Always Act According to God's Principles of Love

Has there ever been a time in your life that somebody belittled you and put you down, made fun of you, ridiculed you? I'm sure that's happened to every one of us. How do you feel when somebody ignores you?

If you ever talked to someone before and you're looking right at them, you're talking to them, and they're looking over here, or they're looking over there, or they're looking anywhere, and occasionally they'll grunt, and they're just sort of totally ignoring you. How about when people fail to acknowledge you, they yell at you, make fun of you? Especially when they make fun of different parts of your body that you have no control over.

What about children? I think children growing up sometimes can be some of the meanest. What about someone who may be overweight, fatty, fatty, two-by-four, can't get through the kitchen door? We've all heard these things. Big feet, there goes big foot. Big nose? Anything that you might want to say about a big nose.

How do you react to this type of treatment? What is a normal reaction? I know the normal reaction among most people is they're going to retaliate, or they're going to get back, or they're going to say something, do something.

Do we always respond with self-control and in a Christian manner? Well, I would be a liar to say, yes, we always do that, because I'm including myself in that. How do you respond in traffic? This is a good way to tell how we respond in some of these situations. It's not always the way we should, is it? Let me just quote from an article. I went online, looked up the word road rage, and there were several different sites you could go to on this.

But one from the Georgia Public Safety said, you know, they gave an illustration. It's been a long, stressful day at work. You're exhausted, and you want to go home. Suddenly, you're stuck behind a slow-moving vehicle driving in the passing lane. Okay, let's say you're going over White Oak Mountain, and there's an 18-wheeler going up in the passing lane, which happens every time I come up White Oak Mountain.

Frustrated, you attempt to maneuver around when they suddenly switch back into the right lane, cutting you off. You become angry, and as you get closer to the vehicle, you notice a sign that reads, baby on board. This makes you relax, and you go on your way. Now, my question is, what if there were not a sign saying baby on board? How would you react? It says the problem is that many people are not able to calm themselves down, and this leads to road rage. So then they ask the question, what is road rage?

Road rage can be thought of as any violent driving activity, oftentimes sparked by aggressive or poor driving. Emotions can get the better of people, leading to intense anger, feelings of revenge. Suddenly, a bad search situation turns into something that is much worse. Now, you may have some of these emotions coming through the Okoy Gorge. There are all kinds of places around here you can think of where somebody might become perturbed. Examples of road rage are inappropriate gestures. If you've ever been driving down the road and somebody issues a sign to you, they wave at you or whatever.

Tailgating is another way. Flashing lights, sounding the horn, shouting, approaching or threatening another driver. Now, all of these things occur. I mean, we've all experienced this. I've had someone who's tailgated me, and always somebody's on my tail. I pull over. You know, please go by. And what if they pull right over behind you? And then you pull over and they're right behind you. You pull over and there's something wrong here. This isn't a good situation.

I remember an example on the Baptizing Tour back in 1962. Art Craig and I were on the Baptizing Tour. We were over in Pikeville, Kentucky. It was rather late at night. We had had a very busy day. We probably visited 10 or 12 people. We had been out all day. The only restaurant we could find open was one restaurant, about 11 o'clock at night.

And so we didn't have any choice. It was either eat there or go hungry. So we pulled into the restaurant. The waitress looked harried. She didn't look too friendly. She brought our water out like this with her fingers in the glass and set it down. Her soup bowls had her thumbs in it. She threw the plates on the table. So we reacted to that. We decided she doesn't need a tip. I mean, somebody served you like this. Why would she need a tip? Well, we had to leave early the next morning. And the only place we could find open around 7 was this restaurant. So we're back in the same restaurant, and we're ordering.

And guess who our waitress is? There she was again. It had never occurred to us as young men that here was a young lady who probably had a family at home, had children, had a husband, had worked all day long, was tired. Obviously, her waitressing manners could improve. But that she was as tired and harried as we were. And 7 o'clock in the morning, we know that she stayed at the restaurant to midnight, because she was there after we ate.

And she was there when it opened in the morning, so did she work all day long? That day also. Our conscious struck us. We were stricken. And we left her a very large tip for breakfast that helped to make up for dinner.

Now, some things happen to you in life, and that's one of them. I've never forgotten that. It's just one of those incidents that just stick in your mind, and you never forget it. Because I realized that my reaction was not the right reaction. Have you ever asked yourself this question? Who decides how you act? Who decides how I act? Now, that might sound like a funny question. You might say, well, what do you mean? Who decides how I act? I'm me? I act the way I want to.

But that may not always be true, as we will see. You may not think what I'm talking about here applies to you, but it applies to every one of us. Let's go over to Matthew 12 and verse 33 to begin with. Matthew 12 and verse 33. Let me show you a scripture, something that you and I are going to be judged by, and we're going to be held accountable for.

Verse 33 says, either make the tree good, and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad, and its fruit bad, for a tree is known by its fruit. So you and I are going to be known by our fruit, by how we act, how we respond, our actions. He says, blood of vipers, or brood of vipers, I should say, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So what comes out of the heart, that's what's going to come out of the mouth. The good man, out of the good treasures of his heart, brings forth good things. And an evil man, out of the evil treasures, brings forth evil things. So, brethren, if we want good things to come out of our mouth, good responses, guess what? We have to have good treasure stored in there, and we'll talk about that as we go along. But verse 36 is what I wanted to come to, but, I say to you, that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. So every idle word that we utter.

The word idle here means non-working word. Inoperative word. It has no legitimate work or business, but is morally useless and unprofitable. So when we utter something that is morally useless and unprofitable, it is an idle word.

Now, if I could summarize this sermon, it's simply this. That you and I, with our words, are to encourage, build up, strengthen, and show love. That's what we are to do with our speech. And yet, we find that this is not how most people respond or act. And yet, we should be doing so. Our speech should not be unprofitable. When you say unprofitable, if you have a company, your company is either profitable or unprofitable. And when you say it's profitable, it's making a profit. It's producing something. Well, our speech ought to be able to produce something, ought to profit others, ought to morally help them. And if it's an operative and has no legitimate work or business associated with it, then it doesn't. I was reading an article recently titled, Keep Control of Your Personality, by Sidney J. Harris. Keep Control of Your Personality by Sidney J. Harris. And I was studying this, and I was struck by a statement that was made in this article. Let me read the first part of this. He said, I walked with my friend, a Quaker, to the newsstand the other night, and he bought a newspaper, acknowledging the newsy politely. In other words, a man charged the stand, very polite to him. The newsy didn't even acknowledge it.

I said, he's a sullen fellow. I commented, and my friend said, oh, he's that way every night. Then why do you continue being so polite to him, I ask? And his friend said, notice, why not? And he inquired, my friend, why should I let him decide how I'm going to act? Have you ever thought of that before? Why should we allow other people, and what they do, how they respond, decide how we are going to act? As I thought about this little incident later, it occurred to me that the operative word was act. My friend acts towards people. Most of us react toward them. They say something, we have a reaction toward them. He has a sense of inner balance, lacking in most of us frail and uncertain creatures.

He knows who he is, what he stands for, and how he should behave. Notice the points he brought out here. His friend knew who he was, and so we need to ask ourselves, do we know who we are? Who are you?

Well, Sam Bradley, Jacob Sam Jacob, we know our names, but do we know who we are? Do we know what we stand for? And do we know how we should behave? Well, let's take a look at each one of those questions. First of all, do we know who we are? Write down on your paper, who are you? Who am I? Who are you? And while you're thinking about that, let's go over to 2 Corinthians 6, 17, and 18, verses 17 and 18. 2 Corinthians 6, verse 17.

Verse 17 says, Therefore come out from among them, and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. And I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. Okay, we are the sons and daughters of God Almighty. That's it in a nutshell. We are part of His family. God is in the process of creating a family. The kingdom of God, the family of God. Today, we are begotten children in that family. In the resurrection, we will be born into the very family of God. Change made immortal, given eternal life. So we are the sons and daughters of God now. Do we go around daily, and are we totally reminded whenever we come face to face with situations that, Well, I'm the Son of God, I represent the kingdom of God. I need to be careful how I handle myself here, what I say, what I do. Because I don't want to bring dishonor on the family. We could go back to the book of Proverbs. There are many Proverbs. You could look this up yourself and talk about honor in a name. And how a bad reputation brings dishonor to a name. When it comes to a family, we all want our family name upheld. This is why we tell our children, Well, don't you go out here and do such and such a lot of times? Because we don't want them bringing disrepute upon the family. And we look upon the family name in a right way. That it should be something that there's respect and honor for. Well, when we are the children of Almighty God, we should respect and honor that family. Out of the billions of people on earth, we represent God. Now, again, as we found out on the last great day, and are reminded every year, that doesn't mean that everybody will not have a chance of salvation. Every human being will be given that opportunity. They just have not yet been given that chance, have not yet been called. But we have. We represent God now. So out of the billions, there are a few thousand that God has called, placed in His family, and has given the opportunity to represent Him now to the world. And just as ancient Israel failed to represent God to the nations around them, we should not fail to represent God as spiritual Israel today. Let's go back to 1 Peter 2.

1 Peter 2.4.

We remember, if you go back to Exodus 19, 18-19, you'll find that when God brought Israel out of Egypt, He said that they were His special people, that they were a chosen priesthood, kingdom of priests, and that He had chosen them for a specific job, responsibility, and duty.

I want you to notice that the same thing is said of us today, but it carries much more weight with it, because it carries the weight of eternal life with it. In verse 4, we find, "...coming to Him as a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God, and precious." And you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house. So you and I are the first part of that spiritual house being constructed.

We are a holy priesthood. To offer up spiritual sacrifice is acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Now, verse 9, you are a chosen generation. Rather than not that God chose us because we're better than anybody else, you go back and you read what God told ancient Israel. He said, I didn't choose you because you were the greatest and the best. He chose them because of the blessing, the promise to Abraham.

And God has chosen us for the same reason. So we are a chosen generation. We are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people. So we are a special people that you may proclaim the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. So we have the responsibility of proclaiming the praises of God. When people look at us, they ought to be able to see God in us.

The word special here is a Greek word that literally means to make around. It would be like this mic here, and you make a circle around it. You put something around it. It's something that surrounds within a circle, thus it indicates ownership. The Greek word speaks of the unique, private, personal ownership of the saints by God. Each saint is God's unique possession, just as if that saint were the only human being in existence. So, brethren, what we find is that we are special to God. God looks down, and each one of us has a special place.

We are being prepared for a special calling. We are being trained for special positions. We know that the Bible clearly says that David will rule over all Israel, the twelve apostles over the twelve tribes. We've been promised that we will rule over cities, five cities, ten cities, however much we overcome. Now, some of you, because of certain talents and abilities and skills, may be being trained for other jobs, other responsibilities in God's family. Do we act special when it comes to being special? When I say act special, I'm not talking about being haughty, arrogant, prideful, vain, conceited.

That's not what we're talking about. It means that we have a mental realization that we are God's children, that we're special to Him. When it comes to the world, we're not too special.

Christ said, if they love me, they'll love you. If they hated me, they'll hate you. So we find in the world we're not always looked upon as being that great. So we're not to forget who we are, that we do represent the family of God on earth. So do we know who we are? Well, we should say yes. We know that we are God's family and children. Do we know what we stand for?

What do we stand for? Well, we should stand for everything that God stands for. We should stand for godly values. We should stand for godly principles. We should stand for the Ten Commandments. In Matthew 22, there's an interesting section that we're all familiar with. Matthew 22 and 36, he was approached by a lawyer who asked him, Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? And Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.

This is the first and the great commandment. And the second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. So we are to love God with all of our being and our neighbor as ourselves. Now, can people see how much we love God? I mean, how are they going to tell that you love God? You're going to walk around and you pass somebody? Good morning, I love God. Is that how they're going to know that you love God? You sit down and eat in a restaurant and you say, Hallelujah, I love God!

They're going to think you're a wacko. If you do something like that. Now, love is what? What is the Bible definition of love? It's keeping the commandments. If you love God, people ought to be able to see that you are law abiding, that you keep the commandments. They may not agree with what they would call your interpretation of the commandments, like the Sabbath and the Holy Days, but you're still keeping those. Can they see His values in you? His laws, His love, His mercy?

I have to laugh all the time when sometimes you hear these political commercials going on. You hear politicians talking about how they believe in family values, or they believe in godly values. You know that in practice, what they pass as law is totally opposite.

Somebody says, I believe in family values and the sacredness of life, and yet they support abortion. I believe in family values and yet they support one-gender marriage, this type of thing. And you begin to realize, well, they say one thing, but their definition of values is wrong. You see, they have values that they stand for, but those are not the values that you and I necessarily stand for.

What happens to your neighbor? You pick out a neighbor, perhaps. Maybe all your neighbors love you. They just think you're the greatest thing. But what if you treat your neighbors as good as you treat yourself? What do you think your neighbors would think? The Bible says that we are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. So if we were to treat our neighbors as you do yourself, what kind of reaction would you get? Well, I tell you, the world would be a better place to live in if everyone did that.

But that's not how people respond to each other. In Matthew 5, back up here, Matthew 5, verse 43, Notice Jesus Christ has already spelled out for us some of the values, some of the principles that we should stand for. He's already told us how we should respond in certain situations.

And this would tie in with the next point. Do we know how we should behave? But let's notice here. Verse 43, Matthew 5, verse 43, says, You've heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor. Hate your enemy. Okay, isn't that basically the way it is in the world? You love your neighbor. Hate your enemy. Whoever your enemy is at that time. But I say to you, love your enemy. Now, is that not the opposite reaction of the majority of people in society? Do most people love their enemies?

When you go off into the military, the one thing you are taught is to hate whoever the enemy might be. And so, you know, you hate them. Then it says, bless those who curse you. Have you ever had anyone curse you out? I have. And so, is your first reaction, bless you, brother. You know, I appreciate those curses. No, that's not your first reaction. We all know what our normal reaction is. Our anger gets revved up, and we're ready to retaliate or say something back. But what does Christ say? Bless them. Do good to those who hate you. Now, that's a real head scratcher.

Somebody hates you, they're doing you dirty. You turn around and do them good. What does the book of Romans say when it says, Do good to those who do evil, and what happens? You heat buckets of coals of fire on their head. And so Christ said, you do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you.

Now, that is just the exact opposite of the natural inclination, the way the world operates. And yet, these are the values that God says that we are to build our lives on.

These are the anchors that we are to anchor ourselves to. So if we want to treat our neighbors ourselves, this is the way we will react. So do we know what we stand for? Well, we stand for God, we stand for His values, we stand for the Ten Commandments, His law, His way of life.

Now, do we know how we should behave? Well, that's why we come here every Sabbath. That's why we study the Bible every day. That's why we read this, because we're trying to find out how to live. Do we simply refuse to return rudeness when people are incivil? Because we would no longer be in command of our own conduct, but we'd be merely responding to them. Notice here in chapter 5, verse 38, backing up just a few verses, the same chapter, Matthew 5, and verse 38.

You've heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you not to resist an evil person, but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other. Turn the other also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him too. Give to him an ask you from him who wants to borrow from you.

Do not turn away. Here we find the Bible enjoins us to do what? Return good for evil. Now that's hard to do, is it not? To do good when somebody else is doing evil toward you. But yet, this is how we're told to behave. What you find, a true Christian, is someone who is totally different than a nominal Christian. Now, do we ever slip up in these areas? All those who slip up, we could say, raise your hand.

We all slip up. We all know that. But think about somebody who I would term as the perpetual reactor. Somebody who perpetually reacts to what other people say, what other people do, or what he thinks other people think. Because, you see, there's another side of this coin, which I won't get into at all, and that is, what about just trying to impress people? Sometimes our actions are guided by the fact that here is somebody, and we want to impress them. And we think it would be, if we make a good impression on them, that would be great. I think I've relayed this story to you before, but I remember as a freshman, one Sunday morning, a student, another student and I, were out raking leaves on Ambassador College campus.

We were out in the middle of the Dicondra. Bill knows what the Dicondra is, the grass there. Because I had my patch, and everybody who worked on it had his paring knife, and you sit down, and you'd cut the weeds out. That's why that lawn was so manicured. But anyway, he yelled at me, here comes Mr. Armstrong. You better work fast. So I thought I was working well, but Mr.

Armstrong came along. Whew! Whew! Whew! We're working as hard as we can. Mr. Armstrong goes by, he said, he's gone. We sort of laughed, and slowed down a little bit, and went on. Well, what were we trying to do? We were trying to impress Mr. Armstrong. Here was our action, and we were reacting to the man, even though we could have probably continued at the pace we were going, and he wouldn't have thought anything about it.

But we wanted to make sure we made a good impression. What does the Bible call that? It's called hypocrisy. It's called play-acting, a hypocrite. That's really all that it is. And so what you find, there are times that we want to impress other people, and so we will react in a certain way. Brethren, we should have a center to ourselves. There's no expression. Sometimes people are centered, and sometimes they're not. What that basically is implying is that there are a lot of people who don't have values. There's not a core in here. They don't have the core values. And so therefore they just sort of flow with the flow, and they go with the go, and they do what they think is going to please and impress other people.

Let me just give you some examples. I mentioned about the perpetual reactor. There are those who, when somebody comes along and praises them, have a euphoria. Somebody praises, Look how good I am. And they feel good about themselves. Why? Because somebody else said that they were nice or good. But when that person goes away, generally a person like that doesn't feel good about themselves. They don't have a lot of self-approval. And so when they're not getting praise, what happens?

Well, they're like a yo-yo. They're up, they're down. They're up, and they're down. Now when somebody praises us, what should be our reaction? Find somebody praised you. That's great. But that's not what determines who you are. That's not what should determine your emotions. Find somebody praises you. That's good. But that should not be what makes you happy or sad. Another way of looking at this, what if you do something? You're serving the church. And you know that somebody else who did the same thing, got praised and thanked.

Nobody said a word to you. And so you go around and all week you're steaming, or you're upset, or your emotions are out here on your sleeve. Nobody said anything to me. They don't appreciate me. Well, that's the last time I'll serve. I'll show them. And on and on we go. Why would we allow ourselves to act because somebody else is how they act, and we're going to react to them? What about criticism?

Criticism sometimes depresses people. I know people, if you say anything critical, they go into a funk. They're depressed, they're discouraged, and it only confirms the fact of his shaky opinion about himself. What happens when somebody criticizes you? I'll tell you a little secret. I get criticized all the time. And probably you might get criticized all the time, too. But criticism, when it comes, you look at it for what it is. If it's honest and it's correct, you take it. If my wife tells me, look, you're doing such and such wrong, I think you need to change that, and she's right, guess what?

I need to change that. I should be thankful. Because now I know something I can change. And if I change, then hopefully I'll be better. But too often, we just view criticism from the Navy. Sometimes you might receive criticism, you evaluate it, and you find, well, I don't think this is really justified. I don't think they really understand the whole situation. So you don't just throw it out, you evaluate it. But there are people whose whole life seems to be destroyed when somebody comes along and says something against them.

What if somebody snubs you? A group going out after services, and you're not invited. Why didn't they invite me? I never get invited. And so you begin to feel sorry for yourself. Do you see how we can react to what other people do, and that it begins to affect us? Our emotions, our feelings, can even carry on throughout the week. The merest suspicion of being unpopular can cause some people to be aroused and really upset.

Now, the Bible is very clear because it tells us how we should react to other people. Let's go over to Luke 6 and verse 27. Luke 6 and verse 27. Picking up on something we read earlier. It says, But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. Verse 31. And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.

So how you want to be treated, that's how you should treat other people. So you do good to those, to other people. Do good as you want others to do good to you. So, brethren, we need to know who we are, the values we stand for, and allow those to guide us.

Now, we all react on occasion, as I mentioned earlier. There's not one of us in here who hasn't reacted. I tend to react very quickly, and then, 10 seconds, 30 seconds later, I'm always asking myself, Why did I do that? And you begin to calm down. Some people build up. They're like a volcano, and finally, boom, they'll react to something. We all tend to react one way or the other.

We don't all react the way we should, and we regret it later on, but we cannot be passive reactors to other people's feelings. I mentioned about being unpopular. One of the worst things today, and I'll address this basically to our young people, teens and younger, is to be considered unpopular. You go to school, and we've all had children in school. I've had five boys who've gone through school, and I can remember going through school, too. It was even back then, but not like it is today. There's a tremendous pressure, peer pressure, on young people to be liked, to go along with the crowd, to be concerned about what others think, about your dress and your shoes.

I remember our son, Mark, when he was in middle school. We had bought him a pair of tennis shoes for school. He went to school, and everybody was wearing a certain brand, a certain type of shoe, and he didn't have it. Oh, he came home, and he begged us. He had to have that shoe. The problem was, we didn't have the money. He had a good pair of shoes, and we weren't going to buy him another pair of shoes. Why did he want it? He wanted it because everybody else was wearing it. If we had the money, we might have bought it.

The point was, and the point today, you find that so many in society dress, they listen to music, they do almost everything, because this is what everybody else is doing. You don't want to stand out over here as somebody who's different. Therefore, they don't want to be unpopular, and they're concerned about what others think, more concerned about their friends, what their friends think, peers think, society think, and what parents think. For many young people, the problem is, their values have not yet been internalized.

They're more concerned about friends than they are family. I don't know how many of you ever read the comic strip, Zits. Anybody ever read Zits? A few of you. That's one of my favorite comics, Baby Blues. But Zits is a teenage boy. He's 14, 15, 16, somewhere in there. He's got feet like this, and he's totally embarrassed of his parents.

His friends, he's really into his friends, but when it comes to his mother dropping him off five blocks from the school, he doesn't want anybody to see his mom picking him up over at somebody else's house, this type of thing. It's so much like what you see going on around us in society. Well, you young people as you grow up, you need to be developing a set of values and standards that you live by. And those should be based upon God's word, God's law, and God's way of life. I want you to notice in Luke 9, verse 51, how the disciples reacted on one occasion, and how Jesus Christ had to rebuke them, because their reaction was not the proper reaction.

Luke 9, verse 51, because his face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. Okay, here comes the Messiah. They're not honoring him. They're not paying attention to him. They're not giving him the respect the disciples think these people should. So when the disciples, James and John, saw this, they said, Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down out of heaven and consume them just as Elijah did? Where did that come from?

Here they're just going from village to village, and this one didn't accept Christ, so we're going to bring fire down. That was their reaction. He turned and rebuked them, in verse 55, and said, You do not know what manner of spirit you are, for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them, and they went to another village. Rather than sometimes, maybe we don't call fire down out of heaven, but we like to, or we get angry, or we become bitter or resentful over a situation, I want you to notice Jesus Christ's example again, and how He acted, verses reacting.

Matthew 26 and verse 67. Jesus Christ had been taken. He had been brought before Caiaphas, and we find here He's before the Sanhedrin. He's giving a witness. Verse 67 says, Then they spat in His face, and they beat Him. Others struck Him with the palm of their hands, saying, Prophesy to us, Christ, who is the one who struck you?

And then in chapter 27, next chapter over here, you find in verse 27, the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the praetorium and gathered the whole garrison around Him. They stripped Him, put a scarlet robe on Him, and they twisted a crown of thorns. They put it on His head, and reading His right hand, they bowed the knee to Him, saying, Hail, king of the Jews!

They spat on Him, took reeds, and struck Him, and they mocked Him. Verse 31. Now again, when somebody spits in your face, somebody beats you around the head, slaps you, pushes you, shoves you, mocks you, and makes all kinds of fun of you, what would be your reaction? Well, your reaction again would be to do the same thing.

But remember, Jesus Christ knew who He was. He knew He was the Son of God. He knew He had come to this earth for a purpose, to die for the sins of mankind. If He had reacted in a carnal manner, the whole plan of salvation would have gone up in smoke. So He knew His values. He knew what He had to do. He knew how He should behave. And He was not going to be enticed by some carnal urge to strike back and to get back at these people.

Later on, what did Jesus Christ say as He hung on the stake? Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. You see, that's the type of attitude He had. He knew how He should react. What if you and I were being martyred, boiled in oil, crucified, or whatever?

How would we handle ourselves? We've got many examples in the Scriptures of those who were martyred. We have many examples like in Fox's book of Martyrs of Christians down through the ages who suffered. You and I, brethren, should learn how to react in the right way. I'd like for you on your paper to make two columns. If you're taking notes, something that looks like this. Column number one, you might title it, Actions Toward You. Column number two, Your Reactions Toward Others. Actually, there could be a column number three.

Let's go over to 1 Corinthians 13. 1 Corinthians 13 is column number three. Column number one may be how, thinking of the worst, how some people have reacted toward you. Thinking about this, I just quickly jotted down some things. I know you could put down probably dozens. If I went around the room and asked each one of you individually, we'd make a big long list here. But sometimes people speak evil of you. They gossip about you.

They criticize you. They belittle you. They snub you. They comment on your physique. They're rude toward you. They ignore you. They put you down, talk behind your back, make fun of you. You can go on and on.

You can make a whole list. Your reaction to other people's reaction? Well, sometimes we get depressed. Sometimes we want to strike back. We want to prove people wrong. We become unhappy. We're miserable. We become uncivil. We become bitter, aggressive, quarrelsome, angry, emotionally upset. Now, those are the natural ways that we might react. Now, hopefully that's not how we're reacting the majority of the time. How should we react? Well, let's read verse 4, 1 Corinthians 13. Verse 3, Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profits me nothing.

Verses 4 through 8 tell us how we should react if we're being motivated by love. Love suffers wrong. That's a reaction. You take things you suffer wrong. Love is kind. Now, let me put a name in there. You see, the best way of reading this, instead of love, put your own name. I could say, Jim suffers long. We could say, Brad is kind. Jacob does not envy. And we could go around the room, substituting names. I could say, Roy does not parade himself. And we could go on. So-and-so is not puffed up.

We do not behave ourselves rudely. We don't seek our own. We're not provoked. Thinks no evil. It does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth. We bear all things. We believe all things. We hope all things. We endure all things. Love never fails. See, that's why it's important. Because 1 Corinthians 13, verses 4-8, outline and give us a godly response to almost every type of situation we're confronted with and how we should respond. I would suggest to you that you build your own list, put down things that have happened to you, things that might not all be bad.

And then your reaction, when I say your reaction to others' actions, maybe in the sense of negative reactions, and then how you should be handling those. So as I asked to start with, who decides how we act? Is it based upon values and principles in the Bible? That's what our life should be based upon. Or is it based upon our human nature? Do we react to others? Do we let others decide how we should act? How we should live? We should know who we are. We should know what we believe. We should know how to behave. Because after all, we are the children of God.

Are we in command of our life? Or are others in command of our lives and society around us? Do they dictate how we live? Many times you think, well, if I do what's right, and I'm a nice person, especially in the world, that people will make fun of me, or we won't turn out right. Just so happens there have been a number of studies done dealing with this particular topic.

Let me just read you a paragraph, a summary paragraph from one of them. How many times have you heard people say something like, if you're nice, people will take advantage of you, or if you're nice people, or if you're nice, people will think you're a pushover, or nice people finish last.

We've all heard those type of expressions. People who say these things, however, are totally out of touch with reality and haven't bothered to check out the facts. Study after study have shown that people who are nice make more money, are healthier, more successful in their love relationships, get bigger pay raises and promotions, and are far more successful as managers and people who aren't. It says, hello. What's there not to get about the role that being nice plays in determining your success? So the next time one of these naysayers tries to tell you that being nice is for wimps, nicely informed them that being nice is the hallmark of a winner.

It is the hallmark of a winner. So, brethren, let's make sure that as we start out through another year here, after the Feast of Tabernacles, that we think about our reaction to other people and what they do and make sure that we don't react to them, but that we act according to God's principle, and especially His principles of love.