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The urban dictionary classifies a hacker as: as someone who strictly pursues creature comforts through completely legal means that while frustrating to others; allow him to live his best life.
We are all hackers looking for shortcuts or ways to do things which are less stressful and more comfortable.
Did you know non whitening toothpaste can be used as wall filler? Did you know you could use it to also clean the dingy and fading headlight covers on your car? Its true. However, it makes you wonder about the story behind how someone figured this out. I'm not sure someone woke up and said "hey, i feel like filling the walls with toothpaste." let's try this. There is always a story.
Life is hard enough so finding the fastest way to, or through, the obstacles of life seems like an appropriate subject in this covid reality we have found ourselves in.
So over the next 4 weeks, we will be sharing simple shortcuts to help you live your best life. Over the next few weeks, we will offer financial, relationship, parenting, purpose, work and even a simple shortcut to God.
(map of today)
Today, we will look for our relationships shortcut in the New Testament letter Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus. Specifically, we will be reviewing a 1 Corinthians 13 and Ephesians 5:21-29
(overview 1 Cor)
First Corinthians addresses many practical questions dividing the church-questions concerning such things as spiritual gifts, marriage, food offered to idols, and the resurrection. Paul urged the Corinthians to be unified and to give themselves fully to "the work of the Lord" (15:58). Chapter 13 includes a well-known passage on the nature and importance of love. Paul wrote this letter to the Corinthians from Ephesus about a.d. 55. (ESV commentary)
(overview of Eph)
The apostle Paul wrote Ephesians to the churches around Ephesus (Acts 19) to display the scope of God's eternal plan for all humanity-for Jews and Gentiles alike. This is the mystery of God, hidden for ages but now made known in Jesus Christ. The first three chapters focus on what Christians should believe, unfolding the glorious riches of God's grace in Christ. Dead sinners are made alive and gain eternal salvation "by grace... through faith" (2:8). The last three chapters explain the implications of God's grace for the church, for individuals, and for families. This second section comes to a climax with a command to stand with the armor of God against the devil. Paul wrote this letter while in prison, probably in Rome about a.d. 60. (ESV commentary)
In both books, Paul is challenging the church to choose to offer grace and peace to others as a reflection of what it means to call oneself a Christian. So let’s start with one of the favorite wedding scriptures of all time 1 Corinthians 13:4-6. IL. Love is a magnet. Needle rubbed against a magnet. If we rub up against God and His Word we will take on His kind of love (agape). When we become magnetized with this kind of love we will naturally attract the right relationships. One way is to become magnetized is to know Gods definition of what love is. To start with a strong foundation.
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails….”
Authentic relationships require love. Now, let’s be honest, love in the english language has been overused, misused and often misunderstood. The love of sport is not the same as love for a child. The love of a taco isn’t the same as love for a spouse. The love of reading isn’t the same as love of God. It can’t be. Language has failed us. However, all of these examples of love make it clear: Love is a choice. You choose who you love. Love is a choice. I am sure there are some listening today who disagree with me. So let me bring you to how we came to this conclusion:
You were created in the image of God. As a reflection of Him, you carry Christ’s DNA. A makeup which gives you the choice to be like him who chose to love you so much, he would love you even while you were an enemy of He died for you.
Romans 5:6-8 makes this clear.
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
So in that moment, God through Jesus showed us the real defining characteristics of love: choice and unconditional (without barriers).
So if love is a choice and without conditions, what should we do as people who claim to be led by his example? That’s where Paul’s writing to the Ephesians 5 beginning in verse 21 helps us. Take a listen:
21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
Verse 21 is key to the remainder of this scripture. Submit to who? That’s right. One another. We are to look upon those closest to us and realize mutual submission is a sign of a christian relationship. Paul starts his instruction with women because that was the cultural norm. Now, since then, it has been used to mis-categorize Paul as well as a whole host of terrible theology regarding leadership and gifting. Paul was setting his audience up for the counter cultural Christian truth. Women were more than possessions. Let’s take a listen.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing[a] her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body.
Paul is being clear. ALL are created in His image and therefore all have a roll in the future of the church. So from today’s scripture we can assert three incredible life hacks for relationships.
First, It's a choice to love so be sure to make everything about those around you. Be first to love others without regard if they will return the love or the friendship. The act of loving others unconditionally demonstrates his love for us. If rejected, accept it as a lesson in how Christ felt and feels when so many reject him today.
Philippians 2 says:
6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Author, Pastor and Storyteller James Moore tells about an old friend named George. George was a peacemaker with a big heart and wonderful sense of humor. Everyone loved George at church, and he was respected at the hospital where he worked. The reason why so many people loved George was because he was always kind and respectful to everyone he met.
George’s children clearly remember the days George spent in the hospital before his death. The administrator of the hospital paid him a visit. They spoke as though they were old friends. A few minutes later one of the janitors came to visit George. They too had a nice visit.
When the janitor left, one of George’s children said to him, "Dad, did you realize that you treated the president of the hospital and the janitor just alike?" George smiled, chuckled and then said, "Let me ask you something: If the administrator left for two weeks and the janitor left for two weeks, which one do you think would be missed the most?"
Then George called his children around his bed. "Let me show you something I carry in my pocket all the time," he told them, "even when I mow the lawn." George pulled out a pocket-sized cross and a marble with the golden rule on it. George said, "On the cross are written these words, ‘God Loves You,’ and on the marble are these words, ‘Do unto Others as You Would Have Them Do unto You.’ The cross reminds me of how deeply God loves me. And the marble reminds me of how deeply God wants me to love others.”
Source: James W. Moore, WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS..., (Nashville: Dimensions for Living, 1993), p. 78
The second relational life hack is the practice of continuously offering small gestures because they often carry the greatest impact. Following the biblical mandate of loving others is best practiced in small thoughtful ways. It’s all about the little things. Now, I’m not contradicting Richard Carlson's book “Don’t sweat the small stuff” but I am telling you small, consistent words and deeds done with thought can and do change the world.
The writer and encourager Erma Bombeck wrote a poem after she was told she would die from the cancer that was ravishing her body. The title of this poem is: IF I HAD MY LIFE TO LIVE OVER
I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for the day.
I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.
I would have talked less and listened more.
I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained, or the sofa faded.
I would have eaten the popcorn in the 'good' living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.
I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.
I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband.
I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.
I would have sat on the lawn with my grass stains.
I would have cried and laughed less while watching television and more while watching life.
I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn't show soil, or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.
Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.
When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, "Later. Now go get washed up for dinner." There would have been more "I love you's." More "I'm sorry's."
But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute...look at it and really see it. Live it and never give it back.
The third biblical life hack comes from the last verse in ephesians 5. verse 30 states: “For we are members of his body.” Paul is being clear. We are all connected to Him and as such, we should look upon others being related to you.
A little life hack I have used to help me has been to pray for those around me as if I was talking to my father in law. I have been praying to God with the thought that the other person is both related to me AND I am in a room with them as we discuss their child. It’s a pretty powerful way to pray.
Prayer is a powerful change agent. A little while ago in a local restaurant, I was seated at a table and there was obviously some angst between the servers, the busboys and hostess. You could hear the comments. The tension was thick. Our water was practically thrown on the table. The waitress came by with that “what do you want” attitude. It was really getting uncomfortable and then the bread was placed on the table. My wife looked at me as I grabbed the roll and inquired, Are you going to pray?” So I did. I don’t know what I said but the next encounter with the waitress was nicer. The busboy was more attentive and the hostess came by a couple of times “just to check on us.” I am convinced the blessing prayer changed everyone.
In summary, our three life hacks make every relationship better and allow us to be a true reflection of, and a witness to, the triune God who first made a choice to love us and who gives us the choice to return his love to Him and others. This sacrificial love is not a one and done activity its part of the Christian lifestyle Jesus emulated throughout his life, death and resurrection. Hence the reason, we celebrate the Lord’s table every week as a moment in time where we recognize his love for us.
