Seeketh

But in 1 Corinthians uh 13 verse number four, the Bible says that charity or love suffereth long and is kind. Charity envithth not. Charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, does not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinkketh no evil, rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeeth all things, endureth all things. Charity or love never fails. So, as we continue on in this series, we've been looking at each of these characteristics of love. And and this week, we're down there as you look in verse number five, that love does not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own.

And that's the passage that I want to look at today. And so, in order to understand this, I want you to turn, put a marker in 1 Corinthians 13, turn over to Matthew chap 22. Matthew chap 22, and we're going to look at verses 36-4. Matthew chap 22 and:es 36-4. Now, in order to illustrate what I want to illustrate, I'm going to need your help on this. So, what it is is as I read through these verses, I want everybody to hold your breath as long as you can. All right? Now, your body will react and it doesn't want you to die and so it's going to make you breathe at some point, but I want you to hold your breath until you absolutely cannot hold it any longer.

As we read through Matthew chap 22 and verses 36-4, it says, "Master, let's stop a minute here because I know some of you are going to cheat. You're you're going to be breathing in through your nose and you're going to cheat there." So, in order to illustrate this, I need one person up here. So, Kenny, if you would come up here and I'm going to use Kenny as my illustration here and I've got, as you see, a thing of water up here. And you know, when your face is in the water, you can't breathe. And so, he's going to put his face in that water. and uh and stay there till I'm done reading that. You ready, Kenny?

All right. So, go ahead. All right. Take a be deep breath and put it down in there. Here we go. Ready? There we go. All the way down here. Okay. Matthew chapter 22. Look at the Bible 36-4. Master, which is the great commandment, the law? Jesus said unto him, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind." This is the first great commandment. And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all of the law and the prophets. Okay, you can breathe now. Uh I'm gonna hold him in here a little bit longer.

Uh just just to make sure my illustration is good. All right. You doing all right there, Kenny? All right, you're doing good. All right, so just I want to get the full effect of this illustration. You ever been held underwater? You know what I'm talking about? When you come up, what's the first thing you want? You want a what? Air. You want air yet, Kenny? Yeah. Okay, come on up. All right, there you go. Now, Andy got towel right there. There you go, Kenny. Thank you for helping me out with that. For that, I won't make any marine jokes today. All right. The word seeketh is a is a word that basically means you've got to have it.

It it's like when you've been pushed underwater and you're held underwater and and you can't breathe and and finally you get to that point where you're you can come up out of the water and everything in you is glass just going. You don't care about anything else at that point. The one thing you want more than anything else is you're seeking air and love seeketh not our own. But what do we need to seek? We need to seek God. From Matthew chapter 22, we need to seek Jesus first, others second, yourself last. That's the acronym joy. Jesus first, others second, yourself last. You see, we need to start by seeking God in Jeremiah 29 11-13.

For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, sayeth the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall you call upon me, and you shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you, and you shall seek me and find me when you shall search me with all your heart. You got to want God like you want air. That you've got to have you cannot go without breathing. And that should be our attitude towards God. I cannot live without God. I seek him with all my heart. Be why do we seek him? Because he sought us. In Luke chapter 19 verse number 10, for the son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.

Jesus sought us out. Back in 1977 when I first met Diane, uh I really liked her and so I began to seek her. Uh I began looking for her. I I I would go into the class and the first thing I do is look and see is she in this class. I I would go into the cafeteria and the first thing I would do is look and see which table she's sitting at. I would go in the library and see if she was there studying. I I'd go into our little dining. We had a little uh snack shop and I'd go in there and see if she was in there. Everywhere I went, I was looking for her. In fact, uh now that I'm thinking about it, I think I was stalking her.

Um but it worked out good. All right. And uh but I sought her because I really liked her. But God sought us when we were yet sinners. In Romans 5:es 6-8, for when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man would one die, yet had prevention for a good man, some would even dare to die. But God commendeth or showed his love towards us. Now why are yet sinners? Christ died for us. He sought us when we weren't seekable. He sought us when we didn't deserve it. He sought us out even though we did weren't seeking for him. You see, and we need to understand that we don't deserve his love and we cannot earn his love.

You know, when I like Diane, I did everything I could to make her like me. You know, I would pop mints like they were candy. I I'd comb my hair. That's back when I had hair. You know, I dress nice. I'd do everything I could to impress her. But there's nothing you can do to impress God. There's nothing you can do to make God love you. In Ephesians chapter 2:es 8 and 9, it says, "For by grace are you saved through faith that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of works, let's say man should boast." See, God didn't seek you because of your religion. God didn't seek you because of your rituals.

God did not seek you because of your own righteousness. God sought you because he loved you a sinner and said, "I want to have a relationship with you." You see, God already loved me when he sent his son to die for me. In John 3:16, for God so loved the world, and that includes you, that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And God loved you so much he sent his son to die for you. So don't wait to seek him. In Isaiah 55 and verse number 6, it says, "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is nearer."

You see, God is seeking after you, but you've got to get caught. You know, my wife and I kind of joke that uh I I sought after her and then she turned around and caught me, you know, and and and and you need to realize that God is seeking you. He wants you to be his child. He wants you to be saved. He wants to give you eternal life. He wants you to come to heaven, but you've got to also come to him and receive him as your savior. God sought us and that's why we need to seek God and we need to find him and we'll find him when we search with all our heart. We'll find him when we come to him through Jesus Christ as our savior.

Are you seeking after God? And as a Christian, do you seek after God? In Hebrewsap 11:6, but without faith is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. As Christians, we need to diligently seek after God. That word diligent is a word which we could put the word crave in there. Anybody here ever have cravings? You ever have cravings for things? Pregnant ladies especially do that. But even we men can also get cravings uh for different things. And and uh and and this is what this word says that you're craving after God.

Not just you're not just diligently seeking him, you're craving after God. In Matthew 5 and verse number 6, the Bible says, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled." And you need to have a a a diligent craving for God, to hunger and thirst for him in his word, and to get to know him in a very personal way. You need to crave God more than you crave food. In Job 23 and:12, it says, "Neither have I gone back from the commandments of his lips. I've seen the words of his mouth more than my than my necessary food." In Jeremiah 15:16, he said, "Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and the word was unto me the joy and rejoice in mine heart, for I'm called by thy name, oh Lord, God of hosts."

You see, we have to have a craving for God even more than our craving for food. You know, I crave salted chocolate caramels. How How many here you crave chocolate salted caramels? Raise your hand. Come on. Don't be embarrassed to do that. You crave them. All right. Here you go. Have one of them. All right. Take one of those. All right. Anybody else crave salted chocolate? Now, there's hands that were not up before. Uh, all right, Alex. I think I saw your hand before, so I'll go ahead and give you one there. All right. All right. Now, come over to this side over here. Anybody over here on this side craving chocolates?

I think Mrs. Craker, I think I saw your hand up before there, too. So, we'll come over there to you as well. There you go. Next time, pay better attention. All right. And uh respond to the pastor. But anyway, I'll pray for you. All right. You can see me afterwards. All right. Here's the thing, folks. In Psalms 19:10, it says, "More to be desired are they than gold, yay, than much fine gold. Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb." Back in the Bible days, they didn't have chocolate like we have today. They didn't have all the candies we have today. Their sweet treat was honey. That was special.

And we could read this verse. Sweeter also uh more to desire than gold gave them much fine gold. Sweeter also than chocolate and salted caramel chocolate. You see, God wants us to have a craving for him and a craving for his word and a craving for the things of God to diligently seek him. You know, when you want chocolate, you seek it out. You know, when I'm at home there and I want chocolate, the first thing I do is we have a basket on our counter. Still got all the chocolates we got for Christmas. There's still a few left in there. And so, that's the first place I go to look for chocolate. But if there's none there, then the next place I go is in the refrigerator because in the door of our refrigerator, what I'll do, I like chocolate when it's cold.

And so I'll drop it down behind the salad jars because my wife doesn't look there. And uh she takes the salad jar, but she doesn't look what's behind it there. I'm not interested in salad jars. And and so I'll put them back there. And if there's none there, then there's a drawer next to our refrigerator, the bottom drawer that has tree. My wife hides the treats in there. And so I'll go look in there. And if there's none there, then I'll go check the cushions of the couch and see if there's any down in there. You know, you just when you have to have chocolate, you have to have chocolate, right? You're going to go looking for it.

You're going to go seeking for it. The Bible says in Acts 17 27 and 28, that they should seek the Lord if happily they might feel after him and find him, though he be not far from every one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being, as certain also of your poets have said, "For we're also his offspring." You see, when you're wanting chocolate, when you find that chocolate, man, it's exciting. I found some. And folks, you ought to be just excited about finding God, ought to be just excited about getting into God's word and to enjoy it. And so, love seeketh not our own because we ought to be seeking God.

We ought to be craving after God. We ought to have to have God. Like, we have to have that breath. You remember the first illustration I used with the bowl is a is a sponge. I can squeeze this sponge and squeeze it and squeeze it, nothing's going to come out. But if I put the sponge inside here and let it soak up a little bit of this water, then when I squeeze it, it's full of that. And that's the same thing is true with the love of God. You and I need to have soak ourselves up with the love of God. The more you seek God, the more you're going to love. And that means we also need to seek others.

In Philippians 2:es 4 and 5, look not every man his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. See, we need to seek God, but we also need to seek others. Go over to Psalms chapter 69 with me if you would. Psalms chapter 69 and I want you to look at verses 1-3. Psalms chapter 69 and verses 1-3. The Bible says, "Save me, oh God, for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mer where there is no standing. I have come into deep waters where the floods overflow me. I am weary of my crying. My throat is dried. Mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.

How How many of you hated PE in junior high in high school? Raise your hand. And if you're that way, probably one of the reasons cuz you were like me. You were the scrawny kid and and and so everybody kind of picked on you when you play played the dodgeball games. You were the target. You know what I'm talking about? uh when you were picked for teams, you were always the last one picked. Well, one day at PE in junior high, they said, "We're going to the pool." And that sounded like fun until I had a group of guys decided that they were going to have fun with me. And when I was in the pool, they decided they're going to see how long they could keep me underwater.

And I remember that I jumped in the water and somebody jumped on top of me and pushed me down. And and after a while, I got them off of me and I was starting to go back up again. and somebody else jumped on top of me and pushed me down and then I went back up and somebody else pushed me down and and it got to the point I thought I was going to die. I mean, I was in that water thinking I have to have I was again seeking air. I had to have air. I was at the point I didn't think I could last any longer. And I was pushing and pushing towards the top. And every time every time it seemed like I was about there, somebody else would come and push me down again and push me down again, push me down again.

And I was drowning. And that's what he's describing here in Psalm chapter 69. He's describing people that are drowning. And there are people, even people in this room who are drowning in their own tears. In Psalms 42:3, it says, "My tears have been my meat day and night while they continually say unto me, where is thy God?" And folks, there are people all around us that are drowning in their tears. And they need a lifeguard. They need somebody. You You know what? Finally, one of the other uh one of the the leaders, one of the adults there saw what was happening. He came in and pulled me out of the water.

And I believe he saved my life because he saw that I was drowning and he stopped it. And there are people that are drowning. There's tears. There are people that are sinking into the depths of depression and despairs and feel like they're overwhelmed uh by the rip tide of their circumstances. It's kind of like be caught in the in the cross current out in the ocean and they're being dragged further and further away and further and further under and they're saying, "Help me. Help me. Help me." And and we need to be those people that are paying attention and seeking out others that are drowning and showing them the way to Jesus Christ.

Showing them who the lifeguard is that can come and to save their lives and pull them out of that that depths that they're in. We need to reach out a hand to them. In Matthew chapter 14 and verse number 31. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid and beginning to sink. That's Peter. Remember when he's walking in the water. And he cried saying,"Lord, save me." And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him and said unto, "Oh thou of little faith, where wherefore dust thou doubt?" And I know that people that are drowning in their tears and people are drowning in their circumstances and people are drowning in depression.

It's because they have little faith. They're struggling and that's why they need you and that's why they need me to reach out our hand to them and help them in that time in their life and help them through that time of sorrow and that time of of difficulty. And we need to throw them a lifeline. Go over to James chapter 1, the book of James chapter 1. James chapter 1:es 5 and 6. He says, "But if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God to give it to all men libery and abrath not, it should be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering, for he's like he that waivers like the wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed."

You know, a lot of times when you're out there in the ocean, you get hit by a wave and then about time you get back up on your feet, you get hit by another wave and another wave and it just keeps on coming. And that's the way that life is. And there are people who are being hit by wave after wave after wave. And they need a lifeguard. They need a lifeline. They need somebody to reach out and seek them and say, "Listen, I'm here to help. I'm here to give you a hand. I'm here to help you to find faith in God. And we need people that are willing to do that." And I'm going to tell you right now, folks, that's not always easy.

Because you know what you find when you go out to save people? They fight against you. They try to pull you under with them. And you've got to be willing to go beyond that and to seek them and say, "I'm here to help. I'm here to help pull you up out of that despair. I'm here to help you pull you up out of those circumstances. I'm here to help you through whatever you're going through in your life." Sometimes we as Christians need to be ready to give spiritual CPR. You know what CPR is, right? And and we need to be willing to give that resuscitation that they need. You know, how many here have ever taken CPR and you've been trained in that at some point in your life?

Okay, a lot of you have. And so I I want to kind of use as an illustration. So, brother, no, would you come up here for me if you would and I'm going to have you be my my body. All right. I want you to just lay right here in the front and lay down there like you passed out. You're out cold and everything. Now, when you see somebody laying there, what what do you do? You you automatically maybe they need help. And and so the thing you go you go there and you kick them. You know, no kick them. Uh you don't kick them. What you do is you you have to give them help. The Bible says in Proverbs 24:17, "Rejoice not when thine enemy fallth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth."

When somebody has fallen, even your enemy, you know, we have to give them help. We need to be there to give him help and to do the three C's. Remember the three C's of CPR is check, call, and care. you check first. Um, you check to see if they're okay. Now, in our case, we need to check first. In Matthew chapter 7, it says, "Before you take the splinter out of your brother's eye, you got to see if there's a beam in your own eye." And and seeking others in love, I got to make sure, am I right with God? Is there things in my life that are wrong? It's easy to judge other people and not judge ourselves.

I can't help him until I first help myself. And so I've got to check. And then the second thing I've got to do is I've got to call. Go over to James chapter 5. You doing all right down there? You're not supposed to talk. You're dead. Okay. James chapter 5. And look at verses 14- 16. It says, "Any sick among you, let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him. Anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise them up and if you have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him." Do you see the power that you have as a Christian even to help to see their sins forgiven?

We I don't have the power to forgive your sins, but when I go out seeking others and pray for them through my prayers and through my intervention in their life, you I can help them to find forgiveness for their sins. Look at verse number 16. Confess your faults one to another and pray one for another that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availth much. You see, when you see somebody down like that, first thing you got is juice check. Are they breathing? Are they okay? And then you got to call 911. And folks, if you got a problem with somebody, you need to pray for them.

If you see somebody that's not doing well, you need to pray for them. And that's something we fail to do. Our first response is not to pray, but that ought to be the most important thing. I already calling for help before I do anything else. God, this person needs you. And we ought to call out in prayer. And then the care. Look at 1 Peter chapter 1 and look at verse number 22. 1 Peter 1:22. Seeing you have purified your souls and obeying the truth, the spirit on unfamed love of the brethren. See that you love one another with a pure heart, fervently caring for that person, giving them that CPR.

Look at Jude, the book of Jude. Look at chapter 1 and look at verses 21- 23. The book of Jude. Very last book before Revelation. The book of Jude 1:es 21- 23 through 23. Keep yourselves in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ under eternal life. And if some have compassion making a difference and others saved with fear pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garments spotted by the flesh. Folks, love seeketh not our own is love that has compassion even for your enemies. It cares about others. You see what you need to do is you need to breathe life into them. The book, the Bible says in Job 33:4, "The spirit of God has made me and the breath of the Almighty give me life."

And so my next step would be to come down and give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, which ain't going to happen. Brother, by the Lord God Jesus Christ, I raise you up again. You're alive. All right. He was getting nervous there, I think. But folks, love seeketh not our own. It's not about me. It's about God. It's about others. There are people that are drowning and they need a lifeguard. They need a hand. There are people that are spiritually dying and they need someone to pray for them, to seek them out and to pray for them and and to reach out to them and help them and help breathe back life into them.

The life of the Holy Spirit. Seek God, seek others, and then seek yourself. To love God, to love others as yourself. Matthew 6:33 says, "Be seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. All these things shall be added unto you." I've got a quote off of Google. I don't know who said it, but this is what it says. You have to learn to love yourself before you can love someone else. Because it's only when you love when we love ourselves that we feel worthy of someone else's love. Now, there's a theological term for that quote. It's baloney. That is man's psychology. That's humanism. We don't need to love ourselves more.

In fact, our problem is we love ourselves too much. You say, "I know people are really down on themselves." You know why they're down on themselves? Because they think they deserve better. because they love themselves so much. And and we need to understand that in Ephesians 5:29, the Bible says, "For no man ever yet hated his own flesh." You say, "Well, I know people that hate themselves and people that look down themselves." That's because they think they deserve better than they have. They really do love themselves, and that's why they're so down. But the point is this, folks. Here's a better quote.

Listen to this one. Many people say that you have to love yourself first before you can love others. But really, if you learn to love others, you will learn to love yourself. Do you get it? It's not loving yourself so you can love others. When you learn to love God first and love others second, that's when you can really learn to have that love for yourself, the right kind of love. And we've got to put that in a proper order. The best way to be selfish is by being selfless. Let me say that again. The best way to be selfish is by being selfless. Turn over to Luke chapter 9. Luke chapter 9. Look at verses 23-2.

Luke chapter 9 and beginning with verse number 23. And he said to them all, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. And whosoever will save his life shall lose it. But whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it? For what is a man advantage if he gain the whole world and lose himself or be cast away? For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and my words of him shall the son of man be ashamed when he shall come into his own glory and his fathers as and of the holy angels." But I tell you of truth, there's come standing here which shall not taste of death and so on.

But what does he say here? He says, listen, when you put yourself first, that's when you're last. Well, when you put yourself last, that's when you're first. And the best way to be selfish is by being selfless. Some of you may have heard of missionary Jim Elliott a number of years ago back in the I think it was around the 50s or so. He was a missionary down to the uh indigenous people down South America and uh and they were trying to reach these people for Christ and and they end up being killed by the people they were trying to reach. And later on his wife was used of God to reach the people very people that had killed him.

She was used to reach them for Christ. It's just amazing story. If you've never read the story of Jim Elliot, I would encourage you to go and read that story. But listen to this quote from him. He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose. Let me say it again. He is no fool to give what he can't give what he cannot keep to gain that which you cannot lose. And folks, the best way to be selfish is to be selfless. When you start loving yourself too much, then start loving others more. Because when you love others more, that's when God is going to bless you. In 1 Timothy 4 15- 16, the Bible says, "Meditate upon these things.

Give thyself holy to them, that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine. Continue in them. For in doing this, thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee." You see, over the years, I've learned that the more I love, the more I am loved. In the early years of our marriage, I was a taker. I was constantly taking love from my wife because I was selfish. But I've learned in the years since that I need to love her. And here's what here's the really great thing I found is the more I love her, the more she has to give back to me. When I was taking it, she just kept emptying.

There was nothing left to give cuz I taken it all. But now that I am filling her tank with love, she's like, "Here, have have it back." And she gives it back so much more. I get more love by being a giver than I ever did by being a taker. And that's what we have to learn in life is the more you give, the more you get. In 2 Corinthians 12:15, I will very gladly spend and be spent for you, though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. Now, some of you are saying, "Well, you know, pastor, if I love my wife more, I won't get it back from her. If I love my neighbor more, I won't get it back from them.

I love that guy I work more, I won't get it back from them." No, but you know who you get it back from? God. And God does a better job than anybody in this earth can do. You don't do it selfishly. I don't love my wife and saying, "I'll love her more, so I'll give more love back." That's a side benefit because I found the less selfish I am, the more the the more selfless I am, the more I get either from her or others or from God. And Paul said, "Listen, I love you and even if you don't give it back, that's okay because God loves me. Love seeketh not our own." That means you need to seek God first.

You need to seek others second and put yourself last. In Jeremiah 45 verse 5 it says, "And seekest thou great things for thyself. Seek them not. For behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, sayaeth the Lord. But thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whether thou goest. Now, this is one of the things where you need to look up words in the Bible. I always encourage you if you don't know what a word means, look it up. And even sometimes familiar words, we think of the word prey, we think like a, you know, an animal's that's that's their prey. And and and and but that's not what the word here means.

The word here means spoil or prize. So what God is saying, if you seek great things for yourself, that's going to end up being evil. You're you're going to end up being a loser. But if you don't seek things for yourself, you seek out me and others, I will give unto you spoil or prize in all places where I goest. So when we learn to seek not our own, those of you married, start giving love and look how much you're going to get back. In most marriages, that works very well. I realize there's some people are so narcissistic and so off, you know, gone off the beaten path that they're not going to do that. But then look to God because God's going to bless you with love. He never fails. When you seek your own, you're a loser. When you seek others and are a giver, you're going to get. And by the way, you cannot outgive God because he's got a much bigger shovel. Let's bump prayer.