We are going to be in, back in. We're going to make it a long
way. We're actually going to make it
to verse 11 tonight, and we should make it.
Brethren, I write no new, no new commandment to you, but an old
commandment which you have had from the beginning.
The old commandment is the word which you heard from the
beginning, and again a new commandment I write to you.
Which thing is true in him and in Jew?
Because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is
already shining. He who says he is in the light
and hates his brother is in darkness.
Until now. He who loves his brother and is
loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for
stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is
in darkness and walks in darkness and does not know where
he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
And Lord, I just lift up tonight.
I lift up just everybody here, Lord, everybody at home.
Lord, I lift up Sandpoint and just this community as a whole.
Lord, that you would just shine your light here.
Lord, that you would open eyes, that you would give the blind
the ability to see, or that you would guide and direct each and
every one of us to to be out about your business or, and that
we would be faithful to to follow you where you want us to
go. And I pray this in Jesus name,
Amen. So verse 7 brethren, I write no
new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have
heard from the beginning. The old commandment is the word
which you heard from the beginning.
And so it's kind of funny because you guys, verse 7 is I
write no new commandment. Verse 8 is again a new
commandment I write you. So John is obviously doing doing
something here. But this this idea of loving is
and in the beginning, right, this is a this is this whole
idea of loving your brother is Old Testament love, right?
This isn't God didn't come up with Jesus.
Did I guess that that idea that you hear people say the Old God
of the Old Testament was judgment and fury and, and Jesus
is all love? And that's untrue, right?
The God of the Old Testament is the exact same God of the New
Testament because Jesus was in the beginning of that, right?
But Leviticus 1918 says you shall not take vengeance nor
bear any grudge against the children, your people, but you
shall love your neighbor as yourself.
I am the Lord. And but like us, the Israelites
had come up with ways to fit their flesh into that statement,
right? And Matthew, Matthew 543, this
is Jesus speaking and it says you have heard that it was said
you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
And Jesus here, if you, if you read, he is not quoting
Scripture, He is quoting teaching.
He's saying he said you have heard.
He didn't say it is written. And the reason he said that is
that it's the Jews heard love your neighbor, which was written
and they taught that means you can hate your enemy because
there's two camps, right? There's there's your neighbor.
You have to love your neighbor, but there's this other camp over
here and you'd hate them. So and, and we as as Christians,
because we always know that the Pharisees are the ones wearing
the black mask whenever they're doing something like this, we're
always in the Boo crowd and going, well, they're just,
they're just making things up. They always do that.
We never do that. You know, it's it's they they
looked at the rest of the world and they said the rest of the
world is evil and condemned it to hell.
And and does that sound like anybody, you know, right?
Does that sound like what, what the church is guilty of a lot,
right? Is that that we are, we are the
chosen people and not in a not in it's like so I because I
don't, because I don't do these things, God blesses me and and
because you do those things, you're, you're condemned to hell
forever. And Jesus is, and that's my, the
name of this one. I think I have it on my other
notes, but I was going to, I didn't, I didn't put it up on
anything. Is Jesus is going to clear this
up, right. And that's it.
That's I think Jesus clears it up.
I think is what I wrote for my my corny title.
But Jesus is pointing points to this thinking and rebukes it in
Luke, right? We'll go back to the Matthew
story in a minute, but this is Jesus pointing out that you got
nothing. You didn't bring nothing to this
game. And Luke 18-9 says also he
spoke, spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves
that they were righteous and despised others.
And we've all heard this story. Two men went up to the temple to
pray. 1A Pharisee and the other tax collector.
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself.
God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners,
unjust adulterers or even as tax collectors.
I love the fact that it said that the way Jesus words this, a
Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, right?
That means he he literally that his prayers are bouncing off the
ceiling. He's just talking to himself.
He says I fast twice a week. I give ties of all that I
possess. And the tax collector standing
afar off would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but
beat his breast saying, God be merciful to me, a Sinner.
I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather
than the other. For everyone who exalts himself
will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
And actually, after I did the study and stuff, I was killing.
I was killing some time. And that was why I watched that
Alistair Begg one that I'm sure you guys have all all seen.
When the when the guy in the middle cross or when the guy
that the thief on the cross ended up in heaven, What did he
what did he say? His reason for being there was,
you know, the first Angel got there and said, so why are you
here? I don't know.
Well, do you believe? Do you believe this?
Do you believe that? I don't know.
Why are you here? Well, I got to get a manager.
So he goes and gets another Angel.
And the angel's like, well, do you believe in the Scriptures?
I don't know. So why are you here?
He goes because the man on the middle cross said I could come.
That's the only reason we got guys.
That's it, right? There is no, there is no other
reason. If if when you get to heaven and
you're asked why are you here and you start off with I, you
missed the point. You know, I've done this, I've
done that. You haven't done nothing right.
There are things that we we are used by Christ to do, but that
stuff we get to do right? And it and it's the man on the
middle cross said we could go and and Jesus, that's what he's
pointing out. This tax collector got that.
It's like, Lord, I am a Sinner and I have nothing to offer.
And the Pharisee literally is telling God, I fast twice a
week. So you know, you owe me heaven.
You owe me what what I get. And Can you imagine having that
conversation? So Jesus is telling Israel what
makes you blessed is God. God does not bless you because
you earned his blessing. And and Israel, I mean, there's
a great parallel between Israel and the church over the
centuries of that getting blurry of God.
When God blesses us, it's because he's God and I'm blessed
to be in his presence. I am never the I am not blessed
because Nick is special, right? There is nothing.
I mean in God's eyes we are.
I mean in God's eyes, each and every one of us are, are, are
his kids and we are special. So that is being said.
But we but I am not more special than Mark.
Mark might be more special than me, but but it is it's that
point of when you look at someone else and you decide that
you have something on them. That's that you know that judge,
that you be not judged. That gets misquoted all the
time. The point of that verse is not
that we are not to judge sin. It is at no point are you
supposed to look at somebody and go, you are the most worthless
person I have ever met because you're doing this thing.
No, we can all fall to whatever sin that we're going to fall to
right it there is never a point that in my own flesh that I have
the ability to be a better person.
Now John is just going back through this and reminding us
that in the beginning, this isn't this commandment that he's
that he's going to to bring out isn't old or is old, right.
It is it is from the beginning and I love the fact that Jesus
truly not only tells them about it, but he he demonstrates it
right. And in Romans 5/8 it says, but
God demonstrated his own love towards us in that while we were
still sinners, Christ died for us, right.
So when you think about loving others.
So that's that's the bar, right, Is that are we willing to love
people that don't love us or even worse, we won't love people
that hate us. And in the beginning, right,
this happened in the very beginning.
And it is all who dwell on the earth, when this is Revelation
13/8. All who dwell on the earth will
worship him whose name have been, whose names have been
written in the book of life, of the Lamb slain from the
foundations of the world. You can't get much more in the
beginning than that, right? So nothing Nick did nothing,
nothing they did, nothing Mark did, nothing Carl did, is why
the land, why my name was written in the book of Life?
It was because it was God's plan from the foundation of the
world, right? But then it says in verse 8, it
goes on and then says and again, a new commandment I write to
you, which thing is true in him and in you?
Because the darkness is passing away and the true light is
already shining. And this, the idea here isn't
that it isn't that it's new and different.
It is new and explained in the sense that that's that idea of
the darkness is passing away and the true light has already come.
It's where Jesus says you search the Scriptures, but they speak
of me, right? And this is Jesus and Matthew
548 He tells them, you know, you heard this, hate your enemies.
And then this is the part that let me clean that up for you
because this is Jesus says, but that's not in the Scriptures.
Let me clean up the teaching on my word that I said and what it
actually means, right? Because this is Jesus.
Jesus is teaching them what what was meant back in Leviticus and
the understanding that they didn't have but that was there.
So the next verse, verse 44. But I say to you, love your
enemies, bless those that curse you, do good to those who hate
you. Pray for those who spitefully
use you and persecute and persecute you, that you may be
sons of the Father of your Father in heaven.
For he makes his sin rise on the evil and on the good and since
his reign on the just and on the unjust.
For if you love those who love you, what reward have you?
Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
And if you greet your brethren only, what do you, what do you
do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors
do? So Jesus here crushes any idea
of justifying hate of any group, right?
It's brethren, neighbors, enemies, those who curse you.
We bless those who hate us, we do good for those who spitefully
use us or persecute us. We pray for and then and then he
modeled it right in in Luke 2334.
It says, then Jesus said, father, forgive them for they do
not know what they are doing and they divide as they and they
divided his garments and cast lot so as he's being crucified.
This isn't this. I had a story, didn't have a
story at a moment. Years back, 2005, we took a team
to the Katrina relief for spring break.
It was a high school team and there was big group.
But my few of us, we ended up on a different plane and we ended
up there about an hour, hour and a half later than everybody
else. Well, our bags all got there.
Their bags didn't. So I had, I don't remember,
there was 30 kids and their bags didn't show up.
And so if you've ever been with high schoolers, love them or
hate them, they, they might get a little whiny, they might get a
little cry, right. And God is God is really good
though. He's, he's got a way of using
everything on a mission trip like that, but it's hard for me
from for as the, as the one of the leaders to look at him and
say, you know, quit whining. You know, there, there's a,
there's a, a silver lining, whatever, because I had my stuff
right? And so I, I was kind of a well,
Jesus here. He can tell us because he did it
right. The, the silver lining or the,
the end of that story real quick is that we went out on a tour on
the Sunday. So they, they did the switch
over at the, at the relief camp on Sunday.
So another group would come in and the group that was there
would serve that group on that Sunday.
And that son and that group would get acclimated and be able
and go out and do kind of a tour of the area and see things well.
So we had 30 high schoolers that got to go out and see people
that lost everything. And I mean everything.
And you know, it was impactful to say the least.
And when we got back to the compound, in the middle of the
compound was all of their stuff stacked up.
So they just went out and saw, met probably 20-30 people that
will never get their stuff back. Their stuff is gone.
And those people had hope and joy and my high schoolers had
been whining and crying for a good 18 hours straight and when
they got back, their stuff was all there so they couldn't stand
to be without their stuff for 18 hours.
It was an incredibly great start to a week on the mission field
right. It gave them that check.
So I mean, that's just one of those that you get AC God work
and working kids lives and it's it's a awesome thing right when
he works and is our lives. But this is that point where no
one can look at Jesus and say when he says when he says that
we are to bless those who curse us.
He did that right when we are supposed to do good for those
who hate us. He did that right.
You know, when spitefully uses or pure persecute us, pray for
him. He's doing that.
So it's not this isn't Jesus telling somebody to do something
and him not doing it. He's showing us how to do it.
So what that hat, what happens with that is he takes all the
wiggle room out of our feelings because love is not about
feelings, right? If we try, if we try to act like
a Christian outside of Christ, we will fail because our self
will want to have a say and then we will be in darkness because
our self will definitely turn out and, and our self does not
want to curse or does not want to bless those that curse us.
You know it doesn't want to do good for people that hate us,
right? I, I use that at work.
Is is, you know that people come up with all well, I don't have
to because of this. I don't have to when he says
bless your enemies, he's talking about the person that doesn't
like you, that's actively trying to stab you in the back and take
your job. That that person, that's who
Jesus is talking about here, right?
He isn't talking about a sweet Oh, they're they they cut me off
in traffic person. But this is somebody that
doesn't like you and you're supposed to take care of your
neighbor and you're supposed to take care of your brothers and
sisters, right? But he he takes it to your enemy
and it's about it's about being surrendered and yielded to be
aimed at God and not aimed in the wrong direction right in
here I have God's goal is other centered and self goal self
self's goal is self-centered right?
And and the point of that is why are we here verse 9 he says he
who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in darkness
until now. So Jesus is always going to you
going to point us to a higher road, right?
He is always going to to correct us.
And sometimes he does it in light nudges and other times he
does it in open rebukes. And John is is known the guy
that wrote this book is known as the apostle of love.
It is not how He started out, right?
Him and his brother. Him and his brother were a
little bit on the rowdy side that Jesus called him the sons
of Thunder. And in Luke 951 through 56 it
said. Now it came to pass, when the
time had come for him to be received up, that He steadfastly
set his face to go to Jerusalem, and He sent messengers before
his face, and as they went they entered the village of
Samaritans. To prepare for him.
But they did not receive him, because his face was set for the
journey to Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and
John saw this, they said, Lord, do you want us to command fire
to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah
did? But he turned and rebuked them
and said, You do not know what manner of spirit you are.
For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to
save them. And they went to another
village. So John and James wanted and
This Is Us guys. They wanted to condemn others
because of their position with Christ.
And we have a position in Christ and from the position of with
Christ in their case or in Christ in our case, we get the
idea that we have power to point out sin and condemn others
instead of from the position, their position with Christ to
save as many as they could, which would be to tell people
about this guy they're with, they're with the, the only one
that has the words of God, right?
I mean, they, they know who they're with, they're with the
Son of God and they, they, they know who he is.
And, and what they want to do is condemn a village instead of
saying, what are you guys doing? Do you know who I have with me?
Right? And encouraging them to come.
You know, when Jesus rebukes him and says, you do not know what
manner of spirit you are. Jesus is not telling them that
they switched teams and have a demon.
He is telling them they're kicking it at the wrong goal.
And if you've ever watched like AI don't know U4 soccer game,
you can watch that where they they start going the wrong
direction. The the kids are now going to
the wrong goal, right? And and that is that is what we
we have a tendency of doing that right, that we get the idea.
We get the cart before the horse.
We we forget the point and and his whole point of common guys
are for people to know him and how are they going to know him
by his body telling them about it right.
And the body of Christ should be known for our love for one
another first right? And that's John 1334 and 35 and
I know we've all heard this one a new commandment I give to you
that you love one another is I have loved you that you also
love one another by this all will know that you are my
disciples if you have love for one another.
So Jesus calls this a new commandment because he is
talking to those who will become his body, the church.
And there's there's three parts to this love right there is
we're supposed to so you and I should be known in this church
as loving one another. So if that being said, you, I'm
sure everybody's, I think we have a pretty awesome church
here, but I don't know everything that goes on.
But you, you've all watched shows and, and had been at
churches where there is infighting in the building.
And that is that is we shouldn't, that shouldn't even
be named among us, right? And if that is named among you,
if that's named among me, what we should be doing is having
those conversations with those people in love, but upfront,
right? Those conversations because that
Jesus says we should be known by our love for one another.
And we should be also known for our love for how did I put it
for our Christian community in Sandpoint in Idaho in the United
States. So Bridges Sandpoint should be
known because we love the other believers in this town, that we
love the other believers in Idaho, that we love the other
believers in the United States. And I, I use, I use the, the,
the Saul and David. David was about God's business
while Saul was still king on the throne.
And Saul had Saul had an army, Saul had captains, he had
generals. And David was not against the
captains and the generals of Saul.
He was for God and God's plan and he loved Israel.
And in that process, David, David had real battles with real
Philistines that really went on. But he wasn't out hunting Saul
and and out campaigning against the this all in the room, right?
What he was doing is out about God's business, and that's what
we should be out about. We should be not be known for
what we are against. We should be known but for what
we're for. Now, there are things that we
are for that automatically make us against something else.
But we don't have to chant on what we're against if we're just
loud about what we're for, right?
I'm for babies, right? I'm for babies living right
there is automatically a what I'm against, but we can just
talk about one. I'm four.
I like life right you know, and so but we don't have I don't
have to because the the the the abortionist, the they're sinners
who need Jesus. I months back they did that
hope, hope, medical hope medical thing and the the guy that that
came to talk he was an abortionist.
He did abortions and got saved, but until he got saved, when he
started doing abortions, it was sold to him as as he was doing,
he was doing good work. He was doing good work and
taking care of these ladies and making good money, doing it
right. Lost and dying.
Billy said it last week. Where on Sunday do you get mad
at the guy, the blind guy that trips on the curb, right, lost
and dying. They need to know the truth and
how do they know the truth by what we're for?
They get to hear what we're for, right and and be loving in that
conversation. But that is there.
There is a process in that, right?
And 3rd, we should be known for a love for the body in distance,
land, distant lands, right in, in places that we can't, we
can't go, but we can be praying for them.
We can be ministering as best we can, but we should be in that
fight any way we can be there, right?
And that goes for all of that's going on in the Middle East
right now. You know, there are there are
believers that are there, there are missionaries that are there
that are in need of prayer, right?
We, we can't go there. You can't send the money.
You can't do any of that. But what we can be doing is
praying for him right and be doing that be be active in that
prayer fight because it matters. And John 1513 Jesus says greater
love has no one than this than to lay down one's life for his
friends. So laying down my life while
still here is love. And and that's The thing is that
it is, I don't know when I first got saved dying for Jesus, that
would be easy. It's living for him that's hard.
And what I mean by that is dying, you know, if I got to run
into a hail of bullets, that's a one time decision.
And I know what that decision is.
Now I've never had to do that, so I don't know if I would, but
I, I would think that that would, you know, that's a one
time decision. It's it's the, what do I, how do
I have that conversation? You know, it's, it's the, it's
the little conversations that are hard, which we'll, we'll get
into some of those. But but Jesus tells us that if
anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up
his cross daily and follow me for whoever desires to save his
life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for
my sake, we'll save it. And what that means is if, if I
want the most out of this world, I get it by getting it by by
being the most obedient to him. And that's because that's where
joy is. Guys, I, I wouldn't trade.
I wouldn't trade the last 20 years of my life for 60 years
before that of, of the life I had because I didn't have the
joy I've had as a believer of, of watching people's lives
change, of watching my life change and just watching him
work and, and knowing, I mean that simple story about, about
Katrina and just watching kids lives change in an instant.
And, and that group of kids, that group of kids, I got to go
all the way through their high school years with them.
And that group of kids were, were to this day.
There's, there's numerous of them that are still in ministry.
1 is a, a pastor that I, I talked to in he's in Grants
Pass. But they fell in love with
service. They fell in love with serving
people and they did. And when they got there, let me
tell you, some just spoiled rotten little brats, right?
But God had a plan and, and watching lives change, right?
That is worth its weight in gold.
And, but unless we're dead to self, we can't love others as
Jesus would, right? If we, if, if my, if my wants
and my desires get in there, I will.
I'll pull the punches. I won't do it the way he wants
it done. Jesus talks about love a lot,
but not as a feeling. Love is an action, right?
When we talk about love in this world, very often it is a, it is
a happy feeling that is just ooey and gooey and sunshine and
rainbows, right? And that's not what Jesus talks
about. He doesn't talk about love like
that. He talks about it as there there
is there is a action to love. You know if you love someone,
there will be proof of it. James 14 or 214 through 16 and
we've heard this one. But this is what does it profit
my brethren. If someone says he has faith but
does not have works can face save him.
If a brother or sister is naked or destitute of daily food and
one of you says to them, depart in peace and be warmed and
filled, but you do not give them the things which they need for
the your body, what does that profit?
So love is doing the best for someone and sometimes the best
isn't easy, right? And and what I mean by that is
very often the best, the most loving thing for someone is to
tell them no, right? The most loving thing for
someone is to judge their sin and say that's killing you.
The most loving thing very often for my children was punishment
or rebuking, right? That happened.
Now sometimes there's there's the need to pick somebody up
there. There's times to that they just
need their handheld or shoulder to cry on.
And that's all valid, right? But it's not love is not
feelings. It's doing the best for someone
else and the best is not what makes them happiest at the
moment. It's what's the best for them,
right? First Corinthians 13 We've all
heard it, but you'll find that I I I was going to say that my
original sentence said not one feeling all actions, but the
don't envy. You guys can decide if envy is a
feeling or not. Love suffers long love is kind.
Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself love
love is not puffed up. Love does not behave rudely.
Love does not seek its own love is not provoked.
Love thinks no evil. Love does not rejoice in
iniquity. Love rejoices in truth.
Love bears all things. Love believes all things, love
hopes all things. Love endures all things.
So love is something that you can see you, you can see, right?
I don't just tell Faye I love her, I show Faye I love her,
right. I don't, I don't tell you guys I
love you. I, I try to show that right,
that that is a that is conversations time spent with
each other and and there's going to be times over the years that
in in showing that I love a congregation is going to be hard
conversations that have to be had.
Pastor Steve, decades ago, before I was there, there was a
one of my buddies tells the story, but they're in a smaller
building and there was some guy that stood up and started to say
on a Wednesday night like this and Steve's like, what are you
doing? Sit down.
You got to leave because the guy was trying to be disruptive in
in a service that that wasn't his position, right?
And Steve is the loving thing for the is it awkward?
Yes. Is that hard to do?
Yes. But that was the loving thing to
do for the congregation was as the shepherd.
His job was not not to to pander to that guy and make him feel
good was to take care of the the congregation.
Now he may have had a convert. I don't know the rest of the
story, but he may had a conversation with that guy
afterwards. You don't know, but being
willing to do those hard things is still loving, right?
Loving is not is not this watered down ridiculousness that
we call love today, right? It's not flowers and balloons.
It is, it's doing the hard stuff that's love right now in that
being said, when you look at that list and you figure out
pretty quick that the love bar is set so high, the only way I'm
getting there is by surrendering to to Jesus.
Because we've done all that where you put your name in where
love is and you figure out pretty quick, you're not any of
those things, right? I don't suffer long very well.
I'm, I, I'm, I'm really kind to ask my wife.
I try not to envy things. I try not to parade.
I never get puffed up. I, I behave rudely just in just
with me. Anyway, you guys kind of get the
idea right? It, it's pretty easy to fail
pretty quickly if, if you're going to, if you're going to set
that and go, I'm going to be that guy.
I'm just going to do all that stuff.
And, and I'll tell you if that's your goal, Jesus will very
quickly put things in front of you that explain to you, you
can't do it. And, and it says in verse 10, he
who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause
for stumbling in him. So the only way to love your
brother the way Jesus wants you to love him is if you are
surrendered to Jesus, letting him overpower your selfishness
with his spirit and understanding that if we are
making excuses on why I cannot love someone, I am aiming at the
wrong goal. And the question is, Gee, the
question we should be asking is Jesus, how am I to love them?
Not, not how do I love them, but Jesus, how am I supposed to love
them? What, what, what actions do you
want me to use in their life? And, and you have to give me the
power to do that, right? I, I will tell you that, that
that kind of love and that conversation about the, the
congregation and the shepherding and that stuff.
Guys, that's the conversation I had with Pastor Steve coming up
here said that scares me to death.
That is, that is the hard stuff, right?
Standing in those points where I am the guy that has to protect
you guys. I'm we're pretty quiet right
now. So, but I'm that guy that has to
do those things and the only way I'm going to do that right is if
Jesus is doing it through me right?
If I decide that I'm big enough and I can just figure it out on
my own, guys, I'm going to fail miserably.
So making sure that that's our heart.
Lord, what do you want? How do you want me to do this?
Because if not, then verse 11 applies when I'm just going to
do it my way. And that is, but he who hates
his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness and does not,
does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded
his eyes. And that is when your
perspective gets off and you think you can do it or, or there
is they're not really that loving or they did this to me or
they're really evil or they're back.
When any of that is a conversation you've set, you've
moved the bar from where Jesus put it and you've given yourself
an excuse, right. And when we think at any time
hate is in Christ, we are shooting at the wrong goal
anytime and that's that's over any hate at a person hated a
sin, that's a different story right hating sin, hating murder
that is that's that is spoke about in the Bible that God
hates murder right he hates he hates sin doesn't hate sinners.
Our flesh is driving. So when when we are shooting at
the wrong goal, that's our flesh is driving our eye.
And that's the eye he's talking about here has blinded his eyes.
That that word for eyes is Ophomas, which is not how you
pronounce it, but it's, it's, yeah, anyway, which is
perception, understanding or perspective and aiming at a
target with the wrong perspective, with the wrong,
with the wrong perception of where that target is.
You're never going to hit it. And with an without an
understanding, right. And Matthew 622 through 23, and
this is 1 years back that I studied and studied trying to
figure out what this was. And it's just one of those that
I look at it today and go, how did I not understand that?
But that's because it's because Jesus reveals stuff to you and
it's nice. The lamp of the body is the eye.
If there if therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be
full of light. But if your eye is bad, your
whole body will be full of darkness.
If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is
that darkness? So if your perception and your
understanding or your perspective is is dark and not
and self focused and self-centered and what you're
looking at this level instead of it, that Jesus level, you are
going to fail every time because you think that you've got
something to bring to the table. And Billy, Billy had all kinds
of cool stuff that you guys are going to hear all about.
But that it's that when you're focused on that box of stuff and
things that self focus that you're going to get to heaven
and open up and figure out there's nothing in it.
Right, that's, that's when your eyes are focused on the wrong
thing and there's that darkness, right.
Then you think you have the ability to dislike people.
When you have the ability, you have the right, you deserve to,
to dislike your brother to they've, they've wronged me,
they've hurt me. They've done this.
Now, that doesn't mean that you put yourself back in harm's way.
That means that you don't hate them, right?
I, I use the, I use the, the, the, I don't know the
illustration because it's, it's not offensive in any way.
And I don't have to. If, if you're a banker or if you
know a banker and they steal all the money at the bank they have
embezzled. And once they have embezzled,
they get caught and they go to prison and they serve their time
and they're forgiven. Or they, they, they repent and
they're forgiven. But they're, they serve their
time. They, they do their stuff.
When they get out of prison, what are they never going to be
again? A banker.
And why are they not going to be a banker?
Because nobody trusts them. They may forgive them, but
nobody trusts them. I mean, I would guarantee you
that if Bernie Madoff ever opened a fund, no one's given
him any money, right? Because he, he robbed him
billions of dollars. And my point of that is, and
that goes for all of the different sins out there.
When we, when we look at somebody, it's not when we
forgive them, it isn't you forgive them and then you open
the door to the, the bank vault again, they are forgiven.
But but in their true, if they are truly repentant, they don't
want to go anywhere near a bank vault, right?
And that, and you guys can extrapolate that on the on, on
all the other awful sins out there that they shouldn't want
to even be in that area, right? If, if they are, if they're
truly repentant, they should be as far from that stuff as
possible. And but what Jesus is talking
about here when he talks about the lamp of the body or the the
eye and, and in context, what he's talking about here is do
not lay in. That's the the verses before
that. Do not lay up for yourselves
treasures on earth, where moths and rust destroy and where
thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures
in heaven, where neither moth or rust destroy and where thieves
do not break in and steal. So what is the treasure we
should be storing up? The only thing we can take with
us is others. That's it.
And, and when we look at life, whenever it's, I don't want to
forgive or I, I don't like somebody or any of that stuff,
it is because they have offended my flesh.
They have made, they have hurt my feelings.
They have, they have done something to me.
And and when we go through of all the things that Jesus says
they can do to you, there is none of them that passed the bar
that doesn't say you're supposed to love them because that's what
he did. So we don't, I mean, this is
specifically talking about brothers, but Jesus took it to
enemies, which pretty much means there is nobody in between,
right? There is people.
I love that. Absolutely.
I from a from a worldly position would say Faye deserves my love.
She's awesome. She takes care of me.
She's great to the guy that's actively trying to stab me in
the back over here and everybody in the middle because I mean
Jesus, I love that he just like he cleared that up.
Let me let me clear it up for y'all everybody right?
And the reason we can love everybody is because he did and
we're in him and in Christ. We have the power to love people
that are unlovable. But outside of Christ, we do not
have that power because our flesh will want to say right.
And we are his body and he he came to save the lost and dying.
And today I, I was going through this and I, I will tell you the
the prayer I have for us for this church, for Bridges
Sandpoint is that if there's anything in here that needs to
be any relationships in our body that need to be healed or or
repaired, Lord that those would happen.
And let us be a unifying body that reaches out in obedience to
you and your word in Sandpoint ID in the United States mean
worldwide is the body of Christ and actively be out in our
community seeking the lost and dying, having our eyes on things
above and not on things below. And that's Colossians 3 one
through three. If then you were raised with
Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ is
sitting at the right hand of God.
Set your mind on things above, not on things of this earth, for
you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When we remember our position, it is easy to love because we
are loved. It is easy to forgive because we
are forgiven. It is easy to go because He came
and it easy. It is easy to share because He
is able. And when we struggle we look to
our example and say, Lord, I can't, but I know you will if I
am willing. And and remember why he came
right in in three. 7 John 317 For God did not send his Son
into the world to condemn the world, but that the world
through him might be saved. That's why we're still here.
We're not here to win the battle.
We're here to win souls to save people.
Jesus already won the battle. So if we're not out loving
people into the Kingdom and loving people into the Kingdom,
like I said, is not ooey gooey mushy sunflowers and and and
fluff. It's loving people into the
Kingdom and that is, I skipped it at some point in my study.
Paul, this is this is an example of what that looks like Paul
writing to the 1st or the 1st Corinthians says to and there's
talking about the man that is sleeping with his mother with
his stepmom or his mom and they're thinking they're good
because they're loving him and letting him come to church.
And Paul is like that is disgusting.
I that the Gentiles think you were weird and and what does he
say deliver such a one to Satan for destruction of the flesh.
That doesn't sound loving that his spirit may be saved in the
day of the Lord in the date. His spirit may be saved in the
day of the Lord Jesus, which is love him enough to not pat him
on the back and say that's OK, he's going to hell right now.
Love him enough to get him to to kick him out and get him, get
him to face the fact that he's in sin.
And that's love. That isn't easy guys.
But that's the kind of love we're supposed to have for our
brothers and sisters, that that love that's willing to confront,
willing to willing to come alongside and hold hands and
take care of when you're sick. And and that is love, but love
that's willing to confront when it needs to confront, love
that's willing to challenge and sharpen.
So, so Lord, I just thank you for tonight.
Thank you for everybody here and bless this time.
Lord, be be with us. Lord, fill us with your spirit
guide and direct us. Help us to stand in those
places. Lord, help us to make a
difference in this community. I praise in Jesus name, Amen.