2 Thess 1:3, Love Is the Only Journey to Truth.

Class Outline:

Sunday June 11, 2023

Theme: In 1CO 13:6, love rejoices with the truth. This shows us that with agape, we can learn the truth unhindered by any desire to protect self-interests. In agape love, we are free.

1. Without God’s agape love, all I do amounts to nothing.
   1. 1CO 13:1-3 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
   2. For God’s way or manner to be our way, we have to choose it as vital to living and we have to participate in it.
      1. The road of God - the new and living way of Christ.
      2. The road of self - ultimately for self-interests.
   3. Human love [EROS] is ultimately a miscible solution of good deeds, strong feelings, and self-interests.
2. The key to consistent learning and maturing in the truth of eternal life is agape love.
   1. 1CO 13:4-7 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
   2. “Love joyfully celebrates the truth.
      1. Agape removes power interests of self from the center and centers God and others.
      2. Imagine this person: He waits patiently, always waiting for the right timing that will secure the welfare of another. He is warm, generous, and welcoming of all others, even his enemy. His ambition is the Lord’s will which gives him perfect peace. He never talks about his achievements, he is approachable by all, giving to all. When he is insulted or provoked, he responds with kindness, always considering how he can help his attacker see the light of Christ. In every situation he knows how to act with virtue and integrity and he does so. He is always alert and sober to the need of the moment and others around him. He does not seek himself but is alert to others. He seeks God’s will for their needs. Sometimes others try to get under his skin, but he has no self that he seeks to protect. He does not keep an account of the wrongs done to him. His hope is that all change and see the wonderful life of Christ. When others do wrong, he has sorrow for their sake. He has no desire to rebuke, even when it is justified. And because his heart is so very free from self and filled with the love of God, the growth of his wisdom has no impediments, and he is very wise. He loves the Lord and he loves the Lord’s creation. He longs to be home with the Lord, but until that time his ambition is to be pleasing to his Lord.
      3. Imagine this person: If you do not do what he expects in the time that he expects it, and hope of his help is gone. He is often cold. He may give to you but his heart is always keeping a record of it. He will expect in return for what he has given. He looks at what other have and how they are and compares them with himself, seeking how to be better, higher, greater. He is jealous and intimidated by our first person. When he does something well he is sure to tell you about it, relishing his own part in his story. His portrayal of himself is inflated and embellished just enough to show himself great. A good portion of his conversation is about himself. Because he is at the center, he can be ill-mannered in situations that call for integrity. He seeks himself in public and in social settings. He is often tired and anxious from having to protect his self-interests. He is provoked when his self-regard is wounded, whether real of imagined. Of all of these perceived hurts to himself, he keeps a running account and treats the people in his life accordingly. If he finds someone truly in the wrong, he relished the opportunity to rebuke them, all the better if it’s in public. This person knows little of the truth of life.
3. Application: Which heart would you like?
   1. God gave the church the example of the Exodus so that we would understand that there has to be a journey through the wilderness for us all. It will not be easy for any one of us. That journey is designed to make us trust in God and His word so that we will see the truth of eternal life for ourselves, each one of us.
      1. 1CO 10:11-13 Now these things [experience of the Exodus] happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. 12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able [that means everything in your life, including yourself], but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.
      2. You have to see eternal life for yourself. Eternal life is agape love.
      3. HEB 4:2 the word they heard did not profit them [Exodus], because it was not united by faith in those who heard.
   2. Truth can be plainly seen only when we are disengaged from our personal power agenda.
      1. It is a daily battle to grab hold of eternal life. Eternal life loves with agape.
         1. 1TI 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called,