1 Corinthians Week 7 • 1 Corinthians 8

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Good morning. Glad that you guys are with us. If you've got your Bible, go ahead and open

up to 1 Corinthians chapter 8 is where we'll be. Hit me this morning. I hope that the springtime

1 Corinthians 8 · chapter mention

weather is going to hang out with us for a little bit. Got here to the church this morning,

and at some point in time, Rodney had poured some water out into the parking lot, and as

water will do, it ran downhill, and then it formed a little puddle there at a part of the

parking lot. And sitting there on top of that puddle was a nice, thick layer of pollen, all

right? So it's springtime in South Carolina. We don't pay attention to the groundhogs. We

pay attention to the pollen, and it's here, all right? So it is good to have you guys here

with us. We are taking the Lord's Supper today. And so if you did not grab your elements as

you came in, please take this opportunity right now to head back to the back and grab those.

I promise we won't mock you, laugh at you, do anything. Just slide on back there and get

those. And at the end of the message, we will be partaking in the Lord's Supper together

as a church. I want to continue to encourage you. We are going to have our marriage conference

March 25th and 26th here at Willow Ridge Church. We're excited about that. I know for so many of

you, marriage conferences have been an important part of your marriage in building and strengthening

and understanding what God has for you. And we've got a wonderful Friday evening and Saturday

till a little bit after lunchtime from that morning of time for us to spend together as couples

diving into God's word, hearings from some phenomenal men and women of the Lord as they talk about

their marriage and how God is using difficult seasons, difficult times to draw them closer

to him. And as a result, drawing them closer to each other. Right now, it's all video based

through Right Now Media. And I had somebody ask me last week, I said, they asked the question,

they said, is there a general theme for it? And honestly, there's not. It's a marriage conference

that Right Now Media put together for 2020. But as I was just watching these videos over and

over again, as I'm working on some breakouts and some discussion starters for couples to

be able to use in their marriage. One of the themes though, that began to just hit me of how

God is using each and every one of these messages was this, was that as an individual person in

the marriage, how important it is to make the primary relationship in your life your relationship with

Jesus. And how that relationship and the depth of intimacy that we have with the Lord, how that

builds and strengthens our marriage. And there's so many other different aspects of that that these

men and women are going to be sharing with us and talking about. And so I would encourage you,

tickets are $20 a person to get those tickets, to be a part of that. And I'm excited to see how the

Lord's going to use that in our church. But being honest with you, how the Lord's going to use it in

my marriage as well. And so I want to encourage you to be there and to be a part of that. Well, last week,

we took some time at the beginning of the service and prayed about the war that has taken place in

Ukraine. And I shared with you guys that we were going to be praying through and processing, you know,

as a church, like what can we do? How can we come along? And the Lord opened a door for us this past

week with that. One of the things at the very beginning, as we started going through 1 Corinthians,

it talked about how the body was perfectly equipped and gifted for the work that God had for it.

And this past week was evident of that for me, about how Willow Ridge has been perfectly

equipped to be the church God has called us to be, as we've been able to form a partnership with a

Moldovian church that is ministering and caring for refugees. And that perfect equipping happened

well before this couple came to our church. I don't know, many of you know Matt and Tricia Evans. I

don't know that many of you necessarily know, unless you've known Matt and Tricia for a while,

that Matt and Tricia Evans previously served in Moldova with the IMB.

That long before Matt and Tricia were at Willow Ridge Church, they were missionaries on the mission

field. And as a result of their years of working on the ground, planning churches, equipping pastors

and working with them, they've kept that network, those friendships and those relationships. Some of

those pastors and friends that they've met have journeyed in, and I know pastor specific churches to

reach those particular people groups in various parts of our country. But a lot of those pastors

remain in countries like Moldova, where they're continuing to minister. If you're unfamiliar with

Moldova, it's not a country that gets talked about a lot, but it is a country that was a part of the

Soviet Union. If you're looking at the map, the global map of Ukraine, and you look to the southwest corner of

Ukraine, the country that borders it right there, is the country of Moldova. And Matt has been able to

continue on in his partnerships, and one of those has come through a pastor by the name of Constantine.

Matt shared with me today that they refer to him as Costi, and so we'll talk about Pastor Costi,

who pastors a manual church in the town of Belts, Moldova. Belts is spelled B-A-L-T-I, pronounced like

plural, what I've got around my waist, belts. I know, but that's what it is, right? So we had this

wonderful opportunity to connect with him. This church is taking in refugees. Refugees who are

fleeing from the war that is there, and if you're, again, if you've been watching and been tracking,

the area that will access into Moldova is the area that is taken over for the most part by Russian

occupation right now. And they're bringing these families into their church, but also bringing these

families into their homes. So we in the United States have already began to feel an economic burden, right?

I mean, there's lots of burdens that are going on, but let's be honest, one of the burdens that we're

feeling is an economic burden as a result of a lot of things that are happening and taking place

all over the world, but with what's taking place also in the Ukraine. And as a result of that,

we feel that, right? We feel that when we look at the account balance. We feel that when we look at

the gas pump. But could you imagine living in a country where you're feeling that burden economically

from your pocket, but now on top of that, you're not trying to figure out how to provide for your

family of four, but you're now trying to figure out how to provide for your family of four who's brought

on a family of six, who prior to that you may or may not have known. I want to show you all some

pictures that are going to be up here on the screen. Right here, this, the guy in the middle, this is

Pastor Costi, and on either side of him, he's got some refugees who have made their way over.

Let's go and show the next one. This is another family, right, that's been welcomed into their home.

Right, I mean, it just looks like the family from the neighborhood, right? Mom, dad, kids, and

everybody that's there. Another family that's come in. Let's go ahead and show the next one.

All right, this picture is beautiful. And what makes this beautiful is there's nothing that says

family like a group of people gathering around a table. And we don't know, like if we were just to

set that picture out of context, we could think, oh, there's just a bunch of, just a bunch of

families just, just there, but it's a bunch of different refugees representing different families

who are there having a meal. Let's go and show the next picture. Every country has the equivalent of

Sam's, all right? And what you see here, and I don't know if you can tell, but they're on the baby

aisle. And over here on the left, you see Huggies, all right? And this is a representative from the

church, coming to buy, from Emanuel Church, coming to buy supplies for the church and for the families

that are going to be there. And show, wouldn't show the next picture. And this was a video that I had

hit a screenshot, and Matt pronounced it for me this morning of what this is. And Matt, I apologize,

buddy, but in 10 minutes I've forgotten, all right? I know it sounded like it started with a P and ended

with like five letters that I can't piece together right now. But this is outside. This is actually at

the border of Moldova and Ukraine. And this is a group from the church there that's there preparing

food to give to the refugees who are coming across the border so they can have a hot meal, all right?

So, we want to continue to pray for all that's going on, but we want to also partner with the

church that's there. And so I want to kind of share with you guys to what we're looking at doing and

what we hope to continue to be able to do. This month, what we've already been able to do this past

week is we sent $2,000 to this church so this church could continue to buy the supplies and the

things that they need. And what we've committed to, as long as the need is there and as long as the

Lord moves in that direction, is for us to continue to send about $1,000 each month moving forward to

help out with the assistance in this church. And we love the fact that we can do this, and we love the

fact that we can do this through the partnerships and through relationships that we have within our

church. I do want to share a couple things with you guys as we look at this. Number one, when we start

the budget process, we start our budget process in summertime, and we're unaware that this was going

to be happening or taking place. And so if you go look at the Willow Ridge budget, the amount of money

that we need is not accounted for in the budget. And our plan is to provide this while continuing to

provide for the plan that we laid forward for the ministries that we partner with, but also the ministries

that we have within our church. And so the plan is to continue on without taking away. And we believe that

God will provide. We believe that God will provide and take care, and we're excited about that. But the check

that we need to have with ourselves, myself, yourself, and for all of us is in this an opportunity for us to

evaluate our heart. Concerned with finances. I know it's tough right now. I know it's hard. I know a dollar doesn't go

as far as a dollar did. Probably a dollar doesn't go very far for anything right now, right?

Somebody told me like, the 99 cent store is like the $1.25 store now, right?

Right? But for us to check our hearts concerning our finances and the expectation of the Lord

to tithe and to give sacrificially. So we're excited about what God's going to do with the gospel

through this. What God's going to do in this refugee. I talked a little bit about this last week, and I

promise we're going to jump into our message and hopefully go full circle with this. But the concept

of refugee was not in my brain as a child. It was not in my brain as a teenager. And we got a generation

now who are growing up with the thought of refugee. That term refugee is something that they know.

And when we hear refugee, we hear refugee crisis. War breaks out in Syria. Refugee crisis.

Persecution breaks out in Bangladesh. And so there's a crisis. War breaks out in the Ukraine. So there's

a crisis. And I believe they are crisis. But what God does and what God gives us the ability to do

through the power and the leading of the Holy Spirit is to take what is a crisis and to see that it is

an opportunity. As men and women from all over the world are being mobilized and we have an opportunity

for the gospel. For just one illustration really quickly how God's used this in our area. That right

now in Columbia, South Carolina, been here and are still coming here are refugees from Syria, Iraq,

and Afghanistan who have felt the burden and the persecution that is faced under the oppressive rule

of Islam. And to take the gospel to where they are and many faithful men and women have could mean your

life. But a crisis is created and they flee. And now in less than six miles from where we sit this

morning are Syrian, Iraqi, and Afghan refugees whose doors and lives are open and opportunity for men and

women like us to share the gospel with them. If we'll take what the world says is a crisis

and look at it as an opportunity. And so as I watch the news my heart breaks for the men and the women

and children of Ukraine who are fleeing. But as we think through this through the power of what God wants

to do we have to ask ourselves this question is this a crisis or is this an opportunity? And what we're

seeing is through Pastor Acosti in the men and women and children of Emanuel Church, God's providing us an

opportunity. Let's pray. Lord, we come to you this morning. We thank you for the wonderful privilege and

opportunity we have to share your gospel all over this world. Lord, I know the strain that many of us are

feeling right now. The strain of finances, the strain of concern, the strain of worry.

But Lord, as we go through this, I pray what comes from this is a maturity, is a strengthening

of trust in you and in you alone. Lord, we continue to lift up prayers for those

being affected by this war that has taken place.

Lord, we ask that you work and that you move in such a powerful way that everyone will be clear and

evident that it is the hand of God who's at work. We pray for Pastor Acosti and the church, Emanuel Church.

Lord, and the opportunities that they have to minister and to share.

And we thank you for the wonderful opportunity that we have.

Lord, your word says that you work for good for all of those who love you.

And Lord, what we're seeing in the gospel plan and the story of the Lord is years ago, you mobilized the

Evans and you sent them to Eastern Europe to minister and to share. Lord, and beginning to see those

pieces that come place so that in a day like today where we can continue to pour in and see men and

women come to faith. Lord, we thank you and we love you. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

As we look at 1 Corinthians chapter 8, I want to ask a question.

1 Corinthians 8 · chapter mention

Question that, as I wrote it down on my paper in my office this week, has been a question that I've

struggled with. A question that I've wrestled with. A question where the Holy Spirit gets to take me out

back, put a little whooping on me, right, and bring me back in and get me ready for one more.

And the question is this, do I genuinely love? Do I genuinely love? It was a question I read a pastor

who wrote a 25-page chapter in a book about this passage of Scripture, and this is what he brought it

to. He said, do I genuinely love? And what he means by that is you dove through and try to sum it up in

five simple words. What he was driving to is, do I love all people? All people. I'm like you, I love.

I love food. I love family. I love friends. I love sports. I love outdoors. I love. But the hard

check for me in the concept of love is removing the things, focusing on the people, and asking myself,

do I love all people. Because what I find about myself, which probably rings true in your life as

well, is we are good at what I would call selectively loving. Choosing maybe directly or indirectly

those who I think are deserving of my love. Now, I used to say, and the Lord corrected that a little bit

on me this week, is that we tend to love those who do nice things and who love us. But what I found

thinking through that this week is that's not always the case. We don't necessarily limit our

love. There are people that we love who are hurtful and destructful to us, but we still choose to love

them. But yet that we see when we are still within ourselves of who we are as individuals, that I have

a set of expectations that are sinfully buried in my being of who I am, and based off of those

expectations that I set for myself, that I determine for myself, bases off who I love and who I don't.

And it's easy to say, oh man, I love everybody. But the question, do I genuinely, or maybe even

better, do I biblically love all people? Now, Paul's going to address this. He's going to address this

in 1 Corinthians chapter 8. And the area that he's going to address this is this. Do I love to the

1 Corinthians 8 · chapter mention

point where I'm willing to lay down my rights and my freedoms for the sake of others? So in my ability

to love all, am I willing to let that impact me? All right, let's start reading. We're going to read

all the way through 1 Corinthians chapter 8, starting in verse 1. Paul writes, he says,

1 Corinthians 8 · chapter mention

Now, concerning food offered to idols, we know that all of us possess knowledge. And this knowledge

puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as

he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God. Therefore, as to the eating of food

offered to idols, we know that an idol has no real existence, and that there is no God, but one.

For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many

lords, yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom all things and for whom we exist,

in one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. Verse 7, however,

not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really

offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. Food will not commend us to God.

We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. But take care that this right of yours

does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. For if anyone sees you who have knowledge

eating in an idol's temple, will he not be encouraged if his conscience is weak to eat food offered to

idols. And so by your knowledge, this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died.

Thus sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience, when it is weak, you sin against

Christ. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.

So let's look and see what's happening here. What is the offense that is taking place in Corinth?

As we've seen, Paul is dealing with reports and struggles and questions that have come to him

from the people of Corinth. Some of these have been reported to him from a faction within the church

of the division that's there. And what we've been able to draw from Scripture is some of these have come

in the form of the letter of the church saying, hey, answer this question for us. And we don't know which

one this has come from, but this has come to Paul. And it's concerning specifically meat sacrificed to

idols. Now this is going to be for us like a lot of things that we've seen in this letter at the

church of Corinth, right? There's not necessarily a direct correlation that plays out in Lexington,

South Carolina, right? Like when I go to Aldi or Publix, I'm not walking up to like the idol meat

and the non-idol meat, right? Like that's not what we're working with here, right? So what we're

going to do is try to understand what is happening and what is taking place. And there's a lot of

disagreement, but here's what we know. So Corinth was a very pagan place. There was temples to different

gods that were there. And in part of the sacrifice of what people would do is people would bring meat

and this meat would be sacrificed to an idol. Now, I don't know if you've ever been to a temple where

sacrifices like this happen, but I've had the opportunity to go to a couple. I went to one in

Taiwan and one in Hong Kong. And part of the sacrifices that people brought to these temples,

don't worry, I didn't go and bring sacrifices, right? We were in their prayer walking. But as we

were there, what they would do is they would bring fruit. And they would come and they would take the

fruit and they would buy the fruit from the temple. And they would bring the fruit and they'd lay it

down before the statues. And this would be their sacrifice. And I asked, I said, what happens to the

fruit? And they said, well, for a long time it was thrown out. And then the leaders of the church decided

it would be more glorifying to their gods, I said church at the temple, of the gods, if they would just

consume it, right? So I don't know how their sign-ups go for that, but like, you want children's ministry?

You want, I want the food ministry. That's what I want, right? I'm gonna be the guy that eats it all. So that's what they

would, that's what they would do. And so what you've got happening here in Corinth is people would bring

meat as a sacrifice for the idols. Now, here's what it would create. Within the church, it was creating

two different conflicts. Now, I don't mean conflicts in the church that it will lead to. I mean internal

conflicts between individual members of the church. Something that they would need to wrestle with

and figure out for themselves. Because this meat, after he presented, could be taken to the market

and sold. All right? So one of the conflicts that it would create for the members of the Corinthian

church was a financial conflict, right? Should we go to the market and purchase and partake in this

meat? Is this something that we should do? Now, here's part of this. This meat was cheaper.

So can we go buy this meat that's less, right? In most of the places when you became a Christian,

you became ostracized. People stopped partaking in your business that you had. They stopped like you

felt the burden of that, all right? There's almost like religious sanctions that would happen on

Christians. So they're making less money. They're feeling cast out. Now there's an opportunity to save.

So should we buy this meat or shouldn't we? And there would be some people who would say,

yes, there's freedom to do so. And then there'd be others who would say, no, there's not freedom to do

so. Another conflict that it would create is a social conflict. So imagine this. Imagine you're a

Christian and you're living in Corinth and there's a family that you've been witnessing to. And they're

not Christians. And they say to you, would you come to our house and eat with us? And you show up.

And they're definitely buying the meat sacrifice to the idol, right? What do you do? What is the

conflict that's there? What happens and what takes place? Now, what we're going to see is that in these

moments, Paul says, yes, you've got the freedom to do this. They're statues. They're not real.

They don't have power. How many of you, quick survey, I told Joel Van Ham I was going to use this.

Raise your hands if you remember watching the Brady Bunch with the Hawaiian tiki, right? Raise your hand,

right? All right, good, good. There's some of us, so I won't overly dive there. But right, like,

that's not what's happening, right? It's not these statues got power. And to help us, because we don't

live in an understanding of idols, I want to tell you guys a little story. And I brought this statue

in here with me. I got this statue. Aaron and I, after being married for a year, had an opportunity

to go on a mission trip to Zimbabwe. We were there for two weeks. And one day, I'd been at a church and

been doing some preaching and doing some teaching there. And we left, and we were told we wouldn't

be going by a market. And so I left the money locked up in the safe because we were told that's what we

needed to do. But I got some wrong information, okay? And we did stop by a market. Well, I was

there, and we were told, hey, in Zimbabwe, and it's still this way there, it's tough financially,

going through some difficult times. We started, hey, bring food with you because we can't guarantee

that you'll be able to get food every day. And so one of the things that I brought was, if you know

me, you know how much I love a Snickers candy bar, right? So I had my backpack, and I had it filled

with the Snickers candy bars. When I got hungry, I'd pull out a Snickers candy bar. And so we take

off, and we're walking around this market in Zimbabwe, and people are buying things, and they're

buying stuff. And I'm like, I'm hungry, right? Reach in, grab out a candy bar, start eating that candy

bar. And you would have thought I pulled out a million dollar bill, right? Men and women started

coming up to me. They started trying to sell me stuff, and I said, I don't have any money, but they

started pointing to what was in my hand, right? I was like, yeah, I got candy bars, you know?

This is 2005, so I got like 69 cents, you know? I'm rich, right? And so I was like, okay, well,

I got some candy bars. And so I'm like giving out a couple candy bars, and now like the masses are

coming. And people are like bringing stuff. They're like, this for a candy bar. I'm like, okay, that's

pretty cool, right? So it's got an elephant, and got some different animals' heads on there. That'll

look cool. I'll take that. Yeah, thank you. Hand-carved, like that's shoe polish to give it its

stain look, its color. So for the price of a trade of a Snickers candy bar, I got me a statue.

I go back to the hotel, and I'm showing one of the guys that's there, part of the missions team

that brought us in. I'm like, hey, look at my statue. He's like, man, a statue? That's an idol.

Like, what you mean? He's like, no, those represent different little gods, and they'll pray for

them, or pray to them, and do all these kind of things. I said, man, I thought it was a statue.

He said, yeah. And he said this, he said, you probably shouldn't have bought that.

And he goes, we show up in like the Baptist church minivan of Zimbabwe, you know?

And I'm like, yeah, probably not. But for me, it was just a statue. You know, I've had this

statue. It was at our home for years, and then it sat, let me set it back here,

had it in our home for years, and I've had it in my office. It's never moved, right? It's never

talked. It's never like had, like the lights go off and all of a sudden, right, it starts

glowing. It's a piece of wood. But for a group of people that watched a Christian pastor purchase

it, there's the thought in their heart, why is he buying an idol? Why is he buying an idol?

All right?

These idols have no power, and they're not real. And there's some difficulties for us in this.

Because when we see scripture, we see sometimes the Bible draws some hard lines. And by hard,

they can be difficult. But what I mean by hard is defining. Like we talked about last week,

God's standard for marriage. It's there. It's defined. It's clear. It's evident. God's designed

for sex. It's clear. It's evident. But not everything that we see, not everything that we have in here

are these exact same situations. So in these, we sometimes ask ourselves, can I? Can I? Can I do this?

Can I do that? I'm in Corinth. Can I eat the meat? I'm in Zimbabwe. Can I buy the statue?

Can I watch the movie? Can I have the drink? Can I make this purchase? Can I go here? And we ask

ourselves the question, can I? When the truth is, the question, the greater question that Paul has for

us in these moments is, should I? Not can I. It's should I. Right? Could I buy the statue?

Yeah, I could. Could I in that moment with clear conscience and the expectation of the Lord still

haven't found where it says, don't buy the statue? Yeah. But should I? No. I shouldn't have.

Men and women who came in and out of our room cleaning, bringing us food, building relationship,

sharing Christ. Right? Could it create a stumbling block? Absolutely. And what Paul says, the greater

motivation behind can I is the should I, which comes from not some made-up religious standard that we put on

ourselves, but is our love for Christ and my love for others and my love for you to ask the question,

should I? Back at verse 8. Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat.

We're no better off if we do. But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling

block to the weak. That's the concern. Not what can I do. Not what can I get away with. Not what do I have

Paul says, can you? Yes, you can. But your right can cause others to stumble. Verse 10. For if anyone sees you

who have knowledge of eating in an idol's temple, will he not be encouraged if his conscience is weak to eat

food offered to idols? And so by your knowledge, this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom

Christ died. Look at verse 12. Thus sinning against your brother and wounding their conscience when it is

weak, Paul says, you sinned against Christ. You sinned against Christ. And if we are a people

who hate sin, to know that our sin causes them to stumble means that we sin against the Lord.

And so if my freedom causes you to stumble, then it becomes my sin. It becomes my sin. Verse 13.

Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, Paul says, I will never eat meat.

I will never eat meat. I will never eat meat. Can he? Yes. But he's saying, if this is what it's going to lead

to, then I'll walk away. Then I'll walk away. And all of this is done because Paul loves the brother whom he's

never met. This is knowledge puffs up. The stance that these men and women who were eating the meat

sacrificed to the idol, their argument was based in accurate theology.

What I can do. What I can do. What Paul says, but love builds up. What am I willing to lay down for others?

I want to look at a couple passages in Romans. Turn to Romans 12, 9.

We're going to look at love really, really quickly, I promise.

In an understanding, in just a couple of instances where we can see and draw from the writings of Paul

what this genuine biblical love looks like.

All right. I'm going to go ahead and start reading this. It's going to be on the screen.

Romans 12, starting verse 9.

Let love be genuine.

Abhor what is evil. Hold fast to what is good.

Love one another with brotherly affection.

Outdo one another in showing honor.

Do not be slothful in zeal.

Be fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord.

Rejoice in hope.

Be patient in tribulation.

Be constant in prayer.

Contribute to the needs of the saints

and seek to show hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you

and bless and do not curse them.

Rejoice with those who rejoice.

Weep with those who weep.

Live in harmony with one another.

Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.

Never be wise in your own sight.

Repay no one evil for evil.

No one.

But give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.

If possible, so far as it depends on you.

Not them, but you and me.

Live peaceably with all.

Beloved, never avenge yourselves.

But leave it to the wrath of God,

for it is written,

vengeance is mine,

I will repay, says the Lord.

To the contrary,

if your enemy is hungry,

feed him.

If he is thirsty,

give him something to drink.

For by doing so,

you will heat burning coals on his head.

Do not be overcome by evil,

but overcome evil with good.

Just a handful of things,

three things really quickly of what I just want to draw out of this,

that I feel like apply for this,

when we lay down what we can versus what we should,

in meaning to genuinely love,

to let our love be genuine.

Just a handful of things real quick.

Number one,

you and I,

and I'm so guilty of this,

hit me in between the eyes like a hammer this week.

Number one,

we have to remove the I don't care mentality.

What we do impacts people,

whether it's right or it's wrong.

And if it's right,

we should still do it.

All right?

I'm not saying that.

Truth is truth.

But when it hurts others,

we have to have a sense in our heart that cares.

It doesn't mean we have to take it back,

but we have to care.

And so too often,

we want to stand behind a falseness of this confidence that we have of truth

and say,

well,

when it hurts you,

I don't care.

And we have to remove the I don't care.

Paul says,

rejoice with those who rejoice,

weep with those who weep.

We have to remove the I don't care mentality.

Number two,

we have to stop giving selfish love.

We have to stop giving selfish love.

Loving those who we feel like are worthy and deserving of our love.

Only.

We've got to stop giving selfish love.

Paul says,

bless those who persecute you.

Bless them.

Bless them.

Encourage them.

Pour it out on them.

Love them with all you have.

Make them think you're so stinking weird,

they don't know what to do with it.

All right?

Bless them.

Bless them.

And here's something that God taught me this week.

Loving others is trusting God.

Loving others is trusting God.

Paul says,

repay no one evil.

Now,

sometimes I feel like we determine that we are judge,

jury,

and executioner.

They've done this,

and so I'm righteous to then do this.

They've done this to me,

so then I'm going to lash out to them.

And we take where we've been offended,

where we've been hurt,

and we reflect back on that.

Here's what Paul says.

Repay no one evil for evil.

But then he goes down,

and at the end of this,

here's what he says,

leave it to the wrath of God.

They do this to you.

Lord,

I'm trusting that you're in control.

Lord,

I'm trusting that you're going to do what you're going to do.

Lord,

I'm trusting that you're going to use this.

The depth of the love that we see.

Right?

One of the passages,

fit like a couple of chapters.

Romans chapter nine.

Verses one and three.

Paul says this.

These are three hard verses.

I'm speaking the truth in Christ.

I'm not lying.

My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit.

That I have great sorrow

and unceasing anguish in my heart.

For I could wish that I myself were accursed

and cut off from Christ

for the sake of my brothers,

my kingsmen,

according to the flesh.

What we see in Romans 12

is a love,

and largely in a lot of this,

a love for one another,

but also for love outside of the church.

But in chapter nine,

in these three verses,

Paul's going to narrow that focus down,

and he's going to talk about love for the lost.

And I want to ask you a question.

Do you love lost people?

You say yeah.

And I shake my head yeah.

And then this week,

what I learned

is the love that I have for the lost

is so far under God's standard

that it's not funny.

First off, let's understand here,

Paul is not speaking in hyperbole.

Verse one,

because Paul knows what he's about to say

is very radical in verses two and three.

Look back at this.

He says,

I'm speaking the truth in Christ.

Know that what I'm saying is from the Lord.

Paul says,

if you don't believe me,

I'm not lying.

My conscience to me

bears witness in the Holy Spirit

that what I'm about to say is true.

And he says that

what he feels,

his feeling for the lost

brings him this,

sorrow and unceasing anguish.

This is the give you ulcers,

keep you up at night,

burden your heart,

change your finances,

change your goals.

This is what it brings.

And Paul says,

I so love the lost,

my brothers,

who know not of Christ

and who he is

and who have not been transformed

that he says

that I'm willing

to be cut off from Christ

if it means others would know him.

Paul said,

I'm willing to take on

the wrath of God on myself

if it means

that they would know Jesus.

But how many times

will we not walk next door

to our neighbor?

Or go to the co-worker?

Or go to the person

who looks different,

sounds different,

acts different than us?

I mean,

I thought I loved the lost.

And then God said,

watch this.

In these last several years,

I want to share a piece of you

for the ministry

and the mission of our church,

of what God has done.

And a burden and an opportunity

that God has placed on my heart

and other individuals

in our church as well

to come alongside men and women

who are lost,

who are broken,

who are hurting,

and who do not know the Lord.

And it gives us an opportunity

to begin to see

what does this look like

in our life.

And I want to share with you

a ministry

that we're going to be

partnering with

and challenging

many of you

to join me

in this partnership.

The ministry

that we're going to be

partnering with

is a ministry known

as the Circle of Welcome.

And it's centered around

the refugee crisis

that has become

an opportunity

for the church.

I shared earlier

at the very beginning

of the message

that all throughout the world

for years,

for thousands of years

since the world began,

we see this great migration

of people

when conflict hits.

And then what has taken place

and what has happened

in the United States

from the very beginning

under every president

that has sat

in the Oval Office

has had to deal with

and figure out

how do we

as the United States

respond

to this global

refugee crisis

and this global

refugee movement.

And every president

in the United States

has welcomed

under different standards

for every single one of them

refugees

into our country.

And Columbia,

South Carolina,

I know most of us

are in Lexington,

but Columbia,

you know,

on the other side

of the river,

right?

It has become

a hotbed

of refugees

men,

women,

children,

and families

coming into here.

I won't say this,

legally.

They're here

with the paperwork

from the government

saying that

they have the right

to be here

and the assistance

to be here.

And as they come here,

what we begin to realize

is,

like,

imagine this,

like,

take a,

if you've ever been

to another country

one time

and, like,

you were there

for a week.

Let's say,

like,

you went to Mexico

on your honeymoon

and you were there

for a week.

And so,

you went there

and you noticed

that, like,

you stumbled through,

you're trying to,

like,

bring back

your high school

Spanish class

to, like,

help you order food

and you're unsure

of the signs

as you're traveling

and you're just

trying to get through

best you can,

all right?

People that are

younger than me,

let me walk y'all

through something.

We didn't have

Google Translate,

all right?

We had to figure

this stuff out

as we go.

And you saw

through that

until you got

to your resort,

right,

where you want to be,

how uncomfortable

that was

at the airport.

Imagine you were

in another country

speaking another language

with other cultures

and other customs

that are unlike

anything here.

And you're not

going to be brought

here for a week.

You're going to be

brought here

for the rest

of your life.

And the only thing

you can bring with you

is the bag

that you can carry

or the bag

that you can put

on your back.

And so through

the government

working through

different organizations,

what has been created

through the Lutheran Church

is a ministry

called Circles of Welcome.

And what they do

is they partner

with other organizations,

primarily churches

in our area,

who say that

these families

that we know

are coming here,

and so we're

going to form

what's called

a circle

of welcome

for them.

So that as they

get here,

they will come

here alone,

but what they

will find

is a family

and families

who love them,

who welcome them,

and who want

to see them

succeed

where they find

themselves.

and it provides

us that opportunity.

It provides us

that opportunity

to share the gospel.

Provides the opportunity

to share our life.

But it's going to

require some things

for us,

and it's what I want

to close on

before we take part

in the Lord's Supper.

So what will

a circle of welcome

require?

Number one,

require a commitment

of time.

As we form a circle

of welcome

at Willow Ridge Church,

which is going to be

somewhere between

six and fifteen

individuals,

the commitment

of time

that we will commit

is somewhere

between six

and twelve months

to be able

to walk along

this family.

What will we do

over six and twelve

months?

Number one,

a big one,

is we're going

to assist

in transportation

needs.

We're going to

help take

the doctor's

appointments.

We'll help

take the DMV

appointments.

We'll help

take the job

training,

because it is

the goal,

and it's

where they end

to get jobs

that they can

provide for

themselves.

We'll transport

them as they

need to get

their kids

registered for

schools.

We'll help

take them

to ESL

classes,

and many

other different

transportation

needs.

Oh,

a big one

is going

to the grocery

store.

Help transport

them there

as well.

Another thing

that we will

help in

is we will

assist

in cultural

transition.

I mentioned

the grocery

store.

I don't

know if

you know

this,

but every

country has

different

cultures,

and every

culture has

its different

way that you

buy food.

I don't know

about you,

but one of the

most intimidating

things when I

go into a new

country is then

opening up and

trying to figure

out how to move

from dollar to

whatever this

currency is.

We've got to

help with that.

We've got to

take them

through and

teach them

and show

them and walk

through with

their money

that they

have how

they can

buy and

provide the

things for

theirs.

One of the

things we

like to do

is Aaron

and I love

to go to

the Indian

grocery store

and buy

things.

We love to

cook Indian

food, but

it's so

intimidating

when you

can't read

the labels.

Just imagine

that's where

you are.

We're there

that we can

help read

and help

the best we

can translate

and explain

what these

things are.

Assist in

cultural

transitions.

Another way

that we

can

assist

in

cultural

transitions

is to

share a

meal.

Share a

meal.

Let me

tell you,

when you

have the

opportunity

to sit

down,

two years

ago,

I sat

down with

a man

from India

at a

place in

Lexington

and they

brought out

the menu

and I

said,

Jacob,

if you're

okay,

can I

order for

you?

And he

said,

yes.

And I

said,

you're

about to

be

wowed.

And I

said,

bring this

man a

Philly

cheese

steak

and

onion

rings.

And they

brought it

out.

He didn't

know what

it was,

but he

partook

in it

and loved

every

moment of

it.

And so

we get

those

opportunities

to share

a meal,

but maybe

even to

take part

in one

of their

meals

as well.

Another

way we

can assist

in a

cultural

transition

is to

find a

movie

and take

him to

see a

movie

and

experience

that.

Columbia

has been

blessed

with one

of the

best

zoos

in the

world

and to

go there

and walk

through that

process

with him.

These are

the things

on paper

that through

this

organization

they ask

us to

do.

But I

also want

to share

with you

two other

ways,

if you

agree to

be a part

of this

circle of

welcome,

that you

can welcome

this family

into our

community.

Number

one,

you can be

a friend.

You can be

a friend.

seems like

one of the

most simple

things to

do.

But be

someone who

knows when

their birthday

is.

Be someone

who will

weep when

they weep

and rejoice

when they

rejoice to

be the

friend that

Christ has

called you

to be.

And then

the second

one,

and I

shared this

with the

leader at

the Lutheran

Church

services,

the ultimate

goal.

Because I'm

not about

patting people

on the back

as they go

to hell.

the most

important thing

that we can

have the

opportunity to

do is to

share Jesus

with them.

The hope

of the

gospel.

Maybe it

begins as

we just

pray for

them.

Maybe it

continues on

as we share

a Bible

study with

them.

Maybe it

continues on

as their

friend you

say,

can I help

you out

with your

ESL

classes?

And we

do so by

teaching them

through the

stories of

the Bible.

Maybe it

begins as

we help

them learn

how to

read by

opening up

a children's

story Bible

and helping

them read

through and

understand the

words that

are there.

Maybe it

continues on

as you share

your testimony

in your

journey to

the Lord.

Why would

we do

this?

What does

this require?

What requires

it the part

to lay down

my rights,

what I

can do

and ask

myself,

what should

I do

and what

is needed?

No one's

getting into

heaven or not

because of

this for us.

Your salvation

is not found

in whether you

signed up on

a piece of

paper to be

a part of

the circle

of welcome

or not,

but it's

found in the

sacrifice of

Jesus Christ.

He gave of

his life

so that you

might have

life.

Thanks again

for listening

to the

Willow Ridge

Church weekly

podcast.

We hope that

you enjoyed

listening to

this week's

message.

If you'd

like to

learn more

about who

we are

or explore

additional

resources,

visit us

online at

www.willowridgechurch.com

or by searching

for Willow Ridge

Church on

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