LOVE:
FORGIVES, REJECTS EVIL & REJOICES WITH TRUTH
The Most Excellent Way- Part XI I Corinthians
13
In his book, “What’s So Amazing About Grace,” Phillip
Yancey tells the story of Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway grew up in a very devout
evangelical family, and yet there he never experienced the grace of Christ. He
lived a life of no morals that most of us would call "dissolute"… but
there was no father, no parent waiting for him, and he sank into the mire of a
graceless depression. A short story he wrote may reveal the grace he
hoped for. It is the story of a Spanish father who decided to reconcile with
his son, who had run away to Madrid.
The father, in a moment of remorse,
takes out this ad in El Libro, a newspaper. "Paco, meet me at Hotel
Montana, Noon, Tuesday… All is forgiven… Papa." When the father arrived at
the square in hopes of meeting his son, he found 800 Pacoes waiting to be reunited with him. Was Paco such a popular name? Or is a
father's forgiveness the salve for every soul? This story conveys one of the most powerful aspects of God the Father's love: forgiveness. When God forgives, he
forgets, and he doesn’t keep a record of our wrongs anymore.
In our series called “The Most Excellent Way,” we have learned so far that Love is being patient, Love is kind, Love does not envy, Love does not boast, Love is not arrogant, Love is not rude, and Love is not selfish, Love is not easily angered. Today, we will look at other aspects of Love:
Forgiveness, rejection of evil, and
rejoicing with the truth.
The apostle Paul was writing to believers living in a depraved culture without standards or morals. Paul’s appeal to them was not to imitate the customs of the sinful society they lived in, but to model a holy way of life by forgiving one another, rejecting evil, and rejoicing in the truth. Let’s unpack these three crucial
aspects of love further and see how they impact our lives in a society growing increasingly ungodly.
I. LOVE KEEPS NO RECORD OF WRONGS:
(Forgiveness)
Let’s admit that when it comes to admitting our own wrongdoings, we seem to struggle with short-term memory, but when it comes to pointing out others’ wrongs, we seem to have endless memory, at times with very specific details. The presidential elections are a clear example of how the media and experts dig up incidents involving the candidates that happened several years ago. Is this an
act of love? Or an act of making the opponent look bad. Where do they find such
information? Apparently, they kept either written or video recordings of such
events.
If that is how the world operates,
Paul is showing us Christians how to operate differently. A few years ago, I was counseling a couple, where the husband wanted to show me the angry behavior of his wife, which he proudly video recorded for me to believe that he was innocent. Is that an act of love? Where is trust and forgiveness in that kind
of relationship?
There was a disciple named Peter, who
once asked Jesus, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister
who sins against me? Up to seven times? Jesus answered I tell you not seven
times, but seventy times seven.” Matthew 18:21-22. Of course, Jesus did not
mean 490 times; rather, he was saying, do not keep a record of how many times
you forgive someone.
Some of us here may be in the
habit of keeping a record of the wrongs of others. You are unable to let go of
them and forgive your offenders. If you are one of those, then you need to hear the message of Paul: love keeps no record of wrongs. Can you imagine if only
God kept a record of our wrongdoings, how many volumes it might have filled by now?
If only God had to deal with us based on all the sins we have committed against him and one another, none of us would stand a chance. But what keeps us in right standing with God? His nature of
forgiveness. “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have
fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from
all sin.
If we claim to be without sin, we
deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all
unrighteousness.” I John 1:7-9. This scripture tells us that God not only
forgives our sins but also makes us clean. In the same way, we, the forgiven sinners, are to be merciful and forgiving towards those who might sin against us and do away with any record keeping.
Paul, writing to the Ephesians, encourages them to practice Christ-like forgiveness towards one another. “Be kind and compassionate to one
another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. So, next time
when you are tempted to pull up a record of wrongdoings of a brother or sister
in the Lord against you, remember love keeps no record of wrongs.
II. LOVE DOES NOT DELIGHT IN
EVIL (Rejection of evil)
When Paul said, " Love does not delight in evil to the Corinthians, what might have been going on in his mind? Were there actually some people within the Church delighting in evil, or taking
pleasure in doing or endorsing evil acts? As you study closely, you will find
so much evil right within the Corinthian church. For one, there was a man
having an incestuous relationship with his father’s wife. Others were involved
in sexual immorality, acts of homosexuality, cheating, adultery, greed,
idolatry, and drunkenness. When all that was going on, it looked like the church's leadership was not condemning; instead, they were delighting in such evil.
Our
society is no different than the Corinthian society. Evil is widespread. We
seem to praise the wicked and condemn the righteous. We value strong, competent people regardless of their moral or ethical failures. We condone sin and frown upon right and
healthy living.
Many of us are called to work in an
environment where there is no fear of God. We hear profanity, see frivolity,
and come across people who simply delight in evil. In such an environment, do we also go with the flow and delight in evil, or live a righteous
life?
Regardless, however great our society may be, with all its wickedness, one day it is doomed to perish, and along with it all those who practice wickedness. If that is the case, how then can we save
people from that eternal destruction? There is only one way, by pointing them
to the truth of the gospel. When people know the Truth, they can be set free
and be saved.
We have an example in Lot, who lived in Sodom and Gomorrah, the two most corrupt and evil cities in the world. Yet Lot did not compromise, but lived a righteous
life. “if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to
ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and
if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct
of the lawless (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was
tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard) if this
is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the
unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.” 2 Peter 2:6-9.
III THE TRUTH ALWAYS SETS US FREE. (Rejoicing
in truth)
In a highly skeptical and pluralistic world, for anyone to say that “The truth always sets us free” is rather scandalous. Such a bold statement begs us this question: “What is Truth?” Over 2000 years ago, a Roman governor asked a
man who was condemned to be executed
“What is Truth? The irony was that the man who claimed to be the truth was standing right in front of the governor, yet he did
not know that truth is not a concept but is a person named Jesus. Many people seek the truth, yet when they come face to face with it, they have a hard time believing it and an even harder time accepting it.
Yet many others have had an encounter with the truth and have been saved. Jesus
said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except
through me.” John 14:6.
Paul wrote to the Thessalonian
believers, that they were to be thankful for this great gift of salvation “But
we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because
God chose you as first fruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.” 2 Thess 2:13. Our faith in the truth has
saved us and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit goes on throughout our
lives unless we resist the work of the Holy Spirit. Those of us who have been
saved by grace, let’s continue to rejoice with the truth.
Let us remember, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us. When we called upon his name, Christ forgave our many sins and made us
righteous in Him. As Christ forgave our sins, we too are called to forgive those who have offended us and not to keep a record of their wrongdoings. Though we
live in a wicked society, we are neither to practice nor to delight in evil,
but to pray for our friends and neighbors and live a righteous life as best as
possible.
Finally, we are called to rejoice
with the truth because the truth always sets us free from our bondage. I want
to close with these words of Peter to the believers who were being persecuted
for their faith. I Peter 5:10-11, “And the God of all grace, who called you to
his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will
himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast. To him be the
power forever and ever. Amen
