October 19, 2025 • 35 mins
We read Romans 13:8–10 and make the case that love is the debt Christians never finish paying, and that love fulfills the law by doing no harm and seeking good. We challenge ourselves to practice a clear, countercultural love that points directly to Jesus, not to our virtue.
• the ongoing debt to love our neighbors
• why Christian love fulfills the law
• who counts as a neighbor, including the least likely
• love that is patient, kind, and not self-seeking
• small acts of love as light in darkness
• benevolence with gospel purpose, not just relief
• clarity in witness and motives
• a practical homework challenge to love someone tangibly
If you’re in our area and don’t have a church home, we would love to see you any Sunday morning at First Baptist El Dorado
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:03):
Hello and welcome to the FBC El Doredo Sermon
Podcast.
My name is Taylor Gare, and Ihave the privilege of being the
pastor here at First Baptist.
And I want to thank you forlistening into our sermon this
week.
And I want to tell you this ifyou're in our area and you don't
have a church home, we wouldlove to see you any Sunday
morning at First Baptist ElDoredo.
(00:25):
Would you join me now inlistening to our sermon from
this week?
Reopen with me to Romans chapter13.
We're going to be looking atverses 8, 9, and 10.
Romans 13, verses 8, 9, and 10.
(00:46):
And I'll read those verses forus now.
Owe no one anything except tolove each other.
For the one who loves anotherhas fulfilled the law.
For the commandments, you shallnot commit adultery, you shall
not murder, you shall not steal,you shall not covet.
And any other commandment aresummed up in this word you shall
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love your neighbor as yourself.
Love does no wrong to aneighbor, therefore love is the
fulfilling of the law.
Let's pray with me one moretime, please.
Lord Jesus, by your Spirit,would you speak to our hearts
even now?
Show us what it means to love ina counter-cultural way, to love
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in such a way where people notonly feel our love, but that it
points to your love through us.
We ask this, Lord, in Christ'sname.
Amen.
If you remember growing up, youremember uh a lot of the uh
maybe games we would play,certain worksheets that would be
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given, word search, tic-tac-toe,things like that.
Maybe some of our kids havetheir uh their their bags right
now, and you're playing some ofthese games as we speak.
Uh we we would play this onegame, and and you remember these
on a sheet of paper, you wouldhave uh two pictures that look
fairly similar, and your job isto spot the difference.
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They might tell you there'sfive, six, uh, eight or nine
differences in there, and howmany of the differences can you
find?
A few of them you'd find reallyquick, a few of them would take
a little longer.
Uh, but the two uh pictures hereand say this spot the
difference.
I I wonder as we think aboutthis morning, if theoretically
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we could hold up two pictures.
One picture is the picture ofyou, who you are, how you live,
how uh you are defined, whoeveryou is, uh you're one of those
pictures.
And the other picture is just uhwe'll call it the world, the
ways of the world, how the worldthinks and how the world
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operates.
So a picture of you, the pictureof the world.
And I just wonder for every oneof us, for you and for me, if we
could be honest with ourselves,uh, would we be proud of how
many differences we couldactually find?
Or are there any of us that area little nervous, if you held
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those two pictures up, theywould look fairly similar.
Because the reality is, as we'veread in Romans 12 and we'll
continue to read in Romans 13,the believer is called to look
different from the world.
Not for the sake that thebeliever could show off and say,
Aren't I impressive, but for thesake of showing the outside
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world that Jesus is differentfrom the world, that Jesus
offers something that the worldcan't offer.
We saw this in Romans 12, verses1 and 2, where we read three
weeks ago that our job is topresent ourselves as a living
sacrifice.
We take off the old and uh weare transformed by the renewal
of our mind.
The next week we read about thegifts of the Spirit.
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We are called not only to lookdifferent, but to act different
because the Holy Spirit hasgifted us for the sake of
building up the church andmaking much of the name of
Jesus.
Last week we talked about truemarks of a Christian.
We focused uh on verse uh 13 ofcontributing to the needs of the
saints, showing hospitality, butthere's a lot of the true marks
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of the Christian, the way inwhich the Christian looks
different from the world.
Now, I am convinced that 2,000years ago Paul had in mind uh
how he can get the most pastorsuh run off from their job in the
future.
Because one week we're preachingon giving, tithing, and Romans
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13, the very next week, is allabout politics.
Uh that one-two punch canprobably get some pastors in
trouble.
Now, verse third, chapter 13, 1through 7, we're actually not
going to cover today simplybecause of this.
Uh last fall we we looked at ituh a little bit deeper as we
were gearing up for an election,but what we looked at, uh, among
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other things was just thereality for the Christian life,
how they look differently fromthe world, even includes how
they think about government andpolitics.
We read in 13, 1 through 7, justa quick summary, that uh we are
to submit to those in authorityover us, that those have been
placed uh by the Lord, and whenwhen uh the authorities are
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operating right and honoringtheir uh position, then they
exist for the sake of honoringthe good and punishing the
evildoer, and that is a goodthing.
Is any elected official perfect?
Is any government perfect?
We know that absolutely not.
But we also talked last fallabout the one caveat there that
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we submit to those in authorityover us until those in authority
over us go against the word ofGod.
And when that happens, we gowith the word of God.
And so what Paul wants us tosee, even in that brief summary,
is that even how we interactwith the world looks different.
With government and politics, itwill look different as a people
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defined by love.
Now we read verse eight.
Owe no one anything except tolove each other, for the one who
loves another has fulfilled thelaw.
So verse eight begins, Oh, oweno one anything.
He's really coming off of reallyverse six and seven, uh, where
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at the end of 13, 1 through 7,uh honoring the government, he
even talks about pay your taxes,pay what you owe to the
authorities.
And so then in verse 8, he says,Owe no one anything, that you
are a person, that you pay whatyou owe.
But he does say this there isone thing, there is one debt
that you do owe, that you willalways owe, and you will never
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catch up to that debt, and it isthis to love each other.
So the Christian's job, theChristian's duty, it says to
love one another.
And now we define that as who isthat each other?
Well, I hope we realize thismorning that that means anyone.
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That means both those in thechurch, certainly.
We talked last week about uhcontributing to the needs of
those in the church.
We talked about loving those uhwithin the Christian faith, the
the church body, but alsocertainly outside the church,
loving one another.
Uh, that is a very, very widenet, a wide statement about who
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we love.
We don't get to pick and choose.
But then Paul says this that theone who loves another has
fulfilled the law.
Let's talk about the law for asecond.
You go to the Old Testament andyou read some of these commands,
and we talked a few weeks agoabout them, but uh you read the
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book of Leviticus, and youprobably think what I think as
we read that, uh, we think thisthere's just so many commands.
And you start to wonder, werethe the people of Israel, were
they just spending all their dayjust thinking about the
commands?
Like, I don't want to trip uphere, I don't want to make this
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one mistake, and I've I've I'vebroken, you know, paragraph
line, you know, section B,paragraph nine, section B, you
know, row 10 of the law.
Well, I don't want to do that.
But no, think about something.
Since you've woken up thismorning, you've probably honored
somewhere, you know, around 200different laws, and you didn't
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think about a single one ofthem.
You think about the things youdid do, you probably stopped at
your stop signs on the way here.
Uh you probably got somewhereclose to honoring the speed
limit on the way here.
You think about what you did notdo.
You might have passed four orfive banks, you didn't rob a
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single one of them.
You honored so many laws today,and you did not even realize it.
And what is the job of the lawsof our land?
What are they trying toaccomplish in us?
They're trying to make somethingof us, and what is it?
Just a general good citizen.
Just to make us, form us into agood citizen who does the good
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and restrains him or herselffrom doing the bad.
And there are even people amongus who help us become better
citizens.
I remember as I was starting tomake the drive between central
Arkansas and El Dorado, therewas uh there's a point, I forget
where, somewhere around Fordyce,where uh 65 miles an hour
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becomes 60.
And I had the kindest man justpull me aside and just have a
conversation with me.
Just to let me know about thatchange in the speed limit.
And you know what?
That made me a better citizen.
It grew me more into who I needto be as a citizen of the state
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of Arkansas, and that's what thelaw, as we think about it, the
law of the land is seeking todo, build us into better
citizens.
What is the law of God seekingto do?
Well, certainly for Israel inthe Old Testament, it was
seeking to make them a peoplethat were set apart from the
world.
That in the middle of the worldat this time there would be this
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group of people who had beenmiraculously saved out of Egypt,
brought into the wilderness,received this law, and they are
starting to look different.
Why?
Because they have a God whodwells among them that calls
them to look different.
And we think about the commandsof Scripture that apply to us,
we think about uh all ofScripture, certainly the
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teachings of Jesus, the commandsthat are placed upon us.
What are they desiring to buildin us?
They are desiring to build usand mold us more into the image
of God.
Well, who does God tell us heis?
God is love, the essence oflove.
And so, as people who seek to beobedient to the commands of God,
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we are going to look like moreloving people.
And so you look at this idea inverse 8 for the one who loves
one another has fulfilled thelaw, the believer who lives this
kind of countercultural love inthe midst of his or her world,
they are fulfilling what the lawhas been intended to do.
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He makes this case further inverse 9.
For the commandments, you shallnot commit adultery, you shall
not murder, you shall not steal,you shall not covet.
And any other commandment,they're summed up in this word.
You shall love your neighbor asyourself.
This makes perfect sense that aswe love our neighbor, we fulfill
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what the law was intended to do.
It's obvious, but if if I ambusy coveting my neighbor, uh
it's gonna be hard to love myneighbor well.
And if I love my neighbor well,it's gonna be tougher to covet
my neighbor.
If I love my neighbor well, I'mgonna have a lot harder time
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stealing from my neighbor.
Um this next one hopefully isextremely obvious.
If if I'm loving my neighborwell, murder is gonna be out of
the question.
I mean, you keep going down thelist of the law, and you realize
that love really is thefulfillment of all that that the
Word of God is trying to buildwithin us.
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That as believers, we live outthis counter-cultural love.
Verse 10 love does no wrong to aneighbor.
Therefore, love is thefulfilling of the law.
Once again, Paul wants to makethis same point.
Love does no wrong to aneighbor, it's the fulfilling of
the law.
So, this idea of love doing nowrong to a neighbor, we could
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ask the question that has beenasked before in scripture.
Well, who is my neighbor?
Again, who am I called to love?
Again, in Luke chapter 10, thisis a question that was asked of
Jesus.
Uh of all people, uh a lawyerasks this question.
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Who is my neighbor?
Basically, what he was asking isis this who is it that I have to
love?
And the other side of that,therefore, who do I not have to
love?
Is the question he really wantsto know.
Who's my neighbor?
And you might remember how Jesusanswers.
He answers by telling a story, astory of a Samaritan.
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And who were the Samaritans?
They were the outcasts, therejects.
Many hundreds of years beforeAssyria came, took over, moved
many of the Israelites out,repopulated that area with
outsiders, and these Samaritanswere uh Israelites that
intermarried with theseoutsiders that were brought in.
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And so for a Jewish individualwho had not intermarried, who
had not done what they wouldcall a despicable thing to
intermarry with an outsider,they just thought Samaritans
were the lowest of the low.
You've sold out, you've you howcould you do this?
And they uh the word is thisthey hated the Samaritans.
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So Jesus tells a story about aman who's uh a Jewish man who's
beaten up on the side of theroad, and the senior pastor
walks by and does nothing forhim, the music minister walks
by, does nothing for him, andthen this Samaritan shows up.
The one we would least expect todo something about it.
In fact, the one we might expectto look at this man and be
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thankful he's beaten up on theside of the road.
Maybe say something like this hedeserved it.
But yet, what does the Samaritando?
He goes, he bandages him up, hetakes him to the hospital, and
he even offers to pay any of thefees uh that he has for his
medical expenses.
And then he asks, Well, who isthe neighbor?
And obviously the answer isclear the one who loved this man
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well.
So who is your neighbor asbelievers?
This is countercultural now.
Who are we called to love?
Once again, the answer isanyone.
In fact, the answer goes furtherthan just anyone, it's uh the
person you're most likely not tothink about loving.
I heard one pastor say this asyou're asking Jesus, who is my
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neighbor?
Think about the person in yourmind you most hope Jesus doesn't
say.
And that is your neighbor.
That's the one.
And as believers, we are calledto show this kind of love, love
as scripture defines it to thosewho may least deserve it, to
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those who we may least want togive it to, and that's the kind
of countercultural love that wegive.
And let's be clear about this uhlove is countercultural.
This kind of love thatChristians show is
countercultural.
I want to read a few verses justabout this kind of love, and you
can hear just howcounter-cultural this really is
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as we think about the way of theworld and what the world values.
First Corinthians 13 is uhspoken a lot at weddings, and
rightfully so.
It's a beautiful, beautifulpassage, but it's it's not
simply about uh the the marriagelove, it's about any love, and
here it is.
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Here are these counterculturalwords starting in verse 4.
Love is patient and kind.
Love does not envy or boast, itis not arrogant or rude, it does
not insist on its own way, it isnot irritable or resentful, it
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does not rejoice at wrongdoing,but it rejoices with the truth.
Everything first Corinthians 134 through 6 has just described
is is truly the the opposite ofthe ways of our world.
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The opposite of how our cultureand our our world seeks to gain
power or gain control or get tothe top.
Uh love is, as Christians defineit, love is countercultural.
And I say that it's importantthat we see how Christians
define it.
Because there are times withinthe world that the world can try
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to love, and I'm not saying theworld doesn't love well.
There are many who who don'tknow Jesus that have done many
good things.
I don't want to discount that inany way, but there's also a way
the world can love, where at theend of the day they can love for
the sake of wondering, well,what can I still get in return?
And what will my love for youmean for me down the road?
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Sometimes the world loves inthat way.
Christians, if we're notcareful, sometimes we love in
that way.
But we're called to becountercultural in this.
And you might ask this question.
As we think about Romans 13, 8through 10, you say, Pastor, I
love the idea of it.
I love the truth.
I mean, I agree Christians oughtto be loving, but I'm just a
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little nervous or confused atthe real difference it makes in
this world.
Because we could argue this,that the world is as dark as
it's ever been.
You look around you, we'vetalked about this many times
before.
The world is as dark as it'sever been.
Well, first of all, I wouldargue that probably every
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generation has argued that theworld is as dark as it's ever
been.
Generations from now they willsay the same.
We live in a dark, sinful placecalled the world.
We love the world, we care forthe world, but uh it is a dark
place.
And we wonder in the darknessthat exists, the sinfulness, the
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brokenness, the again, darknessthat exists in our world, does
my you know, little bitty act oflove uh for the sake of Christ,
does that really make adifference?
I want to ask a question that Ithink about.
Have you ever uh checked in ahotel and you've you've probably
got your system and maybecertain hotel or brand of hotels
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you like to stay at, and you youyou know what you do when you
get in.
For us in this stage of liferight now, it it takes a long
time to check in anywhere.
We're setting up pack and plays,we're in inflating mattresses,
we're doing a lot.
But but if you're on your own,you just get in, uh you you put
the AC down to about 38 degreesas low as it'll go.
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You you you fluff the pillow alittle bit, you you turn out the
light, and and you're just readyto get a good night's sleep.
But then something happens, andyou've been here, and I've been
here, you'll turn the lightsoff, you'll be ready to get some
sleep, and then you noticesomething that maybe at like the
corner of the bottom of the TV,there's like a little green dot
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of a light.
Or if the hotel has like akitchenette, there's the little
green numbers on the microwavethat when the lights were on, uh
you didn't even notice them.
But in the darkness, suddenly itis just a flood of light.
That little green dot somehowhas lit up the entire room.
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My wife is an absolute geniusfor many reasons.
She's working in the preschoolnow, so I'll just brag on her
without her being in here.
Uh, but she started bringingelectrical tape on every trip we
have.
And she just grabs that and anyany little dot of light she
finds, and so we get it pitchpitch dark in that room, and you
can start bringing electricaltape too.
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But the reality is this, I'mjust giving you just little tips
this morning.
The reality is this I I thinkabout the darkness of our world
right now.
And my thought is this that nowis not the time to say, what in
the world, what kind ofdifference will you know me
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shining for Jesus make?
It's not the time to say that.
It's instead the time to takeheart and take encouragement and
say this think about the kind ofdifference this can make.
Because if the world really isas dark as we say it is, then if
I live out this counter-culturallove for the sake of Jesus, it
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it can do more now than maybe itever has.
Because that kind of lightshining in the darkness of this
world, it can make an absolutedifference.
Now, what an opportunity wehave, but let's also remember
this this is love that we havethat we have to show, but it is
love with a purpose.
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Not just to love so that someonecan get their needs met.
I pray our love will meetphysical needs, but it's about
even more than that.
It is about showing acountercultural love for the
sake of showing those around usthat there is a savior that
loves them in a way they cannever imagine.
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And so this is love with apurpose.
When I think about ourbenevolence ministry here, I
praise God for the amount ofphysical needs we're able to
meet.
I mean, it it truly isunbelievable that uh good people
from our community can come tous when they have a need, and
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and more often than not, we canwe can meet those needs in full
or partially and we can offerthese things.
But let's be clear, we're alwaysgonna try to meet the physical
need, but we're not just gonnastop there.
We want to go further to have aconversation with them about why
in the world we delight to meettheir physical needs, about the
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Savior that has so transformedour heart that all we can do now
is try to love this world insuch a way that they would see
Jesus.
So it's not love just for thesake of love, it's just love for
the sake of showing the greatestform of love we can ever
imagine.
That we are this group of peoplethat aren't all that impressive
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and left to our own devices.
There may maybe, maybe there'snot as much to us, but my
goodness, a savior has gotten ahold of our hearts.
And left to my own devices, I'mnot sure I could love the way I
can love today, but there's asavior who saw fit to die on the
cross for me, that I didn't havea shot at this.
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And yet Jesus Christ took my sinupon him, your sin upon him,
went to the cross, went to thegrave, rose from the grave, now
I've been forgiven and I havelife in him.
I have been loved in this kindof way.
How can I not then go love thosearound me?
It's a love with a purpose.
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And when a church like this, wetalked about it last week, even
through our giving, now justthrough our being, when a church
like this gets a hold of thiskind of love, a love with a
purpose, there is just notelling what's possible.
That the city of El Doredado canknow that there is a group of
people in this hundred-year-oldbuilding, and we just come
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together every week to worship,and then we leave outside those
doors, and we've just got amission.
We just want you to know thatyou are loved and there's a
savior that loves you just likehe's loved us.
That's the kind ofcountercultural love we're
talking about.
Love with a purpose.
It's the kind of love theprodigal son found in Luke
chapter 15.
It's been two or three weekssince I brought up the prodigal
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son.
You've been waiting on it, he'sback.
But when this son is in the farcountry and he finds himself in
the pig pen covered in mud, whatwakes him up to the reality that
there could be a homecoming?
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It's this.
It's the fact that there's ahome.
That there's something ingrainedin his mind in the deepest
places that he knows there issomewhere where a father's love
exists.
And it's this kind of love thatwakes him up.
And he doesn't even know at thispoint just how loving his father
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is.
In fact, he's saying this myfather's servants, they have a
place to lay their head and foodon the table.
Maybe I can just go back and bea servant.
And that was enough love to wakehim up and send him home.
And yet when he gets home, hefinds even more gracious love
than that, as every believerfinds.
This is the kind of love that wehave been given, and the kind of
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love as believers that we'reable to give.
You know, as I think about it,clarity matters.
You know this in your own life,in your own interactions, in
your own ways, clarity matters.
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One of my favorite stories.
Uh one my my wife tells.
My wife lived.
They when she was in college,uh, Washed all's baseball team,
they were trying to, you know,drum up support, get more people
down at the at the games, and sothey were trying to get uh
social clubs and like the socialchairs of the social clubs or uh
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sororities, fraternities,another word for it, uh, of
these social clubs trying to getthem down at the game.
And so the social club of her ofher club uh said, okay, we got
to get down there.
We want everybody uh to get downto the game on this Saturday at
this time.
And the social club said this uhto try to get more people from
our club there, we're actuallygonna have uh Popeyes down at
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the game.
Now, not the usual cateringchoice for this group of girls,
but they said Popeyes down atthe game.
I'm sure Katie and her friendswere all thinking, you know,
hey, we it's a nice day, it's abaseball game, we get a little,
you know, box of chicken strips,you know, it could be worse.
We'll get down to the game.
And so uh all these girls, theythey don't go to the cafeteria
for lunch because they're goingdown to the game and they're
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getting their Popeyes, and sothey get down to the game, and
that social chair who is incharge of it, she pulls up in
the car and pulls an ice chestout of the back, and they're
thinking this is a great deal.
Not only are we getting thefood, but maybe a water, a a
Coke, a Gatorade, I don't know.
She opens this ice chest and itis full of pop ice.
Pop ice.
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You know those popsicles youpush up, those cylinders pop
ice.
And so you had 50 to 60 starvingcollege students trying to fill
themselves up on popsicles downat the game.
Why?
Clarity matters what we saymatters, how we say it matters.
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The way we present ourselves tothe world, it matters.
For us Christians, claritymatters.
Because the reality is there isa world that needs to see
clearly who we are.
There is a world that needs theclarity to see clearly the
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accurate representation of whowe are, of the reality of the
truth of God's word, of thereality of who Jesus is.
And my biggest fear for everyonein this room and for Christians
in general is that there will bea world that needs to see the
kind of love that only Jesus canoffer, and yet you and I look so
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much like the world that theydon't see anything different
that Christianity has to offer.
That's my fear.
Because the reality is this theway we love points to how a
Savior loves us, and I justpromise you, because I've heard
story after story, the world islooking for something different.
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Because you may remember lifebefore Christ Jesus when you
were trying to look for anythingthat could satisfy anything that
could give you fulfillment.
I love the old, I guess I don'tlove it.
I'm uh saddened by the old JimCarrey, the actor, his quote
that I wish everybody.
Could have success and have asmuch money as they could ever
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imagine so that they couldrealize it is not the answer.
The old Tom Brady quote afterhis third Super Bowl, where he
said he held up the trophy andhe just asked the question, is
this all there is?
The world is just looking forsomething, for anything that can
fill the longing of their lives,the yearning of their hearts.
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They're looking for something.
And you and I have the answer.
And you and I have anopportunity that no one else has
to show them through our love,through the way we interact,
through the way we thinkdifferently, talk differently,
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act differently, livedifferently, but really how we
point to a savior differently,we have the chance to show them
that there is something betterout there.
And yet, if all they see whenthey look at Christians is just
another picture of the world,they won't want the Jesus we
point to.
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Why?
Because they've tried the worldand it just hadn't worked for
them.
And so we do have homeworktoday.
It's not a worksheet you'll takehome like a few weeks ago, but
we do have homework.
You know, my job as a preacheris to give good application from
God's word.
And maybe you've noticed Ihaven't really done that today.
And I'm not, I'm not trying toknock myself.
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I'm being serious.
I haven't done that for you.
What do I mean?
Practical application.
What have I said?
It's your job to love oneanother.
Well, Pastor, that can mean8,000 different things.
Here's why you don't have thespecifics today, because I know
you where you sit in your heart,in your life, in your comings
and goings, at your job, uh, atyour school, whatever, in your
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uh sphere of influence, you knowwhat it is for your life.
You know the kind of love itlooks like for you.
And if there are 300 people inthis room, there are probably
3,000 different uhmanifestations of that love to
those around us.
But for you in your life today,here is your homework.
(32:19):
What does that Christ-centered,uh, Holy Spirit-fueled love look
like in your life?
Who is the person that needs tosee clearly a different kind of
love, the Jesus kind of lovethat only you can show?
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Who's the person at work orstudents?
Who's that person in your classat school that just needs this
kind of love?
I I just want to be clear aboutsomething.
It may be you showing thiscounter-cultural love that is
the difference between thisperson living a life searching
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for the next thing, or living alife where they experience the
life-changing love of JesusChrist.
It may be what you do even thisweek.
And so your homework is simplythis.
In my life, what does it looklike to live and to love exactly
like Jesus has called me to liveand to love?
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I can answer that for me.
I can't answer that for you.
But you can.
And you know even now.
And I wonder next Sunday morningif somebody will walk up to me
and say, Pastor, I just loved ina countercultural kind of way
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this week.
And let me tell you whathappened.
You won't believe it.
I promise you, if you startloving this kind of way, you'll
get those stories.
You'll rejoice in those stories.
But ultimately, this you'll giveGod the glory for those stories
because it was his love that didthe work.
Bow your heads with me and let'spray.
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And after I pray, it may be thatyou want to respond in some kind
of way, that you want to comejoin a church that is seeking to
love like this.
That maybe you've heard aboutthe love of Jesus, maybe for the
first time, that he died for youto forgive you, and you say, I
need that kind of love andforgiveness in my life.
You you just may need a pastoror to pray over you or with you,
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or you may need to come down tothe altar and just pray on your
own, whatever it looks like,however, you need to respond at
the conclusion of this prayer,you are free to do that.
I'll be down front.
So, Lord Jesus, to love likeyou, we need you.
Lord, without you, we cannot doit.
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And so, Lord, by your spirit,would you remind us over and
over again just how much you'veloved us in all kinds of ways,
but certainly first andforemost, through the love of
Jesus Christ, through his deathand resurrection on the cross,
through the forgiveness of sins,through eternal life in him.
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God, as we are reminded of thatlove, would it lead us out to
love others as you've called usto love?
And so, Lord, for each one of usthis week, Sunday will turn into
Monday.
Our feet will hit the ground andthings get real.
Because this type of love is notmeant to just exist in this
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church building, but it's meantto go out.
And so, Lord, even this week,would your love go out with us?
And would we show thatcountercultural love to a lost
world that needs it?
Lord, if there's any that needto respond, would they do so now
as we sing in Christ's name?
Amen.
Hello and welcome to the FBC El Doredo Sermon
Podcast.
My name is Taylor Gare, and Ihave the privilege of being the
pastor here at First Baptist.
And I want to thank you forlistening into our sermon this
week.
And I want to tell you this ifyou're in our area and you don't
have a church home, we wouldlove to see you any Sunday
morning at First Baptist ElDoredo.
(00:25):
Would you join me now inlistening to our sermon from
this week?
Reopen with me to Romans chapter13.
We're going to be looking atverses 8, 9, and 10.
Romans 13, verses 8, 9, and 10.
(00:46):
And I'll read those verses forus now.
Owe no one anything except tolove each other.
For the one who loves anotherhas fulfilled the law.
For the commandments, you shallnot commit adultery, you shall
not murder, you shall not steal,you shall not covet.
And any other commandment aresummed up in this word you shall
(01:07):
love your neighbor as yourself.
Love does no wrong to aneighbor, therefore love is the
fulfilling of the law.
Let's pray with me one moretime, please.
Lord Jesus, by your Spirit,would you speak to our hearts
even now?
Show us what it means to love ina counter-cultural way, to love
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in such a way where people notonly feel our love, but that it
points to your love through us.
We ask this, Lord, in Christ'sname.
Amen.
If you remember growing up, youremember uh a lot of the uh
maybe games we would play,certain worksheets that would be
(01:49):
given, word search, tic-tac-toe,things like that.
Maybe some of our kids havetheir uh their their bags right
now, and you're playing some ofthese games as we speak.
Uh we we would play this onegame, and and you remember these
on a sheet of paper, you wouldhave uh two pictures that look
fairly similar, and your job isto spot the difference.
(02:10):
They might tell you there'sfive, six, uh, eight or nine
differences in there, and howmany of the differences can you
find?
A few of them you'd find reallyquick, a few of them would take
a little longer.
Uh, but the two uh pictures hereand say this spot the
difference.
I I wonder as we think aboutthis morning, if theoretically
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we could hold up two pictures.
One picture is the picture ofyou, who you are, how you live,
how uh you are defined, whoeveryou is, uh you're one of those
pictures.
And the other picture is just uhwe'll call it the world, the
ways of the world, how the worldthinks and how the world
(02:55):
operates.
So a picture of you, the pictureof the world.
And I just wonder for every oneof us, for you and for me, if we
could be honest with ourselves,uh, would we be proud of how
many differences we couldactually find?
Or are there any of us that area little nervous, if you held
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those two pictures up, theywould look fairly similar.
Because the reality is, as we'veread in Romans 12 and we'll
continue to read in Romans 13,the believer is called to look
different from the world.
Not for the sake that thebeliever could show off and say,
Aren't I impressive, but for thesake of showing the outside
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world that Jesus is differentfrom the world, that Jesus
offers something that the worldcan't offer.
We saw this in Romans 12, verses1 and 2, where we read three
weeks ago that our job is topresent ourselves as a living
sacrifice.
We take off the old and uh weare transformed by the renewal
of our mind.
The next week we read about thegifts of the Spirit.
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We are called not only to lookdifferent, but to act different
because the Holy Spirit hasgifted us for the sake of
building up the church andmaking much of the name of
Jesus.
Last week we talked about truemarks of a Christian.
We focused uh on verse uh 13 ofcontributing to the needs of the
saints, showing hospitality, butthere's a lot of the true marks
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of the Christian, the way inwhich the Christian looks
different from the world.
Now, I am convinced that 2,000years ago Paul had in mind uh
how he can get the most pastorsuh run off from their job in the
future.
Because one week we're preachingon giving, tithing, and Romans
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13, the very next week, is allabout politics.
Uh that one-two punch canprobably get some pastors in
trouble.
Now, verse third, chapter 13, 1through 7, we're actually not
going to cover today simplybecause of this.
Uh last fall we we looked at ituh a little bit deeper as we
were gearing up for an election,but what we looked at, uh, among
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other things was just thereality for the Christian life,
how they look differently fromthe world, even includes how
they think about government andpolitics.
We read in 13, 1 through 7, justa quick summary, that uh we are
to submit to those in authorityover us, that those have been
placed uh by the Lord, and whenwhen uh the authorities are
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operating right and honoringtheir uh position, then they
exist for the sake of honoringthe good and punishing the
evildoer, and that is a goodthing.
Is any elected official perfect?
Is any government perfect?
We know that absolutely not.
But we also talked last fallabout the one caveat there that
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we submit to those in authorityover us until those in authority
over us go against the word ofGod.
And when that happens, we gowith the word of God.
And so what Paul wants us tosee, even in that brief summary,
is that even how we interactwith the world looks different.
With government and politics, itwill look different as a people
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defined by love.
Now we read verse eight.
Owe no one anything except tolove each other, for the one who
loves another has fulfilled thelaw.
So verse eight begins, Oh, oweno one anything.
He's really coming off of reallyverse six and seven, uh, where
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at the end of 13, 1 through 7,uh honoring the government, he
even talks about pay your taxes,pay what you owe to the
authorities.
And so then in verse 8, he says,Owe no one anything, that you
are a person, that you pay whatyou owe.
But he does say this there isone thing, there is one debt
that you do owe, that you willalways owe, and you will never
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catch up to that debt, and it isthis to love each other.
So the Christian's job, theChristian's duty, it says to
love one another.
And now we define that as who isthat each other?
Well, I hope we realize thismorning that that means anyone.
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That means both those in thechurch, certainly.
We talked last week about uhcontributing to the needs of
those in the church.
We talked about loving those uhwithin the Christian faith, the
the church body, but alsocertainly outside the church,
loving one another.
Uh, that is a very, very widenet, a wide statement about who
(07:38):
we love.
We don't get to pick and choose.
But then Paul says this that theone who loves another has
fulfilled the law.
Let's talk about the law for asecond.
You go to the Old Testament andyou read some of these commands,
and we talked a few weeks agoabout them, but uh you read the
(07:59):
book of Leviticus, and youprobably think what I think as
we read that, uh, we think thisthere's just so many commands.
And you start to wonder, werethe the people of Israel, were
they just spending all their dayjust thinking about the
commands?
Like, I don't want to trip uphere, I don't want to make this
(08:19):
one mistake, and I've I've I'vebroken, you know, paragraph
line, you know, section B,paragraph nine, section B, you
know, row 10 of the law.
Well, I don't want to do that.
But no, think about something.
Since you've woken up thismorning, you've probably honored
somewhere, you know, around 200different laws, and you didn't
(08:40):
think about a single one ofthem.
You think about the things youdid do, you probably stopped at
your stop signs on the way here.
Uh you probably got somewhereclose to honoring the speed
limit on the way here.
You think about what you did notdo.
You might have passed four orfive banks, you didn't rob a
(09:01):
single one of them.
You honored so many laws today,and you did not even realize it.
And what is the job of the lawsof our land?
What are they trying toaccomplish in us?
They're trying to make somethingof us, and what is it?
Just a general good citizen.
Just to make us, form us into agood citizen who does the good
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and restrains him or herselffrom doing the bad.
And there are even people amongus who help us become better
citizens.
I remember as I was starting tomake the drive between central
Arkansas and El Dorado, therewas uh there's a point, I forget
where, somewhere around Fordyce,where uh 65 miles an hour
(09:48):
becomes 60.
And I had the kindest man justpull me aside and just have a
conversation with me.
Just to let me know about thatchange in the speed limit.
And you know what?
That made me a better citizen.
It grew me more into who I needto be as a citizen of the state
(10:10):
of Arkansas, and that's what thelaw, as we think about it, the
law of the land is seeking todo, build us into better
citizens.
What is the law of God seekingto do?
Well, certainly for Israel inthe Old Testament, it was
seeking to make them a peoplethat were set apart from the
world.
That in the middle of the worldat this time there would be this
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group of people who had beenmiraculously saved out of Egypt,
brought into the wilderness,received this law, and they are
starting to look different.
Why?
Because they have a God whodwells among them that calls
them to look different.
And we think about the commandsof Scripture that apply to us,
we think about uh all ofScripture, certainly the
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teachings of Jesus, the commandsthat are placed upon us.
What are they desiring to buildin us?
They are desiring to build usand mold us more into the image
of God.
Well, who does God tell us heis?
God is love, the essence oflove.
And so, as people who seek to beobedient to the commands of God,
(11:15):
we are going to look like moreloving people.
And so you look at this idea inverse 8 for the one who loves
one another has fulfilled thelaw, the believer who lives this
kind of countercultural love inthe midst of his or her world,
they are fulfilling what the lawhas been intended to do.
(11:36):
He makes this case further inverse 9.
For the commandments, you shallnot commit adultery, you shall
not murder, you shall not steal,you shall not covet.
And any other commandment,they're summed up in this word.
You shall love your neighbor asyourself.
This makes perfect sense that aswe love our neighbor, we fulfill
(11:57):
what the law was intended to do.
It's obvious, but if if I ambusy coveting my neighbor, uh
it's gonna be hard to love myneighbor well.
And if I love my neighbor well,it's gonna be tougher to covet
my neighbor.
If I love my neighbor well, I'mgonna have a lot harder time
(12:17):
stealing from my neighbor.
Um this next one hopefully isextremely obvious.
If if I'm loving my neighborwell, murder is gonna be out of
the question.
I mean, you keep going down thelist of the law, and you realize
that love really is thefulfillment of all that that the
Word of God is trying to buildwithin us.
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That as believers, we live outthis counter-cultural love.
Verse 10 love does no wrong to aneighbor.
Therefore, love is thefulfilling of the law.
Once again, Paul wants to makethis same point.
Love does no wrong to aneighbor, it's the fulfilling of
the law.
So, this idea of love doing nowrong to a neighbor, we could
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ask the question that has beenasked before in scripture.
Well, who is my neighbor?
Again, who am I called to love?
Again, in Luke chapter 10, thisis a question that was asked of
Jesus.
Uh of all people, uh a lawyerasks this question.
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Who is my neighbor?
Basically, what he was asking isis this who is it that I have to
love?
And the other side of that,therefore, who do I not have to
love?
Is the question he really wantsto know.
Who's my neighbor?
And you might remember how Jesusanswers.
He answers by telling a story, astory of a Samaritan.
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And who were the Samaritans?
They were the outcasts, therejects.
Many hundreds of years beforeAssyria came, took over, moved
many of the Israelites out,repopulated that area with
outsiders, and these Samaritanswere uh Israelites that
intermarried with theseoutsiders that were brought in.
(14:08):
And so for a Jewish individualwho had not intermarried, who
had not done what they wouldcall a despicable thing to
intermarry with an outsider,they just thought Samaritans
were the lowest of the low.
You've sold out, you've you howcould you do this?
And they uh the word is thisthey hated the Samaritans.
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So Jesus tells a story about aman who's uh a Jewish man who's
beaten up on the side of theroad, and the senior pastor
walks by and does nothing forhim, the music minister walks
by, does nothing for him, andthen this Samaritan shows up.
The one we would least expect todo something about it.
In fact, the one we might expectto look at this man and be
(14:56):
thankful he's beaten up on theside of the road.
Maybe say something like this hedeserved it.
But yet, what does the Samaritando?
He goes, he bandages him up, hetakes him to the hospital, and
he even offers to pay any of thefees uh that he has for his
medical expenses.
And then he asks, Well, who isthe neighbor?
And obviously the answer isclear the one who loved this man
(15:20):
well.
So who is your neighbor asbelievers?
This is countercultural now.
Who are we called to love?
Once again, the answer isanyone.
In fact, the answer goes furtherthan just anyone, it's uh the
person you're most likely not tothink about loving.
I heard one pastor say this asyou're asking Jesus, who is my
(15:44):
neighbor?
Think about the person in yourmind you most hope Jesus doesn't
say.
And that is your neighbor.
That's the one.
And as believers, we are calledto show this kind of love, love
as scripture defines it to thosewho may least deserve it, to
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those who we may least want togive it to, and that's the kind
of countercultural love that wegive.
And let's be clear about this uhlove is countercultural.
This kind of love thatChristians show is
countercultural.
I want to read a few verses justabout this kind of love, and you
can hear just howcounter-cultural this really is
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as we think about the way of theworld and what the world values.
First Corinthians 13 is uhspoken a lot at weddings, and
rightfully so.
It's a beautiful, beautifulpassage, but it's it's not
simply about uh the the marriagelove, it's about any love, and
here it is.
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Here are these counterculturalwords starting in verse 4.
Love is patient and kind.
Love does not envy or boast, itis not arrogant or rude, it does
not insist on its own way, it isnot irritable or resentful, it
(17:11):
does not rejoice at wrongdoing,but it rejoices with the truth.
Everything first Corinthians 134 through 6 has just described
is is truly the the opposite ofthe ways of our world.
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The opposite of how our cultureand our our world seeks to gain
power or gain control or get tothe top.
Uh love is, as Christians defineit, love is countercultural.
And I say that it's importantthat we see how Christians
define it.
Because there are times withinthe world that the world can try
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to love, and I'm not saying theworld doesn't love well.
There are many who who don'tknow Jesus that have done many
good things.
I don't want to discount that inany way, but there's also a way
the world can love, where at theend of the day they can love for
the sake of wondering, well,what can I still get in return?
And what will my love for youmean for me down the road?
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Sometimes the world loves inthat way.
Christians, if we're notcareful, sometimes we love in
that way.
But we're called to becountercultural in this.
And you might ask this question.
As we think about Romans 13, 8through 10, you say, Pastor, I
love the idea of it.
I love the truth.
I mean, I agree Christians oughtto be loving, but I'm just a
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little nervous or confused atthe real difference it makes in
this world.
Because we could argue this,that the world is as dark as
it's ever been.
You look around you, we'vetalked about this many times
before.
The world is as dark as it'sever been.
Well, first of all, I wouldargue that probably every
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generation has argued that theworld is as dark as it's ever
been.
Generations from now they willsay the same.
We live in a dark, sinful placecalled the world.
We love the world, we care forthe world, but uh it is a dark
place.
And we wonder in the darknessthat exists, the sinfulness, the
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brokenness, the again, darknessthat exists in our world, does
my you know, little bitty act oflove uh for the sake of Christ,
does that really make adifference?
I want to ask a question that Ithink about.
Have you ever uh checked in ahotel and you've you've probably
got your system and maybecertain hotel or brand of hotels
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you like to stay at, and you youyou know what you do when you
get in.
For us in this stage of liferight now, it it takes a long
time to check in anywhere.
We're setting up pack and plays,we're in inflating mattresses,
we're doing a lot.
But but if you're on your own,you just get in, uh you you put
the AC down to about 38 degreesas low as it'll go.
(20:03):
You you you fluff the pillow alittle bit, you you turn out the
light, and and you're just readyto get a good night's sleep.
But then something happens, andyou've been here, and I've been
here, you'll turn the lightsoff, you'll be ready to get some
sleep, and then you noticesomething that maybe at like the
corner of the bottom of the TV,there's like a little green dot
(20:27):
of a light.
Or if the hotel has like akitchenette, there's the little
green numbers on the microwavethat when the lights were on, uh
you didn't even notice them.
But in the darkness, suddenly itis just a flood of light.
That little green dot somehowhas lit up the entire room.
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My wife is an absolute geniusfor many reasons.
She's working in the preschoolnow, so I'll just brag on her
without her being in here.
Uh, but she started bringingelectrical tape on every trip we
have.
And she just grabs that and anyany little dot of light she
finds, and so we get it pitchpitch dark in that room, and you
can start bringing electricaltape too.
(21:08):
But the reality is this, I'mjust giving you just little tips
this morning.
The reality is this I I thinkabout the darkness of our world
right now.
And my thought is this that nowis not the time to say, what in
the world, what kind ofdifference will you know me
(21:32):
shining for Jesus make?
It's not the time to say that.
It's instead the time to takeheart and take encouragement and
say this think about the kind ofdifference this can make.
Because if the world really isas dark as we say it is, then if
I live out this counter-culturallove for the sake of Jesus, it
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it can do more now than maybe itever has.
Because that kind of lightshining in the darkness of this
world, it can make an absolutedifference.
Now, what an opportunity wehave, but let's also remember
this this is love that we havethat we have to show, but it is
love with a purpose.
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Not just to love so that someonecan get their needs met.
I pray our love will meetphysical needs, but it's about
even more than that.
It is about showing acountercultural love for the
sake of showing those around usthat there is a savior that
loves them in a way they cannever imagine.
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And so this is love with apurpose.
When I think about ourbenevolence ministry here, I
praise God for the amount ofphysical needs we're able to
meet.
I mean, it it truly isunbelievable that uh good people
from our community can come tous when they have a need, and
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and more often than not, we canwe can meet those needs in full
or partially and we can offerthese things.
But let's be clear, we're alwaysgonna try to meet the physical
need, but we're not just gonnastop there.
We want to go further to have aconversation with them about why
in the world we delight to meettheir physical needs, about the
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Savior that has so transformedour heart that all we can do now
is try to love this world insuch a way that they would see
Jesus.
So it's not love just for thesake of love, it's just love for
the sake of showing the greatestform of love we can ever
imagine.
That we are this group of peoplethat aren't all that impressive
(23:49):
and left to our own devices.
There may maybe, maybe there'snot as much to us, but my
goodness, a savior has gotten ahold of our hearts.
And left to my own devices, I'mnot sure I could love the way I
can love today, but there's asavior who saw fit to die on the
cross for me, that I didn't havea shot at this.
(24:11):
And yet Jesus Christ took my sinupon him, your sin upon him,
went to the cross, went to thegrave, rose from the grave, now
I've been forgiven and I havelife in him.
I have been loved in this kindof way.
How can I not then go love thosearound me?
It's a love with a purpose.
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And when a church like this, wetalked about it last week, even
through our giving, now justthrough our being, when a church
like this gets a hold of thiskind of love, a love with a
purpose, there is just notelling what's possible.
That the city of El Doredado canknow that there is a group of
people in this hundred-year-oldbuilding, and we just come
(24:53):
together every week to worship,and then we leave outside those
doors, and we've just got amission.
We just want you to know thatyou are loved and there's a
savior that loves you just likehe's loved us.
That's the kind ofcountercultural love we're
talking about.
Love with a purpose.
It's the kind of love theprodigal son found in Luke
chapter 15.
It's been two or three weekssince I brought up the prodigal
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son.
You've been waiting on it, he'sback.
But when this son is in the farcountry and he finds himself in
the pig pen covered in mud, whatwakes him up to the reality that
there could be a homecoming?
(25:35):
It's this.
It's the fact that there's ahome.
That there's something ingrainedin his mind in the deepest
places that he knows there issomewhere where a father's love
exists.
And it's this kind of love thatwakes him up.
And he doesn't even know at thispoint just how loving his father
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is.
In fact, he's saying this myfather's servants, they have a
place to lay their head and foodon the table.
Maybe I can just go back and bea servant.
And that was enough love to wakehim up and send him home.
And yet when he gets home, hefinds even more gracious love
than that, as every believerfinds.
This is the kind of love that wehave been given, and the kind of
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love as believers that we'reable to give.
You know, as I think about it,clarity matters.
You know this in your own life,in your own interactions, in
your own ways, clarity matters.
(26:39):
One of my favorite stories.
Uh one my my wife tells.
My wife lived.
They when she was in college,uh, Washed all's baseball team,
they were trying to, you know,drum up support, get more people
down at the at the games, and sothey were trying to get uh
social clubs and like the socialchairs of the social clubs or uh
(27:03):
sororities, fraternities,another word for it, uh, of
these social clubs trying to getthem down at the game.
And so the social club of her ofher club uh said, okay, we got
to get down there.
We want everybody uh to get downto the game on this Saturday at
this time.
And the social club said this uhto try to get more people from
our club there, we're actuallygonna have uh Popeyes down at
(27:24):
the game.
Now, not the usual cateringchoice for this group of girls,
but they said Popeyes down atthe game.
I'm sure Katie and her friendswere all thinking, you know,
hey, we it's a nice day, it's abaseball game, we get a little,
you know, box of chicken strips,you know, it could be worse.
We'll get down to the game.
And so uh all these girls, theythey don't go to the cafeteria
for lunch because they're goingdown to the game and they're
(27:46):
getting their Popeyes, and sothey get down to the game, and
that social chair who is incharge of it, she pulls up in
the car and pulls an ice chestout of the back, and they're
thinking this is a great deal.
Not only are we getting thefood, but maybe a water, a a
Coke, a Gatorade, I don't know.
She opens this ice chest and itis full of pop ice.
Pop ice.
(28:07):
You know those popsicles youpush up, those cylinders pop
ice.
And so you had 50 to 60 starvingcollege students trying to fill
themselves up on popsicles downat the game.
Why?
Clarity matters what we saymatters, how we say it matters.
(28:28):
The way we present ourselves tothe world, it matters.
For us Christians, claritymatters.
Because the reality is there isa world that needs to see
clearly who we are.
There is a world that needs theclarity to see clearly the
(28:52):
accurate representation of whowe are, of the reality of the
truth of God's word, of thereality of who Jesus is.
And my biggest fear for everyonein this room and for Christians
in general is that there will bea world that needs to see the
kind of love that only Jesus canoffer, and yet you and I look so
(29:15):
much like the world that theydon't see anything different
that Christianity has to offer.
That's my fear.
Because the reality is this theway we love points to how a
Savior loves us, and I justpromise you, because I've heard
story after story, the world islooking for something different.
(29:41):
Because you may remember lifebefore Christ Jesus when you
were trying to look for anythingthat could satisfy anything that
could give you fulfillment.
I love the old, I guess I don'tlove it.
I'm uh saddened by the old JimCarrey, the actor, his quote
that I wish everybody.
Could have success and have asmuch money as they could ever
(30:03):
imagine so that they couldrealize it is not the answer.
The old Tom Brady quote afterhis third Super Bowl, where he
said he held up the trophy andhe just asked the question, is
this all there is?
The world is just looking forsomething, for anything that can
fill the longing of their lives,the yearning of their hearts.
(30:26):
They're looking for something.
And you and I have the answer.
And you and I have anopportunity that no one else has
to show them through our love,through the way we interact,
through the way we thinkdifferently, talk differently,
(30:49):
act differently, livedifferently, but really how we
point to a savior differently,we have the chance to show them
that there is something betterout there.
And yet, if all they see whenthey look at Christians is just
another picture of the world,they won't want the Jesus we
point to.
(31:09):
Why?
Because they've tried the worldand it just hadn't worked for
them.
And so we do have homeworktoday.
It's not a worksheet you'll takehome like a few weeks ago, but
we do have homework.
You know, my job as a preacheris to give good application from
God's word.
And maybe you've noticed Ihaven't really done that today.
And I'm not, I'm not trying toknock myself.
(31:32):
I'm being serious.
I haven't done that for you.
What do I mean?
Practical application.
What have I said?
It's your job to love oneanother.
Well, Pastor, that can mean8,000 different things.
Here's why you don't have thespecifics today, because I know
you where you sit in your heart,in your life, in your comings
and goings, at your job, uh, atyour school, whatever, in your
(31:56):
uh sphere of influence, you knowwhat it is for your life.
You know the kind of love itlooks like for you.
And if there are 300 people inthis room, there are probably
3,000 different uhmanifestations of that love to
those around us.
But for you in your life today,here is your homework.
(32:19):
What does that Christ-centered,uh, Holy Spirit-fueled love look
like in your life?
Who is the person that needs tosee clearly a different kind of
love, the Jesus kind of lovethat only you can show?
(32:40):
Who's the person at work orstudents?
Who's that person in your classat school that just needs this
kind of love?
I I just want to be clear aboutsomething.
It may be you showing thiscounter-cultural love that is
the difference between thisperson living a life searching
(33:02):
for the next thing, or living alife where they experience the
life-changing love of JesusChrist.
It may be what you do even thisweek.
And so your homework is simplythis.
In my life, what does it looklike to live and to love exactly
like Jesus has called me to liveand to love?
(33:26):
I can answer that for me.
I can't answer that for you.
But you can.
And you know even now.
And I wonder next Sunday morningif somebody will walk up to me
and say, Pastor, I just loved ina countercultural kind of way
(33:47):
this week.
And let me tell you whathappened.
You won't believe it.
I promise you, if you startloving this kind of way, you'll
get those stories.
You'll rejoice in those stories.
But ultimately, this you'll giveGod the glory for those stories
because it was his love that didthe work.
Bow your heads with me and let'spray.
(34:09):
And after I pray, it may be thatyou want to respond in some kind
of way, that you want to comejoin a church that is seeking to
love like this.
That maybe you've heard aboutthe love of Jesus, maybe for the
first time, that he died for youto forgive you, and you say, I
need that kind of love andforgiveness in my life.
You you just may need a pastoror to pray over you or with you,
(34:33):
or you may need to come down tothe altar and just pray on your
own, whatever it looks like,however, you need to respond at
the conclusion of this prayer,you are free to do that.
I'll be down front.
So, Lord Jesus, to love likeyou, we need you.
Lord, without you, we cannot doit.
(34:53):
And so, Lord, by your spirit,would you remind us over and
over again just how much you'veloved us in all kinds of ways,
but certainly first andforemost, through the love of
Jesus Christ, through his deathand resurrection on the cross,
through the forgiveness of sins,through eternal life in him.
(35:15):
God, as we are reminded of thatlove, would it lead us out to
love others as you've called usto love?
And so, Lord, for each one of usthis week, Sunday will turn into
Monday.
Our feet will hit the ground andthings get real.
Because this type of love is notmeant to just exist in this
(35:38):
church building, but it's meantto go out.
And so, Lord, even this week,would your love go out with us?
And would we show thatcountercultural love to a lost
world that needs it?
Lord, if there's any that needto respond, would they do so now
as we sing in Christ's name?
Amen.
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