THE MOST EXCELLENT WAY #13

Golgotha

"Father forgive them..."

Luke 23:34

Paul tells us in I Cor. 13:5 something else about love. "...it keeps no records of wrongs..."

One premise of this writing is that where there is no love there can be no unity among Christians. This description of love is proof because as long as Christians point accusing fingers at one another disunity will prevail.

This explanation of love may be one of the most telling about one's genuineness as a Christian. What an admonition! Yet who has not been guilty of violating this evident principle of love? Wrongs done to us can be so devastating to us physically, emotionally, psychologically, financially and in many other respects.

The best place to go when confronted with this detriment to unity is Golgotha, a lonely chunk of rock in Jerusalem where supposed malefactors were crucified. View the visage of that broken and lacerated and torn one. View the violated one. View the one who had no place to lay His beautiful head. View the one who walked dusty roads and climbed rock strewn mountains. View that Sacred One who gave Himself for all men. And hear him say "Father forgive them..."

Hear Him speak to us His children. Our scorekeeping of others' sins and our rationalizations for doing so fade in the light of the one who died for us all. They are much like the accusations of that mob who presented the adulterous woman to Jesus and told Him she deserved to be stoned. Jesus said "If anyone of you is without sin, let him begin stoning her."(Jn. 8:7) So while He wrote on the ground "...those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first..."(Jn. 8:9)

Jesus had no sin, yet from that pain racked body came to words "Father forgive them..." That my friends was love in action. And He calls on His children to love like that. "...forgive your brother from your heart."(Mt. 18:35) "...if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you."(Mt. 6:14) "If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if repents, forgive him." "If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent,' forgive him."(Lk. 17:3-4)

God keeps no such records and He expects the same of His children. He forgives completely. "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us."(Ps. 103:12)(KJV) "Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered." "Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit."(Ps. 32:1-2)(NIV) "I will forgive their wickedness, and will remember their sins no more."(Heb. 8:12)(NIV) "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more."(Heb. 10:17)(NIV) "And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins."(Ro. 11:27)(NIV)

Sad note that God will do for us what we sometimes won't do for others. No doubt our humanity gets in the way sometimes. Performance based Christianity demands that.

I wonder sometimes, knowing human nature, if some of those folks at Corinth were not angered as the brother of the prodigal son was when that boy came back to the Father. The prodigal had made so many mistakes. He had ruined his life. He had spent his inheritance. He had hurt so many. And so had the immoral man of Corinth. Yet Paul told the Corinthians about that man "forgive and comfort him."(II Cor. 2:7)

Why would Paul ask them to do that. It was all about agape love. And that love "...keeps no records of wrongs..." The word for wrongs here is kakon. It means, according to Zodhiates, "evil done to anyone, harm, injury." Paul is saying that love will not record those things.

When love is present recording others sins is not. The word for record keeping is logizomai. It means "to number" "to count." God counts the righteousness of Christians and makes no notations of our weaknesses by His grace. "...for us, to whom God will credit (logizesthai) righteousness--for us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead."(Ro. 4:21) That is the kind of counting a loving God does..

Where would we all be if God were more interested in keeping records of our weaknesses, faults, sins than understanding our weaknesses and forgiving and saving us?

How thankful we should be that love "...keeps no record of wrongs..."

THE MOST EXCELLENT WAY #12

"
"...I tell you that anyone who is angry with

his brother will be subject to judgement"

Matt. 5:22

In I Cor. 13:5 Paul says of love "...ou paroxunetai..."

The Interlinear says of this: "...Love..." "...is not provoked..."(I Cor. 13:4-5)

The N.I.V. reads:"...is not easily angered..."

The Amplified says: "...is not touchy or fretful or resentful..."

The Greek word here is paroxuno. It means "to sharpen" "to incite" "to irritate" "arouse to anger or indignation" according to Zodhiates.

Love then is not fretful, resentful, irritated, indignant or provoked.

Synonyms mean "to stir to anger."

Paul and Barnabas were going on the second missionary journey. Barnabas wanted to take John Mark. Paul did not. Acts 15:39 tells us "There was such a sharp disagreement(paroxusmos) that they parted company..."

This was over a practical matter. But what about circumstances where Christian fellowship is endangered? What about times when deep soul affecting decisions must be made? What about the weaknesses and errors in the lives of our brothers? It is here that what Paul said is so important. "...Love..." "...is not provoked..."

Matthew Henry commented about love: "It corrects sharpness of temper, sweetens and softens the mind....." "When the fire of love is kept in, the flames of wrath will not easily kindle..." "It is hard to be angry with those we love, but very easy to drop our resentments and be reconciled."

THE MOST EXCELLENT WAY #11

The Temple Mound

The eleventh in our looks at Paul's description of love in I Cor. 13 brings us to this definition: "...love..." "...is not self-seeking..."(I Cor. 13:5)

Jesus made reference to loving God and our neighbor. He said "...There is no greater commandment than these."(Mk. 12:30-31)

The word greater here is meizon. Paul used this same word in I Cor. 13:13 when referring to faith, hope and love. He said "...the greatest of these is love..."

It is not surprising then that love is "...the most excellent way..."(I Cor. 12:31)

Matthew Henry's comments on the fact that love is not self-seeking were

"Charity is the utter enemy of selfishness..."

Do we hear someone say that we are supposed to love ourselves. That is true. But Jesus said remember "...love your neighbor as yourself."(Mt. 19:19; Mt. 22:39)

James, the brother of Jesus quoted the same scripture "...Love your neighbor as yourself."(Ja. 2:8) The context of James's writing was that of forbidding favoritism. And he tells them his readers "...if you show favoritism, you sin..."(Ja. 2:8)

When one combines "...love your neighbor as yourself..." with "Do to others as you would have them do to you...'(Lk. 6:31) a whole vista of possible positive relationships among folks occurs.

And when one truly accepts the fact that true agape love will not permit and promote selfishness, then it is that we truly permit others into our little worlds.

Paul had earlier written to the Corinthians "Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others."(I Cor. 10:24) And he practiced what he preached.

"...I am not seeking my own good but the good of many..."(I Cor. 10:33)

The Amplified says it well. "...Love..." "...does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking."

A relevant word to this idea and one that conveys the results of self-seeking is authades. It means, according to Zodhiates, "...one who is pleased with himself..." "...and despises others..." Zodhiates gives us a characterization of such a person when he says that such a person is one who "...obstinately maintains his opinion or asserts his own rights but is reckless of the rights, feelings, and interests of others." Do you know anybody like that? Peter uses this word in II Pet. 2:10 when he calls such a a work of the flesh as "...self-willed..."

Another word akin to this idea of being self-seeking is philautos. Arndt and Gingrich and Vine tell us that this word is "...loving oneself..." Zodhiates adds the meanings of "...self-centered..." "...selfish..." A sign of the last days, according to Paul is "...people will be lovers of themselves..."(II Tim. 3:2)

Other words akin to "...self-seeking..." are what Barclay calls "The Words of Impious Pride". These words are hubris and hubristes. And they relate directly to why some folks cannot live in unity with others. They love themselves so much they have no problem mistreating others.

Zodhiates defines hubrizo as "to act insolently or spitefully toward someone" "to treat shamefully" "to abuse". He defines hubristes as "an insolent persecutor of others who mistreats them for the pleasure which the affliction of the wrong brings to him."

Paul gives this tendency a place among those things that are characteristic of those who "...did not think it was worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God..."(Ro. 1:28-30)

Barclay gives a complete discussion of these words in his book New Testament Words. Some of the statements he makes about them accentuate the fact that in their presence love cannot exist. "...thirst for power which drives a man headlong on the path to unbridled self-assertion..." "It provokes...the feeling of righteous indignation...in his fellow men." "arrogant contempt which makes" one "trample on the hearts of his fellow men."

Ultimately there can be no unity produced by such behavior. James capsulates it for us in James 3:14-16..."...if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil." "For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice."

The Most Excellent Way #10

" Blessed are those who mourn, for they will

be comforted. " Matthew 5:4
The next admonition Paul gave to the Corinthian church in describing "...The Excellent Way..."(I Cor. 12:31), was "...Love..." "...is not rude..."(I Cor. 13:5). While the NIV has the foregoing translation the Interlinear records: "...does not behave disgracefully..." The Amplified adds "...unbecomingly..." The KJV says "...unseemly...".

The Greek word here is aschemonei. On the surface, to some, the word may say to them "just be nice to one another" or "don't be unpleasant" or "have a sweet smile" or "have an agreeable countenance" or "exude a likable disposition before others." And then "duty done."

Christian relationships prompted by love are more meaningful than that, even though a sweet dispostion is good. Our relationships are more than mere surface sentiments and appearances. Unity is acheived by love during the bad times, the struggles, the sins, the imperfections, the problems, the differences. These are all litmus tests that prove or disprove love.

The word aschemonei addresses just how truly concerned Christians are for one another. Zodhiates says this word tells us that love does not react or behave in an ugly manner. It is translated "...disgrace..."(I Cor. 7:36) We should not then disgrace others. Zodhiates further indicates the meaning as "...love in its speech and action seeks to contain no evil, but seeks to change the evildoers."

Adam Clarke tells us: "...love never acts out of it place or character." He said "...I never wish to meet with those who affect to be called blunt honest men, who feel themselves above all the forms of respect and civility, and care not how many they displeasure."

It means to me that Christians do not turn their heads at the weakness of others, but the key thing is how this weakness is dealt with or more correctly how we help others deal with their problems and weaknesses. Love will not allow us to appoint ourselves to demoralize, destroy, debilitate, demean, or devastate others.

Synonyms of aschemonei reinforce this idea. Atimazo is one and according to Zodhiates, it means "to dishonor" "treat with indignity." Jesus used this word, according to Luke, in the parable of the tenants in Luke 20. When a certain servant was sent to the tenants of the man's vineyard to get fruit from the vineyard, Jesus said that man was treated "...shamefully..."(atimasantes) The owner of the vineyard then sent His Son. But the tenants "...threw him out of the vineyard and killed him." If one reads on one gets the point of God's attitude of those who shamefully mistreat others.

Another synonym is entrepo. Sometimes in our study we run across a gem we have been looking for to better clarify our understanding of truth. This is one of those gems to me. It is the very opposite of bruttishness, boorishness, bullism. It will not allow us a cloak of righteousness whereby we rationalize our position to give ourselves the right to take advantage of others who might be sinful, fallen, or weak. Under the influence of this word folks are seen in a different light.

There is no doubt that discipline is proper and appropriate for the blatant and uncaring. Inspiration calls for discipline for that behavior. Entrepo allows that. It means "to withdraw" "to shame" "put to shame." Yes even brothers can be disciplined, if they have become hardened and uncaring sinners. .(II Thess. 3:14-15) But discipline is not a means of destruction. It is always a means of reconciliation. Actually William Barclay tells us that the word for discipline in the N.T. is a word which literally means "mending nets." It is interesting that that is the word Paul uses in I Cor. 1:10, when he is encouraging the church at Corinth to unity. He tells them that they should be "...peferfectly joined together..."

When discipline is practiced it is designed to keep the channels of communication open between Christians. So often that is not the case. Knee jerk reactions to others weaknesses have caused what Barclay called "...retributory punishment..." and in so many cases vengeful practices result in shame, disgrace, and dishonor.

Jesus taught quite the opposite in his earthly ministry. In Luke 15 He taught about the Lost Son. Fact is if the Father of that son had been like many today the prodigal would have been shunned for the rest of his life. The Father would have rejected him and his life would have been one of hopelessness and despair. Many have missed the point of the parable and the application. The Father was God and since God is love, He did not react in a derogatory manner towards that pentitent boy. Untold damage has been done and is being done in the Kingdom of God by the highhanded tactics of some. That is not love. Love is not rude.

Paul taught the Corinthians a firsthand lesson about this. A man lived among them who was practicing immorality. He told them to expel the man.(I Cor. 5) But was the sentence a life sentence? No! Just a few months later Paul wrote to them, and in II Cor. 2:8 we read Paul's instructions about the same man. "...forgive and comfort him..." "...reaffirm you love for him..." In some pompous circles that is not possible. The shunning would continue indefinitely.

I must tell you that the word for "...comfort..." here is parakalesai. It means "to aid" "to help" "encourage" according to Zodhiates. Note that all these meanings involve involvement and participation on the part of those Corinthians.

Isn't it interesting that so-called Bible students sometimes miss the point of the greatest sermon ever preached, The Sermon on the Mount. For if they had not missed the point, they would not treat their brothers with disdain and disrespect and shame them. Jesus made the statement in that sermon: "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted."(Mt. 5:4) The word for mourn here is penthountes. Literally it says "...the one mourning..." It means "to be sad" "sorrowful." For what should one be sad. Adam Clarke says of this circumstance: "only such persons as are deeply convinced of the sinfulness of sin, feel the plague of their own heart." He goes on to say that such men "...have promises of God's solid comfort..." Matthew Henry describes this mourning as:"A penitential mourning for our own sins..." Paul said "...God...comforts the downcast..."(II Cor. 7:6) Do we?

Another synonym is kataischuno. It means "to shame" "dishonor" "disgrace." Paul uses it in a discussion of the Lord's Supper in I Cor. 11. There seemed to be a lack of respect for some lowly ones in the church. So Paul told them: "..do you despise the church of God and humilitate(kataischunete) those who have nothing."(I Cor. 11:22)

Scripture says "He who believes in Him will not be put to shame..."(Ro. 10:10-11) And "...the one who trusts in Him will never be put to shame..."(I Pet. 2:6) Are we prone to do what God will not do?

Love promotes unity among God's people. There can be no unity in fellowships where shame and disgrace are practiced rather than honor and respect. And if "...love is not rude..." which it is not...then where rudeness is love is not and neither is true unity.