in your life, powerfully transforms your affections and your loves. This word compels us to live out the love that we have received. We are born of the eternal word. And so our lives must reflect the eternal hope that we have, the unwavering love that God has shown us in Christ Jesus.

So for the last part of the explanation, let's look at verses 24 through 25. Again, this contrast between the temporary nature of the flesh and the eternal Word. Because all flesh is as grass and all the glory of man is the flower of the grass. The grass withers and the flower falls away. But the word of the Lord endures forever. Now this is the word by which the gospel was preached to you.

Every single person who has ever lived, save three that I know of, died. Dead forever, dead. The only ones that we have questions about are Enoch who walked with God and he was no more, Elijah who goes up into a fiery chariot, and Jesus Christ himself. So, I hate to tell you, but the statistics are hard against you.

There have been billions upon billions of people who have lived upon the face of the earth. They were like seed, planted in a field, grew up, and then what happened? The flower of life fell off and died. Some of us need to come to grips with our mortality. That it is appointed for every man to die once. And then after this, the judgment. We are going to die. There is a frailty of human life. And human glory fades. But this is what the gospel is.

That Jesus told his disciples, though you die, yet you will surely live. Right, because if you have been have been one of those who have been planted as a seed on fertile ground. And you spring up to everlasting life, yielding an abundant fruit. You will live forever in Christ Jesus.

In contrast to the temporary nature of the world, the love that is given life by God's Word is eternal. Just as God's Word does not fail, Our love, which is rooted in His eternal word, doesn't fail. I want you to think about, in the new heavens and the new earth, you're still going to have every opportunity to love God. And I'm convinced in the new heaven and the new earth, you're going to have opportunities to still love others. Your love isn't going, and this call to love isn't going to end. Love endures. It continues on.

And so I need to ask you, what are you investing in, in your human life now? Is it rooted in eternal love? Or are you just chasing after fleeting and selfish desires? Okay, so now I've gone on far too long, and I know a lot of you have different questions and possibly even objections, and you're like, okay, but what in the world do we actually do with this?

Well, that's where we're gonna go, and I gotta tell you, I'm already almost out of time, and so we're gonna move fast, okay? So, I've got six-ish objections for you, six-ish objections. Some of them are combined, but I think they're tied together. Some of you are going to say, that's fine, Brian, that you tell me I gotta love, but I've loved before, and guess what, I got hurt. I'm sorry. It's real, you live in a fallen world. And I do not want you to think that when I'm telling you, you know, grow a stiff upper lip, suck it up buttercup, just keep on loving. No, people hurt each other.

Even in the church. If you're looking for a church in which you will not have any church hurt, you do not belong in any church. But I can promise you, if you leave the church, and you go and you think, I'll love people outside the church, because then I won't be hurt. I gotta tell you, you got a problem because you will always face hurt in this life because all are sinners. And so whether you're in the church or out of the church, if you're trying to love somebody, you're going to get hurt.

Because it's the nature of being in a sinful relationship with people. Love involves vulnerability. And I gotta tell you, sometimes people take advantage of that vulnerability and you'll get hurt. But what's the alternative? Hold yourself up? get isolated, bitter, resentful, mad. You just hurt yourself. Stopping to love because you've been hurt only hurts yourself.

But I want you, even in the times of your pain and your hurt, remember that Jesus Christ knows what it's like to be hurt. Jesus Christ, who did no wrong, but perfectly loved those around him, was denied by one of his best friends, betrayed by one of his disciples, pierced by his own people, and he knew it was going to happen. We trust God to heal and redeem, even while we love in painful relationships. We love because God first loved us.

Even though, yeah, that might make you vulnerable and you might get hurt. A second objection one of you might give to me about loving others is, it's just too hard to love people because they don't love back. I give, give, give, they take, take, take, and I never get anything back. And sometimes it even feels like when I love, they're just taking advantage of me. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that can happen. but it doesn't negate the fact that we get to love. Because we're those types of people, how often do we treat God that way? I want, I want, I want, I take, I take, I take, I pray, I pray, I pray. And how often do we thank? How often do we love Him? How often do we reciprocate the love that He has shown us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He didn't wait for us to reciprocate the love back. He stepped into love first.

And so we're called to even love those who may take advantage of us and be our enemies. True love, this eternal, sincere, unhypocritical, unwavering, fervent love is not a transaction. It's not I love you because you can give to me what I need. It's a choice for wanting the other person's eternal well-being. It is a reflection of God's grace. I gotta ask you, when Jesus showed a picture of love, even amongst people who didn't like each other, the Good Samaritan with the Jewish person who was beat up, was the Good Samaritan waiting to get paid back some type of good for loving his enemy? No, Jesus said, that's who your neighbor is. That's who loved like a good neighbor. It wasn't transactional. We love not to receive. But we love because He first loved us.

Third objection one of you might give to me is I don't have time or the resources to love others. There are two resources that are extremely valuable to you and one of them you can never make more of. Loving someone is going to take time. And you will never get that time back. It's going to take time. I don't want to hide from you the costliness of love. It will take time from you, and so you do have to evaluate how much time can I give to love this person, or am I using my time selfishly? Because I don't want to love this person, I want to love myself.

And some of us, and I face this almost every week when I meet with Indian pastors, there's more There's not enough money in all of our pockets to feed the request for rice that I receive from India. I'm convinced there's not enough rice in India to feed all the people in India. So what do we do? Do we just stop loving entirely because we can't meet those resources? No, you bless us, the Lord has enabled you to bless.

God provides for all we need, Philippians 4.19. Love is about being faithful with what we have. It's not about abundance.

One of the beautiful pictures for this is there were people in the early church who didn't have anything to contribute. Actually, there were widows who were just dirt poor. So what did other Christians do? They had things and they sold them. They even sold, Arnabas sold his property on the island of Cyprus so he could give the money so that the widows in the church could be fed. The early church loved sacrificially and even in their poverty. Acts chapter 4.

Again, some of you are just gonna come back and say, okay, hold on, Brian, but this still sounds like there's a lot of sentimentality, love just seems like it's a feeling today, and to be honest with you, I don't feel like loving. Okay. Get over yourself. plead with God to change your heart. I'm glad you've identified that sinful inclination in your heart. You don't feel like loving. So what do you do with that feeling of, I don't love? Take it to the Father, confess that sinful feeling. We sin daily in thought, word, feeling, and deed, is what I put in our modern translation, in our modern catechism. We sin with how we think and how we feel.

And sometimes we have to take it, because I've got to tell you, if you say, I'm just not feeling like loving my kids today, we would go, there's something wrong with you. I don't care if you don't feel like loving them, you still gotta make dinner and help them get ready for bed. You still gotta love them.

It's not based upon a feeling. Biblical love isn't based upon a feeling, but it's based upon truth and action. Biblical love is grounded in God's eternal love and his eternal truth, not in our fleeting emotions nor in cultural trends. And indeed, This is a command from Jesus. I don't want to burden you down. I'm not trying to put a yoke on you that you can't bear, but Jesus is the one who gives us this command.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another as I have loved you, that you may also love one another by this, meaning how they love each other. By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." Do you love each other?

Fifth objection, there's just too much need. I can't help everyone. I've been burned by people in the church before. Again, we aren't called to meet every single need. I need to make you understand that you personally are not called to meet every single need. That's not what we're called to do, but what we are called to do is we are called to be faithful in the opportunities God presents for us.

It's what we find in Galatians 6.10.

It's interesting, Jesus, Jesus didn't fix all the poverty. Yeah, Jesus fed the multitudes. He was filled with compassion when he saw the people like sheep without a shepherd and they were hungry and he fed them. But Jesus didn't walk around fixing the issue of poverty for the entire Jewish nation. No, he came and he did the will of his Father.

We may be hurt in the church even. Now this is the second part of this. You may be hurt in the church, but Colossians 3.13 tells us that forgiveness is central to the Christian life. We're called to continue to love as long as Jesus continues to sanctify us. So continue to love. And then the last one. And there could be many, many more, but last one here.

I actually, just to be honest with you, I had 15 of these and I cut it down to six, because I was like, man, they're gonna fall asleep. I'm just too tired to love anyone right now. I get it, some of you are just bone dead exhausted. Long hours, lots of weight, lots of problems. You're just tired.

Some of you need to learn how to tell other people, I'd love to help right now, but I need to go take a nap. Can I help tomorrow? Some of you need to learn how to ask other people to help you so they can love you. Notice it is reciprocal in this sense, that you love one another. Some of you are really, really good at giving love, giving love, giving love, and yet when other people ask you how they could be loving you, you go, I'm all right. Ask yourself, is that your pride in you? What is it that's motivating you to just kind of hold other people out at an arm's distance, not letting them fulfill the law of God for them, to love you as Jesus loved his disciples? Go find rest in Christ.

His burdens are light and his yoke is easy. And in your weakness, remember that God gives strength to the weary. Isaiah chapter 40, we just read it today. He lifts up the youth upon the wings of evil. He renews our strength. His spirit empowers us to love even when we feel exhausted. Philippians chapter 2, 13. So love. So some practical applications. I'm gonna go through these really, really fast. There's donuts downstairs. Number one, how-to examples. Romans chapter 12, 19 through 13, tells us of love, let our love be genuine, abhor what is evil, love one another with brotherly affection, outdo one another in showing honor. John 13, 34 through 35, Jesus commands us to love.

So how do we do it? Well, ask yourself, literally look around the congregation this week after the church, or even now, I don't know, maybe during Chalk and Talk and ask, how can I love someone? Look to the person you haven't seen for a while and ask, how can that person be encouraged or loved? Ask yourself, how can I help?

Pray. Pray that God will show you other people's needs in creative ways in which you can step into the needs that they have. Again, remember, this is not performance-based faith, but it's spirit-driven, love-pushing actions. You can love because he first loved you. So children, here's a practical application how-to for you. You ready for it, kids? How can you love today as God would want you to love? You ready for it?

Honor your father and your mother. Get along with your siblings. Live at peace with all men, so long as it depends upon you, even that sibling who's annoying you. Love your brothers and sisters. Love your parents. Be kind and patient. Parents, how can you be loving today? Be gentle and patient with your children, especially dads here. How can you love your children? Don't exasperate them. Don't provoke them to wrath. Don't be so heavy-handed upon them that it feels like you're sucking all the oxygen out of their room. Love is patient, gentle, kind.

That even applies in parenting. Yeah, you gotta apply the rod of parental discipleship to your children from time to time, but even in then is it with patience and gentleness and love. Husbands, how can you love this week? Well, love your wife. Love her sacrificially. This is gonna be a big insight for you, ready? Husbands, be nice to your wife. Love is kind. Don't treat her like a piece of Tupperware. As Dr. Scipione used to say, don't treat her like Tupperware, treat her like fine china. Husbands, love your wives. Lead her sacrificially.

Now this is where you might vote me out of the church, and that's okay. Wives, how do you love this week? Submit to your husband. Love him even though he's imperfect. He's got faults, and he's got failures, Endure with him with patience. If you're a boss, or if you're a worker, if you're employed now, you can love those around you, treating them with respect. And do your work as unto the Lord, showing Jesus' love. Examples in the church.

I mentioned this verse before, Galatians 6.10, so then as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone and especially to those who are of the household of faith. As you have opportunity, specifically towards the brethren in the church, how can we show our love?

Are you there to support someone in a difficult time in their life? Do you reach out to people and ask them how you can pray with them and for them? Are you patient with people when they are doing things or saying things in the church that you don't like? Do you bear with people with great patience and endurance?

Are you investing in relationships with people in the church? It's really easy in a reformed church like ours to become just a theological club where we just get together to know that we have all of our doctrines straight, but we don't actually invest in each other's lives. Are you building relationships with others in the church?

Have you signed up for a meal train lately? Have you looked at the prayer calendar and devoted yourself that you're gonna pray for the people? Will you lighten the load for some of the people in the church by signing up for extra committees? Do you give faithfully as you vowed as the Lord prospers you so that deacons can care for those who are in need in the congregation? Just some real, we can go on all day about this. If you want more, we can talk at Chalk A Talk. But I want to leave you with three biblical examples of this type of love. Three from the Old Testament, and a few from the New.

First is Joseph and his brothers. If you had any person, I think, in the Old Testament who could look for a reason to show someone unkindness, unlove, it would be Joseph, when his brothers, who sold him into slavery and before that had tried to kill him, come back. And yet Joseph shows love to his brothers, even though they betrayed him, to his dying breath, protecting them, caring for them, providing for them. Joseph loved even though it was even hard even after his dad's death.

You see Boaz's kindness towards Ruth and Naomi in that story of his loving the widow of providing and caring for them. You see the love of friends that happens between two brothers in the faith, between David and Jonathan. As David is even on the run and he's afraid for his life and Jonathan protects his life even so much that when he mentions David's name to his father, his dad picks up a spear and tries to go after him. But Jonathan loved David.

He loved his brother. He was committed to him and he was committed to God's purpose in his life. From the New Testament, we find a different Joseph. We had Joseph in the Old Testament, but I want to point you to Joseph of the New Testament in the book of Matthew and Luke. When Joseph finds out that Mary is with child and he knows it ain't his baby, how does he treat Mary?

Does he take her to the town square and say, look at this woman? I can't believe she would cheat on me like this. Nobody takes And he decides in his heart to divorce her quietly, not wanting her to be put to public scorn. It's the angel of the Lord who then tells him, no, no, no, I'm the one who did this, right? This is the work of God.

But that point of how kind he was willing to treat Mary. We talked about chapter four with the early church sharing their earthly goods with one another. But I also love the story in Philippians chapter two where Epaphroditus, he brings a gift from the people of Philippi to Paul in Athens. And as he's bringing this gift, he almost dies. But he is dead set on bringing this gift from the people to Paul in Athens. It's this act of devoted love, because he wants to see the work continue.

But best of all, to illustrate this, is Jesus Christ himself, who came not to be served, but to serve. Who got down on his knees and washed his own disciples' feet. Who, when he looked upon the multitude, he had compassion for them and he fed them. Who, when he saw the little children, told his disciples to let them come unto him and he blessed them. as a shepherd who brought the lambs to his bosom. And even Jesus tells his disciples, love has known greater than this, that a man should lay down his life for his friends. Jesus modeled sacrificial, fervent love for the brethren. So my question to you, have you been born of God? Is the eternal seed in you that will not wither and will not fall off? Will it be shown as you love one another fervently? Born of God, live and love like God.

Closing Prayer

Let's pray. God, it's been another long sermon. I didn't think it was gonna be this long. Lord, I pray that your spirit would please still somehow apply the gospel truth here to our hearts today. Lord, we pray that the word would abide forever in our hearts. As we have heard the gospel preached to us, Lord, we pray that we would, by your spirit, be able to live out this. Lord, that we wouldn't be shackled by unbiblical burdens. But Lord, we pray that where there's correction, that we would turn, where there's encouragement, that we would be built up, and where there's conviction, Lord, we pray that we would move on it. We plead with you, Lord, that in all of this, Jesus Christ might be exalted, that as we love one another, that the world might know that we are your disciples, and that you would receive the glory in Jesus' name.