Love Is Not Rude | Chino Seventh-day Adventist Fellowship
WE ARE BELOVED CHILDREN OF GOD
Now, I don’t know about you, but I often forget that I’m a beloved child of God. I forget that I am a person who is greatly loved by the Lord. I forget that my very identity is tied to being God’s “beloved”.
If you’ve been around here a while you know that I have a favorite quote. I share it a lot because I need to hear it a lot. It’s from a book called “Desire of Ages” and it’s on p. 311. It says, “The voice which spoke to Jesus says to every believing soul, “This is My beloved child in whom I am well pleased.”
This means that the Father loves us as much as He loves Jesus! How amazing is that? The word beloved has two parts “be” and “loved”. As God’s beloved we were made “to be loved”. The very highest calling that God has on each of our lives is that we would first and foremost embrace this unconditional, unchanging love that God has for us. Because everything else in the Christian life flows out of that.
Everything falls apart when we forget that we are God’s beloved. When we forget that we are God’s greatly beloved children 0ur love, our joy, our peace and every other fruit of the Spirit starts to sour.
Brothers and sisters, the Lord designed us to run on the high octane fuel of His unconditional, unchanging, and self-sacrificing agape love for us. Anything less than that is like putting diesel fuel in a car that takes unleaded. It’s a recipe for disaster. And the Lord wants to deliver us from that.
And so, in His mercy, the Lord inspired the Apostle Paul to write 1 Corinthians 13 to give us the true definition for love. And thus, the true definition of what God’s love for us is like.
So far in our series, we’ve seen that God’s love is unconditional and patient and kind and humble. And 1 Corinthians 13: 5 goes on to say that “(Love) does not behave rudely…”
An anonymous child once prayed, “Lord, make the bad people good and the good people nice.”
Unfortunately, being religious can actually have a souring effect on some people. The ultimate biblical example of that in Jesus’ day was the religion of the Pharisees. Jesus characterized the Pharisees well in Matthew 23: 24. He said, “(You) strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!”
THE LEGALISM OF THE PHARISEES
The Pharisees were very legalistic about all kinds of little things. But when it came to the really big issues like God’s love the Pharisees were absolutely clueless.
The view of God that they believed and taught was so distorted that when the Lord Himself came down from heaven and took on human flesh, they accused Him of being demon-possessed.
We see that in John 8: 48 where they said to Jesus, “Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?”
Telling the divine Son of God that He is demon possessed is about the rudest thing that you could possibly say. But, of course, Jesus wasn’t just spoken to rudely, He was also treated rudely.
JESUS’ RESPONSE TO RUDENESS
And yet, what was Jesus’ response to all of this rudeness? Luke 23: 34. “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”
Putting God Himself on the cross was the ultimate act of cruelty and rudeness. And yet, Jesus’ response to that was nothing but love and forgiveness.
So often, when we are treated rudely what is our almost automatic response? It’s to respond in kind. But that’s not what love does. That’s not how God’s love responds. That’s not how the Jesus who lives in our hearts by faith wants to deal with rudeness. Jesus’ agape love teaches us a better way.
Rudeness is an outward manifestation of a lack of caring. And truly caring for others springs out of our awareness of just how much the Lord cares for us.
1 Peter 5: 7 says, “Cast all your cares on Him, for He cares for you.”
HOW JESUS WANTS TO RESPOND IN US
And so, rather than getting mad and retaliating when someone treats us rudely, the Jesus who lives in our hearts by faith wants to respond with grace and kindness.
Now, you might be thinking. Well, that’s impossible. And for us, that kind of response is impossible. But Jesus does all things well. Nothing is impossible for Him.
And when we allow Jesus to respond the way He wants to we can know that it wasn’t us. We can know that it wasn’t us being kind. It wasn’t us being loving. It wasn’t us being forgiving. It’s the Jesus who lives in our hearts by faith who is just making His indwelling presence known.
THE PHARISEES’ THINKING
Did the Pharisees think they were persecuting God in the flesh? No, Jesus said, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” They thought they were just defending the faith. They thought they were standing up for the truth against someone who was out to change their entire religion.
And they were right. Jesus was out to change their entire religion. Because He was the One their entire religion had always pointed to. He was the promised Messiah. He was the fulfillment of every Old Testament promise.
WHAT JESUS HAD TO DO
And in order to completely fulfill His mission as the Messiah Jesus had to die. If Jesus had lived a perfect life and had been translated to heaven without dying for us and as us, His perfect life would have been totally meaningless to us.
We all would have been left in a completely hopeless situation. Every member of the human family would have fallen short of heaven. Romans 3: 23 says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..”
THE BAD NEWS AND THE GOOD NEWS
In the original, the phrase “fall short” is in the present tense. In and of ourselves, we are all, present tense, “falling short of the glory of God”.
And if that was the end of the Bible that would be very bad news for all humanity. But the next verse contrasts what we have in ourselves with what we have in Jesus.
Romans 3: 24. “Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,”
Those who are “being justified freely by His grace” are the very same ones who “have sinned and are falling short of the glory of God.” And who exactly is that? Let’s look at Verse 23 and 24 together. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,”
Who are the ones who are “being justified freely by His grace”? It’s all. It’s everyone. But unfortunately, not everyone has accepted this free gift of justification that is ours in Jesus.
I believe that one of the major reasons more people haven’t is because this free gift of justification for the entire world is one of the best-kept secrets in all of Christianity.
What Paul is saying, is that what Jesus did has affected everyone. That means, we’ve got very Good News to share with the entire world. And those who believe that Good News get to cash the “free gift check” of justification that has been sitting in their pocket their entire life.
That’s a very different picture from the popular idea of salvation where God will give us this if we will first give Him that. That’s not Good News at all. That’s just good advice.
Now, when something is really good news the only thing required for rejoicing to take place is belief in that Good News. The reason more people aren’t rejoicing is that they don’t know how good the Good News is.
MORE THAN AN OFFER
Paul’s Good News message is more than just an offer. An offer is just an offer. Nothing has actually happened. And an offer is conditional. There are some conditions to be met before the offer can be enjoyed.
The Good News is unconditional because the event has already happened. And nothing can change it. But people still have to hear and believe that Good News. That’s where we have the privilege of letting people know what the Lord has already done for them.
When Jesus comes again there are going to be just two groups of people. Those who are rejoicing in Jesus and those who aren’t. Those who are rejoicing in the Gospel and those who aren’t.
The enemy has 1,001 different tactics he uses to keep us from rejoicing in Jesus. And our enemy is very innovative. He’s always updating his strategies. That’s why it’s essential that we daily put on the whole armor of God.
THE ARMOR OF GOD
Let’s look at Ephesians 6: 10-12. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Brothers and sisters, our battle isn’t against other people. We haven’t been called to “wrestle against flesh and blood”. We are all involved in a spiritual battle. And spiritual battles require spiritual weapons.
Number one: we need the belt of truth. Jesus is the truth. We need the breastplate of righteousness. Jesus is our righteousness. We need our feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. The Gospel of peace is this message we are talking about that proclaims the peace that Jesus’ sacrifice has won for the entire planet.
The shield of faith. This is what quenches all of the fiery darts of the wicked one. The helmet of salvation. This is what protects our minds against the enemy’s assaults.
The sword of the Spirit is the living, powerful, and comforting Word of God. And the last weapon mentioned is certainly not the least “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.”
OPENINGS IN OUR ARMOR
The enemy is always looking for openings in our armor. And the truth is, we all have gaps in our armor. But the devil is so brazen that he actually went looking for gaps in Jesus’ armor.
JESUS IN THE WILDERNESS
That’s what the temptation in the wilderness was all about. The devil tempted Jesus to act contrary to the principles of God’s kingdom of agape love. And the way the devil tempted Jesus gives us some insights into how he tempts us.
That first temptation is in Luke 4: 3. And the devil said to (Jesus), “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
There are two parts to this temptation. One part we can relate to, and the other we can’t. The first is, “If You are the Son of God.” The devil’s very first attack was aimed at Jesus’ identity. The enemy was trying to get Jesus to question who He really was. And he attacks us in this very same way.
The second temptation is one we will never have. “Command this stone to become bread.” The devil was tempting Jesus to use His divine power for His own benefit.
SELFLESS LOVE
God’s agape love is completely selfless. Everything that God does, He does for the benefit of others. God is both the most powerful being in the universe and the most selfless.
This first temptation shows us the contrast between Satan’s kingdom of selfishness and Jesus’ kingdom of selflessness. Satan knew that if He could just get Jesus to use His divine power for His own benefit it would have been game over. The enemy would have won.
Satan could have said, “Look God, even you can’t resist the temptation to use Your power for Your own benefit. You claim to be selfless, but you are just as selfish as I am.”
But, praise God, Jesus had on the whole armor of God. And he responded with the Word of God in Luke 4: 4. “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ”
Now, remember, Jesus had been fasting for 40 days. I don’t know about you, but when I get hungry I can get irritable. But there is no addendum to “Love is not rude” like: “Love is not rude…unless your tummy is growling.”
The devil knew that if he could just get Jesus to answer in a rude way he still would have won. And actually, just a rude look would have been enough to disqualify Jesus from being our perfect Savior.
JESUS’ KINDNESS
Can you imagine, Jesus didn’t even give a rude look to the soldiers who beat Him and nailed Him to the cross. Love is not rude. Jesus is not rude. And as we come to better appreciate what His heart is like we can and will become more like Him.
Now, does this mean we lose our salvation every time we intentionally or unintentionally give someone a look that isn’t a perfect expression of God’s agape love? Of course not.
As we saw in Romans 3: 23 “All have sinned and are falling short of the glory of God.” No human being on this planet is perfectly reflecting the agape love of Jesus 100% of the time. And thankfully, we are not saved based on the measure of our love. On this side of heaven, our love is always going to be imperfect.
We are saved by Jesus’ death and resurrection. We are saved by what Jesus did, not by anything we have done. The anti-Gospel message says “do”. The Good News Gospel message says “done”.
And here’s a news flash: Jesus is our Savior. We are not our own Saviors! And so, we need to just let go of all of these legalistic, perfectionistic ideas that are designed by the enemy to discourage us and try to get us to give up all hope.
It’s God’s unearned, undeserved love for us that enables us to begin to reflect some of His love to others. But on this side of eternity, that reflection is never going to be perfect.
GREAT REASON FOR BEING HUMBLE
This just means that on this side of eternity we all have great reason for being humble. Because honestly, we all have a lot to be humble about. Especially when we compare ourselves to Jesus.
I like how someone put it. They said, “When I look at myself I don’t see how I could ever be saved. But when I look at Jesus, I don’t see how I could ever be lost.”
And so, that’s what we want to do. We want to stay focused on Jesus. We want to keep learning more about His heart of love and grace and kindness.
Now, Paul began his definition of God’s agape love by saying that, “Love is patient, love is kind.” And then, in 1 Corinthians 13: 5 he says, “Love is not rude.”
It’s like he’s doubling back and re-emphasizing the fact that God’s love is kind and warm-hearted. 1 Peter 4: 8 says that “Love covers a multitude of sins.”
LOVE COVERS
One French Christian man who was still learning English sent a letter to an English-speaking Christian friend in the states. He concluded the letter by saying, “Please forgive all of my mistakes in this letter. I’m sure that you will cover them with the coat of love.” That’s what love does. It covers and protects.
SPIRITUAL PARKING TICKETS
A lot of Christians see themselves as being kind of like parking enforcement officers. They feel like it’s their job to go around handing out spiritual parking tickets to people.
Now, imagine someone who isn’t a parking enforcement officer who deputizes himself or herself. And this person goes around with a sharpie and some stick’em notes and starts writing self-made parking tickets and putting them on people’s windshields.
Brothers and sisters, that’s not what love does. That’s not what we’ve been called to do. Instead, we have been called to be people who proclaim, and tell, and share the best Good News this world has ever heard.
OUR CALLING
And as Francis of Assisi said, “Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words when necessary.”
That’s our calling. That’s our ultimate purpose in life. Everything else needs to be subservient to that. Because everything else in life pales in comparison to the gift and the message that the Lord has entrusted us with. Jesus is the gift. And the message is all about Him and what He has already accomplished for the entire planet.
SIMPLICITY THAT IS IN JESUS
Now, too often believers feel like they need to have their doctorate in theology before they can talk to someone about the Savior. Why? Because it all seems so complex and confusing. Which is tragic. Because it’s actually so simple and straightforward.
Let’s look at what Paul’s biggest fear was concerning the Corinthians. We see that in 2 Corinthians 11: 3. “But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”
Paul’s biggest fear was that the Corinthians were going to be deceived. He was afraid that their minds would be turned away from the simplicity of the Gospel message. He was afraid that they would take something that was simple and God-centered. And they would then turn that into something that was complex and man-centered.
And that’s exactly what happened. The dark ages were spiritually dark because, by and large, the light of the Gospel became hidden. Just as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness the Christian Church of the dark ages turned away from the simplicity that is in Jesus.
And what exactly is “the simplicity that is in Jesus?” The “simplicity that is in Jesus” says that it’s all about the Savior. It’s all about what Jesus has already accomplished for us. It’s all about the Good News of who Jesus is and what He had done for us.
There are a lot of Scriptures we could go to in order to establish this “simplicity that is in Jesus.” One of my favorites is Colossians 1: 21-23. “And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel…”
The “simplicity that is in Jesus” tells us that we have been reconciled “through Jesus’ death”. And because of what Jesus has done for us this is how He is now able to present us to the Father: He’s able to present us as “holy, and blameless, and above reproach in the Father’s sight.”
Why? “Because the voice which spoke to Jesus says to every believing soul this is My beloved child in whom I am well pleased.”
And there is just one condition to all of this in Verse 23. We are to continue in the faith grounded and steadfast and not be moved away from the hope of the Gospel.
In other words, we have to continue believing in “the simplicity that is in Jesus.” We can’t allow our minds to be deceived and become corrupted by believing the devil’s bad news lies.
Just as the devil attacked Jesus’ identity, he will try to attack our identity. He will try to convince us that we are not God’s beloved children in whom He is well-pleased.
He will try to convince us that God doesn’t really have any Good News for us. He’ll try to convince us that all God has for us is just a bunch of good advice. Why? Because the last thing the devil wants is for us to be rejoicing in Jesus. The last thing he wants is for us to be on fire for God.
ON FIRE FOR GOD
In Matthew 3: 11 John the Baptist said this about Jesus. “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
All that John the Baptist or any pastor can do is just baptize people with water. And baptism by immersion is part of our response to the Gospel that the Lord calls us to participate in. But Jesus baptizes us with the Holy Spirit and fire.
To be baptized with the Holy Spirit means that we are immersed in God Himself. That’s why a correct understanding of the character of God is so vital to us.
And what does it mean to be baptized with fire? Well, Hebrews 12: 29 tells us that “Our God is a consuming fire.” And so, being on fire means that we are allowing God who is a consuming fire, to live in our hearts by faith.
Ephesians 3: 17-19 says, “That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
There is a close connection between Jesus dwelling in our hearts by faith and us being rooted and grounded in God’s agape love. It’s our faith that takes hold of the truth that we truly are loved with an everlasting love.
It’s our faith in God’s Word that allows us to comprehend something of the infinite expanse of God’s love for us, that goes beyond mere head knowledge. It involves heart knowledge.
And so, to be baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire means to be completely immersed in Jesus and the reality of His undying love for us.
A parallel verse to the Scriptures we’ve looked at is Ephesians 1: 13. It’s a favorite of mine because it answers so many different theological questions in just a few words.
“In (Jesus) you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,”
Being “sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise” is the same thing as being baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire. And how does that happen? It happens by trusting in Jesus and believing the Good News Gospel message of our salvation.
The moment we “hear the Word of truth” and trust in Jesus as the exclusive source of our salvation we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
And then, the devil really has his work cut out for him. Because then, he has to try to get us to reject the Good News of the Gospel. And praise God, brothers and sisters, when we are “sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise” that’s a seal that is not easily broken. But we can be sure that the devil is definitely going to try. And so, we have to be on guard. We have to be vigilant.
JOHN KNOX ON HIS DEATH BED
I’ve often shared the story of John Knox the Protestant Reformer from Scotland. I’ve shared it so often, because to me it’s the perfect illustration of the kind of spiritual fight we are going to be involved in, right up until our dying breath. And yet, if we don’t know the Gospel we won’t even recognize it to be the terrible temptation that it really is.
Well, John Know was on his death bed and he was going in and out of consciousness. He awoke and told his friends by his bedside that the devil had just attacked him with an especially vicious temptation. His friends asked, “What was it?”
John Knox said, “The devil just tempted me to believe that I deserve heaven because of the faithful discharge of my ministry over the last 40 years.”
His friends being Gospel-believing Christians understood exactly why this was such an insidious temptation. His friends asked, “What did you do?”
John Knox said, “Well, the Lord brought two texts to my mind to quench the devil’s fiery darts.
The first was 1 Corinthians 15: 10. “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”
And the second was 1 Corinthians 4: 7. “For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?”
Brothers and sisters, the devil is absolutely rude and ruthless. If we do not live until Jesus returns tight up until our dying breath the devil is going to be trying to get us to believe that we deserve heaven because of some good thing we have done.
Now, those who don’t believe Gospel, don’t even see this as being a problem. To them, it’s not even an issue. It’s not a temptation at all. Why? Because they are trusting in themselves and their good works as the way they are going to get to heaven.
But as Gospel-believing Christians who have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, we are trusting exclusively in Jesus. We believe the Word of truth. We believe the Gospel message of our salvation.
And by God’s grace, brothers and sisters, we will continue in the faith. We will be grounded and steadfast. We will not be moved away from the hope of the Gospel. And we will not be turned away from “the simplicity that is in Jesus.”