Acceptable Worship Part 1: Love One Another

And if you would open up your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 13, I'm going to read 1-6.

Hebrews 13 · chapter mention

By the way, scholars think of Hebrews 13 as kind of the epilogue of the book.

We've come to the last chapter of the book of Hebrews, and it is a series of commands.

And so this morning we're going to take the commands in the section 1-6.

There are five of them.

And then next week we're going to look at the commands starting in verse 7.

Hear the word of God.

Let brotherly love continue.

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Remember those who were in prison as though in prison with them.

And those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.

Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled,

for God will judge thee sexually immoral and adulterous.

Keep your life free from the love of money, and be content with what you have.

For he has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you, so we can say confidently,

the Lord is my helper.

I will not fear.

What can man do to me?

Praise God.

One of my favorite local parks has already been mentioned, Petrifying Springs.

I was recently there, and when I was there, there were multiple cross-country teams that were practicing together.

So they would gather, they would warm up, and then they would go run off at a pack.

They'd come back, cool down, and they did it all together.

Cross-country is not a team sprint.

It's a team endurance race.

The church were part of a team endurance race.

Those cross-country teams, they ran long, and they ran together all the way to the end.

And so the church, we are to run long, and we are to run together.

A couple weeks ago, when we were in Hebrews chapter 12, 1, John read it this morning.

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

We learned that there's been a race that has been marked out for us.

We're to run it with endurance.

And so the Christian life is not a sprint.

It's a marathon.

And the good news is that we're to do this together.

Hebrews, the whole epistle is one long exhortation to Christians to hold fast to Christ all the way to the end.

And we're not to run this race alone.

We're to run this race together.

We run long, and we run together.

Or another way to say it is, we run long, and we run loving.

We run long, and we run loving.

In Hebrews 13, 1 through 6, there are five commands.

But there's a relationship between the commands.

Command number one, which is in Hebrews 13, 1, where you read, let brotherly love continue.

It governs the four that follow.

And so there's this command, let brotherly love continue.

And then that is spelled out in how that looks in the four commands that follow.

So five points this morning.

First one, be loving.

Second, be loving through hospitality.

Third, be loving through remembering those who are suffering.

Fourth, be loving by honoring marriage.

Fifth, be loving by being content.

We run long, and we run loving.

Our salvation is bound up together.

So let's look at this first command.

The command that is governing all the commands in this section.

The command to be loving.

Let brotherly love continue.

The Greek word for brotherly love, which is underneath that, if you don't know, the New Testament was written in, it's called Koine Greek.

And it's a very interesting word.

But you already know this word.

It's the name of a city on the East Coast.

It's the eastern city in Pennsylvania.

It's the city of brotherly love.

Can you name it?

You know a Greek word.

That's the Greek word here.

Philadelphia.

Phylos means love.

Adelphos, Adelphia, means brotherly.

And in antiquity, that word was almost exclusively used for biological siblings.

But the Christian church co-opted it.

We made it our own.

In order to describe the kind of love that we are to have for one another.

It's a familial love.

We've co-opted it because Jesus has radically reoriented and reprioritized our relationships around him.

At the end of Mark 3, you don't need to turn there.

But Jesus' mother and brothers come to where Jesus is.

Jesus is teaching his disciples.

They're in this house.

His mother and brothers come because they came to take him away because they think he's out of his mind.

Well, they come and there's some disciples that greet them at the door.

And those few disciples come back and they say to Jesus,

Jesus, your mother and your brothers are here.

And then Jesus says to them,

Who are my mother and my brothers?

And then looking to all of the disciples in this house who are sitting at his feet, learning from him.

He says, Here are my mother and my brothers.

For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and my sister and my mother.

And that little teaching, that little snippet, Jesus radically reorients our relationships around him as Christians.

He becomes the controlling center, not just of all of our, like, lives, but all of our relationships.

Both personally and corporately.

So our biological relationships are, yes, always will be important.

But this is a claim, a radical claim, saying that our Christological relationships are even more important.

Because that's what the blood of Christ has done.

The idea of love biblically is very different than our cultural idea of this.

In 1984, Tina Turner, anybody know that name?

Released a song, What's Love Got to Do With It?

I have been forbidden by my wife to sing that song.

But maybe you can finish this.

What's love got to do with it?

What's love but a secondhand emotion?

Biblical love is not a secondhand emotion.

Biblical love is a costly commitment to do good to others.

Think of Jesus' love for you.

Christ, who we've been learning about all throughout the book of Hebrews,

greater than the angels, greater than Moses, greater than the Levitical priesthood,

because he's from the line of Melchizedek.

He's totally God, totally man.

He gave his life for you.

He shed his blood for you.

Once and for all.

To reconcile, to forgive you, to welcome you into God's presence.

Because he loves you.

It's a Niagara kind of love.

Not just once, but ongoing.

Volumous.

Incessantly loving you.

And by that love, he's established a better covenant

that has made the first covenant obsolete.

This is the love standard.

Remember John chapter 13, 34 and 35?

John 13 · chapter mention

If you want to turn there in your Bibles, please do.

It's on page 1070 of your Pew Bible.

Jesus has just washed his disciples' feet.

It's just hours from the cross.

And he says,

That's the standard by which we love one another.

That's the command here in 13.1.

This brotherly love.

This Philadelphia.

We're to love one another with a costly Jesus Christ kind of love.

Self-sacrificial love for the good of others.

And when we love each other like Christ, it gets noticed.

Look at verse 35.

By this love, all people will know that you are my disciples.

If you have this Christ-like sacrificial love for one another.

This let brotherly love continue.

This is huge.

And I want to make one more connection for you before we move on to point two.

In Hebrews 12, verse 28, we read this.

Hebrews 12:28

Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

And thus, let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe.

For our God is a consuming fire.

Let brotherly love continue.

The connection is this.

We as a church offer acceptable worship to God by loving one another.

Our love for each other is the worship of God.

It's a way we walk in holiness.

Think of our love for one another as holiness in motion.

It's a way we run long.

We run loving.

Our salvation is bound up together, brothers and sisters.

That is the controlling command of this passage.

And now we move to point two.

How that love shows up.

We love by showing hospitality.

Look at 13.2.

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers.

Listen to this.

For thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

That for, for by some, that's the reason why we should show hospitality.

For thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Angels are real.

It's, it's pointing to two passages in the book of Genesis.

Genesis 18, where Abraham and Sarah entertain angels unaware.

They were incredibly hospitable to these angels.

And then in Genesis 19, Lot, he shows hospitality to two angels that he was unaware of two angels.

And we know that angels are messengers of God.

They are God's servants.

They do God's will.

And so this hospitality, you could be entertaining angels.

By showing hospitality.

What is this hospitality?

Well, I'm going to teach you another Greek word.

Not Philadelphia.

It's philozenias.

Philozenias.

There's an X there.

Philo, love, zineas.

Zenos.

That means stranger.

Hospitality is love for the stranger.

Love for the outsider.

Have you heard the word xenophobia?

Fear of the outsider.

That's not us.

We are to love the stranger.

Love the outsider.

But the question we need to ask right here now is, what stranger does the author of Hebrews

has in mind?

Who's he talking about?

Well, remember, 13.1 is governing this passage.

Let brotherly love continue.

So it's most likely that the people that the writer of Hebrews, God has in mind here, are

those strangers who are Christians who are outside of the church that he's writing to,

that the author is writing to.

So they would be strangers to that church.

But they're Christians.

It's a way of loving brothers and sisters in the faith.

We love non-Christians, obviously.

We care for them.

We're hospitable to them.

But the emphasis here is on Christians.

It's showing a biblical, costly hospitality, a love of other Christians who are outside

the church.

And you may be wondering, what does that look like?

Well, I got three examples of what that can look like.

First is, we can show hospitality to Christian workers who are outside of our church.

Whether they're mission partners or other Christians who are seeking to expand the kingdom,

we get to show them love.

We get to be hospitable to them.

Do you remember in the New Testament, maybe you're familiar with the book of Acts, how Paul

and Silas and Timothy, even Apollos, would travel and would preach and minister.

And they would go around all these different areas around the Mediterranean basin in the first

century.

Do you know who was putting them up?

Local churches.

They're opening their homes.

They're sharing their food.

They're providing their needs.

It was a way of showing hospitality.

And so we get to show hospitality in a similar way by mission partners.

Alliance would be one.

We get to pray for them.

We get to relationally support them.

We get to give financially to them.

And then when a gospel worker comes to visit, we open our homes.

We share our food.

We loan out our cars.

Recently, G-1 and Caitlin Rye were in town.

They were former members of the church.

They're in Nepal right now.

They're doing great gospel work.

And our family put them up.

It was a joy to share our home and to share meals together.

So we get to show hospitality to gospel workers.

That's one way we apply this.

Another way to apply it is showing hospitality to newcomers on a Sunday morning.

Now, if you're a newcomer this Sunday morning, I know this has the potential of being awkward.

But you can bear with us.

And sometimes it's not always obvious if a newcomer is a Christian or not.

But here's how this rolls on a Sunday morning.

When we have gathered together and we see a new face among us, it's an opportunity for us to be hospitable.

To move to the new face.

To get to know them.

Get to know their names.

Get to know their stories.

Ask good get to know you questions.

And then introduce this newcomer to others.

Even to invite them to your home.

It's just another way in which we can love people who are outside.

Love them inside.

The final way in which we can be hospitable is a little more fine-tuned.

Because it's not just outside of the church.

This one is kind of within the church.

It's loving those brothers and sisters who are culturally different than us.

There's this general principle that we will gravitate towards people who are like us culturally.

That's not bad.

We'll gravitate to people who we share a similar racial background, economic background, neighborhood, interest, stage of life, even how we dress.

But that cannot hold us hostage.

We need to love beyond that.

We need to love those who we would think maybe naturally are outsiders.

Love them in.

From the very beginning, Christ the King Church has believed something wonderful.

And here's what it is.

We believe that God gets a glory when a homogenous group of people gather to praise Him.

God is glorified.

But we also believe that God gets a unique glory when He brings together people who are different from each other.

And they learn to love one another.

In the world's eyes, that is kind of like what is going on there.

And what is going on there is the love of God.

We love each other in a way that doesn't make sense to the world.

Because we love each other with a Christ-like love.

It's a hospitality.

It's a love for the stranger.

And it's just another way we run long by loving one another.

The next point is we love by remembering those who are suffering.

In 13.3 we read this.

Remember those who are in prison as though in prison with them.

And those who are mistreated since you are also in the body.

In verse 3, the author is focusing on two groups of suffering people.

People in prison and people who are being mistreated.

That mistreatment is a physical abuse.

It's getting roughed up.

Don't forget that 13.1 still is governing this.

So let brotherly love continue.

Love other brothers and sisters in Christ.

And so the way to apply this and think about it is we are to be loving.

We are to be remembering those brothers and sisters in prison.

And those brothers and sisters who are being roughed up physically.

And the idea here is they are suffering for Christ.

Remember this is a church in Hebrews 10.32-34.

Who are suffering for Jesus.

And so he's saying don't forget them.

Don't forget your brothers and sisters who are in jail right now.

Don't forget your brother and sisters who are getting roughed up for Jesus as we speak.

Now we are to remember all people in our midst who are suffering.

But the emphasis is here is especially those who are suffering for Christ.

The temptation will be this.

The temptation will be this.

To disassociate yourself from them.

To like be very cautious to identify with someone who is suffering for a variety of reasons.

But we're told how to remember these people in this passage.

Remember those who are in prison as though in prison with them.

It's putting yourself in their shoes.

Compassion will blossom from this.

It will compel you to act.

And so when you remember a brother or sister who is jailed for suffering for Christ.

And you're like boy I can just imagine what it would be like to be in jail with them.

Then you're going to pray for them.

You're going to help them.

In the first century you would need to bring food to them and care for them.

And for those who are mistreated again we are to put ourselves into their shoes.

And those who are mistreated remember them since you also are in the body.

The idea there is hey you've got a physical body just like they have a physical body.

And if they've got a black eye if they've got broken ribs you can imagine what that's like too.

And the idea there is to generate this remembrance.

This compassion.

This moving to action.

This is how you use your sanctified imagination to put yourself into the shoes of those who are suffering for Christ.

And when you do that it compels you to act.

It's a way of loving.

Did you know that we have brothers and sisters all around the world right now who are suffering for Christ.

They've jailed.

They're getting beat up.

I want to put into your mind a website.

It's an organization called Voice of the Martyrs.

VOM.

You can Google it.

And just FYI.

You are going to be made aware of some very difficult situations globally of Christians.

Brothers and sisters suffering for Jesus.

It is good for us.

It will help us to remember those people who are suffering.

You're going to want to pray.

You may want to give.

I would just encourage you.

But let me just float this by you.

Let's say in five or seven years from now.

Pastor Mike has preached a sermon on biblical marriage.

One man.

One woman.

Joined together by God in an exclusive one flesh relationship for life.

And in saying that I'm saying what the Bible is saying is that even like homosexuality is wrong.

There is fornication is wrong.

These things are grievous in God's sight.

And then that week I get arrested because it's seen as a hate crime.

What are you going to do?

Are you going to distance yourself from me?

Because you don't want to be seen in a particular light.

Or are you going to put yourself in my shoes?

Are you going to put yourself in Jenny's shoes?

And are you going to be compelled to act?

The emphasis here is on those suffering for Christ.

And it might be a little hard for us to conceive of in our country at this time.

But not so difficult.

We need to remember too that there are people suffering for other things.

Their physical bodies.

Mental health.

Relational strain.

Job loss.

What's love got to do with it?

It's got everything to do with it.

We run long.

And we run loving.

Our salvation is bound up together.

The next way.

This is point four.

The way we love each other.

Love the brothers.

Brothers.

Is by honoring.

Marriage.

It's in verse four.

Let marriage be held in honor among all.

And let the marriage bed be undefiled.

For God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.

Now this might sound strange in your ears.

You might be wondering.

How.

How does this work?

How is it that all of us.

By honoring marriage.

Is a way.

By which we love one another.

Maybe you've never.

Thought of it.

Like this before.

Let's just define some terms.

The phrase honor.

Let marriage be held in honor among all.

All of us.

Are to honor marriage.

We are to hold it in high esteem.

We're to make much of it.

We're to celebrate it.

We're to celebrate when people get married.

And then when we.

We celebrate when people stay married.

For 20 years.

And 30 years.

And 40 years.

And 50 years.

And 60 years.

And 70 years.

We recommend it.

We urge it.

And we do all these things.

Because.

It's good.

God's design.

Of marriage.

Is good.

And it is a good gift.

For all.

Of humanity.

It is.

His.

Way.

In which.

He wants to.

Establish.

A planet.

That is experiencing.

Shalom.

In relationships.

We got to be clear.

On what biblical marriage is.

Let me just say up front.

We are to honor.

God's.

Design.

Of marriage.

If you want to turn in your Bibles.

To Genesis chapter 2.

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

That's on page 2.

2 and 3.

Of your pew Bible.

We start.

Hearing.

A biblical definition.

Of marriage.

Adam.

Adam has been busy.

He's been naming.

All of the animals.

And as he's been naming.

The animals.

He's been naming.

The male animal.

And the female animal.

And he's being made aware.

That he has no female.

Counterpart himself.

So in verse 18.

The Lord says.

And this is before.

There's any sin in the world.

It is not good.

That man should be alone.

I will make him.

A helper.

Fit for him.

And then in verse 22.

And the rib.

That the Lord God.

Had taken from the man.

Adam.

He made into a woman.

And God.

Brought her.

Eve.

To the man.

Adam.

Then the man said.

This at last.

Is bone of my bones.

And flesh of my flesh.

She shall be called woman.

Because she has.

She was taken out of man.

Now I have a funny little interpretation of this.

That you just need to hear right now.

Adam.

Oh man.

It stinks being alone.

Look at all these.

Animals.

Paired off together.

God brings Eve.

Hey Adam.

Look what I made you.

Adam.

Whoa.

Whoa.

Man.

Whoa.

Man.

Whoa man.

He's a happy.

He's a happy guy.

Therefore a man shall leave his father.

And his mother.

And hold fast to his wife.

And they shall become one flesh.

And the man and his wife.

Were both naked.

And were not ashamed.

There's the biblical foundation for marriage.

Here's what I want you to see.

Turn now to Matthew chapter 19.

Matthew 19 · chapter mention

Three through six.

Because Jesus Christ.

Fully endorses this.

I want you to turn there.

So you can see it yourself.

That this is God's good design and will for marriage.

In Matthew 19.

Jesus is getting peppered with a question about divorce.

But we can see here what he thinks about marriage.

It's what God thinks about marriage.

Because Jesus is God in the flesh.

Matthew 19.

Verses three through six.

And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking.

Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?

Jesus answered.

Have you not read.

That he who created them from the beginning.

Made them male and female.

Genesis 1.

And said.

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother.

And hold fast to his wife.

And the two shall become one flesh.

Genesis 2.24.

So they are no longer two but one flesh.

What therefore God has joined together.

Let not man separate.

This is our king.

Saying what marriage is.

Biblical marriage is one biological man.

And one biological woman.

Joined together by God.

In an exclusive one flesh union.

For life.

It's the standard.

This is God's one holy true standard.

For marriage.

And any deviation from it.

Any change of its definition.

Is a distortion.

It's a perversion.

It's a counterfeit.

In it's unloving.

To be involved in these kinds of relationships.

Is actually unloving.

Did you know that the secret service.

Is responsible for identifying.

And purging counterfeit currencies.

In the United States.

And did you know.

That the primary way.

Secret service agents.

Are trained.

To spot counterfeits.

Is by becoming incredibly familiar.

More than anybody else.

What U.S.

Currency is like.

And so.

If you went to a.

Secret service agent.

Who's in the counterfeit division.

And you said.

Hey.

Do you know what.

A hundred dollar bill looks like.

They'll be like.

Of course I do.

I mean.

All variations of hundred dollar bills.

For the last 40.

50 years.

Anything in.

In.

In circulation right now.

I know.

And then.

You might say.

Well do you know.

What they smell like.

Of course.

I know what.

A hundred dollar bill smells like.

Do you know what they feel like.

Of course.

I know what they feel like.

Do you know.

They sound like.

Oh.

I know what a hundred dollar bill.

Sounds crumpled.

And I know what a ten dollar bill.

Sounds like crumpled.

And a five dollar bill.

And a one dollar.

Okay.

Okay.

Do you know what they taste like.

Oh.

I know.

What they taste like.

They know the real stuff.

So well.

That they can spot.

A counterfeit.

A mile away.

And what this biblical definition.

Of marriage does.

It gives us the real stuff.

So that we can spot.

Counterfeits.

This biblical definition.

Is not just.

Something we know.

It's something we celebrate.

It's something we rejoice in.

Because this is God's.

Good design.

And then you can spot.

Counterfeits.

As a result.

The Bible calls it.

Sin.

You are rebelling.

Against God.

And there's two categories.

Given in this verse.

Sexual immorality.

And adultery.

Sexual immorality.

Is just.

General sexual sin.

Adultery.

Is when.

A spouse.

Is sexually.

Unfaithful.

Let me just fill that out.

A little bit.

Here are other ways.

Other.

Other ways.

That are outside.

This.

Good.

Definition of marriage.

What God has given us.

Homosexuality.

Is grievous.

In God's sight.

Because it's outside.

This definition.

Fornication.

When two non-married people.

Are engaging.

In sexual activity.

It's.

Grievous.

In God's sight.

Polygamy.

Open marriages.

Pornography.

Consumption.

It's all outside.

Of God's good design.

And what these do.

Is they distort.

This good gift.

And they defile.

Those.

Who participate in it.

Don't defile.

The marriage bed.

How is honoring marriage.

Loving.

To one another.

Because.

It's acceptable worship.

We love.

One another.

To this.

Acceptable.

Worship.

Of God.

In which we are.

Stewarding our bodies.

In a way that.

God has told us.

To steward them.

We love.

One another.

It is good.

Don't.

Dabble.

In anything.

Outside.

Of God's.

Goodness.

This is what we encourage.

One another to do.

So if you are.

Participating.

In any distortion.

Of God's good gift.

Of marriage.

You defiled yourself.

You've sinned.

Against God.

You need to confess.

And repent.

There's a warning.

Here.

And there's a reason.

Why there's a warning.

Here.

The warning.

Is simply this.

God will judge.

The.

Sexually immoral.

In a.

In adulterer.

If you are.

Unwilling.

To repent.

Of your sexual sin.

The danger.

That you are in.

Is whether you're even.

A Christian.

This can be the cause.

By which people.

Fall away.

And show that they were never.

Believers to begin with.

And you know.

There's another effect.

Of sexual sin.

It's hiding.

It's avoidance.

It's shame.

One of the great schemes.

Of the devil.

In our day.

To hamstring the church.

From effective service.

Is by hamstringing.

Half the men.

Of the evangelical church.

Into the sin.

Of pornography.

Effectively taking them out.

Of making disciples.

Of Jesus.

Who worship God.

In the context.

Of the local church.

This is serious business.

We.

We love one another.

By honoring marriage.

Calling each other.

To that.

And helping each other.

Fight.

The fight.

Here.

We.

Run long.

And we.

Run.

Loving.

Our salvation.

Is.

Bound up.

Together.

Finally.

We.

Point five.

We love.

We love.

By.

Being content.

You might wonder.

Wait.

How does being content.

And not.

Not loving money.

How.

How does this have anything to do with.

Loving one another.

Well.

Similar to marriage.

It may not sound.

Seem.

Straightforward at first.

But.

Hear it out.

There's another philo.

Word here.

In verses five and six.

Keep your life free from the love of money.

The word love of money.

In the original language is.

Phy the.

Argiros.

It's.

The love of silver.

It literally means.

The love of money.

It goes by other words in your new testament.

It goes by greed.

It goes by covetousness.

This.

In this.

In this verse.

In verse five.

It's actually.

Ah.

Phyllo.

Agurus.

Which means.

Not the love of money.

We are not to love money.

But we are to be content.

With what we have.

The love of money.

Is when.

Money.

Possessions.

Things.

Becomes the controlling center.

Of your life.

Even your relationships.

It's not good.

In Matthew six.

Nineteen through twenty four.

In the sermon on the mount.

Jesus.

Presents the love of money.

And the love of God.

As mutually.

Exclusive.

You can.

You can only have one master.

Six twenty four.

You can't love both.

You can only have one.

Functional.

God.

That's why Paul.

In Colossians three.

Five.

Equates.

Covetousness.

With idolatry.

Love of money.

Is not acceptable.

Worship to God.

It's idolatrous.

In his sight.

And.

For your reference.

In first Timothy six.

Six through ten.

There is a stark.

Warning.

For all.

Who are tempted.

To the love of money.

And just.

To be clear.

Both rich people.

And poor people.

Are tempted.

To the love of money.

We learn from that passage.

That.

Money.

Is not the root.

Of all evil.

But the love.

Of money.

Is a root.

Of all evil.

It is a heart.

Issue.

And what are some of those evils?

If you're loving money.

More than you love God.

You can neglect.

Important things.

You can neglect.

Your marriage.

You can neglect.

Raising your children.

You can.

Neglect your life.

In a church.

You can.

Manipulate.

Lie.

Compromise.

Hoard.

Take on debt.

Sexually.

Exploit people.

Do you know what is at the heart.

Of the porn industry.

Love.

Of money.

Christian.

You can't.

Love money.

And love God.

You can only.

Have one.

Greatest love.

Of your heart.

And that's why it's loving.

To be content.

With what you have.

That's why it's acceptable.

Worship.

To be satisfied.

With what God.

Has provided you.

Means you're satisfied.

In.

God.

Your one.

True love.

Love.

In this passage.

There's.

Two.

Two Old Testament.

Quotations.

To.

Kind of.

Give grounding.

To this idea.

Of contentment.

Be free from the love.

Of money.

Be content.

With you have.

With what you have.

Why?

For he said.

To Moses.

And to Joshua.

I will never leave you.

Nor forsake you.

He said that to you.

He's saying that to you.

And me.

I'm never going to bail on you.

This Jesus.

Who has created all things.

And sustains all things.

Through the word of his power.

Thank you Hebrews 1.

He says.

I'm never going to leave you.

Nor forsake you.

I'm going to provide everything you need.

And on that grounds.

We can say.

I don't need.

To love money.

Because my God.

Will never leave me.

And that's why.

We can say in response.

Psalm 118.

The Lord is my helper.

I will not fear.

What can man do to me?

The idea behind that is.

Remember.

This is a church.

That has been plundered.

Of their property.

And they're saying.

Being said here.

Even if your stuff is taken away.

God is your helper.

He's never going to leave you.

He's going to forsake you.

He'll provide for all of your needs.

A need is something necessary.

To life.

And to function.

A want is something.

Unnecessary.

To life.

And function.

And when you start making this distinction.

Between needs and wants.

It will begin to have.

This effect.

God has richly.

Gone above and beyond.

To not just meet your every need.

But your wants as well.

Which fuels trust.

Which fuels this idea of.

I do not need money.

I don't.

That is not the controlling center of my life.

Christ is.

Brothers and sisters.

The love of money.

Will steal your heart.

From offering acceptable worship.

To God.

God.

It crowds out your heart.

So you got to repent of it.

And you got to confess.

Jesus.

As the treasure.

Over all things.

The love of money.

Not only compromises.

Your love for God.

But love for your brothers and sisters.

And so contentment.

Is being satisfied.

With what you got.

And then using your wealth.

To love others.

If you want to repent of this.

You repent in your heart.

And you say.

God.

You are my one treasure.

And then you say.

What do I need to live?

And then you start giving stuff away.

You're just being generous.

And radically so.

You will find yourself.

Freed.

From the love of money.

You're walking by faith.

The Lord is my helper.

Petrifying Springs.

Cross country teams.

Run long.

Run together.

We run long.

We run together.

By loving one another.

Sacrificially.

Showing hospitality.

Remembering the suffering.

By honoring marriage.

Sexual sin is unloving.

By being content.

Greed is unloving.

This is how we offer to God.

The acceptable worship.

He deserves.

He deserves.

And how we do that together.

We don't run this race alone.

We run together.

We run long.

We run loving.

Our salvation.

Is bound up together.

Let's pray.

God in heaven.

God in heaven.

We need you.

And now we come to the throne of grace.

The very throne that you have given us access to by the blood of Jesus.

And we come to you in need.

God.

God.

God.

Because we can just disregard other people.

Other brothers and sisters.

We can give ourselves to relationships that are grievous in your sight.

We can love money more than you.

And we need your help.

Your grace.

In times of need.

So that we would be faithful to you.

And faithful to each other.

God would you help us.

To run this race you've marked out for us.

To run it with endurance.

And to run together in love for one another.

In Jesus name we pray.

Amen.