Good God Bad Neighbors | Hope Carpenter

You know, we've been studying and talking about loving God with all of our heart, our soul, our mind, our strength, and then loving y'. All. Look at the people on the row beside you. Come on, just eyeball them. Yeah, them people. It is so much easier to love God like that than it is to love people. And, you know, it's even harder to receive God's love like the love he has dumped on us. It's so hard to actually receive it for yourself because you know your shortcomings, you know who you are, you know what you did last summer, right? You know all those things. We know us. So we think, how can he love me that way? Man, he loved you that way before you were ever a twinkle in your mama and daddy's eye, before they shared a straw, before you were born, he loved you that way. But then he says, now turn around and love each other like this. Y' all ready to talk about it? What you honor, what you choose to honor, what you choose to celebrate will always move towards you. What you. What you fail to celebrate will eventually exit your life. Just ask any divorce couple in here. Any divorce. What you celebrate, what you honor will move towards you. What you fail to celebrate will eventually exit your life. And listen, we don't honor people because they are honorable. Here we go. We are commanded to honor people because it is our standard. That is our standard. That is who we are. It shows what kind of person I am by how I treat you. It says absolutely nothing about you. It says everything about me by how I treat you. And especially if I treat you with honor and kindness and forgiveness when you've just been mean, ugly and trifling, right? So that's what we're talking about today. As a Christian, it is how you treat people, how you honor one another, other. That is the proof. Say proof. Proof of who you say you are. It's the only proof how hope. How's that the only proof? I'm so glad you asked. I'm going to prove it to you. John 13:35 says, by this, everyone will know that you are my disciples. If you love one another by this, it's the only proof that you really are a follower of Christ. That you really do love him like you say you love him. Is if you love one another, it's not even about. It's not even proof that you are a Christian by how much you love God, about what you do for God. The proof is what you do for others. It's how you treat your neighbor. It's how you treat the person in the cubicle. It's how you treat a stranger. It's how you treat the woman in the Chick Fil a drive thru. It's how you treat the men out in the parking lot. It's how you treat the person who flipped you a bird and cut you off on 880. It's how you treat people who took your parking lot at the mall. It's how you treat people. You say, well, how can I love everybody? Is that even possible? I don't know everyone. And especially those mean people. You know, I don't even go to family reunions. What about you? I mean, that's. That's tough. I mean, that's. That's asking a lot, right? You ever heard the saying, I'd be a great Christian if it weren't for people? Because people is. What is the testing factor in your life? People. And why are people the testing factor? Because people are why Jesus came. Jesus didn't come to save your cat and your dog. I know you love them, but he didn't come for them. He came for people. Jesus came for people. And he loves people. Not just you, not just me. He loves all people. And so if we are in the same family, if we're in the same body, then the testing factor will be how we treat one another. That proves, say. Proves who we really are. Who we say we are leaders, platform people. Listen, we are to go out of our way. Do you know that? It just frustrates me so bad when I'm around bougie pastors and I call them the Christian celebrity cult. But I'm sorry, you know, pray for me. I need prayer. Still working this out. But you know, who don't feel like they can even talk to people or, you know, they can't even shake hands with somebody or they can't go to a funeral or they've reached some place called there where they're more special than everybody else and everybody's got to serve them. And, you know, there is a place for protocol. I get all that. I get it, I get it, I get it. But where did we ever get so messed up in our thinking that you are here for me? The fivefold ministry gift. Jesus said we are gifts to the body, but we're only here for the body. We are here for you, to help you, to love you, to grow you, to edify you, to be there for you, to give you a word, to put a hug around your neck and be there for you. Listen, this. This life is not about us. And especially in leadership, man, we've messed up so bad. And Jesus is our model and he told us to mimic him. And what did Jesus do? He laid his life down. He said, this is not about me. And he said, if you want to be my disciples, you have to mimic me. There will be cross times in your life. There will be crucifixion times in your life. There will be times that you have to do things you just sheer don't wanna do. You know, we think of sweet little baby Jesus, 6 pound 8 ounce baby Jesus in swaddling clothes. Baby Jesus. We think about him like that, that he's like, yes, I get to get on that cross. So happy about it. I love them so much. The cross is awesome. Selfie moment with the cross. You know, we think Jesus was just hyped up about getting on the cross. Jesus said, God in the garden of Gethsemane. He said, if there be any other way, God, I don't want to do this. I don't want to do it. Lord, is there any other father? Sweat drops of blood on his forehead. And he's saying, I know you want me to do it, but God, is there any other way? And why do we think that we will tiptoe through this life with God never asking us and requiring us to lay down our life for our brothers? I know it's quiet in here. I feel all yalls rear end doing like this. That's what love looks like. That's what love looks like. It's sacrifice. Love is not butterflies. How many married people can say I know it ain't because then butterflies after a few months will fly away to another state. Love is not butterflies. It's not a good feeling. Yeah, you get it at first, but that is nothing but a chemical in the brain that is produced when you're excited about something. You get a chemical in the brain that's excited and produces when you get a new friend or when you get a new church. Oh, I love redemption. It's so awesome. And you start inviting everybody to redemption. Six months later you ain't even at redemption. Why? Because the chemical is not in your brain anymore and you feel like, well, I just don't feel like it. Maybe the Lord's leading me away. Maybe my season's up. No, your chemical is up. That's when your commitment has to kick in. That's when you do right, even when you don't feel like doing right. I'm sorry, Ron's not here. Get your bibles, let's go to 1st Corinthians 13. Let's talk about this love. If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but I do not have love, I'm only a resounding gong. Think about that. Dang, dang, dang. Or a clanging cymbal. Is TZ up there a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal? If I have the gift of prophecy and I can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have the faith that can move mountains and, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I knock everybody out at the altar and everybody's getting healed, oh, that was Hope's version. Sorry, but I have not love. I am nothing. If I give all my possessions to the poor, give my body over to hardship, that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient. Love is kind. So when you say to your spouse, I love you, are you saying, I'm going to be patient with you. I'm going to be kind to you even when I want to claw your face on it. Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy, doesn't boast. It's not proud, puffed up. It doesn't dishonor the other person. It's not self seeking, it's not selfish, and it's not easily angered. So when you say I love you to your spouse, to your friend, do you fly off the handle? Do you go from 0 to 10 like nobody's business, like Richard Petty in a race car? That's not love. It keeps. This is so hard. It keeps no record of wrong. Oh, come on, somebody. How many of y' all been laying in your bed at night still going over what they did to you, what they said to you, how they passed you by and didn't give you a hug. They talked to you, how they didn't invite you. Love keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but it rejoices with the truth. It always protects, it always trusts, it always hopes, it always perseveres. Do you know what that word persevere is? You got to get through. Always perseveres. Love never fails. Love never fails. When you operate in obedience like this, when you do what the word says and act out what God says about love, your relationships can't fail. They can't fail. There's no way they can fail. If you look back over your relationships that have failed, you will see or two or three or four categories in this love chapter that you did not live up to. It's Tight, but it's right love. Listen, we love everything, right? We love ice cream. We love shoes. Hallelujah. We love the beach. We love Napa. We love Chick Fil a. We love the mall. We love our dog. I don't love your dog. I love my cat. I mean, we love our kids. We love summertime. We love Christmas. We love. We love so many things. And that word is just spread out like mayonnaise and used so lightly. But that is not the word that is being talked about in First Corinthians 13. There's four different kinds of love. And there's friendship, love, phileo, I love you. When I say I love you, I phileo you, right? Then there's erotic love. Well, that's me and my husband. And you know where it's supposed to be. Let's don't even go there, because he ain't here right now. And then there's family love. That's stracheo. I love Chaz when I tell Chaz, chaz, I love you, I love Chaz when I say I love you. That word is stracheo. Because I feel for him different than I feel for you. Phileo, friendship, love. Okay, then there is agape love. This is the love of God. This is the love that's in First Corinthians 13. It's the way that God loves you. It's him loving you when you had no chance, before you could ever be good enough, before you could ever give enough, before you could ever get on that treadmill of perfection, before you could ever love him. He loved you. This is the way I describe that love. It's the love of the higher reaching down to the lower, but then elevating the lower above the higher. Whoo. That's what agape love is. It's the love of the higher reaching to the lower, me and you, but then taking me and you and elevating us above him. And then he said, if you want the world to know you really got what you said, you got that you really are a follower of Jesus. That's how you treat people. You take the love of the higher reaching down to the ones who don't deserve it and elevating them above yourself. Yeah, y' all doing that old Silver Creek Country Club clap. He did that for us when we were miserably far, far, far, far, so far away from him. When we loved other things, when we hurt him, he still loved us. And now he said, just like I've loved you while you were mean, hurting, rebellious, sneaky, trifling, janky, pins and hoes, drug addicts, all those things. Now you love other people just like this. Listen, I don't know how to be nothing but myself. You hear me? And this is the only proof. Say proof. It's the only proof. The only proof, the only way that people can tell that you are my disciples. Not church attendance, not how much you give, not your tithing record, not how much scripture you know, not how much you speak in tongues, not how much you post. Oh, this was my devotion today. Look at how much I read. You know, I mean, none of that stuff shows that you really are a Christian. You might think it is by posting what the Lord gave you this morning. Well, my thought is he gave it to you. Not me. He gave me something else, so keep it to yourself. It's not about how much. We shamalama ding dong at the altar and fall out and get back up and lead mean as the devil. Still, the only way. Say only way. The only way that you can prove that you really got what you said you got is how you treat your neighbor. It's the only proof. First John 4:20 says, you cannot say you love God and hate your brother. They don't even go together. That's like oil and water. You can't say you love God and you hate your brother. You can't say you love God and your prejudice. You can't say it. You might say it, but I'm looking at you going, you a lie. You a lie and the devil's a lie. You might say you are, but you ain't. You can't say you love God and pass by hurting people. You can't say you love God and not take care of widows and orphans. You can't say you love God and not be good to people who are hurting. Come on, y'. All. I didn't say it was easy. Never anywhere did scripture say it was easy. You think the cross was easy for Jesus? No. We've already established that it's not easy. But it is the requirement for being called a disciple of Jesus, for being called a Christian. Listen, if we really started to live like this, if we all really lived like this, we wouldn't have to raise money to fix buildings and replace lights and air conditionings. And we wouldn't have to do that. We wouldn't have to beg you to register for a conference. There it is again. Silver Creek. We wouldn't have to beg you to do what you know to do. Listen, if we really lived like this, drug addicts would be flushing their drugs down the toilet and running into this church. We would have to knock out walls, we would have to bring in chairs because we got the real stuff. We got the life giving stuff. We got the good news of the gospel, the love of God. All right, Pastor Hope. I get it, I get it, I get it. This is the way I'm supposed to be living. But what does it look like? And I'm going to sum it up for you in three words. It is selfless. It is selfless. If you're a note taker, take notes. It's selfless. This kind of love will totally remove you out of the equation. How you think, how you feel. It is selfless. It totally removes you. How many of you have kids in here? I'll be praying for you. Thank God. Mine's getting up to an age where anyway, we won't even go there. Kids, they taught me how to pray. That's the only reason they came out of my womb, is to teach me how to pray. That's not true, Chaz. I love you so much. Kids, I think children, really, we will go out of our way and do more for our children than we'll about do for anybody. I mean, even our spouse. At times, I'm like, you thirsty? You got five fingers? Get up and go get your two feet. Go get your own tea. I know y' all women don't act like that, but, you know, I'm like, I work full time, too, you know, you thirsty, I'm thirsty. I don't ask somebody to get my drink, so go get your drink. But children, it's like, you'll do whatever, you know, you know they're sick. You'll stay up all night praying for them, and you'll get up and leave in your pajamas and go to CVS and get them some medicine. I mean, you'll do whatever it takes for your children. But you know what? That still is not even a representation of God's agape love. As much as we see sacrifice and love our children. Women, y' all got mad money. You know what I'm talking about? That money you stick in your bra that nobody knows about and you tuck it way back. That's what I call mad money. My kids will come to me, mama, I found these shoes, or, mama, I need some tires. And I'm like, I'll give them anything I have, and they know it and they use it, right? But God's love even goes deeper than that. Because that, in a natural way, is almost easy. It's Almost like an instinct. But are we operating that sacrificial to a stranger, to a neighbor, to a co worker, to somebody we just met? It's tight, ain't? It's hard, it's rough. I'm talking about God's love. God's love. It's selfless. It totally removes you out of the picture. Number two, it's sacrificial. Listen, living like this will always say, always cost you something. It will always cost you something. It will always inconvenience you. I have a friend back east, and she loves to throw these themed birthday parties. One of those, and several years ago, she was turning 50 and she was like, I just want to do a 70s birthday party. I was like, my God, Jill, please come on. She was like, no, I want you to get a wig and we're going to dress up, and I want you to have the 70s clothes on. I'm like, jill, I don't even want to come to that. That's not even fun to me. I feel stupid. I don't want to come. Can we just go out to E? She was like, please come. It would mean so much to me. And please don't just come dress up. So, because I love her, I took my time and I took my money and bought a wig and bell bottom pants that I would knew I would never, ever use again. Didn't want to do it, but I inconvenienced myself because I loved her. And that's a friend kind of love. How much more inconvenience will it be for somebody that you don't even have that friend connection with, loving your neighbor as yourself? Number three. It's unconditional. Unconditional. It does not put conditions on it. I love you. I honor you, regardless of how you perform. Good days, bad days, drunk days, rich days, poor days. I love you regardless of how you perform because of who you are, not what you do or do not do. Y' all clapping right now. But God gonna test your tail when you leave. You know he is. I love you, honey, as long as you bring home the bacon. But when you get lazy and stop working, it's not unconditional. It's not agape love. That's why it's sacrificial, because it's not easy. This is not easy. And Jesus did this for us. But then he says, now you turn around. Love me like this. Love me like this. Loving Jesus like this is going to cost you, too. How many of you really, really were so excited and jonesed and just, oh, this is awesome. I get to get up this morning and get ready and go to church. Some of you, but not everybody, right? You could think of 500 other things you could have done today, but loving God like that will cost you. Some of you sitting here saying, I still don't want to be here. It's all right. You get in the word, God's going to do something spectacular in your heart because you made the effort to be here. Love is not a feeling. Everything I read to you in 1st Corinthians 13 has nothing to do with feeling. It's 100% a choice. It's a choice. It's a choice. Being kind is a choice because you are going to feel like not being kind, right? Biting your good tongue and blessing those who curse you instead of cursing them back is a choice, and you are not going. How many of you have ever done all the typing? Like, I'm gonna give them a piece of my mind, and then the Holy Ghost will stop you. You're like, dang, delete. Then you like, well, I'm. I'm just gonna say this part. And the Holy Ghost say, you better not delete. Yes. I've had to do it a hundred times myself. And put scripture in it. We feel like if we put scripture in it, then maybe, you know, that was from God. I love y'. All. This is not easy, but if you keep it in the forefront of your mind, listen, Jesus did this for you. And now the whole world is watching. The whole world is watching you. They're watching. If you really are who you say you are, they're watching you at work. Oh, you think they not just go in the break room? They watching you. They're talking about you. You know why some people hadn't stepped in church with you that you've invited? Because they've heard how you talked, they saw how you walked. They saw how you treated somebody else, and they're like, eh. Well, they say they got it, but my friends out in the world is better than they are. I hope you all still love me. That wasn't convincing. But the world is watching, and his name is at stake. His name's at stake. We bear his name. We bear his image. The only Jesus that anybody's going to see is you and me. Jesus don't have a cubicle at Facebook, but you do. Jesus don't work at Tesla, but you do. Jesus isn't physically parading around Target, but we are. Sometimes God will ask me to do some of the dumbest things. Literally. I think this is so dumb. Like for instance, if I'm in a Target line or a Safeway line and I got all this thing of buggy my groceries and there's a woman behind me or an elderly woman, he'll say to me, to my spirit, let her go first and see to me. And to some people that might be so dumb, but that's a sacrifice. I'm in a hurry, I gots to go. Just simple little things that require sacrifice. An unconditional love. Simple things. Selfless selflessness. Totally removing yourself out of the equation. It's not hard. It's really not hard. It's really just a choice. It's a choice, you know, we really just need to learn to love people like Jesus did. I was reading just my personal time the other day and I was reading where Jesus and his disciples were sitting around the table. The Last Supper picture, you know, where they all go. And. And Jesus was about to go to the cross. He was about to go to the cross. It was his last time with his homies. That was his homies, that was his friends. I mean, these just weren't co workers. These were the people he did life with that'll preach all day long. It was the Last Supper. And what did he choose to do on his last night? He chose to sit and fellowship and eat just normal everyday stuff. And he was sitting around the table and do you know what he said? He said, remember me this way. When you remember me, you remember me this way. Hanging out with people, loving people. Even when my back's pressed against a wall and I know that tomorrow is going to be the worst day of my life. Remember me like this. And listen, he wasn't sitting at a table with people who had done him right or who was gonna do him right. He was sitting at a table with Peter, who he knew would betray him. And he was sitting at a table with Thomas, who he knew had spent all this time with him but was going to come up to him in doubt. Everything he said, everything that he'd seen Jesus do, he knew he was sitting at a table with those kind of people. He was sitting at a table with Judas, who he knew was going to care more about the jingling of money and going down with Jesus and being numbered with Jesus than he did with Jesus. But he did it anyway. He said, and when you think about me, this is how I want you to remember me, that I'm doing life with you. Even when I know you're not perfect, Even when I know that you're gonna hurt me. Even when I know that we're gonna have to work through some things. Even when I know, Peter, I'm going to have to come back to you and say, peter, why you run away from me? Peter, I know we got in a scutter butt. I know we got in a scuffle, but come on, Peter, come on back. We got to fix this thing. We got to fix this thing. Before I. I was studying for this message this week, and God's so good, you know, he knows. He knows everything. He knows the end from the beginning. He sees the big picture of our life. And I was put to the test this week in a major way. Somebody who has hurt me and my husband so severely. I'm talking about one of the most abrasive public hurts that we've ever experienced. And I knew that my husband was going to come face to face with that person with no resolve this weekend. I'm telling you, he will make you walk through what you preach. You are hearing it. Don't be surprised what you walk through, because how do you know you've. You've accomplished it? How do you know that you're doing the right thing until you put to the test? Right test comes to prove what you already know. That's a test in school. You don't get tested on material that you haven't been taught. You get tested on material that has been taught to you over and over and over and over to see if you got it. And it's sometimes some of the most silent times in your life because the teacher don't talk during the test. We think, God, where are you? God, why am I going through this? He's sitting back with the scoreboard and the grading card saying, is she going to pass? Is he going to pass?