Expectations of Hardworking Love

[0:00] Well, I don't know if you guys follow the news at all, but I've heard that there was an election south of the border this past week.

[0:10] Who here really, really enjoyed the last several months of hearing about this? Show of hands. You guys are lying. I know that's true.

[0:24] Nobody enjoyed this. Nobody had fun. All right? Let's just face it. It was horrible. It was just horrible in every way. And for me, it's like the most frustrating, the most horrible part of it is seeing the conversation among Christians, the conversation among believers, and the conversation between believers in Jesus Christ and those who don't believe in Jesus Christ.

[0:50] Man, some ugly things took place. I had some just very grieving interactions with family members this week.

[1:00] I had very grieving interactions with strangers this week. It was just something that really frustrated me, really discouraged me. And so I was quite surprised and encouraged to find that God's word is very relevant.

[1:16] It is amazing how God brings along the right scripture at the right times to us. And I think this is one of those this morning that guides us in knowing how to love, how to respond to those that we don't agree with, how to respond to a world around us that does not believe and follow Jesus Christ, and how we can grow in love for one another so that this world knows and sees who Jesus Christ is.

[1:38] And that's the first thing we have to know about love is that loving people is very, very hard. If you think it's easy, then you've never really tried to love, not the way Jesus calls us to.

[1:56] Loving people is very, very hard. And that has just been something that's been impressed on my mind, especially over the last couple of weeks, as I've kind of realized some of the ways that I've wanted to love other people, they just require so much wisdom.

[2:12] There's three realities that are becoming clear to me, especially one reality is loving people is very hard. First of all, because there are competing ideas in our culture about what love really is.

[2:25] Just because someone uses the word love doesn't mean they mean the same thing as you. There are competing ideas in our culture about what love really is. And so that's something we as Christians have to know.

[2:36] What is love really? Second of all, loving people is very hard because love takes incredible wisdom to put into practice. The world, I feel like it gets more complicated with every passing week at this rate.

[2:51] Loving people is very, very hard to put into practice. It requires a tremendous amount of wisdom to kind of navigate all the different nuances of all your relationships, to navigate all the baggage that people bring in, to navigate how to respond to each individual person in just the right way.

[3:08] Loving people requires an enormous amount of wisdom. Third, loving people is very hard because often what you or I call love will be perceived by another person as hatred.

[3:19] This is something that's always been true and it's going to be true no matter who you are. Even if you're not a believer in Jesus Christ, this is going to be true for you too. Sometimes you're going to do things that you think are, that you believe are being done out of love, the other person will perceive that they are done out of hatred.

[3:38] Love has always been hard. Loving people is hard enough when you're trying to love someone that you already like. Right? It's hard enough to love your best friend, to love your dog, to love, you know, sometimes your kids, sometimes you like them.

[3:54] It's harder when you're trying to love someone that you're at odds with. It's harder when you're trying to love someone that you're not on the same page with, that rubs you the wrong way, or flat out wants to bring harm to you.

[4:09] Someone who's flat out your enemy. But that's what God did for us. One of the most famous verses in the Bible is John chapter 3 verse 16.

[4:21] For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

[4:33] We see here that this very essence of love is giving. The very essence of love at its very nature, it is giving. This is how God loved the world.

[4:44] He gave his only son, he gave his very heart, the one that he loved. And he gave him so that we would have great expectations of eternal life. One of my favorite authors, Paul Miller, puts it this way, that death is the center of love.

[5:00] Death is the center of love. The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans chapter 5, One will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person, one would dare even to die.

[5:17] But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. While we were still sinners, while we were still rebelling against God, while we were still trying to go our own way, Christ died for us.

[5:37] The ultimate act of love. Love stripped down to its very essence. This giving of yourself to the point of death. That's what makes love so hard.

[5:49] Because death is the center of love. Christians, we as Christians, we believe that Jesus Christ, He is the only human being who ever loved perfectly.

[6:01] If you want a master course in how to love, you can read the Gospels and look at the life of Jesus Christ. He died in our place to pay the penalty for our sins so that we would be forgiven of our rebellion against God.

[6:16] He died as a supreme sacrifice of love. And so you and I have faith in Jesus Christ. We have faith in His sacrifice of love on our behalf.

[6:27] We who are Christians, we believe in Him. We trust in Him. And when we do that, when we have faith in Jesus Christ, in His life, His death, His resurrection from the dead, then God's love shapes us into the kind of people who know how to love.

[6:46] Into the kind of people who know how to work hard and to continue to work hard at learning how to love. We're going to, in the coming weeks, especially once we reach chapter 5, we're going to learn more specifics about this, about how exactly do we go about loving people, especially others in the body of Christ, especially our family members here at Squamish Baptist Church.

[7:14] As we continue through the book of 1 Thessalonians, we're going to encounter that. But for now, you and I, we need to know where do we learn how to love? We need to know how is God going to grow and to develop our ability to love in a world in which it is getting more difficult each and every day to know how to love.

[7:35] A couple weeks back, we encounter what we might call, what I might call the thesis statement of this letter from the Apostle Paul, the 1 Thessalonians.

[7:48] The thesis statement, that makes it sound like this is a college paper or something, right? You know, this is, these verses, 1 Thessalonians chapter 3, verses 11 through 13.

[7:59] If you're using one of the blue Bibles that our ushers have handed out, that's going to be on page 987. 1 Thessalonians chapter 3, verses 11 through 13. These words, this thesis statement, what I mean by that is this is the central message.

[8:16] The central message summarized in a single sentence. A central message of this letter to the first century church in the city of Thessalonica. So here's what Paul writes in chapter 3, verses 11 through 13 of 1 Thessalonians.

[8:31] Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way to you. And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all as we do for you so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

[9:00] So what Paul is doing here as we saw is that he is drawing our attention to the great expectation that Christians have. Great expectations of being what he calls blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

[9:21] So you and I we're looking forward to the return of Jesus Christ our Lord. We're looking forward to when Jesus Christ returns to fully and finally establish God's kingdom on this earth.

[9:32] But in preparation for that day Paul says in verse 12 that you and I we need the Lord to make us increase and abound in love for one another and for all.

[9:44] And so immediately following these verses he continues in verses chapter 4 verses 1 and 2. He says, finally then brothers we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God just as you are doing that you do so more and more for you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

[10:12] so what Paul is doing is he is giving his readers he is giving them instructions on how they can increase in this love how they can abound overflow flourish in this love that establishes them as holy.

[10:30] Now we learned last week that our great expectations intensify our sexual holiness for the sake of God's honor God's pleasure and God's call. By the way just a quick aside on that to follow up from last week if you're looking if that's something that strikes a chord in you if you're struggling with temptation in the area of sexual sin if you're struggling with addiction to pornography in any way myself or one of the other elders would be happy to talk with you if you're a woman struggling with these things and you're you're finding it difficult to you found it difficult to come to a male elder about that Susan Badkey came up to me afterwards she said look send the women to me to talk with me about that so Susan's right over there waving her hand she'll be happy to work with you on that because it's not just a man it's not just sometimes people talk about it as if it's just a man's problem it's not it's not this sort of temptation is common to everybody and the temptation that we're going temptations that we're going to encounter today are common to everybody today we're going to continue through chapter 4 verses 9 through 12 we're going to learn how else our great expectations continue to increase our love and what other ways do our great expectations continue to increase our love so Paul writes in these verses verses 9 through 12 now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia but we urge you brothers to do this more and more and to aspire to live quietly and to mind your own affairs and to work with your hands as we instructed you so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one okay so here's the big idea behind this text here's the big idea our great expectations develop our hardworking love to be active harmonious and blameless our great expectations develop our hardworking love to be active harmonious and blameless so active harmonious blameless let's examine those one at a time first our great expectations develop our hardworking love to be active so notice verses 9 and 10 that the Thessalonians they don't just know all sorts of facts and ideas about how to love other people they're not just a bunch of people whose heads are brimming full of facts about what to do they are actually doing it they are actually loving other people in the real world that's why Paul can write in these verses concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia now this sort of love

[13:44] Paul has something specific in mind this isn't just some sort of you know that fuzzy warm feeling of goodwill and Christmas cheer for all you know that's not what we're talking about it's not even the kind of camaraderie you'd find in a club or a get together of people who share your interests or a sports team this word that Paul uses in verse 9 this is a word that in the English standard version in fact in most of our translations it's translated brotherly love that's a good translation because that's exactly what it means brotherly love it's a word that is only used to refer to family relationships this is a word that is common in the Greek language it only meant a specific love and connection that you had in your family it implies a tight knit bond this unbreakable bond of blood and Paul uses it here because he knows that the Thessalonian

[14:49] Christians whatever their background some were Jews some were Gentiles some were rich some were poor they came from varying ethnic backgrounds seemed to have little in common with one another but he knows that they are now brothers and sisters by adoption they are members of God's family that is the only reason he can use that word one of the commentaries I've been reading in this letter is really getting on my nerves and the reason it's getting on my nerves is because the commentator keeps referring to this as a metaphorical family Paul's metaphor for a family to Paul this is not a metaphor this is not a metaphor this is a family that is even more real this is a family that is even more real than their flesh and blood families ever were if anything it is our biological families that are the metaphor that's why Paul can write in Ephesians chapter 3 he says I bow my knees before the father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named in other words he is the real father his family is the real family and all those other families and fathers you see out there they're just borrowing the name they're the metaphors they're the image he's the reality and his family is the reality so when it comes to our earthly family when it comes to the ties of flesh and blood those are unbreakable it's a good image right because those ties are unbreakable you know you can pick your friends okay what's that saying you can pick your you can pick your nose you can pick your friends but you can't pick your friend's nose that's not what

[16:37] I'm going for here so I need to be careful how I start this out you can pick your friends but you can't pick your family some of us would really like to you know do a redraw on who's in our family you don't get a choice do you your family is your family you're stuck with them good luck right but your family relationships they define so much about who you are they are you cannot I cannot know you unless I know something about your family I can't really know who you are without really understanding your family your family is the key to your identity that's true today even in our fiercely fiercely individualistic culture that was especially true in the ancient world in which your social status your occupation your expectations they are all determined by the identity of the family that you were born into your family was everything so now we as Christians we have been born into the family of God into the real family with God as our real father what's our status royalty in the kingdom of God what's our occupation the family business the hard working love of the children of God what are our expectations they are great expectations to appear blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints like any good father like the one true real father

[18:29] God our God is instructing us and he is teaching us how to live together as a family he's showing us what his family is like the honorable code of behavior in the family of God Paul writes in verse 9 that you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another now that phrase taught by God Paul seems to have in mind a prophecy from Isaiah chapter 54 where God says all your children shall be taught by the Lord and great shall be the peace of your children all your children shall be taught by the Lord this promise and it's a promise that God fulfilled when he gave his Holy Spirit he gave his Holy Spirit in a new and unique way to the church this Holy Spirit who gives us wisdom and insight into how we can love one another how we can live with wisdom and grace in this challenging complicated ever changing culture that we live in

[19:38] Paul prays for this wisdom he yearns that we would have the wisdom to know how to love in another letter in the letter to the Philippians chapter 1 Paul prays for this wisdom that true love requires he says it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment in other words you cannot love properly unless you have the knowledge and the discernment that your father gives you that he teaches you with his Holy Spirit so that you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ these verses sound very very very familiar there's a good reason for that that was our thesis statement right that you may abound in love more and more so you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ and now Paul is praying the same for the Thessalonians so here's what he tells them in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 9 you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia and then he continues but we urge you brothers you're good enough you don't need to go any farther you got this figured out now he says we urge you brothers do this more and more keep going because these Thessalonians are doing well but genuine Christians with great expectations are not content they are not content with their ability to love the moment that you or I get content like you know

[21:27] I've got this figured out I've sort of got my lifestyle figured out I know how to love other people oh man that's a dangerous dangerous place to be genuine Christians with great expectations are not content with their ability to love they want to know how do I love even more how do I give even more how do I die even more and Paul says that this love is not just a love that is confined to our conversations in Bible study groups where we just sit around and talk about yes love that is what love looks like you know and this verse says this about love oh wow I saw this verse says about love isn't that great loving people is something that God's children actually do they actually do it they don't just talk about it he says in verse 10 that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia so what these

[22:27] Thessalonian believers are doing is that they are showing hospitality they are opening up their homes they are providing financial support they are encouraging one another they are strengthening one another they are involved they are part of each other's lives they are united as a family all that this talk about loving people even these fine intentions that we sometimes have of loving people talk and intentions are no substitute for action we belong to God's family we have great expectations as members of God's family and our great expectations develop our hard working love to be active second our great expectations develop our hard working love to be harmonious our great expectations develop our hard working love to be harmonious here's what Paul writes in verses 10 and 11 picking up partway through verse 10 he says we urge you brothers to do this more and more and to aspire to live quietly and to mind your own affairs and to work with your hands as we instructed you now this is where his conversation about love starts to extend not just to the brotherly love within the church but also a love that is extended towards those who are not believers those outside of the church so in order to help us understand what

[23:59] Paul is talking about it's helpful actually to know a little bit about Roman culture because once you get a little bit of insight into it all of a sudden this all seems to fit together and to make sense why he's bringing all this together Roman culture was in many ways very very different from our own one of the main cultural institutions in the Roman Republic was the relationship between these wealthy influential Romans who we would call patrons and their less wealthy clients these clients depended on the wealth and the influence of their patrons you know as I was studying it I was like man you know I think it's helpful to think about it like this is like a legalized form of the mafia it's like of the mafia we're like a cornerstone of our society and you couldn't imagine life without them you know I guess except without all the gang wars and killing that that wasn't really happening as much but you know I think of the you know the godfather movies a patron was like the godfather he's you know granting requests and help for his clients and in return they would perform favors for him not the killing sword but they would perform other favors the encyclopedia

[25:10] Britannica I found their entry on it was quite helpful as a quick summary the patron might support his client in the courts or supply him with daily food often converted into cash the client was expected to show deference to his patron especially by calling upon him each morning and by aiding him in his private and public life which created these funny situations you know it's like this is just so weird for me to think about but this was normal for them you know this patron would get up in the morning and he goes outside into his courtyard and all these clients are gathered around good morning good morning good morning and you know he and then he walks among them and they tell him what all their problems is and he and he he says you know I'll make him an offer you can't refuse you know that sort of thing right and and then he invites them they all have dinner together and then he goes and they follow him around like little ducklings as he goes around town showing off all how all his clients and how wealthy and prestigious he is that was normal back in the days of the republic in these public meetings a client would actually you know the what was neat about having a lot of clients meant is you got to control all their votes a lot of political power in that right if some of your clients maybe if one of your clients was an artisan say he's a painter you know you could commission him to do a painting for you or a potter would make some pots or some sort of other manufactured good that would benefit the patron so that sort of relationship that patron client relationship that was integral to public life in

[26:43] Rome and in Thessalonica but here's the problem it didn't stay integral forever what happened was about a hundred years before the apostle Paul wrote this letter the Roman Republic had begun to degenerate into this autocratic empire with the coming of Julius Caesar and this empire began to be ruled over by a succession of emperors by these Caesars and so after the fall of the republic this institution of patronage also degenerated and basically what it degenerated into was sort of this wealthy and influential patron was still around but all of these clients were basically you know there wasn't really voting anymore and stuff like that so basically what they devolved into was these sycophantic parasites they were there for the free meal in return they boosted the patron social standing as you know he walked around town they clustered around him and fawning praise and everyone was like that guy must be really important that's what it degenerated into all these people sponging off this one guy for food and this one guy using them to show off how great he was to all of his fellow patrons

[27:59] Paul looked at that institution he was not impressed and Paul saw that many people including some of the some of his brothers in the Thessalonian church they were using their relationships as clients to get free meals and avoid working for a living that's why in 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 he writes these words for even when we were with you we would give you this command if anyone is not willing to work let him not eat for we hear that some among you walk in idleness not busy at work but busy bodies now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living so in 1 Thessalonians Paul is going to offer three similar instructions to those three similar instructions that guide us in our behavior even today even though we don't have those sorts of relationships anymore so these instructions guide us in our behavior not only to our brothers and sisters in God's family but also in our relationships with those outside of the church with those that other people that we know in the community of

[29:10] Squamish whether our fellow citizens in Squamish whether our co-workers whether our family members whether our community leaders in chapter 4 verse 11 Paul urges Christians to aspire to live quietly and to mind your own affairs and to work with your hands so Christians who are growing in love they first aspire to live quietly so instead of being these busy bodies you know wandering around their patrons and raising up trouble these individuals also have an ambition Paul is saying Christians should have an ambition and that ambition is what Paul commanded in Romans chapter 12 when he said if possible so far as it depends on you live peaceably with all if if possible so far as it depends on you live peaceably with all so in other words the proper behavior of Christians is to get along is to get along with those who aren't believers to give them no cause for offense unless absolutely necessary sometimes it happens but man we try to avoid that we try to avoid being an obnoxious nuisance in our community one thing that was really driven home to me this week is that North

[30:33] American Christians are not very good at this in response to all these all this political controversy that is raging right now I've noticed that many Christians rather than rising above this all the animosity all the hatred that is going back and forth in our culture that we're diving in headfirst we're indulging in it I've been watching Christians some of whom I know some of whom are friends of mine who are ridiculing insulting mocking those they disagree with calling them snowflakes laughing at them how ridiculous they're being exalting over them because their candidate lost you know what that's the kind of behavior that you want to indulge and go find another family that's not the way we live in God's family that is improper for members of God's family because our great expectations develop our hard working love to be harmonious we aspire to live quietly Christians who are growing in love we follow Paul's instructions to mind your own affairs as he says in verse 11 so this is a contrasting with what Paul called in second Thessalonians busy bodies you know when you don't have you know when you were a client who didn't really have a job you were just mooching off of your patron what you spend your day doing you wandered around and got into other people's business and shared all the latest gossip and you know spread all sorts of political controversy and you were just a busy body eager to learn the latest news you know we aren't that way we cannot be that way as

[32:37] Christians who people who love to spread gossip around to talk about people behind their back not to help them but in order to tear them down or in order to share a delicious piece of news of someone else Christians also avoid we avoid filling our minds with all sorts of political controversies that don't directly concern us that we have no control over that don't help in any way we obsess we don't obsess over those we don't we don't spatter our half informed opinions across the internet for all to read that's not what we do this fascination that we have with business that isn't our own you know that is improper it's not appropriate for members of God's family because our great expectations develop our hard working love to be harmonious now that doesn't mean you don't get involved in politics at all but it means you don't obsess over it and it means you're respectful and gracious even when other people aren't being respectful and gracious to you it means you pick and choose your battles it means you're careful to honor the name of Jesus

[34:00] Christ to live peacefully peaceably and to mind your own affairs Christians who are growing in love also follow Paul's instructions third to work with your hands so verse 11 in Paul's day manual labor this is a somewhat of a different attitude from our culture in his day manual labor that was looked down on as something that members of the lower class did and it's even true of things like you know someone who was an artisan so you know that painter the idea was like the patron would really value the painting but the paint the painter was like oh he's just a painter Paul was a tent maker by trade and he would have been looked down on oh what a lowly occupation working with your hands that's not what the wealthy elite did that's what all those poor people did so many clients many clients and these these individuals that Paul's talking about there it's not that they're disabled in any way there you know there would have been individuals who are disabled there would have been individuals who for various reasons couldn't work wanted to but couldn't Paul's not talking to them he's talking to individuals who are perfectly capable of working but you know what that would make them look bad at working with your hands what a lower class thing to do and so why do that when I can just mooch off my patron all day and get free meals I know you have to work at all this is great and Paul's response is that nobody should be sitting around all day frittering away their time intruding obnoxiously into other people's affairs these individuals instead they should get to work become productive in their society because it is good and it is honorable to be working and to being productive in Colossians chapter 3 Paul gives incredible dignity though to to the work that we do he says whatever you do work heartily as for the Lord and not for men knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward you are serving the Lord Christ in other words maybe you're working for a horrible boss

[36:18] Paul says you know what I know it's tempting not to really want to do to work hard for that person it's tempting to not want to do the work to slack off whenever you can maybe not going to work at all and he says you know what you are in your job your boss is Jesus Christ I know you can't please your boss but you can please Jesus and he is the best master you could ever have and you will receive the inheritance as your reward you are serving the Lord Christ so every job that you can take every every job that you are given it can have a dignity to it and an honor to it that is actually serving the Lord Jesus Christ that's amazing promise that productivity guards us against disruptive and intrusive behavior idleness idleness draws us into in disruptive and intrusive behavior idleness is improper for members of God's family because our great expectations develop our hard-working love to be harmonious third and finally our great expectations develop our hard-working love to be blameless our great expectations develop our hard-working love to be blameless and what we've seen already is that our purpose is to be back in chapter 3 we saw our purpose is to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints now what we're going to learn here is part of being blameless before our Father is to be as much as possible blameless in the eyes of those inside the church and those outside of it if you want to be blameless in the eyes of your Father that we need to make every effort to be blameless to those inside the church and to appear blameless to those outside of it and in case you don't believe me we can look at what Paul writes later in 1st

[38:27] Timothy chapter 3 and he's talking about the church's elders and overseers he's talking about these individuals who exemplify the Christian faith and he says about them an overseer must be above reproach and in fact that's his summary of an overseer's character above reproach blameless moreover he must be well thought of by outsiders so that he may not fall into disgrace into a snare of the devil above reproach well thought of by outsiders that's the qualification to be an elder those are qualifications to be elders in our church and so Paul explains that we develop our hard-working love in order to be above reproach to be well thought of by outsiders to be blameless that's our purpose 1st Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 12 Paul urges the church to develop their love so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one those two are connected one of the chief ways that we walk properly before outsiders is this we take responsibility for our own livelihoods some of the Thessalonian Christians were entirely dependent on their patrons for food because they weren't working for their own meals

[39:51] Paul is concerned that this is going to bring shame on the family of God this is going to bring shame on the family of God because frankly the you know the other people in the town they see this and they know this is terrible they know this is ridiculous and they're ridiculing the laziness of these Christians and Paul is very concerned that they preserve their reputation for hard-working love that's why he writes in Colossians chapter 4 walk in wisdom toward outsiders making the best use of the time being productive let your speech always be gracious seasoned with salt so that you may know how you ought to answer each person so it's that productive hard-working love that is our calling card our family name tag as Christians I know some of us in here either they're not they're not able to work because of a disability that's not what we're talking about here

[40:58] I know some of you want to work you just can't it's not talking about people who are unemployed and are desperately looking for a job and trying to fulfill this commandment you're doing the right thing and if you're struggling with that we're happy to pray for you and to pray with you that God would give you this opportunity let's pray together about it this is talking about people who can work are perfectly able to work and aren't doing it but you and I we are not even though we're not saved on the basis of our love we're not saved by God because we're so good at loving people man if that's the case we've got no hope right none of us lives up to that standard of holy love that God calls us to we're not saved on the basis of our love but also we are not saved without becoming loving people either genuine Christians develop a holy love develop a hard working love that's just what happens if it doesn't happen not a genuine Christian so right now bring us back to this moment in time thinking through why has God brought these verses to us on this day in our context

[42:20] I think we've got an opportunity in our culture we as individuals we as a church have an opportunity because we're surrounded by a culture that has manufactured counterfeit versions of love that has ideas of what love is that are straight up false and that will bring great harm to many people we're engulfed in an ugly political war in which love is no longer present there's no love to be found there and that means that God has given us an opportunity we have an opportunity to develop an active brotherly love within the family of God in which we're gracious to one another even with those whose politics we disagree with we have an opportunity to develop a harmonious hard working love towards members of our community and our world we have an opportunity to develop a blameless holy love that shows the world what our father in heaven is like so that other people in the town of Squamish so that other people who are friends and family that we interact with from far away so that they may believe that they may welcome the kingdom of God when Jesus Christ returns again so that they too may have and share our great expectations and that is why our great expectations develop our hard working love to be active harmonious and blameless let's pray let's pray