Please turn with me in your Bibles to Paul's letter to the Colossians, Colossians chapter number three. Colossians chapter number three. As we continue our series through this letter to the Colossians, Colossians chapter 3 from verses 9 down to verse number 15. We'll be looking at here this evening. Verse 9 down to verse number 15. Let us hear God's holy word. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all. Put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things, put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts. To the witch also You're called in one body, and be ye thankful. Amen. May the Lord bless the reading of His holy and infallible word. Our title for this evening's message is this, Love One Another. Love One Another. As we return to our series in this letter to the Colossians, I think it might be important that we have a little recap on what has happened so far. Paul writes this letter to the Colossians and he is dealing with a very grave problem, a very serious problem of false teaching. But before he gets to the false teaching in chapter number two, in chapter number one, he lays a foundation of the positive truth of who Jesus Christ is. You see, in this letter, a core central issue is this, that people drifted away from Christ, not believing that Christ was enough. Now, not everything you're going to read in chapter one is going to be negative. Actually, there's some things they got right. And one thing you'll notice about every church, and this can be said about any church on earth, where the grace of God has done a work in there, there's commendable things to be said about those believers. And you can see that here in this letter to the Colossians. But there are challenges and that brings us on to chapter number two. Chapter one is laying the foundation of positive truth. Chapter two then is laying out the real reason for Paul writing this letter at all. There's usually a serious problem going on when Paul needs to address something. There is false philosophy, which ends up denying Jesus Christ. There is Judaizing, which goes back to the old shadows of the Old Testament, which really were meant to point toward Jesus Christ. There was even angel worship. There was what's called asceticism. You'll see that in chapter two. Touch not, taste not. And asceticism was seen throughout the church as a kind of a harsh legalism of denying the physical flesh. But at the end of the day, what do these problems all have in common? A neglect of seeing that Jesus Christ is enough. That Christ is all and in all. This church had problems and colossi, but so does every church on planet Earth, this side of eternity. It got things right. We see something commendable in chapter 1, verse 8, when it says here, who also, this is speaking of a papyrus, who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit. Your love in the Spirit. There is the work of God. It is a church. The people have been saved. There's been a change in people's lives. This is a young church. And like every true church, there are good things and there are not so good things. And I think we should even think about this for a second, that we should be thankful for every genuine believer Even in those churches, we may question why they may even remain. Let us be thankful for their witness, where they continue to be. But then we come to chapter number three, where we're looking at here this evening. Chapter number three. And after the problem's been explained, what should we do? With the problems laid out, the different challenges that they face, What practical things can we do? And Paul lays this out from the beginning of verse one of chapter number three. If ye be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above. The solutions are heavenly. You see, the problems or the solutions that they looked to were earthly problems. They were to battle bad ideas and practices which had come in How can we positively be a good influence with all that is going on and all the challenges that we're facing at that time? In many ways, this is every single church. When we see that Christ, or think that Christ is not enough, we will drift. We need Christ plus something else. And it happens so easily. You need this extra little thing Or for some reason, the church cannot continue. And it can cause division, and it can cause difficulty. This is every church. What can happen when, well, we see legalism in chapter number two. What can happen in such cases? A breakdown in communication. And if you were to think about the Pharisees in the first century, do we think of warm and loving? Not usually. We think of harsh. We think of, perhaps, frosty. We think of unwelcoming. So, with the challenges the Colossian Church faced with legalism and division, how do they combat it? Now, this may seem like a very glib answer. You might say, well, it sounds so easy. Love. How do you combat the problems of legalism entering into the church? How do you combat the drifting away from the simplicity that is Christ? How do you combat all these things? It sounds so simple, it's not. It doesn't come naturally to us, and we have so many things that we all need to learn. Because there's things we do we don't realize, and a biblical standard, it's not loving. We think it's loving. The most important The definition of love is the Bible. That charity, that agape, it speaks about in our text. So friends, as we look at this text here this evening, we learn to love one another. Because that's how the Colossian church was to face their challenges, and that's how we're to face our own challenges. Every single church has failings and shortcomings. Our own too. The first point that we're going to look at. Love one another with truth. Love one another with truth. Verses nine and 10. Lie not one to another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. we must love one another in the church. There should be, and often this may be more visible and less visible because we are fallen sinners, visible in the church. But we often need reminding and encouragement and persuasion to do these things, to love one another. Paul is reminding them of what they were to be, what they have put off, They have put off that which is not loving, and they've put on the new man which is loving. Lie not one to another. This is all true believers. If you've trusted in Jesus Christ, you've put off the old man and put on the new man. The old man has been crucified. He's dead. The new man is alive. There's a difference. It says in John 3 in verse 6, John 3 and verse number 6, a text we have looked at recently in the morning sermons, John 3 and verse number 6, that which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. There's the idea here in our text when it talks about putting off and putting on, almost like you would take off something that is clothing and put on something else. That old man in Adam, dead. Crucified. It tells us more in verse number eight than the previous verse. But now you also put off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. We put off these things. There has to be a change, friends, when we go from loving lies as unbelievers to loving the truth. It's having our eyes open to these things. You see, we cannot serve two masters. There's a phrase, you cannot have your cake and eat it too. Will we have Christ or will we have the world? Matthew 6 and verse 24. Matthew 6 and verse number 24. It says this, no man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. And mammon was riches or money personified. You cannot serve God and and you cannot serve two masters. One has to be put off, one is a malice and blasphemy, and the other is a renewed man in Jesus Christ. Born again of the Spirit, all things are made new. We put off the old Adam, and we put on the second Adam. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Romans 6, in verse 6. Romans 6, in verse number 6, it says, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him. that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. We should not serve lies. We should serve the truth. That's what it means. We should serve that which is true, that which is altogether lovely, that which is praiseworthy. And the old man, that old garment is to be discarded like filthy rags. the new garments of Christ to adorn us, provided by Christ himself. We are to be different. Yes, our salvation is based upon the merits of Jesus Christ and Him alone. You can't earn it. Your greatest five seconds in this world, even after you're saved, would earn you nothing but hell. However, Because of Christ and his merits, you trust in him and him alone, you're going to heaven. That's wonderful. But you say, why do we need to do anything then? It's all done, I'm finished. Out of gratitude, out of thankfulness, out of joy that we have, we want to love God and love our neighbor, especially our closest neighbor. Paul is saying to them here, lie not one to another. Seeing that you've put off the old man with his deeds. It's not just put off the old man and just continue to live the way you once did. You put off the old man and his deeds and his rebellion and his own will. We're to be different. Renewed. Changed. Truth must matter to us. You see, and you see this a lot in the world, the world will be interested in truth sometimes, but there's, you know, when it's convenient. And truth matters when it affects me. I'll get angry when a politician lies and it affects me. But what about our own lives? What about the things we do? Oh, that doesn't matter. Oh, people don't see that. Friends, we must be people of integrity. We must be people of truth. Even in the small things. Even the things that don't seem to matter. Even in the things when we don't think anyone can see us. May all things be done to the glory of God. This is how we love one another. You cannot love one another with untruth, with lies. We must love each other with the truth. We must love each other with the word of God. We must love each other with the promises of God. We must love each other with these things. Biblical truth. You see, the truth matters in all areas of life, all areas of life. Now, does it mean we'll faithfully, wonderfully apply it perfectly in every area of life? No. These are things we all need to grow in. There are things, there are areas in all of our lives when we go, I didn't realize that. Okay, and then you see it, and then you realize, I need to change that. That's a good thing. We shouldn't resist that. that's being changed, and in our dealings with other people, that truth that we learn from the Scriptures, it can help us to how we interact with one another. It's more than just ticking the right doctrinal statement, but if we have the right view of Christ, it will transform how we live. If we love Christ for who He is, it will transform how we live, and it will transform how we will see His body. for whom he died. Truth matters. So we must know the Bible. You see, the false teachers in the days of the Colossians, what did they want to give? Remind ourselves of Colossians chapter 2 and verse 8. Colossians chapter 2 and verse number 8, beware, lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit. After the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. These false teachers, they come in and they teach these new ideas, and they think, They're the loving ones. Look at all these wonderful new truths that we have found. We're so loving and caring. The church has gotten around for 2,000 years. Didn't you know? And they will come, very loving, but it's not loving, is it? We don't love one another with lies. We love one another with truth. Remind yourselves of verse 10 of our text, and having put on the new man. You see, the old man lies, the new man truth. And having put on the new man and his deeds, basically, which is renewed in the knowledge after the image of him that created him. The more we're changed by the Word of God, the more we're like Christ, it'll affect how we love one another. Jesus is the truth. The way and the life is the truth. And if we're like him, more we're like him, the more we will love our Christian brother and sister more in a way that is biblical. See, we always think It's very rare that we would say, you know what, I'm gonna do this to so and so because I think it's horrible. We always think that what we do is loving. But we must be informed by the truth, informed by these things. Romans chapter 12 and verse two. Romans chapter 12 and verse number two. and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. That means we have to change. That means we're not the finished article. If we were perfect and good as you are, you don't need to be transformed, you don't need to be changed. But we do. We all do. None of us are the finished article. And the more we're changed by the truth, the more we love the truth, actually love the truth, we'll love our neighbor. There's no point in us saying, oh, I love the truth. Oh, the Bible's fantastic, but there's no evidence of it in and among one another. There's nothing biblical about saying, well, I love the truth, but there's so many problems in the church, I've got to retreat from it. I'm going to get contaminated by the problems in the church. Friends, our greatest problems are our own hearts. And what we're being called to do is labor within the body where God has placed us. As imperfect as we all are. That's what we're called to do. And even with all the problems the Colossians had, what did he say to them? Lie not one to another, seeing that you've put off the old man. Love each other, he's saying, with the truth. You see, the natural man in our flesh thinks that a certain degree of lies is okay. Lies are okay sometimes. They're not. You see, who was it in the Bible at the beginning said, you set up your own standard. You decide what is right and wrong. You do what's right in your own eyes. Sounds nice, doesn't it? You do you. In Genesis chapter three and verse five, Genesis chapter three, And verse number five, for God doth know that in the day, and this is the serpent speaking, for God doth know in the day thereof, then your eyes shall be opened and you shall be as gods, or could even be rendered as God or like God, knowing good and evil. Put it another way, you can decide what's right and wrong. You can decide your own standard. And when you set up your own standard of love, It's always gonna be what we do, isn't it? But friends, we must be more like Christ. That's why we seek, isn't it, to go and evangelize. We don't want to lie to them. The world has sold them lies, and they've believed lies, and we want them to love the truth. We give out tracts, preaching the open air. We want them to know the truth. See, when it comes to truth and error, my opinion doesn't matter. What does matter is the word of God. And what the law of God teaches us, that is what is holy. The world may think that what we do is absurd. It doesn't matter. What matters is what the word of God tells us. That's how we're to love one another. And it should transform us. This love should transform us. Again, there's no point in just having all this information in our heads. Oh, there's some very clever men and women around. But friends, how does it transform how you live one toward another? Paul writes to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians chapter 13. 1 Corinthians chapter 13, verses 1 to 3. Verse one, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity, I am become a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. Now along this, this passage is frequently misunderstood by many, but think of it this way. If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, if I speak with all these tongues of men and of angels, Paul's not saying speaking with all these tongues, by the way, if I do, and have not charity or love, I am become a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. Or as he says at the end of verse number three, profiteth me nothing. Verse number two, I am nothing. So unless this truth that we're learning in our minds enters into our hearts and then enters into our hands, it's worse than nothing. It has to change us. It has to, yes, learn truth of the Bible. Yes, think about these things. Praise God that you're looking through these things. But how does it transform how you love one another? Because we don't just learn things in the Bible, do we? It's just a storm in the mind, like we store things in the attic. It has to change our heart and our hands. Practical truth. I want us to also think about as well, as we're speaking about the truth, that we need to speak the truth one towards another. We need to be careful not to engage in gossip. James chapter 3 and verses 5 to 8 speaks about the tongue and the dangers of the tongue. And I think in our modern day, we should also speak about the dangers of the keyboard. I think we're far more liable to slander and gossip with the push of a button than we are using our own tongues at times. We must be very, very careful. If the answer is I don't know, don't say it. Don't pass it on. Reputations are at stake, relationships are at stake, and Satan loves to spread lies and malicious gossip. This brings us on to our second point. love one another with togetherness. It's with truth, with togetherness. We are one in Christ. This reality that we've spoken about, putting on the new man, is all of us. Which brings us on to verse number 11. And having put on the new man, which is renewed in the knowledge of the image of him that created him. Verse 11, where there is neither, Greek, nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all." What can happen in the church? And what happens in many churches? Factions, cliques. You'll have groups centered around one common interest and another group centered around another common interest, or maybe just only the people of a certain age mingle with each other. And it becomes very hard, I'm not making an excuse for it, but it becomes harder when churches grow bigger and all these kind of things, when you've got bigger churches. We're not where to be and realize that we're all one body. We're not the children off in one section, Parents off in another section, the elderly off in another section. No, we're all one body and we need to be constantly reminded of this. And background can make a huge difference in this as well. In 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verses 11 to 13. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verses 11 to 13. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are in the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I am of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you, or were ye baptized in the name of Paul? The Corinthian church is facing divisions, and some people are saying, well, I follow Paul. Well, I follow Apollos. Ah, no, no, no, you're following men, I follow Christ. So they would all have their different sides, and they create these divisions. And it can happen over major issues. something big happens, say, take what happened in 2020, and there's two very strong opinions on either side, what ends up happening? Divisions that continue, possibly even for years after it. And I'm not even saying one side comes out of it wonderfully and the other one doesn't. I'm not saying that at all. But friends, we can make something other than the gospel, other than Jesus Christ, something to rally around and something to be annoyed with the rest of the church for. We need to rally around Jesus Christ. We are one. We need to constantly be reminded that we are one because the devil loves to come in our midst, loves to say, ah, you remember what they did before? Well, you can't work with them. No, no, no, no. Do you know the view that they have? Now, if it's over some core important doctrinal difference, fair enough. Truth is not sacrificed in the name of unity. It's a false unity at that point. However, at the same time, may it be over core doctrinal truth. Not over, you know what he did to me five years ago, I haven't forgotten it. And even where I'm from, in Ireland, you have certain churches affected by Irish nationalism and unionism and then there's, you may go to other parts, I'm English, I'm Scottish, I'm Welsh, whatever you are. But the most important thing is not your nationality, and it doesn't mean that ever goes away, The most important identity you have is Jesus Christ. He is your identity. We talk about identity politics today. We talk about all these things. Our most important identity that we all share, no matter what your background is, no matter how much money you have, no matter how much influence you have in society, it doesn't matter whether you're a king or a pauper. It doesn't matter in Jesus Christ. Why? Because Christ is all and in all, he says. And I don't think you realize this radical statement that Paul is making to them here. Let's look at this here in verse 11, where there is neither Greek nor Jew. And if you go throughout the Bible, in the Old Testament, especially in the beginning, the Jews viewed the world like this. There was the Jews, and then there's everybody else who speaks Greek. And they couldn't go in and eat with them. They couldn't mix with them. They couldn't mingle with them. Imagine saying to a Jew in the first century, in Christ, there's neither Jew nor Greek. These divisions in the church don't matter anymore. Or at least are in a background and far, far away in the background. Because often these things do cause divisions. They do, and they still do today. Certain groups of certain backgrounds. When I was abroad in Italy, there was different churches. And some churches, a lot of people would move from different countries. And rather than, you could say, blending in, they formed their own churches of that language in that place. Now that practice can be quite dangerous because you end up with a certain flavor of a certain nationality and that's your main core identity. Even today, the most important thing is not whether you've got Jewish blood or whether you're Gentile or whatever, do you trust in Jesus Christ? That's the most important thing. That's the most important thing. You're not missing out on anything. Even look at here, it talks about circumcision nor uncircumcision. Some of them thought, I'm missing out on something. A lot of these people who are in the church, they have been circumcised. I've never been circumcised. And we like to compare ourselves with other people. Friends, it doesn't matter. Christ is enough. He is all in all. The division is gone. The old hostility, it is to be taken away. What's very interesting, if you go through the book of Acts, in Acts chapter two, the church is all Jews. Later on, by Acts chapter eight, the Samaritans are added to the church. Then later, the Gentiles. And what you have is these groups that are all at odds with each other, all brought in to one body. Look at the 12 disciples who followed Jesus. Some of them were zealots, dangerous men, and some of them were tax collectors. All sorts of different backgrounds, one in Jesus Christ. There's two people I know, friends of mine. One, before he was converted, came from an IRA background. One of his best friends today, because of the gospel, is a former RUC officer. Completely different backgrounds, at odds with each other in another past, But because of the gospel, they are friends. And that's the way it should be. That in the gospel, in Jesus Christ, you will have friends, and on paper, outside of Jesus Christ, you don't really have that much in common. But you love each other. Oh, you love each other. You love spending time with each other. You love speaking about Christ with one another. That brings us to our third. Love one another with tolerance. Love one another with tolerance. Verses 12 and 13. Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing one another and forgiving one another. If any men have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. Tolerance. Now, this word tolerance can be misunderstood, so I need to explain what the word tolerance means. It's the power and capacity of enduring. Enduring. It does not mean allowing falsehood. I think we think of tolerance or just tolerate anything. It's to endure. It's when something is not quite pleasing to you, but you embrace the person because you love them in Jesus Christ, despite how far they fall short because of Christ. And we naturally do this with our children, don't we? We don't expect with our children, say if your child is four or five years old, you don't compare your four or five-year-old with a 25-year-old. You see what your older brother's doing. He just got a master's. What are you doing? Just playing with trucks along the floor. Come on, you're lazy. You'd never do that, would you? You'd never do that. We don't expect the same standard. When we see a child, maybe five or six, sitting still for the whole service, saying, well done, praise God, you're doing great. You just try to encourage them as they go along. They're getting there. You see, in some ways, and probably don't say this to our children, but we endure. We endure because we love them. We have a stamina and a love for them, a patience. Because not only are our children not the finished article, we're not the finished article. We're not the finished article, any of us. And we're all difficult. We just don't realize how difficult we are at times. We're all challenging, we're all awkward in places. But we're all to love one another, nonetheless. forebearing one another, verse 13, has the idea of tolerating one another, has the idea of enduring one another. Why? Because Christ is all in all. Verse 11, once again, at the end of verse 11, Christ is all and in all. Calvin writes, the spiritual righteousness of Christ, which puts an end to sermons. Because Christ is all in all. He closes the door to all that would be seen to add to these things. There's no room to add our own performance. There's no room to add these extra bits. Christ is all and in all. And because of that, put on. We are to put on these things. As elect of God, remind yourselves of who you are. Elect of God, chosen before the foundation of the world. Holy and beloved. That's a beautiful word, elect. I think we can run over that word. What does it mean, chosen? If you were not chosen before the foundation of the world, we wouldn't come to Him. None come to the Lord but those whom He calls effectually by His power, by His mercy, and by His grace. It's an act of God's mercy. I will show mercy upon whom I will show mercy. We need to have these inner affections, these tender mercies to others who fail. We fail. Christ showed tender mercies to us who fail, and we're to be like Christ. To show love. Romans 8, 32. Romans 8 and verse number 32. He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. Delivered him up for us all. How shall he not with him also freely give us all things? In John 3.16, for God's Son of the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish. and have everlasting life. For God so loved the world, He gave His Son. What more could He give? What more could He give to show His love toward us? In order to accept us, in order that we are accepted, holy and beloved, Christ who showed these bowels of mercy, kindness toward us, we who are loved in Christ, were to love and to endure one another in a way that we delight, really, in one another, that we see each other the way Christ sees. If you see a brother struggling, perhaps they fall into sin and then repents, look at that brother or sister in Christ the way Christ sees him. Holy, beloved, righteous in Jesus Christ. That's the challenge. The challenge is to see not what he is today, but what he will one day be, glorified. We're to love one another. We're to esteem others above ourselves. Philippians 2 and verse 3. Philippians 2 and verse 3. Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Have a higher opinion of other people than you do of yourselves. And all these things, we're not to set aside standards of holiness. We're not to set aside the truth at all. That's not loving. We've already looked at that. But we've got to realize the ones we were commanded to love are not perfect people. Jesus died for such people like you and I. And we're called to serve one another. We're called to, as it says, forbearing one another, forgiving one another. This is an ongoing thing. We're constantly If we're going to keep relationships with each other, guess what we're going to be doing over and over and over again? Forgiving each other. Not just once, not twice, not many, many times. I'll give you one verse as we look at this. Matthew 18, verse 21. Matthew 18 and verse number 21. And verse 22, then came Peter to him and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him till seven times? Is there a limit on this? How many times do I have to forgive this guy if I trust him again? And verse 22, and Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee until seven times, but until 70 times seven. And no, that does not mean get out your calculator. Keep forgiving one another. Be peacemakers. Which brings us to our fourth and final point. Love one another with tranquility. Love one another with tranquility. Tranquility means peace. In verse number 14 and 15, and above all these things, put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also you're called in one body, and be ye thankful. Peace. If this rules in our hearts, If this peace rules in our hearts, we have peace with God through the gospel, through Christ, we should realize we are all to have peace with one another. We're on the same side. Does it make sense to be at each other, to be devouring one another, if we're in Christ? If we've been Rescued by Christ. If we've been forgiven by Christ. Reconciled by Christ. This is so important for us to realize that peace. Matthew 5 and verse 9. Matthew 5 and verse number 9, the Beatitudes. 5 in verse 9, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Peace. Peace. Now sometimes peace is not possible. As much as it lieth within you, live in peace with all men. Without sacrificing the truth, but you're called to be ruled with this peace of God in our hearts. You're called to be one body. We're to follow the spirit of peace. And the fruits of that peace are different. They are lovely, they are holiness. They are joyful to behold. In Galatians 5.17, Galatians 5.17 says this, For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary one to another, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. And verse number 22 of Galatians 5. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace. longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, and faith. Peace. It's one of the evidences of the Spirit of God working amongst us. What we should always be seeking is peace in the truth, in the truth, as much as possible, realizing when we meet believers, maybe even believers in churches that are not so sound. I'm not including here really liberal churches with no gospel at all, but the authority of scripture has been set aside. I'm talking about sincere churches. Yes, they may have some things we quibble about and we don't agree with. But clearly, there's a love for Christ there. Clearly, there's a seeking to follow the truth. Let us see them as Christ sees them. With all the problems that they face. In Paul's letter to 1 Corinthians, if you look at the first nine verses, look how positively Paul speaks about the Corinthian church. Let's look at one or two examples from the 1st Corinthians. 1st Corinthians chapter one. 1st Corinthians chapter one. And verses one to nine, just going to look at one or two examples here. Verse four, I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God, which was given you by Jesus Christ. that in everything ye are enriched by him in all utterance and in all knowledge. If you just read the first nine verses of 1 Corinthians, you would think, oh, that's a really, really good church. Keep reading from verse 10 onwards, you realize they have a lot of problems. A lot of problems. How should we speak but imperfect believers, like Paul spoke about them, as positively as possible, without sacrificing the truth, without being naive. But let us not be with many parts of the church. Touch not, taste not, see not. I know various parts of the church may do that, but we're to lead by example. all to lead by example. We are not at war with the rest of the church. They're our brothers and our sisters in Jesus Christ. If they have the same gospel, the same master, they are our family. And yes, that doesn't mean we just leave it there. We want to have greater union and communion together and closeness together. And there are important doctrinal differences. Yes, of course, all these things. But let us be as close as biblically possible with brothers and sisters in Christ who love the truth. And the closer we are to one another, friends, the closer In the truth, we will be for the Prince of Peace himself. Friends, 1 John 8, verse 18 says, my little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. Let's not just say we're gonna love, let's do it. Let's think of ways we can show love to others. It may be as simple as a phone call to someone who is lonely and needs encouragement. Maybe all sorts of things. But such love in the church of Christ is not optional. It doesn't save you, but it's not optional. Church without love is a dead church. 1 John 4.20 says, If a man say, I love God and hate his brother, he is a liar. It's a serious thing not to love the church. To love one another. It's not a side issue. Oh, I love God. It's those Christians who go to churches. I find them incredibly difficult. Are you sure you love God? Are you sure? Oh yes, I love God. Oh yes, I love the Bible. Keep me away from Christians. Friends, you're a liar. If you love God, your love is bright. Your love is body. May we love one another for the glory of God. Amen.