"It doesn't matter how many supernatural, powerful things that you and I experience or that we take to the world. It doesn't matter how much we achieve, what our titles are, what success we've garnered in the world. If we don't have love, we have nothing." [00:06:01] (14 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




"Now, what Paul is basically saying, he's basically continuing in the ways and the teachings of Jesus. What he's basically saying is that love is central. It's core to the Christian faith." [00:07:18] (11 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




"What's interesting is that so many surveys have been done in recent years about what the church is known for. And the two most primary things that the church is known for in the world today, outside of the church, is basically, number one, hypocrisy, and number two, judgmentalism." [00:07:29] (14 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




"And see, at the end of the day, what Paul is writing is like, it doesn't matter how big of a movement or how influential or how powerful you and I might get or be. Without love, we've missed the very heart of what the Christian faith has always been about." [00:11:11] (18 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




"Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud. It does not dishonor others. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth it always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." [00:11:47] (22 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




"See, that the foundation of any kind of ethic that would go against the ways of the world, it had to be rooted in something altogether different. Here's what John writes to the early church. He writes, Dear friends, let us love one another. For love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." [00:26:37] (28 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




"See, what John is saying is that, see, with the central heartbeat of the Christian message has always been about love. See, but it doesn't start with you. It always starts with each one of us, first and foremost, and each and every day, first coming to a place, coming to a place where the very center of our heart, the very center of our being, the very center that calms our anxieties, that calms our fears, that squelches our anger, the only thing that could do that is to be a people who have been so captivated and captured by God's love." [00:27:34] (41 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)








"Now, what if, what if the invitation to you today is to find the love that you've been looking for? Find your deepest security. The voice that could somehow quiet your fears and anxieties. A love that's been beckoning you, that would die for you. I want you to know this love." [00:32:39] (36 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

Hey, good morning. My name is Jim, one of the pastors here.

We actually took a hiatus from our message series that we've been in called "Emotionally Healthy Mission" last week because we had a guest come. We were talking about the kingdom of God and how God is the one that works out His will in various different ways and through us, so that we could experience His power and His presence even today.

But today we resume that message series on "Emotionally Healthy Mission."

Now, one of the things that we talked about is how both of these things, health and mission, oftentimes get juxtaposed against each other as if they're mutually exclusive. For instance, we either emphasize health or we emphasize love. We emphasize mission, but not one or the other.

Now, of course, in New York City, we're a people who love mission. We love profit margins and up and to the right and succeeding and achieving so much. And yet in the scriptures, it talks about how we value. We're actually supporting each other to value both.

We talked about how there is a great commission, for instance. The great commission, of course, is to make disciples of all nations to the ends of the earth. This is one of the commands that Jesus has given to us, that we're to be a people who are on mission together. But we're also supposed to be people who live out the great commandment. The great commandment, of course, is to love God and to love others. So both of these things matter.

Now, the early church, for instance, the Apostle Paul, when he writes to the church in Philippi, he talks about, he uses the words progress and joy. Can I hear you say "progress and joy"? That's right. Both of those are important, to be actually a people who are progressing, but also people who are filled with a certain kind of joy that is so different than the ways of the world.

Another way of putting it is mission and morale. Can I hear you say "mission and morale"? That's right. So we're supposed to be on mission, but also morale really, really matters.

Now, here's what's so fascinating: Paul, who's writing to the church in Corinth in the passage that was just read for us, he actually starts in this section of his letter to the church in Corinth. Look at what he says. He says this: "If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing." Can I hear you say "nothing"?

"If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing." Can I hear you say "nothing"? That's right, nothing.

Now, isn't this interesting? You gotta understand where this part of this passage is situated in the greater letter that Paul is writing to the church in Corinth. You see, in chapter 12, right before this, Paul is actually writing about how the church should really be pursuing God in supernatural ways, that we should hopefully look to experience God through prophecy and through tongues and things like that.

And so, as Paul is about to get into this kind of letter about what it means for us to experience God in extraordinary ways, which we talked about a little bit last week, he actually has to come back and revert back to, "Wait a minute, but before we get into experiencing God in all of these supernatural ways and pursuing God for miracles and for healings and all this stuff, we actually need to find our center again." And the center again is always about love.

It doesn't matter how many supernatural, powerful things that you and I experience or that we take to the world. It doesn't matter how much we achieve, what our titles are, or what success we've garnered in the world. If we don't have love, we have nothing.

Now, Paul is mentioning this because he knows that the propensity for any one of us is we want achievement, we want supernatural things. Honestly, as a pastor of this church community, I hope that there are multiple healings that take place amongst us, that we see such evidence of God that you and I, that there's ways that God reveals Himself to us and that we can actually flow in the power and the presence of God in such supernatural ways that it would be a great thing. It would be so extraordinary for each one of us. I mean, that's what I long for: signs of revival and renewal and for God's presence to be felt among us.

But you know what's so interesting? Paul's basically like, "Yeah, but you know what? Even if you were to have all that, let's say each of the people in this room experienced such profound power of healing and miracles, but everyone hated each other, or at least secretly. Clearly, if there was no love, then you actually have nothing."

Now, what Paul is basically saying, he's basically continuing in the ways and the teachings of Jesus. What he's basically saying is that love is central. It's core to the Christian faith.

What's interesting is that so many surveys have been done in recent years about what the church is known for. The two most primary things that the church is known for in the world today, outside of the church, is basically, number one, hypocrisy, and number two, judgmentalism.

Now, some of you are nodding your heads because you're like, "No, I could see how the church would be known for that." But isn't this stunning that Jesus is basically saying, "No, no, the one thing that the church should be known for is, man, they should be known for being loving." That love is central to everything that they do.

You know, it's interesting, this past week, I was actually meeting with a pastor who used to pastor a large church in a global city. The church, when they started, grew tremendously. They became a church of thousands of people in a place and an area in a city that often is not known for churches and for people attending church or being part of a church or religious community.

So this church basically blew up. They ended up growing in staff teams as well as having a multi-million dollar budget. They were giving money away to all sorts of charitable causes. He himself, his profile as a pastor was such a recognizable pastor in that city, preached amazing sermons, wrote a couple of books. His profile as this religious leader was growing even amongst the people outside of the church community.

And as he was sharing his story with me, he shared about how almost overnight this church lost 95% of the people that attended the church. He actually shared with me, he said, "The reason why so many people left the church is because of me."

He goes on to tell me that apparently what had happened, there were so many complaints that would come from the staff that he worked with. Because remember, this was like this rocket ship of an organization that just grew and was doing all sorts of good.

He said, "I don't know, I don't know, I don't know." And he said that there were so many complaints from the staff, as well as from different colleagues who had worked with him, about his own manner of leadership, about how people had experienced him as abusive and a bully.

As a result, the leaders of the church ended up having to suspend him from ministry. He said overnight, after he was suspended from ministry, the church basically decreased in their attendance by like 95%. People scattered and left the church, some of them severely hurt, some of them wondering what in the world was going on.

He told me that he didn't realize the extent of the church on the outside was doing some extraordinary things. I mean, you could imagine the profile and the tremendous giftedness of this pastor. And he was telling me he had no idea just how painful it was for the people that worked with him, how painful it was to be under his leadership.

He said that it actually had to take leaving for him to really understand that at the end of the day, here was a church community that was preaching on love, preaching the gospel, the good news of Jesus, what Jesus is all about. And yet the very people on the staff team did not feel loved.

I remember just listening to his story and thinking, I hope our staff team feels loved by me. I mean, I was honestly, at that point, just like, "Oh my goodness." I've dropped into the Slack channel, "Guys, I love you all. Listen, if you have any problems with anyone or a problem with me, just come."

But it's so easy, even in religious institutions that might talk about love all day, to be a people who actually don't demonstrate it.

At the end of the day, what Paul is writing is like, it doesn't matter how big of a movement or how influential or how powerful you and I might get or be. Without love, we've missed the very heart of what the Christian faith has always been about.

We could baptize all sorts of numbers with metrics and how much we're succeeding and how much good we're doing. We could give to the poor, give millions of dollars away. And yet, if the texture of who we are is not loving, then we've missed the point.

Now, some of you might be wondering, "Well, love is such an amorphous thing. I mean, people throw around this word all the time. What exactly is love?"

Well, Paul actually goes on, and look at what Paul writes. Paul begins to actually give definition to what love is.

"Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud. It does not dishonor others. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

Now, isn't this fascinating? Paul actually starts to define what love is and what it looks like.

Now, I recognize some of us might think of love as just this feeling that we have, this feeling of ecstasy or joy or whatever else it might be, and yet Paul starts to give definition. If you want to know what love is, it's this: it's patient, it's kind, it's not self-seeking, it's not easily offended.

Now, a mentor of mine, when talking about this passage, actually had invited me, and I've shared this before. This mentor would often invite me, whenever you think of this passage, to replace the word "love" with your name.

And so, here's what it looks like for me: "Drew is patient. Drew is kind. Drew does not envy. Drew does not boast. Drew is not proud. Drew does not dishonor others. Drew is not self-seeking. Drew is not easily angered. Drew keeps no record of wrongs. Drew does not delight in evil, but rejoices with truth. Drew always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

My wife loved the suggestion. She liked, she liked, "Put my name there." In fact, she wanted this framed and put on her... no, I'm just kidding.

Gosh, it can be somewhat sobering then to be able to read my name there and be like, "Wait a minute, is that how people experience me? Do they experience me as patient, as kind, as not keeping a record of wrongs?"

Now, keep in mind, when Paul is writing, Paul is not writing as if the Christians had this incredible clout with Rome. They were a persecuted minority. They were a people that were constantly pummeled, put to death, ostracized.

And yet Paul still writes. One would think like Paul would write to Christians, "Actually, you could be loving, but don't be loving to those people who you disagree with, who are trying to exploit you, who are power hungry." No, he's actually saying, "No, the ethic that defines us is that we're to be a people who are marked by these things: love that is patient, love that is kind."

I wonder sometimes as I think about this list. You know, this past week was a heavy week in many ways. I think I was exceptionally anxious in many ways. Exceptionally anxious because I know in a diverse congregation like ours, people were voting in various different ways, as well as in the aftermath of the election. I know that some people in our congregation were absolutely gutted, devastated, messaged me, wondering whether this nation is safe for them.

Now, again, there are people in our congregation that voted several different ways, but yet just the devastation and heartbreak that people were feeling. And me feeling so sad and anxious on behalf of people within our congregation who were feeling this way and wondering about what was going to happen this Sunday and how we would talk about it as a community of faith.

As I was wrestling with that, later in the week, I was actually speaking at a gathering for different pastors and leaders in New Jersey. So you can imagine, just emotionally, I was just completely spent and I just could not wait for Sabbath.

Sabbath is a 24-hour period that we recommend for people as a commandment from God. God gives us the gift of Sabbath, a 24-hour period to stop, rest, delight, and contemplate. So you could imagine, after a tiring, wearying week, I just couldn't wait to get to Sabbath.

And so Sabbath was Saturday for me, a 24-hour period. And on Sabbath, lately, for my family and I, a way for us to rest and replenish is to eat pizza. Some of you are like, "I'm not surprised, Drew." And we love pizza, especially my son.

So we've been kind of systematically going down the list of the best pizza places in the city. And so last night, we actually first went to a boba place because my wife, Tina, wanted to check out this boba place down in Chinatown.

So while we're in Chinatown, we go to this boba place. My nephew was also with us because he slept over. And so I'm like, "Oh, this is a perfect opportunity to check out one of the best pizza spots in the city."

So I looked up the list that we've been going down, and I noticed there was one that was close by. So I look it up online to make an order, and just to make a pickup order, it was going to take 60 to 70 minutes to pick up.

So I'm like, "Ooh, that's a long time." But it's Sabbath, baby. So let's do it. So I end up making the order, and I'm like, "Oh, we could just walk around downtown and just kind of peruse what's happening down here in Chinatown and above."

So I make the order. We start wandering around the city, just stopping into stores and things like that. And finally, it's about an hour later and I get to the store. My son is there as well. My wife and my daughter and my nephew, they were in a different store.

And so I get outside and I notice there's this big line of people there, both waiting to get in as well as people that are shuffling out, as well as people that are waiting for pickup orders.

So there's this big line. And then I go to the person that's outside. He's calling people's names. And I say, "Hey, sir, I got the text message. My pizza should be ready." And he goes, "Just wait out here. The host will come outside and we'll give you your pizzas."

And I was like, "Awesome, cool." So I just sat back. I'm so pleased that we had timed everything perfectly.

So as I'm waiting outside, anyone notice it got a little cold last night? You know what I'm talking about? It just got cold. It was a warmer week, and then all of a sudden it starts getting cold. And I'm like, "Oh, I kind of dressed a little bit lightly."

Then five minutes pass and more people are amassing in the line and people are coming in and out. I'm just kind of wondering, "Oh, when's this host going to come out?"

Then my son comes up next to me. My son's like, "Hey, Appa, what are we waiting for? What's going on?" I'm just like, "Yeah, I don't know. The host told me to stay out here." So I stay out there.

And then it's like 10 minutes. And now I'm like, "I'm cold." I could see myself. My son is just basically like, "Oh, what are you going to do, Dad? What are you going to do?"

So basically I walk inside. I see, like, right when I walk in, I notice the host is right there. I just go up to the host. I'm like, "Oh, I got a text message saying that my pizza is ready." And she goes, "Oh, what's your name?" And I told her my name. "My name is Drew."

She goes, "Oh, okay. I'll put you down right now. I'm going to tell the kitchen now, and then we'll bring out the pies when they're ready." I was like, "All right."

So now I walk outside again, and now I'm mad. Yeah, I'm like, "I cannot wait for this guy who I saw earlier to come outside." I'm just waiting there. I'm like waiting right outside the door. There's all sorts of people huddling, and I'm just staring at the door.

And then all of a sudden, I noticed, like, I start to clench my fist like this. And then my son David's like, "Appa, when are we going to get there?" I'm like, "Don't talk to me right now. Don't talk to me. Don't talk."

And so, like, I'm like, "Street Drew's about to come out." You know what I'm saying? Like, "Street Drew." I’m just... there is no "Street Drew." Some of you guys are like, "All right, come on, man. Whatever. You're not 'Street Drew'." But I'm angry. I'm hot, and I'm just waiting for this guy to come out.

Can't wait to tell him. Pizza came up rather quickly. It's interesting, though, taking kind of an inventory of my own heart and maybe an inventory of yours.

What a supernatural list. Who can do this? See, but it's not just a call for me. It's a call for all of us. All of us. What if you were to put your name there?

What if inside of this, your name was there? "Billy is patient. Hannah is kind. Ryan does not envy. Joanne does not boast." Some of you are like, "Are we really going to do this? Let's go all around the room." No, we're not.

But is not proud. Does not dishonor others. Is not self-seeking. Is not easily angered. Keeps no record of wrongs. Does not delight.

Now, this is a stunning call. And so different than other kinds of virtues that perhaps we've been invited to. I mean, could you imagine going around the city and saying, "These are the list of my values, of the ways that I want to live in my workplace, in the city around me."

And yet, this is Paul writing about what the Christian faith has always been about. What an inventory.

Now, I recognize so many of us would be like, "Ah, if I live that way, then, of course, I can't succeed here, especially in this city. Especially in a city that is so competitive and that is so achievement-oriented. If anything, I need to have this ruthless kind of way about me."

I mean, that's how most of us think of mission, isn't it? Not this list. We think of a mission that's going somewhere and achieving things.

In my childhood, my childhood was marked by an athlete that would forever kind of be etched in my memory as well as influence a generation. His name is Michael Jordan. Anyone heard this name before?

Yes, if you've watched "The Last Dance," and I realize some of you are too young to remember this, but Michael Jordan, I mean, one way that sportscasters would talk about how Michael Jordan was just inevitable. The consummate winner, he was constantly winning.

Now, one of the interesting things is that Steve Kerr, who was a teammate on Michael Jordan's second three-peat, in other words, he was a teammate that got to see Michael Jordan at the height of his powers playing basketball.

And here's what Steve Kerr had to say about what it was like to play with Michael Jordan. He says, "Michael's intensity was so overwhelming that you had to rise to it or you'd get left behind. That anger, that edge, it wasn't just part of who he was. It was central to what made him the best."

In other words, he was like this burning inferno of anger and competitive will. Now, look at what it says. Michael led through fear and intensity, but that was just who he was. He was driven by this almost manic desire to win, and sometimes that was driven by anger. But that's what made him Michael Jordan. He demanded so much of himself and everyone around him.

Now, in many ways, Michael Jordan is the paragon of what all of us are like, "That's who I want to be like. Six and O, baby." Here's another image, right? Six and O. This is what I want to be like. This personifies what New York City is about and what all of us want to be about.

Yeah, you know what's so interesting about Michael Jordan and is, well, really about Steve Kerr, is that Steve Kerr was a teammate of Michael Jordan. But he's also, Steve Kerr has also had the privilege of coaching one of the preeminent NBA superstars of our time as well. The second greatest shooter of all time, Steph Curry.

Here's a picture of him. Now, who's first? It's Jalen Brunson, everyone. You've heard me say that before. Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks is the greatest shooter of all time. But here's Steph Curry shooting over Victor Wimbanyama.

Now, what's so fascinating is that Steve Kerr had an opportunity to be teammates with Michael Jordan. So you experience what it was like to play with MJ. But look at what he writes about Steph, who he coaches, who he's coached for many years.

He says, "Steph is a combination of elite talent, humility, and joy. That combination is so rare. His joy for the game, for life, and for people, it's all real."

Now, notice what he says. He says, "He's one of the fiercest competitors I've ever seen. But he does it with a smile. That's Steph's magic. It's not just joy. It's joyful competitiveness."

Now, here's Steph putting to sleep France in the gold medal game of the Olympics. I love this: joyful competitiveness.

Now, some of you may be thinking, "Well, what's so special about Steph Curry?" Well, he's a champion. Some of you are like, "Really? Are you going to try to encourage us to be more like one athlete than another?" Yes, I am.

See, there's a competitiveness that's driven by anger and fear, and there's a competitiveness that's driven by joy and love. And the invitation for us as followers of Jesus is to embody both.

Now, some of you might be wondering, "But how do I do this? I mean, I've been conditioned. In fact, one of the reasons why I've been drawn to this city is because I find that feel of anger and fear. Oh, man, it drives me to do all sorts of wonderful things in the name of God for God's glory, to make a lot of money, to trample all my competition, whatever it might be."

I mean, it's so easy to get lost into that. Well, how in the world do we receive this love?

See, here's what the earliest Christians knew, that even in the midst of being a people who were persecuted and pressed down constantly, the people of God always knew. See, that the foundation of any kind of ethic that would go against the ways of the world, it had to be rooted in something altogether different.

Here's what John writes to the early church. He writes, "Dear friends, let us love one another. For love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that God loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."

See, what John is saying is that, see, with the central heartbeat of the Christian message has always been about love. See, but it doesn't start with you self-actualizing your own kind of loving disposition or looking at a list of ways to love and thinking, "Okay, I've checked that off, I've checked that off."

See, it always starts with each one of us, first and foremost, and each and every day, first coming to a place, coming to a place where the very center of our heart, the very center of our being, the very center that calms our anxieties, that calms our fears, that squelches our anger, the only thing that could do that is to be a people who have been so captivated and captured by God's love.

And see, what he says is God is love. And see, the only way that you could ever live this kind of supernatural ethic is if you yourself have been so immersed and awash in love. If you've known and you've experienced a God whose disposition towards you and towards me and towards all of us is one of love.

And what God does is God invites us to experience this love, to know the kind of love that no matter where you've been, no matter how much you've run, no matter how much anxieties or fears or anger that you might be living with, no matter how much your relationships go up and down, no matter how much your future, your finances feel so unforgiving, that there's a God in heaven who would die for you so that you might know that He loves you and that you might experience this love.

Not just know about it, but that you might experience it because God is love. And if there's any evidence that you've been looking for, look no further than to look to Jesus who died on a cross for you and for me.

So that whatever vacillating kind of journey you might be on today, whatever anxieties you might have carried into the room today, that you might experience His love.

One of my mentors, Jerry Scazzaro, she often says, "We are most like Jesus when we are in love."

And she said, "We are most like Jesus when we are in love."

Now, what does that mean? It means that when we've experienced love, it makes the biggest difference.

I remember the first time I asked Tina out. Tina's my wife, and we had known each other for two years. I'd been very anxious about whether or not I should ask her out. I thought, honestly, that she didn't like me. I thought she liked someone else, and so I was just, I was super kind of nervous about it.

Finally, one day, I was actually helping someone move. And after helping that person move, I just kind of had resolved, "You know what? I just gotta do it. I just gotta ask her out."

So I remember asking if she would be willing to meet up, and she said yes. So I helped someone move, and then after, I'm like, "I'm coming all sweaty. I just helped someone move."

And so here I was, and I remember saying to Tina, "Tina, I would like to ask you out on a date to take you somewhere." I realized, not very romantic, but very straightforward.

And she goes, and she says to me, "Wow, did someone tell you you should ask me out?" I was like, "Tell me?" I was like, "No, no, I just, it kind of came to me."

And she goes, she goes, she said, she actually had feelings for me as well. And she's like, she said, "I had been praying that honestly, by tonight, if you hadn't said anything, I was just kind of, that chapter in my life was going to close, and I was just going to move on."

And I was like, "Sorry, I didn't." I didn't react that way, you know. Outside, I'm like, "Oh, really? Wow. God's amazing. Let's pray."

But inside, I'm like, "I'm giddy with glee."

And so, anyhow, we make plans then to go have a date that weekend. And so, I just remember, like, I just remember walking out on New York City streets and, like, I am dirty and sweaty and, yeah, I just helped someone move. But I'm like soaring.

I'm just like walking down the street. I'm like, "Yo, what's up, man? What's up? Hey, how you doing?"

You know, and then I remember going, like, I'm at the subway. I'm at the subway. People are like, you know, there's people that are struggling down, like, carrying their luggage and carrying. And I'm just like, "Oh, do you need help with that? Let me, let me take you all the way. In fact, where are you going? I'll go all the way with you and help you carry this out as well."

Like, I just... just ridiculous generosity was pouring forth because I was in love.

We are never more like Christ than when we're in love.

Now, what if, what if the invitation to you today is to find the love that you've been looking for? Find your deepest security. The voice that could somehow quiet your fears and anxieties. A love that's been beckoning you, that would die for you.

I want you to know this love.