Transformative Love: The Holy Spirit's Power in Unity

Well, so many good things have happened and that are going to happen.

First of all, it's great to be home after our time in South Korea. We had a very productive trip there with the first-ever Lads to Leaders convention in the Korean country. South Korea has about 6,000 members of the Churches of Christ scattered throughout the country, but in Seoul, we were able to offer a program for the boys and girls of that nation. We were able to have 60 in attendance for that convention, some of them traveling by train or driving in over two hours in order to be there.

This year, the focus was on speaking and song leading. Next year, there will be a broader list of opportunities, but in all of this, I want to thank this congregation for what you contributed to it.

Also, while we were there, we were able to learn more about Korean culture. Song Young, who was our host while we were there, is a fascinating man, very well connected with the government. He is a very accomplished member of the administration and was able to provide training for us. He, in particular, helped explain how to do evangelistic work among Buddhists, and that was a very interesting study.

But in the course of our time there, we did have one memorable thing that I know none of us will forget throughout the rest of our lives, and that was the morning that the alert went out. The sirens were blaring, and the president of South Korea was speaking. I have to tell you, I didn't know a thing he was saying, but North Korea had launched a missile, and the order was to evacuate the city. Women and children were to go first, and we were instructed to pack our bags and head to the American Embassy where we would be evacuated.

Now, this didn't last long because the North Koreans ended up misfiring the missile, which went into the Sea of Japan. The official word was that they were launching a satellite. The South Korean Navy was promptly there and excavated the missile from the ocean floor, and the unofficial word is that it was no satellite.

We're thankful that all that passed, and the president's next message was, "Life goes on as normal." That certainly is a lesson for us; life has to go on as normal.

But thank you again for your support of our work in Korea. You'll be hearing more about it as we have time to make a fuller report.

We're also looking forward to something that is, to me, even more exciting, and that is our week at Fort Hill Christian Camp. It's hard to imagine, but it was 25 years ago that Peggy and I were asked to go for the first time to manage a week at Fort Hill Camp. David and Jordan went with us; they were four and a half years old, and I can remember staying in the cabin with them and enjoying that time.

It's hard to imagine that David and Jordan, Kelly, and so many of our young people, Samantha, who have grown up going to Fort Hill, are returning as staff. Oh, Nicole, I can't forget you! Nicole looked over at Jordan and said he forgot me.

So many Fort Hill is a family time, and for those who are planning on being with us, thank you for carving out that time in your week. If any of you know of any children who would like to come to a wonderful week of youth camp, there's still room, and we'll be glad to provide that week for them.

Also, we have our pre-camp program. Our pre-camp program begins on Saturday and goes through noon on Sunday. It's an opportunity for people who maybe are not going to be able to spend the entire week but would like to know something about what Fort Hill is all about. It's an opportunity for you to come. We designed it primarily for those with small children whose children are too young to stay for the week, but it's open to anyone in the congregation who would like to come.

So if you've ever wondered what Fort Hill is all about, make your plans to be with us. We have a sign-up sheet in the foyer.

Now, this is off the books of Fort Hill; it's totally our effort, and that means we must provide the food. If you are planning on coming, you will be assigned something to bring, and I need to emphasize that includes if you're just coming for lunch on Saturday. That's not a Fort Hill meal; that's a pre-camp meal. If you are coming, we need you to sign up, and you'll be asked to bring something to contribute for this.

But the weekend is a wonderful time, and absolutely, I am looking forward to having such a fun time at Fort Hill Camp.

On Sunday mornings, we've begun a study on the fruits of the Spirit. As the fruit of the Spirit is being discussed through this quarter, something that I want to emphasize to you is that the Holy Spirit continues to work among God's people today.

Now, in the first century, the Holy Spirit performed signs and wonders. These confirmed the word by the apostles and those on whom the apostles laid their hands. Miracles were done—miracles of healing, miracles of prophecy, miracles even of raising the dead—and these did indeed confirm the word.

With the passing of the apostles, the age of signs and wonders came to an end, but the age of the Holy Spirit working in the church was just beginning. I want you to know that the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of Christians is more wondrous even than the raising of the dead. The new life that you have in Jesus Christ is more wondrous than a physical life given to you.

As the Spirit bears His fruit in your life, you come into contact with the very power of God. Through the summer, we'll be looking at different aspects of the Spirit's fruit and what He is doing today. We'll be looking at love in particular. I want us to see that love changes lives.

We'll be going through verses drawn from First Corinthians 13. I appreciate Mike reading the entirety of that chapter. I want to encourage you to go back through this; it's a very short read, but to go back and see how the chapter of First Corinthians 13 shows the way of love and love as a power for change.

Love is a power for change in the world; love is a power for change in our relationships among one another; and love is a power for change within ourselves, each of these in turn.

But first of all, looking at change in the world, love is a guiding light for the world, and our world certainly needs it because our world is torn apart. Now, we are tempted to look primarily at the problems we have, and we certainly have a lot of problems in the world, but this has been true ever since sin entered the world.

Immediately after Adam and Eve were driven from the Garden of Eden, we read about Cain and Abel—brothers, and Cain rising up and killing his brother. There has been division in the world, but love shows a way to unity. Love is a cure for conflict, and this is true no matter where the conflict may come.

We see that in our world—social conflict, the threat of military conflict—but even more dramatically, those things that are tearing at the very social fabric of our lives are there. But love shows us a way.

We find in First Corinthians 13, verse 4, "Love does not envy or boast." When you look at conflict at its very root, you find that envy and arrogance are never far from the surface. I reference Cain and Abel. Why is it that murder entered the world? It's because Cain was envious of his brother, and that's what led him to rise up against him.

In the same way, when we see a misplaced arrogance among nations and even among segments of our own nation, this can lead to conflict. But love is the answer to that.

Love also guides the way we interact with each other. Love is not arrogant or rude. Rudeness is just simply applied arrogance. When you're rude to someone, at its core, it is saying, "I count more than you do. I'm going to put you in your place."

We need to see that civility is needed in our lives, in the nation, and in the way we discuss things, even with those with whom we disagree. Love will guide us into that civility.

Further, love does not insist on its own way. In verse 5, we become entrenched and implacable, and we decide that our way is the only way. It's our way or the highway. With that mindset, how can there ever be peace among men? How can we find a way of civil discourse if we are insisting on our own way without listening to others?

Now, I want to emphasize it's never inappropriate to insist on God's way, but there's a world of difference between insisting that we all submit to God and insisting that someone submit to me. Love does not insist on its own way, and love keeps no record of wrongs.

If there is one thing that has entered into the social conflict that we have seen, it's the absence of mercy—the feeling that if someone ever commits a wrong, it can never be forgiven. Now, this spills out into the way we deal with different groups in our society. This is the root of racism—of saying that if someone is part of a particular race, he or she is guilty of all the wrongs that that race may have committed.

If I have been treated unjustly, I keep a record of that wrong. More so, if my people were treated unjustly by your people, then I need to keep a record of that wrong. This was the root of the feuding that occurred in Appalachia, notoriously with the Hatfields and McCoys, but with others.

It's something that now has been recognized in our nation as a whole—that we have different factions, and if you are part of a different faction, I'm going to be keeping a record of your wrongs. But love keeps no record of wrongs.

Love, in contrast, is goodwill in action. Again from First Corinthians 13, verse 7: "Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things." Whenever we are confronted with an injustice, the question is, can we bear it? Can we look beyond our hurt and look to the greater good of the common love we need to have for one another?

Can we believe in a better tomorrow, not only for ourselves but for all of mankind? And can we hope for these things? Can we rejoice in the truth? Ultimately, love and truth are inseparable. Sometimes what we call love is not part of the truth; it's just indulgence, it's just acceptance.

It is never loving to accept a lie; it is never loving to embrace error, and it is never loving to permit other people to live in deceit. Love rejoices with the truth.

We see that love is that which will bring healing in our society and among nations. It will grow a peaceful world because love will spread mercy. In contrast to keeping a record of wrong, in contrast to insisting on our own way, we strive to find a way to forgive and to lift people up, bringing them closer to the truth.

Now, that's what we need in the world as a whole, but it's also what we need in our relationships because love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, keeps no record of wrongs, and is resilient in overcoming. It does bear all things.

Think of how all this impacts your relationships, not only in some broad societal way, but what's more important—your relationship with the people with whom you deal day by day. If you have embraced the way of love and you're sharing that love, it's going to make a profound difference.

As we saw before, love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things. Think of how that relates to the people with whom you deal every day—whether it's a customer that you serve in your place of business, or a co-worker, a fellow student in the classroom, wherever you may interact with people.

Whenever you are forbearing, wherever you are hopeful, wherever you embrace the truth, you find that love brings people together, and it endures all things. We need that in our relationships because we live in a fallen world, and we all are difficult. Every one of us is hard to get along with at some time, and some of us are hard to get along with most of the time.

If we keep a record of wrongs, I'm going to tell you, your list of my wrongs is going to be very long. But if instead you endure and realize that we all are God's works in progress, we have a foundation for building wholesome relationships.

This is what we see in our families. The breakdown of the American family is the single greatest sociological, political, and moral problem of this generation. It began in the mid-20th century, and it has not ended.

Where fathers and husbands are not taking responsibility, where mothers are not embracing their role as wives and as the primary instillers of truth into children, where children do not honor their parents, and in all these things, we see that it comes down to a lack of applied love.

Because love never ends. The idea that came into American culture in the 1960s—that marriage is a temporary arrangement designed for my self-gratification—has wreaked havoc. It was 1968 that Governor Ronald Reagan signed the first no-fault divorce bill in the nation in California, and it has spread across the country.

The idea that men and women can simply say, "I don't want to be married anymore," that I don't have to have a reason—that's what no-fault means. It's just, "I'm going to walk away from marriage."

But you see, if marriage is built on love, there's an assurance: love never ends. Love is not irritable or resentful. I mentioned that we're all difficult to get along with, especially when you think about in our homes—those with whom we share day by day the most intimate moments of life.

It's easy to get irritated; it's easy to build resentment. But love does not do that. We find that love ultimately is a key for personal change. Whether we're talking about the change we want to bring into our families, or the change that we want to see in our broader relationships, or the change that we want to find in the world, that change ultimately begins inside each one of us.

The love of God is what we need. Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing. We need to purify ourselves before God. We need to abandon an attraction to what is evil and cultivate a rejoicing in truth—not only as an abstract principle but, more importantly, truth in our lives, holding up the standard of the word of God and following that way.

Love does not, as we saw before, insist on its own way. To humble ourselves and not press ahead to force people to conform to our will, but rather that we all conform to the will of God.

In action, in our daily lives, bearing all things, believing all things, hoping all things—especially the idea of endurance. We need fortitude to endure, and that fortitude can only come from the love that comes from God.

Because love is patient. Patience is recognizing that from God's standpoint, He is bringing about all that is good, but He does it in God's time. We must humble ourselves and wait for the Lord to act.

In doing that, it brings us closer to godliness because God is love, as we read in First John 4, verse 8. The more that we permit the Spirit to bear His fruit of love in our lives, the more we are going to be made over into the image of Jesus Christ, who is the one whom the Spirit bears witness of.

We, in our own lives, will be a testimony of what God is doing and of the assurance of eternal life because love never ends. First John 4, verse 9: "In this, the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world so that we might live through Him."

This assurance of eternal life is what Christians have. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love.

As Christians, we have faith in what God has done for us. We have hope—the assurance of eternal life—because we have the love of God in Christ poured out into our lives through His Spirit, and it is that blessing we want everyone to have this morning.

If you are not yet a Christian, we want to encourage you. If you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, make a statement of that faith, and you can be baptized into Christ, immersed in water, receiving forgiveness of your sins, and the love of God will transform you, and you will enter into eternal life.

If that is your desire, please come as together we stand.