"Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

Our first thought is to connect this with marital relationships; as we do with so much of 1 Corinthians 13.  After all, 1 Corinthians 13 is all about "love" and what better place to show love than in a marriage!
 
However, 1 Corinthians 13 isn’t written to a couple that has fallen in love… it is written to a church that has fallen out of love.

​Paul is writing to a church that has been bogged down in gossip, slander, sexual immorality, drunkenness; and so much more; to a church that has was not reflecting the holiness of God; and what he is essentially saying in chapter 13 is “hey church, this is what you are supposed to look like." And there in verse 7; Paul describes some key characteristics of the church; which truthfully does apply in all our relationships: “Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
 
Therefore, in the context of the church, what does it mean to “protect” one another?
 
For starters, we can protect a reputation. It happens far too often: someone comes to you with a juicy tidbit of information.  It often begins with the words, “Did you know…” or  “Have you heard..."  Or maybe “don't tell anyone I told you this but..."  Almost inevitably, whatever it is that is being said; it is harmful to the person being spoken about. Love does not allow harm to someone’s reputation to go unchecked like a roaring fire.  James 3:6 reminds us “The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one's life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.” Love does not spread the fire…. even if it's true. 
 
A good example of a love that protects is the love that Joseph had towards Mary. You remember the story.  Joseph didn’t understand Mary’s sudden pregnancy.  How could he? He was prepared to divorce Mary “quietly” in order to save her from disgrace (as much as possible). That's what love does. That's what it means to protect.  Love wants to see as little harm done to someone else as possible. That is certainly one way in which love protects.
 
Another way that love can protect is when someone is about to harm themselves; spiritually or otherwise. This is a little more difficult because everyone has the right to make his or her own decisions. And yet, when you love someone you will do what you reasonably can in order to prevent them from harming themselves. It’s called looking out for one another. Galatians 6:1, “Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted."  Love does not sweep sin under the rug pretending it’s not there.  Love seeks to restore someone gently.
 
What Paul seems to be telling the church is that “love" will cause us to look out for someone else’s welfare; even at the cost of our own.  That, after all, is the example that Jesus gave us.
 
Out in the world, the attitude of many is “I'm going to look out for myself".  “Mind your own business.” However in the church, there is definitely a place for us to do as Philippians 2:4 says; “do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” (NASB). It seems to me that this is definitely one very important expression of love.  Love always protects.
 
When someone does something wrong; we have two options.  We can either broadcast it, to the detriment of the person and to our own testimony… or we can seek the welfare of that person and at the same time promote the gospel of Christ… not by hiding the wrongs... but by dealing with things in an appropriate and godly manner.
 
That’s what love will do.  And one of the reasons why love will do this is because love sees what God can be doing in a person down the road. 
 
Rather than jump and shout and claim my rights… rather than telling everyone how much someone has hurt me or wronged me… what Paul is saying is that love holds off on that sort of reaction.
 
Peter had the same idea in mind when he wrote in 1 Peter 4:8, "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”
 
It’s not that sin is swept under the rug – not at all. It’s that love does not allow sin to have the final word in a relationship.  Love sees that there is more; that there is potential; and so it doesn’t do anything to hinder the continued work of God in that person’s life.
 
As God's people, we are called to love one another in this manner.  Likewise, if relationships in the home are going to work the way God intended them to work, we are going to have to love one another in this manner – a love that bears all things and a love that endures all things – a love that hopes.  A love that will not give up.
 
So today, Valentine’s Day, besides focusing on romantic love; perhaps there is someone in your life that needs the kind of love that Paul wrote to the Corinthians about.  Someone who needs you to stand up for them; someone who needs to know they are not beyond hope; someone who knows you can trust them; someone who will realize that you will not give up on them.  And who knows… that someone might very well be your spouse.

Let us truly love one another as Christ loved us.

[See also this article: The Role of Spirit-Gifted Women in the Last Days]

Every once in a while the question comes up about the practice of ordaining women in leadership, especially in light of some scriptures which seem to prohibit it.  Some have wondered if the practice is contrary to scripture.  I do not believe it is.

Interestingly, at our recent district assembly, the report of the Christian Action committee focused on women.  The introductory paragraph states, "As a Christian, holiness, missional church we value our theological roots which, from the beginning, have recognized the significance of women in ministry. This is not a recent liberal shift, but a long historical acknowledgement that God calls both men and women to equal roles of leadership in Christ’s Church."

I am not in any way an official spokesman for the Church of the Nazarene, but as a pastor, I do have a response to the objections that are commonly raised.

First objection: Only men were the priests in the Old Testament

It is true, that in the Old Testament, only men were permitted to serve as priests.  Only certain men would be qualified to offer sacrifices.  It wasn't for all men, and it certainly wasn't for women.  The argument, therefore goes, that only men should take on the role of priests in the New Testament.

The difficulty with this argument is that the apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists, elders, and deacons in the New Testament are not taking the role of the Old Testament priests.

We like things neat and tidy.  If we can make a new testament equivalent to everything in the old testament, it looks neat, even symbolic.  So the church becomes the new testament version of the temple.  The Lord's Supper becomes the new testament version of sacrifices.  The Lord's Day becomes the new Sabbath.  And the ministers become the new testament version of priests.

It sounds nice, but it's not accurate.  We can't simply duplicate the old testament by making a new testament version of it.  The ministers in the early church were not priests.

In the new testament, Peter said, "You [referring to the whole church] also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." (1 Pet. 2:5).   According to Hebrews 4:14-16, all believers have the right to go directly to God through Jesus Christ (this was something that only the priests did in the old testament).

Peter continued, "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light..." (1 Pet. 2:9).  And if that wasn't clear enough, Revelation 1:5-6 says "To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever."

Throughout the new testament, we find that all the believers, together, are priests, men and women.  Even though, in the old testament, it was only certain men who could serve as priests, in the new testament, the ministers are not priests; instead all the believers are priests - both men and women.

Second objection: women can not be "head" over men

This is a common complaint about Paul's writings - that he puts women down; that he tells wives to submit to their husbands and emphasizes that the man is the head of the household.

Some people have very wrongly used these types of statements to figuratively (and sometimes even physically) beat on women.  That is a blatant misuse of scripture.  Paul does not condone that at all.  In fact, when we understand the context in which Paul wrote, we find that he is actually helping women.

The challenge we have is that we are looking at Paul's writing in the context of the 21st century.  Women today may read Paul's writing and think to themselves, "I'm sure glad I'm not his wife - I mean, he is quite a scandalous writer!"  Yes, Paul was scandalous - but not for the reasons that it would appear.

Paul was writing in a culture where women were nothing more than property.  They had very few rights (if any) and little protection from the law.  In this context, rather than putting women down, Paul was in fact lifting women up.  He was placing limits on the men.  And more than that, he was telling the men what it means to love their wives, even to the point of sacrificing their lives for the wives.

This was scandalous!  Why, a man would probably rather give his life to save his camel before he saved his wife.  That's the kind of culture they were in.  And what does Paul do?  He is teaching men to value their wives.  He is lifting up women, children, and even slaves as persons created in God's image (instead of property).

We see this clearly in Philemon, when Paul urges Philemon to accept Onesimus on the basis of the fact that he is "no longer a slave, but rather a brother in Christ”.

It's important for us to understand that Paul's attitude toward women if we are to understand what he had to say about women speaking in church.

Third objection: the New Testament explicitly prohibits women in ministry

On the surface 1 Corinthians 14.33b-35 seems pretty clear.  "As in all the congregations of the saints, women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in church.”

Corinthians was a problem church for Paul; in fact, his whole letter was essentially a problem solving letter!  And in this particular church, where the congregation was mostly gentile (non-Jewish), the new believers would have brought into the church the customs and practices that they had previously engaged in; namely, that they would go to a prophet to ask personal questions; questions like, "should I marry this person?" or "should I buy this land?"

Now, as part of the church, these same people, in this case some wives, brought into the church this practice of interrupting the worship to ask their personal questions.  And, what I believe Paul is saying here is that the worship time is not the time to ask your personal questions.  If they have a question, they should ask their husbands at home.  It's not that women can never be the speaker or leader, but as the listener, they shouldn't be interrupting the service.

What about 1 Tim. 2:12?  "I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent." Again, it doesn't sound very positive but Paul is dealing with a situation, probably in Ephesus, where some high-society women, new to the faith, figure that because they were wealthy, had fancy clothes and fancy hairstyles; after all, they were important women; therefore they should be able to speak and teach.

And what Paul is saying is "no".  The verb tense in verse 12 is most accurately translated "I am not presently permitting a woman to teach..."  The point is that these women are new to the faith.  Just as Eve was deceived because she didn't have all the information; so also these women don't have all the information.  They need to learn first.

Paul isn't saying that women can never teach; but that at this point, these particular women are not to teach because they need to learn themselves.

Throughout the New Testament we see women in leadership.  In Paul's letters, we find examples of women teachers, evangelists, prophets, deacons and apostles. Paul makes it clear Galatians 3:28; that in Christ "there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
 
More than gender; what determines (or should determine) the leadership of the church is the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit, which He gives to each one within the body of Christ, both men and women.


 

It was about a month ago that the United States Supreme Court made a five-four decision making same-sex "marriage" a constitutional right in all of the United States.  This has left more people divided than anything else since the abortion debate.  People have either been cheering a victory or lamenting an earth-shattering loss, depending on where they stood on this issue. Even the White House was decked out in rainbow colours.

The social media has been buzzing with all kinds of posts, many from Christian groups predicting doom and gloom; the beginning of the end, and a slippery slide into further sexual confusion and chaos.  And of course, those who support same-sex "marriage" have been displaying their colours, planning further changes and wondering why others can't live and let live.

I believe that it is in times like this that we need to remember the words of Paul in Philippians 1:27; “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.”   The question I'd like to raise and address in this article is how do we conduct ourselves in a godly manner in the midst of such circumstances?  And I'd like to offer three suggestions.

First, we need to point the finger at ourselves.

Jesus said it pretty plain – that we need to remove the plank from our own eye before we take the speck out of someone else’s eye – and when it comes to the decline of sexual morality, I can't help but wonder if we have only ourselves to blame.  Why? Because of our own inconsistency.  We know what God's Word says about sexuality (and I'm not referring here to just homosexuality); and yet we have not adhered to it very well.

13 The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body... 18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. 19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.  [1 Corinthians 6:13b, 18-20]

I know it's not the case with everyone, but for far too many people – in the church – we have not been honoring God with our bodies.  By and large, our actions have not lived up to our message.  While we talk about sexual immorality being wrong, you wouldn't know it by our behaviour.  Sex before marriage; sex outside of marriage; pornography; immodesty; and adultery.  Add to that Jesus' clear teaching in Matthew 5:28; "anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart" and you can see that we are in pretty bad shape.

This is not just a problem outside the church.  This is a problem in the church.  So when we, the church, point to others about sexual sins, the world points back at us and wonders why we are being such hypocrites.    And regrettably, they have a point.

Part of the reason why the church is in such bad shape is simply because the church is open (as it should be) to all everyone.  We don’t make visitors sign a statement saying they have it all together before they are let in. Truth is, if we did that, no one would be in.  We have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  We all need help.  We have all failed.  We stumble in many ways.  I get that.  We are not perfect.

But those who know better, those who have been walking with the Lord, growing in their faith; they too will fall to the temptations of the flesh - and all too often the church ignores it.  Fortunately, there are also times when there is repentance, forgiveness, and restoration. After all, that’s why we are here.  If someone falls in sin, we are to restore them gently.  That's what we do. But the world doesn’t see that.  The world sees a church that is not practicing what it is preaching.  More than "restoring" the church has been "ignoring".

We do it all the time.  We poke criticism at some sins while ignoring others.  We lay down the law (even though we don't adhere to it) on sexual purity - but we don't focus too much gossip, or anger, jealousy, greed, and even gluttony.  If we point at some things, while ignoring others; we are being hypocrites.

The bottom  line is that we (the Church) haven't set the best example we could; and in the process we have undermined our credibility to be a voice of truth.  So when we respond to the collapse of sexual morality in our society, we need to begin by pointing the fingers at ourselves.

What can we do about it?  We can repent.  We can admit our failure.  We can admit our hypocrisy.  And where there has been sin, especially where the sin has been public, there needs to be repentance that is public.  We don't often do that because we like to portray a clean image.  The image is already messed.  It's time to come clean - publicly if we must.

Second, we need to remain calm.

While the decision in the United States is important - and it will have an impact on Christians - it is not the end of the world and we should not act as if the sky is falling or as if God was caught by surprise.

We get all up tight because the government is not adopting Biblical values.  Well, of course they are not.  Why would they?  We are not living in a predominantly Christian society so why would the world choose a godly way – especially when the church isn’t doing all that well to begin with?  It just doesn’t make sense.  For us to be surprised or “up in arms” over a decision made by a people who don’t adhere to Christian values, and expect them to do so, is unrealistic at best and hypocritical at worst.

I am not suggesting that this isn't important - what I am saying is what else should we expect? If God is not the moral authority upon which we base our society, then why would we expect the values of society to reflect those of the Bible?  We can't! So when decisions are made, like the USA did recently, or Canada did 10 or so years ago, we shouldn't be surprised.

1 Peter 4:12 reminds us, "Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you."

The truth is, throughout most of the past 2000 years Christians have been living and dealing with societies that were fundamentally opposed to Christian values.... and it was during those most difficult times when the Christian faith stood strong - and when the church made the most impact on society.

If you think things are bad now, remind yourself of what the world was like when the church was first starting out.  It didn't start off in a wonderful and supportive community.  Take a look at how Paul describes society in Romans 1:29-32.

 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
 
It was awful back then, and yet, the church grew.  Seems to me like we're only going back to where we began.  As bad as things are getting today, the truth is, we've been there before. Yes, it is contrary to God's Word.  Yes, it is disappointing and it will be devastating to society.  But that is also the times when the church has been the most prominent; salt and light.

So what are we to do?  We remain calm, we need to pray, and we need to stand on God's Word.  It is not the end of the world (at least, not yet) and in the darkness we have the opportunity to reflect the light and love of Jesus.

Three, we need to stand on God's Word.

We are not all that good at addressing what God's Word has to say about sexuality.  More often than not, we look at the negatives.  "Don't this... don't that...".  We don't focus on what God's Word does say (positively) about sexuality.

God is not ashamed of our bodies.  God's word is not afraid to speak about sexual intimacy.  You just need to read Song of Solomon to see that.

We also see it right in the beginning - when God created the heavens and the earth.  And after God created all things, he created man.  But it wasn't good that man was alone.  So what did God do?  Well, what he didn't do is create someone to go golfing or fishing with Adam.  He didn't create a hunting partner or a business partner. He created a woman; very distinct from the man.  "Male and female he created them" (Genesis 1:27).

And He created them very deliberately the way that He did so that they can experience sexual intimacy. It seems that sex, between a husband and a wife, was God's idea right from the beginning - and it was good!  It wasn't shameful. "For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.  The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame" (Genesis 2:24-25).

That was the way God created man and woman; to enjoy their sexuality within the context of marriage.

But like many other things that God created for the "good" man has turned around and used it for sin.

24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.  26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.    (Romans 1:24-27).

When it comes to what is right or wrong; it's not about what I think - it's about what God's word says. And when it comes to sexuality - it's really hard to not understand what God says about it.  The references in the New Testament (see Romans above) are clear, as are the references in the Old Testament. "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable" (Leviticus 18:22).  "If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable." (Leviticus 20:13).

The bottom line is that regardless of whether a person is homosexual or heterosexual or simply confused by it all, as followers of Christ, we are all called to a life of sexual purity.  Homosexuals and heterosexuals must equally abstain from the temptations of the flesh.

9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.  (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).

It's easy to read off the list of those who won't inherit the kingdom of God and miss out on the most important part of this passage.  It's in verse 11.  "And that is what some of you were".  Past tense!  Something has changed!  They were washed.  They were sanctified.  Yes, even the sexually immoral.

Jesus didn't cast stones at the woman caught in adultery, but he did tell her to leave her life of sin.  That's what we're here for - to encourage one another to leave a life of sin; all sin, not just sexual sin.  And we're all in it together.  We've all sinned, and we all need the grace and forgiveness of God - which he gives freely to all who would come to him.  He's not out to get us. He's out to restore us.

Today, perhaps more than in any time in at least recent history, we, the church, need to be clear on what God's Word says about sexuality.  But it's not something we need to hold over someone's head to beat them; and it's definitely not something we should expect the "world" to embrace with us; but it is definitely an opportunity to live out the message found in 1 Peter 2:11-12:

"Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the [unbelievers] that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us."

By doing so, we will be conducting ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ; and for His glory.

The Olympics.  What a huge event.  Over $50 billion in preparation costs.  Almost three thousand athletes from 88 countries around the world competing in 98 events. 

The Olympics come with the usual array of events:  Protests.  Threats.  Questions.  Complaints.  Couldn't all that money be used in a better way?  Then there's the thrill of victory.  The agony of defeat.  It's all there.

It seems the bigger something gets, the more opportunity to criticize it or protest against it.

There is much that I don't like about the Olympics, and yet, I find myself watching and enjoying the Olympics.  I find myself getting up early or staying up late to see athletes compete.  And not just Canadian athletes either.  From a wide variety of sports I've enjoyed watching athletes from around the world; Canadian or not.  I've even cheered for them (except, maybe, for the opponents to the Canadian hockey teams).

So why did I enjoy the Olympics so much?  Because people were involved.  Real people.

So much of today's "entertainment" is virtual.  Games are played electronically.  Most movies are computer generated; at the very least the special effects.  Most business is conducted electronically.  We communicate via email.  We seldom interact with real people.

During the Olympics, we get to see people; real people.  We see athletes shine and burst into joy; some because they won a medal; some simply because they were there competing.  We see real emotion.  We see talent.  We see effort.  We feel for athletes who trained for years but fell short of their goal; maybe they were just a little slow; maybe they literally fell and blew their chances; maybe it just wasn't their day.  And we see their pain.  We feel their pain.  These are people who have given up so much for one shot.

I believe I've enjoyed the Olympics because of this human connection.  These are real people, showing real feelings, in a real live setting.  And whether they win or lose, we feel for them and we feel with them; and that's something that, I believe, is lacking in today's world.

Far too much of our "connection" and "entertainment" is virtual.  It's a good thing that God didn't work that way.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life".  There it is; the personal touch.

God designed us for human contact.  We're made that way. It wasn't good for Adam to be alone.  It wasn't even good that Adam and Eve were alone - they were to multiply.  They needed each other; they needed others around them.  They needed human contact.

Much has changed since the days in the Garden, but the fact that we need human contact hasn't changed.  We still need each other.  And I thank God that one of the places we can find a human touch is in the Church.  The Church is a place for real people, with real feelings, sometimes with real problems and real failures, and often times with real victories.  We are not a perfect people; but we do have a real love for one another and the funny thing is the more people we share this love with, the greater it becomes.

The Olympics come and the Olympics go; but our need to stay connected remains.

There is no doubt about it in my mind.  None.  Absolutely zero.

Those who are growing in the Lord are the ones who are making the time for prayer and the study of God's Word.  I can almost guarantee it; in fact, I'm sure that I can.

I'm not writing to chastise anyone; I'm writing to encourage you. I would love to see each and every person growing in their faith; experiencing a deeper more meaningful prayer life; encountering the Living God through God's Living Word.  God has more for us than we can even imagine.  But are we experiencing it?

I am sure you are aware that we have been encouraging prayer and bible study a lot in the past year.  I am convinced that this is why we are seeing such wonderful blessings poured out into lives. It is not a coincidence.

If you haven't already been doing so; I encourage you, I even plead with you (if Paul could do it in Philippians 4:2, I'm sure I can too), get involved in a prayer group.  Get involved in a Bible Study group.  And of course, make prayer and Bible study a part of your personal life at home too.  We are all busy.  We have so much on our plates.  Believe me, I thoroughly understand the challenges of fulfilling our various responsibilities and taking time for God's Word and Prayer - but it must be done; otherwise we become like stagnant water; going nowhere.

There are many ways we can do this.  Below are just some ways that we, as the Body of Christ, can come together and encourage one another in prayer and Bible Study.

• Tuesday night prayer; weekly at 8:45 pm.
• Sunday night prayer; third Sunday each month at 7:00 pm.
• Sunday Adult Bible Study; weekly at 9:45 am.
• Wednesday Bible Study; weekly at 1:15 pm and again at 7:15 pm.

For those who might be interested, I have updated our web site with tons of information regarding our latest study we just begun (we had our introduction day yesterday) called Spiritual Disciplines for Ordinary People.  What a great opportunity to dive deep into God's Word and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to us.  At this web site, you will find chapters from a highly recommended book (you can read it online) as well as my review/notes for each chapter.  You can also listen to a previously given sermon based on the same weekly theme.  It is a hard-hitting but greatly helpful study.

We also have our Sunday morning Adult Bible Study - a steady stream of God's Word.  The materials used for this study include weekly lessons and commentary.  The adults that participate learn together.

Proverbs 27:17 says "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."  That's what happens when we study and pray together.

Will you join us?  I encourage you to put it on your calendar.