Rejoicing For Right Reasons

My friends, this is Dick Boath. One more time with stories from the road. What's your favorite day of the year? Your favorite day. You say, well, based on what? Well, and I know favorites can have various bases for why we call them favorites. So probably my favorite family day might be thanksgiving or Christmas. My favorite spiritual day in the sense of excitement and hope and foreverness, I think I just made that word up. It'd be easter. But just in terms of the day, it was this last week that June 21st, the start of summer, the official start of summer, longest day of the year. Summer solstice I think is what they call it historically. And I like it because it's day. I like light better than nighttime. I just do. And there's something about love, the actual act of loving or being loved that connects with light that brings light and clarity and perspective. We need people in our lives, don't we? Who show us what love really looks like? And when we meet those kind of people, I think for the most part, we want to be like them. We've been working our way slowly, quite slowly through 1 Corinthians 13, at least those first few verses. And I want to circle back to that in this podcast. Here's the Apostle Paul writing to this party town in Greece called Corinth, where they get all kinds of things that aren't loving going on. And he's writing to the people who are Jesus followers there. And he wants to give it some perspective. And this is what he says, starting in verse three of 1 Corinthians 13. If I give everything I own to the poor, that's a good deal. That's both paraphrase right there. And even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, that's big time. But I don't love. I've gotten nowhere. Now I'm reading the paraphrase from Eugene's Peterson, the message putting it in modern language. So no matter what I say, what I believe and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love. And he goes on to explain it this way. Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. Love doesn't strut. Doesn't have a swelled head. Doesn't force itself on others. Isn't always me first. Doesn't fly off the handle. And here's the part I want to focus on in this podcast. Doesn't keep score of the sins of others. We spoke to that a few weeks ago. Doesn't revel when others grovel. Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth. puts up with anything. Trust God always always looks for the best. Never looks back but keeps going to the end. Let's come back to that verse six part that says doesn't keep score of the sins of others and elaborates by saying doesn't revel when others grovel takes pleasure in the flowering of truth. The actual language there where it says it doesn't revel when others grovel his paraphrase the actual language is love does not rejoice at unrighteousness or in wrong actions for whatever reasons whether those are that would be from the pleasure in calling people out or to show superiority. Love does not do that. It doesn't cheer when other people flail or fall make fun of it whatever it is but rejoices greatly with the truth. What's interesting is that Paul uses the same root word in both of those verbs. Love does not rejoice when things go wrong or at wrong actions but rejoices greatly. It's a compound word. He doubles down on rejoicing with the truth or with rightness. C.K. Barrett in a commentary head says that this way love does not seek to make itself distinctive by tracking down and pointing out what's wrong but gladly sinks its own identity to rejoice with others at what is right. I don't have to look very far in my own story to see times when I pointed out what was wrong or made a wrong point in a wrong moment even. It's easy to do that especially to see it in others much more challenging isn't it to see it in ourselves. Sometime back this is years ago now. It's got to be almost 60 years, 55 years. I was mentored by a friend named Richard and he was my senior by some 20 years. Very generous, very merciful, very visionary and it really helped me in my early days, in my early 20s, mid 20s. Down the road he sort of got carried away with some things and he ended up losing his position which was a big one and ultimately ended up spending some time in prison. But there was one, I felt bad when we saw that he was going to lose his position so I called two or three other friends across the country and we flew in to be with him and it was at a time where on the national news he was kind of the center of attention and that evening, late into the evening we sat up and talked. And at one point he said you know there may be a book in this there in all this struggle and stress some of which I think he would say that he brought upon himself maybe all of it and he asked the others of us what do you think about that? And I'm the follower right? I'm sort of the disciple of this person over the years and I just said you know I don't think that's a good idea. I think this and that and the other thing and so and I felt sort of really compelled to say that and I said more than that which was probably the problem but anyway we got done and we left after some hours and on the way back to the hotel with the with the other two friends one of whom was had a doctorate in psychology and taught these things at university level and was a very wise person and at one point I turned to him and I said John don't you think it was important for our friend to hear that thing that I said and he looked at me in grand and said I don't know how important it was Dick that our friend hear that but it was clear that you desperately needed to say it. I've never forgotten that I don't know if it was important that he hear it but it was clear that you desperately needed to say it sometimes in our attempt to help and I'm putting that in quotes. What we really do is criticize timing is everything intent is everything but sometimes it can come off as rejoicing if you're not careful at somebody else's struggle or wrong action. And I think to some degree it kicks in a feeling of superiority if we're not careful. Anyway as you can tell I'm rambling and just thinking on that love looks for the good in others and cheers it on to use verse six language from 1 Corinthians 13 doesn't keep score of the sins of others doesn't revel when others grovel and takes pleasure in the flowering of truth. I will catch you next time and I will actually be on the road and I'll let you know where that is when we do the next podcast. God bless Dick Phil signing off catch you later. Bye bye.