Preserving Unity Through Love - Jesse Barrington

Brother Geoff spoke to us last night

about the privileges of the Christian.

And he mentioned to us that privileges

come with responsibilities.

And so I'll be speaking more

on the responsibilities that we have

in the Christian life.

If you'll open your Bibles

to the first letter to
the church at Corinth

in chapter 13.

I want to begin by stating
a concern that I see.

It's a concern that's
repeated in Scripture

in numerous places.

And it's a concern that's prevalent

in the church today.

The concern pointedly is this:

How do we handle our differences

in our local churches?

I have a concern that

we all too often view ourselves

much more spiritually mature

than we really are.

And the evidence of our immaturity

is revealed in our lack of love

towards one another,

demonstrated in how we
respond to one another

and handle our differences

in our local churches.

I'm concerned this is especially true

for us in the reformed church

in the area of doctrinal differences

and in the area of how we live out

our convictions in our lives.

Reformed churches and reformed Christians

are known for their focus

and their emphasis on doctrine and truth.

And praise God for that.

That is commendable.

Let me say from the start,

every Christian and every true church

should be known and marked

for their careful attention

to right doctrine.

I mean, after all,

the Scriptures tell us that the church

is a pillar and buttress of truth.

Most of you who are here

in the churches represented here

are in those because you love

doctrine and truth.

You're in those churches

because the pastors of those churches

unashamedly proclaim truth,

uphold truth, and defend truth,

and the whole counsel of God.

Beloved, we should thank
God for those pastors.

We should thank God for those churches,

for those Christians

who long for truth,

proclaim truth, and defend truth.

Over the years, I've gotten
to know many of you here.

I know that you're a people

who individually study doctrine.

Your desire is to glorify God

and you want to take
the truths of Scripture

and apply them in all areas of life

and be ever conformed

to the Word of God for the glory of God.

But we must be careful.

At the same time that we are

in our pursuit of truth,

and the application of truth -

individually and corporately -

as local churches,

that we don't fail to heed

a very important call in Scripture.

And that is to maintain the
unity of the Spirit in Christ.

This unity of the Spirit

that we have in Christ is wonderful.

It's what we love to experience

when we gather together

in fellowships like this.

It's that unity of Spirit
that we've all had

where maybe we are on
a plane trip somewhere

and we sit down next to someone,

and we begin a conversation,

and we feel a bond to them.

We feel a oneness with them,

and as we go further in the conversation,

we begin to realize,

this is a brother or sister in the faith.

And we may not even know their name,

but we love them and
we're drawn to them.

We even want to be with them.

This is that oneness of spirit
that we have in Christ.

Know this, church,

the church of Jesus Christ

is united together supernaturally.

We are not called in
Scripture to create unity.

Do you know that?

We are called in Scripture

to maintain and preserve the unity

that God Himself has created in us.

Maintaining our unity in
Christ is vitally important

because the church's unity

is a living witness to the lost world

about the saving and uniting power

of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ, through the gospel,

brings together a diverse people -

a people from every nation, tribe,

tongue, and language.

and makes them one in Jesus Christ.

In Christ, we are one body.

We are one spirit.

We have one hope.
We have one Lord.

We have one common faith.

We have one common object of our faith

and affection of our hearts

and that is Jesus Christ.

In our churches;

in our families of faith

our unity though is tested.

It's tested in the midst of our diversity.

When I speak of diversity,

I'm not just speaking about

cultural diversity here.

Although, there is cultural diversity.

The diversity I'm speaking about

is the diversity, maybe,

in maturity in Christ.

Or, our growth in the understanding

of truth and doctrine.

Or, the diversity in our convictions

and how we apply the Scriptures

to our lives.

How we live out those understandings.

So what do we do?

Do we just set doctrine aside?

Find the lowest common denominator?

And just rally around that?

Of course not.

Of course that's not what we do.

We do see that happening in some places;

some of the professing churches

who set aside doctrine

for the sake of unity,

which is a fake unity.

But no, we don't set aside doctrine.

Again, the church is the
pillar and buttress of truth.

We must all be consistently growing,

understanding, defending,

and proclaiming truth.

We must be conforming to truth

personally in our lives.

We must maintain that unity
that we have in Christ

and the witness that we have

to a lost and dying world.

So let me summarize it in one question

and put it before you,

and then try to answer it for us.

How do we as local churches here

with such diversity

maintain our unity in Jesus Christ

while we vigilantly
pursue and defend truth.

That's the question I want
to put before us today.

And I think Paul in 1 Corinthians 13,

he gives us the answer.

Let's read 1 Corinthians 13.

Please follow along as we read

God's holy and inerrant Word.

"If I speak in the tongues of men

and of angels but have not love,

I'm a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

If I have prophetic powers

and understand all
mysteries and all knowledge,

and if I have all faith

so as to remove mountains,

but have not love, I am nothing.

If I give away all I have

and if I deliver up my body to be burned,

but have not love,

I gain nothing.

Love is patient and kind.

Love does not envy or boast.

It is not arrogant or rude.

It does not insist on its own way.

It is not irritable or resentful.

It does not rejoice at wrongdoing,

but rejoices with the truth.

Love bears all things;

believes all things;
hopes all thing;

endures all things.

Love never fails.

As for prophecies, they will pass away.

As for tongues, they will cease.

As for knowledge, it will pass away.

For we know in part
and we prophesy in part,

but when the perfect comes,

the partial will pass away.

When I was a child,

I spoke like a child;

I thought like a child;

I reasoned like a child.

When I became a man,

I gave up childish ways.

For now we see dimly in a mirror,

but then face to face.

Now I know in part,

then I shall know fully

even as I have been fully known.

So now, faith, hope, and love abide

these three,

but the greatest of these is love."

I'll be focusing on verses 1-7,

and I won't even be able to cover them all

in this short period of time.

In verses 1 - 3,

I hope to convince us all

of the essential need for love

in our local churches

in the midst of our differences.

In verses 4 - 7,

we will look at the picture

that Paul paints for us,

which is nothing less than a portrait

of Jesus Christ Himself.

And I believe that we will all

look at this portrait of love;

this portrait of Jesus Christ,

and I think we're all going to see

that we are falling short.

What we will all see is

that the genuineness and the depth

of our love towards one another

may be found lacking.

And I think we're going to discover

that we're not quite as mature

as we think we are.

As Paul said,

when he was a child,
he thought like a child.

He reasoned like a child.

He's talking about the maturing process.

Beloved, I think many of us think

that we're men or women,

but by how we handle our differences

in our local churches,

we're proving to still be children.

Well, it's no secret that the answer

to how do we maintain our unity

in Jesus Christ in the
midst of our diversity

in our local churches is love.

Before we walk through these verses,

I don't know about you,

but I find it very interesting

that the greatest treatise on love

in the entire Bible

is not written to a man and a woman

standing at an altar with rings in hand

about to exchange vows.

But it's written pointedly

to a local church.

A local church - and we've all read

the book of Corinthians who no doubt

is in the face of diversity;

has some differences.

And the unity that they have
supernaturally in Christ,

right now is at stake

in this local church.

And I will tell you, that's true

for all of us sitting here right now.

The context again is that this is written

to a local church

who had experienced wonderful fellowship

in their union of Christ.

And now that fellowship,

that unity in Christ,

is in danger.

Look at verse 1.

"If I speak in the tongues
of men and of angels,

but have not love,

I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal."

We know from chapter 12 that there

is a division sprouting up
in the church of Corinth

over spiritual gifts.

They're priding themselves

in what gifts they have.

It seems people are creating

what you might call subcultures

within the church.

Based on what?

Based on what spiritual gifts they have.

They're creating spiritual hierarchies

within their local church it seems.

Different classes of Christianity.

Treating some people with
preferential treatment

or elevated treatment over other people

based on which gifts they have.

Well, Paul will have none of that.

In fact, in chapter 12,

we know that he spent time

straightening that out.

He helped them all see

that the body of Christ is one body

with many different parts.

But the gifts within the church

are distributed by God,

and we're not to boast in those,

and they're to be
used for the edification

and the building up of
the church as a whole.

But here in chapter 13,

Paul says something different.

Paul says essentially

you're finding your identity

in believing that you are something;

believing that you have something to offer

based on what gifts God has given to you.

"If I speak in the tongues
of men and of angels,

but have not love,

I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal."

What is it that Paul's doing here?

Well, please know this, beloved.

Paul is not minimizing the importance

of spiritual gifts in the local church.

He just spent an entire chapter

letting them know spiritual gifts

are important and vital

to the local church.

Well, if he's not minimizing
the importance

of spiritual gifts,

what is it that Paul is doing here then?

He's maximizing the necessity of love.

Paul is not minimizing
the importance of gifts,

but maximizing the necessity of love.

He's essentially saying this,

if you have gifts -

even the ones you're all boasting about -

the gift of tongues maybe,

but it's not rooted in love;

it's not used and governed by love,

then your gifts do not help the church.

They distract from the church.

They hurt the church.

Verse 2.

"And if I have prophetic powers

and understand all mysteries
and all knowledge,

and if I have all faith

so as to remove mountains,

but have not love,

I am nothing."

And I think is where we'll focus our time.

This is where we in the reformed church

with our emphasis on doctrine

seem to struggle a lot.

Praise God again that we study doctrine,

and we seek to live it out

and apply it in all of our lives.

That's something we must be doing.

But for many in the reformed church,

understanding doctrine

has become everything to them.

At any time I begin to discuss

this type of subject,

like Paul's discussing here in v. 2,

it's not long before I hear from someone,

"Jesse, you're minimizing doctrine,

and doctrine is from God's Word,

and we can't minimize doctrine."

So let me say loudly and clearly,

and I will repeat myself
throughout the entire sermon,

I'm not minimizing doctrine.

I agree with you.

All of doctrine is of vital importance

because it comes from the Word of God.

I'm not minimizing doctrine.

I'm not suggesting that
we set doctrine aside.

As a pastor, I'll tell you this.

I've given myself to doctrine.

To the study of doctrine.

To the teaching and preaching of doctrine.

To the defending of doctrine.

Week after week, year after year.

I'm not minimizing doctrine.

But I'm maximizing the need for love.

The need for love in our doctrine.

The need for love in our
doctrinal differences.

Look what Paul is saying here.

"If I have prophetic powers

and understand all mysteries
and all knowledge..."

All mysteries.

One of my favorite portions of Scripture

is in Luke 24

after the resurrection of Christ

on the road with the disciples.

He's speaking to the disciples.

And Jesus unlocks all mysteries for them.

He helps them to see

how He is the fulfillment,

and how all of Scripture
finds its fulfillment

in Jesus Christ.

Jesus who understands all mysteries.

What a value that would be to the church!

To have an individual
or people in our church

who understood all
the mysteries in Scripture

and how they find their
fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

What about the one who has all knowledge?

Deep doctrine.

This may be the person who has

all the covenant issues

sorted out perfectly.

They have all their eschatology down.

Paul says here they have all knowledge.

He's giving them credit.

You understand all mysteries.

You have all the knowledge.

But if you have not love,

you are nothing.

Again, I think this is where

the rubber meets the road for us.

maybe these churches represented here.

There are some of us who believe

we have all the mysteries and knowledge

figured out.

And I think if we're honest,

we need to confess

we don't have it all figured out.

We're all still growing.

These men who have walked in the faith

40, 50, 60 years faithfully,

you could bring them up here one by one

and they would acknowledge,

listen, I'm still growing.

The Word of God is still sharpening

and shaping my
understanding of who God is.

The mysteries are still
being unlocked to me.

The knowledge and the
deeper things of the Lord

are still being revealed to me.

And praise God, we never stop growing.

But what Paul says here is,

what if you did
understand all the mysteries

and have all the knowledge?

Even then, without love you're nothing.

In verse 3, Paul goes on to say this:

"If I give away all I have

and deliver up my body to be burned

and have not love, I gain nothing."

Again, I've talked to so many of you.

You're living self-sacrificing lives

so you can be more faithful to Scripture

and give more.

I mean, aren't you the kind of people

you want to see in our church?

The ones who are gifted by God?

The ones who have and
are studying doctrine

and have knowledge and understanding?

The ones who are living sacrificially

for the glory of the Kingdom of God?

Aren't these the people
we want in our church?

And the answer is yes.

And don't they bring value?

Don't they help edify and
build up the church?

And the answer is maybe.

But maybe not.

Do you see the progression that happened

in these first three verses?

Without love, we accomplish nothing.

Without love, we are nothing.

And without love, we gain nothing.

What's the conclusion
that we must come to?

In measuring our Christian maturity,

if we have everything without love,

we have nothing.

We have nothing.

Love is essential.

Oh, how important the use of gifts are

in the local church.

Oh, how important doctrine is

in the local church.

Oh, how important sacrificial living

is in the local church.

But apart from love, beloved,

it's nothing.

Right away, some of you
may begin to struggle

as we talk about doctrine

and begin to ask a question like,

"So, are you saying that we should

let go of doctrine and pursue love?"

And I want you to know this: No.

It's not truth or love.

It's truth in love.

So often, we have that pendulum swing

in our life, don't we?

Where, okay, I'm pursuing truth.

I'm given to truth.
I'm studying.

I'm reading systematic theology.
I'm going through all these things.

I'm growing in truth;
growing in truth.

And we begin to neglect
other areas of our life,

and you realize, wait a minute,

I'm lacking in love.

So what do we often do?

We overcompensate and we set truth down,

and we walk over here

and begin to pursue love.

Saints, it's not truth or love.

It's truth in love.

It's not 50% of truth and 50% of love.

It's 100% of truth and 100% of love

working together.

It's not either/or; it's both/and.

Well, it's at this point that some of you

may say, okay, I'm pursuing truth,

and I believe that I'm loving.

But you may believe that you're loving

because all too often, we find -

especially in reformed circles -

statements like this:

Of course, I'm loving.
I told them the truth.

That's the most loving thing you can do.

Well, it is loving to share
truth with people.

But Paul now in verse 4

is going to help you see

what does love look like

actually lived out.

He's going to help us see that

love is not just sharing the right,

correct doctrine,

but the spirit in which
you share that doctrine

is vital.

Here's what Paul's going to show us.

The genuineness and depth of our love

is not seen in just sharing truth

or how we respond to people

who agree with our doctrinal positions,

but the genuineness and depth of our love

is revealed in how you respond

to people who disagree

with your doctrinal positions.

What I keep seeing in reformed circles

is people pursuing truth.

And typically as I begin this discussion,

I'll see them pursuing truth

as it pertains to doctrines
that we would call

non-salvific.

Meaning, we're not usually struggling

in the areas of whether Jesus is God

or we're saved by grace
through faith alone.

We're dealing in doctrinal areas

that although very important

and vital because they're
from the Word of God,

that we know that some through the ages

have disagreed upon

and come to different conclusions upon.

And that's kind of where I want to focus

my effort and energy today if i could.

Someone begins to study
a doctrinal position.

Maybe they were unaware of it.

It wasn't even on their radar before.

They become passionate about truth,

as we all should be
passionate about truth.

Well, they begin to talk with others

in their local church about this truth

because they're excited about it.

They see how God can be glorified

in it and through it.

And this is good.

But then they find someone in the church

or different people in the church

who disagree with them.

And it's at this point that I begin to see

that unity that we have in Jesus Christ -

that supernatural bond that we have -

this is where I begin to see a disunity.

Not a working to preserve
and maintain that,

but a division beginning to occur.

And I see the divisions occurring really

in two different ways.

One of the divisions that may occur

is they say,

"Well, if you're not going to side with me

in my beliefs, I'll just go find

another group of Christians;

another church who more
believes in these areas

the way I believe,

and I'll go be with them."

But another division I'm actually seeing

more likely happening,

and probably more prominent

in our churches represented here

is a division that stays
in the local church.

And what this division looks like is this:

When I find someone who doesn't agree

with my new study of doctrine

or my new arrival of understanding,

or I find someone who doesn't

live out their convictions

the same way that I do,

there's division within the church.

And that happens by treating

other Christians in the church
who disagree with me

as second-class Christians.

"You're not as spiritual as I am."

"You clearly don't love holiness
and God as much as I do."

"There's something wrong with you,

or you would come to the same conclusions

I have come to."

You would live out your convictions

the same way I live out my convictions."

This person that we once had

such intimate fellowship with;

that we shared the joy and union

of fellowship and union
in Christ together -

my brother and sister in the Lord -

someone who, like me,
has been blood-bought,

now, I realize has come to
a different conclusion

in an area of doctrine,

and I don't even treat them

like a brother or sister anymore.

I want everyone in here to know,

especially myself is this:

that's not loving.

That works directly against our call

to maintain the unity that
we have in Jesus Christ.

I see this played out
in churches all the time.

Maybe you come to a conviction

about how you should
educate your children.

Something that never was
even on the radar.

And then your eye diffused that
quickening ray in the dungeon.

And the light came in
and Christ became real.

And then everything in your life

began to look through
the lens of the gospel

and the Scriptures as we should do.

And you've come to convictions
you've never even thought about.

How should I educate my children?

And you arrive at a conclusion.

I think the best way
for me to live this out

might be for me to homeschool my children.

And then you become
convinced that's the only way

that you can educate your children

if you're seeking to glorify God.

And you begin to look at other people

who don't follow the conviction

that you follow there.

And you begin to categorize
them in your mind.

They don't love Jesus like I do.

They're not willing to make the sacrifices

that I'm willing to make.

Do you see the spiritual pride?

Do you see the classes of Christianity

beginning to divide?

Do you see that the basis

of our fellowship,

which was once the sweet union

of Jesus Christ and the gospel,

now becomes the basis of:

well, how do you educate your children?

What happens when we do that?

Inevitably, whether we mean to or not,

we begin to minimize
the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We begin to minimize the power

of the purchasing blood of Jesus Christ.

We begin to find fellowship

in something other than Jesus Christ.

We begin to find our unity

in something other than Jesus Christ.

Saints, it's dividing our churches up.

That does not work to maintain

the unity that we have in Jesus Christ.

How you respond to that person

who disagrees with
your doctrinal position;

how you respond to that person

who comes to a different conclusion

on how you should educate your children

or what premarital
relationships should look like -

how you respond to that person

is the evidence and depth of your love

in the local church.

You see, if we just keep
surrounding ourselves,

within the church,

with little subcultures -

we're the homeschooling group;

we're the courtship group;

we're the amillenial group;

we're this group;
we're that group;

and anyone who doesn't agree with you

in those areas, although you do have

union with them in Christ,

that's not good enough
for fellowship anymore.

I won't let my kids be around anyone

who doesn't homeschool.

What are you teaching your children?

That homeschool is more important

than union in Jesus Christ.

I think some of us are
going to wake up one day

and realize we put all
of our hope and faith

in educating our
children in our home.

Homeschooling doesn't save anybody!

It's Jesus Christ that saves.

And I homeschool my kids.

Listen, I'm not implying

that the love you have

with the group of people you
have surrounded yourself with

that hold to those same convictions -

I'm not saying it's not love.

It is love. I think it's love.

What I want us to look at is this:

But what is the depth of my love?

And Paul seems to think

the depth of your love is revealed

not with those you've
gathered around yourself

who affirm you all day,

but the one who doesn't
see it the same way

and how you treat that brother or sister

is the reality of the depth of your love

for the local church.

Let's look at it in verse 4.

Paul says, "Love is patient."

Love suffers long.

Assumed in this first
characteristic of love

is offense.

He assumes that there's provocation here

between two people.

He assumes there's differences

and disagreements here.

Why do we say that?

Because know this,

you don't have to
suffer long with people

who agree with you in
every point of doctrine

and live out the same way you do.

You don't suffer with those people.

You just sit around and affirm each other.

Look how spiritual we are!

Look how unspiritual they are!

I don't suffer long if you
just build me up all day

and agree with me in every area.

That's not suffering.

But Paul says genuine love suffers long.

Genuine love is revealed
in the face of adversity.

In the face of disagreement.

So how long are we suffering

with those who disagree with us

or have offended us

because they haven't come
to the same conclusions?

Well, that's the reality of
the depth of your love.

What's assumed in the characteristic

again is provocation.

It assumes someone has provoked you here.

They've provoked you

by not seeing it the way that you see it.

"Well, I showed it to them in Scripture.

It's so clear.

Why can't they see it?"

Love when they've been provoked,

does not provoke back.

But it suffers long with the other person.

What becomes very clear in Paul's

definition of love here

is that the love Paul is speaking about

is not the love the world speaks about.

The love the world speaks about

is emotion-driven;

feelings-based.

And know this, genuine love

is full of emotion and feelings.

But it's not feelings-driven
or feelings-based.

Beloved, the love that
Paul is calling you and I to

to preserve the unity we
have in Jesus Christ

is nothing less than the love
of Jesus Christ in the gospel.

This is the love that you
and I are being called to.

This is not a love in word only.

It's a love in deed and action.

It's a love in the face of provocation

that suffers long.

Let's apply this first
characteristic again here.

Suffering long.

Someone in the church disagrees

with a doctrinal position you
spent the last six months

reading three books on and
listening to 25 sermons on.

And you're convinced you've
come to the right conclusion.

You've sat down with them
and you've shown it to them,

and they just don't see
what you're talking about.

In fact, they see the other side of it.

Now, we become passionate about truth,

and Christians should be
passionate about truth.

But what this love does

is it's patient with that person.

Have you ever noticed -

and I've seen this in my own life -

you'll begin to study

and focus on an area of doctrine.

Something that maybe
wasn't even on the radar

for the first ten years
in your Christianity.

You spend six months studying on it

and you're an expert on it.

You dogmatically go to other
people in your church,

and you can't stop talking about it,

and you struggle that they can't see it

the way you've explained it.

You forget that it was
ten years in the faith -

it wasn't even on your radar.

But now if they don't come

to the same conclusion
as you've come to,

you can't even be in
fellowship with them anymore

in the local church.

Know this, saints, suffering long

is more than just biting your tongue

when someone disagrees with you,

and distancing yourself from them.

Because one of the things
we need to see here

is that these first two characteristics -

patience and kindness -

actually go together.

One's the other side of
the coin of the other.

Let me put them together with you

and show you what this really looks like.

Love is patient. It suffers long

in the face of provocation.

But more than that, love is kind.

The root word here in "kind" has the idea

of being "fit for use."

Usefulness.

Serving each other.

Think with me for a moment here.

True love is demonstrated

when someone disagrees with you

or offends you,

and instead of responding back to them

and provoking them back,

you do not respond back to them with that,

but rather you show them patience.

But more than that,

you move towards that person

to serve them in kindness.

I don't know about you,
but that's really hard.

I'm so convinced I'm right.

I'm so passionate

because this is about the glory of God,

and I think they're robbing
the glory of God in their life,

so I'm trying to show them,

I'm trying to sit with them
and work with them,

I've walked them through
every Scripture in the Bible.

They still don't see it.

And they're getting a
little frustrated with me

because I won't stop talking
about my doctrinal points so much.

And what this says is this:

That even if I'm right in
the doctrinal position,

I'm going to be patient
with this brother or sister.

But more than that, I'm going to begin

to move towards them

and serve them in kindness.

You know what I see happening?

I shared truth with you
and you didn't get it.

You're not going to be
in the circle anymore.

I'm not going to fellowship with you

as much as I used to anymore.

It's one thing to bite your lip

and not respond when
you've been provoked.

It's a whole other thing to move

towards that person you disagree with

and find ways to serve them

and welcome them in the church.

Can I ask you something?

Isn't that what Jesus Christ did to you?

Weren't you and I provoking Jesus Christ?

In fact, I think the only
thing we were doing

was provoking Jesus Christ.

And didn't He pointedly and individually

not only not give you what you deserved

which was His wrath?

He did not. He was
long suffering with you.

But more than just
suffering long with you,

didn't Jesus Christ move towards you

and seek you out

and look to serve you

by laying His life down for you?

And isn't this exactly what we need to do?

If we're going to maintain the unity

we have in our local churches

in the midst of our diversity,

we need to respond with Christ-like,

gospel-centered love

and move towards those
people we disagree with

and serve them.

What a testimony that would be to them

and to those outside.

This is the love we're called to.

Gospel-centered love.

Ask yourself right now,

those in your local church

who view premarital relationships
different than you,

who view how to educate your
children different than you,

who've arrived at different
conclusions of your favorite doctrines,

are you moving towards that person

to serve them and welcome them?

Because that's the genuine
depth of your love

in the local church right there.

That's it right there.

Or are you like so many that I see

that say, well, I'm only
going to associate

with the people who homeschool like me.

I don't want their lack of seriousness

to rub off on me or my children.

And you forget all along

that you're speaking about someone

purchased with the blood of Jesus Christ.

This is not being patient.

This is not being kind.

And it is unloving.

It's sin.

Do you know that
loveless orthodoxy is sin?

In Revelation 2, Jesus warned a church

that seemed to have
all their doctrine right,

debated it, stood in the
face of false teachers,

and hated evil.

He commended them for all of that.

And then He turned to them and said this:

you need to repent though.

You say, well, they had
left their first love

and that's referring to Jesus Christ.

I agree.

But can I ask you this question?

Where is the evidence of your love
for Jesus Christ most revealed?

In love for His church.

How can you love Him
whom you have not seen

if you can't love your brother
or sister who you do see?

"I love Jesus!"

The depth of your love for Jesus

is revealed in how you love His bride.

And the reality of love is not just

those who agree with you,

but those who have disagreed with you

and offended you.

I'm not suggesting in any way, beloved,

that we do not discuss these doctrines

or our convictions in our local churches.

We need to.

It's one of the means of grace

that God has used to
grow us and sharpen us.

But I am suggesting that we discuss them

in the context of gospel-centered unity

and clothed in Christlike
humility and love.

When we allow something
other than Jesus Christ

to become the basis of our
unity and our fellowship,

again, we inevitably minimize
Jesus Christ and the gospel

and the work against the unity

that He's given to us.

Think of this statement
and see if it just

rings wrong for you.

"Yes, you're my brother in Christ,

both saved and redeemed
by the grace of Jesus Christ,

and we have that in common

and we agree on those things,

but we've come to a
different place eschatalogically,

so I can't even be in
fellowship with you anymore."

I'm not minimizing the importance

of any other doctrines.

But I'm saying that the unity

that we share in Christ,

and the love within that unity

should help us be able to work together,

have these discussions,
encourage each other,

sharpen each other

without breaking the
fellowship and unity we have

in our local churches

which is centered upon Jesus Christ.

So yes, discuss these things.

Yes, encourage and build up each other

in these things.

Yes, sharpen each other in these things.

But do it clothed in love and humility.

And when others disagree with you

or do it differently,

suffer long with them

and move towards them

in kindness and service.

So we don't treat them
like second-class Christians.

Because know this,

there are no second-class Christians.

The fact that our
rallying point is a cross

says one thing:

the playing field is level.

The only reason why any of
us are getting in is grace.

That's it.

And when you make something

other than the cross and Jesus Christ

the basis of our fellowship,

you minimize the work of Christ.

Jesus Christ identifies

with the lowest of
understanding doctrine Christian.

They will be welcomed in

to the same degree that you will be.

They are loved by Jesus Christ

in the same way that you are loved,

because the basis of His love

is not rooted in you,
it's rooted in Himself.

I'm not condoning immaturity in doctrine.

I'm not condoning indifference

to how we live out our lives

and Jesus Christ is not either.

But again, Jesus Christ
identifies with them.

We need to be careful how we speak

about the body of Christ;

how we treat the body of Christ.

Jesus said to Saul,

"Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?"

when he was persecuting the church.

Jesus so identifies with His church

that how you treat them,

He views it as how you treat Him.

Know this, we can have our doctrine right,

but the doctrine that we
believe we have right

has not had its full work in us

until it manifests in Christlike love

towards each other.

You can have your doctrine right,

but that doctrine has not
had its full work in you

until it manifests itself through you

in Christ-centered love.

This love we're called
to is patient and kind.

One more here.

Paul says this love
"does not envy or boast,

it is not arrogant or rude."

Can I tell you that nothing works faster

at causing disunity in the local church

as spiritual pride?

The Corinthians thought:

We are something.
We have these gifts.

We understand this doctrine.
We've arrived.

We're living sacrificially. Look at us.

And Paul didn't deny any of
those things were important,

but he knew without love,

those things would divide the church.

The genuineness and depth of my love

is not seen with those who agree with me,

but with those who disagree with me

and how I respond to them.

I've often referred to the local church

as a brewing pot of sanctification.

Sometimes I find people just leaving

local church after local church,

looking for people who are
exactly like themselves.

One of the reasons God put you in churches

with such diversity culturally

and maturity-wise is to abound you

in Christlike love.

And that's hard.

It's a lot more comfortable and easy

just to keep finding
subgroups of Christians

who believe all that you believe

and do it all the way you do.

But that's not how He made the church.

He made the church diverse,

so we could abound in love

as we show patience and kindness

to those who disagree with us.

Can I give you one test that you're being

boastful or arrogant?

If you constantly feel the need

to talk about your doctrinal positions

with everyone in the local church,

that's a sign of arrogance and boasting.

If you view everyone in your local church

as positions rather than people,

and your goal is just to win everyone

over to your position -

you're not even asking people anymore:

hey, how are you doing?

What's going on at work?

How can I be praying for you?

If every time they walk up to
you all they hear about is

why they should be doing it this way

or why they should believe this doctrine,

you're in a dangerous place.

If you look down at others

who disagree with you

and only surround yourself with people

who look like you and talk like you

and do like you do,

that's a sign of spiritual pride.

It's not preserving unity.

Let me ask us this question.

What if Jesus Christ did that to us?

What if Jesus said to us:

You know, I know we have
this whole gospel thing

that we agree in,

but in these areas of doctrine,

you're wrong.

And He began to treat you

like a second-class Christian.

What would happen?

Every single one of us would be put out

of His inner circle.

Can I tell you this?

Jesus Christ has never
done that to you once.

He keeps moving towards you

and pursuing you in love.

How can we as Christians so freely receive

this love from Christ
on the basis of grace

and then treat others without love

because they differ from us

in different areas of
conviction or doctrine?

You know what that's called?

Gospel amnesia.

You're forgetting how Christ has
treated you in the gospel.

To have right doctrine

but lack love for one another,

it is sin.

There's so much more we could say

here in Corinthians about it.

But before I finish, I
want to encourage you

because saints, the hope we have

of maintaining our unity in Christ

in the midst of our diversity

is Jesus Christ's gospel-centered love

towards those who disagree.

Again, it's not love or truth,

it's truth in love.

It's a love that suffers long.

It's a love that moves towards others

who disagree; who provoke us.

And it's about that person -

serving them in kindness.

It's a love that keeps
no record of wrongs.

It's a love that believes
the best about each other.

And why?

Because this is the love that Jesus Christ

has shown to you

and continues to show you day after day,

week after week,

month after month,

year after year.

I will confess to you personally

that as I studied this,

and preached six sermons
on it in our church,

I came to the conclusion

that I'm not quite as
loving as I thought I was.

In fact, I talked to some
people in our church

after we finished six sermons on this.

And they were discouraged.

They said I thought I was loving,

but I realize I've just surrounded myself

with people who think of the
doctrines the way I think of them

and do it the way I do it,

but I'm struggling with those
who disagree with me

and I'm not as loving
as I thought I could be

and it's really hard to love those people.

If that's you today,

if you say if I'm going to be honest,

I haven't been treating people

who disagree with me with kindness,

looking to move towards them,

to serve them and welcome them;

and I've made the basis of my fellowship

in my local church those who

agree with me and affirm me.

And I want to love like
you're talking about.

I see that's how Christ loves me,

and I want to love like that,

but I'm really struggling

to love like that.

What do we do?

Well, most of us have been taught

our whole life

that Jesus is our example.

And He is.

And that when you find
yourself struggling

in obedience to Him, to just try harder.

And then you keep falling down

and realizing I can't do this.

The reason why trying harder doesn't work

is because the love that
you and I are called to

is not something we
can produce on our own.

Think of Galatians 5 with me.

The fruit of the Spirit is love.

What does that tell us?

The love you and I are
called to is a fruit.

It's something I cannot
grit my teeth and produce

by trying harder.

It's something that must be produced

in me and through me.

Well, does this mean I'm not responsible?

I don't have a part in this?

No, you are responsible in this area.

Well, how do we love like this then?

I heard an analogy that I'll close with

and I think will be helpful for you.

As we all look at the call

that Paul's put before us of love,

which is nothing short of Jesus Christ,

and we become discouraged to see

I'm struggling to love like this

and I fall short.

I want to emulate Jesus Christ.

I want to love like He does,

but I'm struggling so much.

What hope do I have?

Is it just try harder?

And here's the analogy.

Let's say all of you love music.

And you love beautiful music.

And I come to you and I say,

well, I want you to begin to produce,

write, and play music like Mozart.

He's your example.

And you say wonderful.

I want that kind of music.

I want to produce that music;

write that music; play that music.

And you sit down and you study Mozart.

You look at Mozart.

You examine Mozart.

And you try really hard.

And you fall miserably on your face

over and over again

and you become discouraged.

You say, I'm trying so hard

to play music like Mozart;

to compose.

I just don't find the strength to do that.

And I would agree with you.

You're not going to play
like Mozart if you try harder.

But what if I told you this?

The spirit of Mozart was going to come

and reside inside of you?

And compose through you?

And write through you?

And empower you to write music?

To compose music?

And to play music like him?

Then, you'd be mightily encouraged

and say yes, I can play music!

I can compose like Mozart.

Not because of my strength,
my trying harder,

but because the spirit
of Mozart lives in me.

Well, beloved, that's what
happened in the gospel.

Jesus Christ not only forgives you and I

for our lovelessness,

He takes up residence within us.

It is the Spirit of Christ
and His love in us

working through us,

being produced for His glory.

So where do we begin with that though?

You need to begin by confessing inability.

John 15:5 - I can't do this, God.

Then by faith, you abide in Christ.

You be led by the Spirit.

You walk by the Spirit.

And you lay hold of
the truth of the gospel

that Jesus Christ in us

will produce His fruit through us

and make it so we can maintain

the unity of Christ in our local churches

for the glory of God.

This is our gospel.

It not only forgives, it empowers.

Let's pray.

Father, in the name of Jesus,

I pray that You would help each of us.

Lord, convict us of our lovelessness.

Help us to mark it for
what it is which is sin.

Help us believe the gospel.

That if we confess this sin,

You're faithful and just to
cleanse us and forgive us.

But help us believe
the rest of the gospel.

That the Spirit of Christ is now in us.

That love that we so seek to emulate.

His power is towards us who believe.

God, that we would abide more

and appropriate the gospel more.

Led by the Spirit;
walking by the Spirit.

And that Your fruit would be manifest

in us and through us for Your glory.

God, accomplish these things.

Preserve the unity in Your church

for the testimony of Jesus Christ

to a lost and dying world.

In the name of Jesus we pray,

Amen.