Romans 8:9-11 – 9But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 – 4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

● Agape Suffers Long — It stays when every natural impulse is screaming to leave.

● Agape Is Kind — It gives good when the flesh is demanding revenge.

● Agape Does Not Envy — It can celebrate someone else without needing to diminish them.

● Agape Does Not Parade Itself — It does not need an audience in order to feel valuable.

● Agape Is Not Puffed Up — It is secure enough to stay low.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 – 4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

● Agape Suffers Long — It stays when every natural impulse is screaming to leave.

● Agape Is Kind — It gives good when the flesh is demanding revenge.

● Agape Does Not Envy — It can celebrate someone else without needing to diminish them.

● Agape Does Not Parade Itself — It does not need an audience in order to feel valuable.

● Agape Is Not Puffed Up — It is secure enough to stay low.

A MORE EXCELLENT WAY

John 13:34-35 – 34A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35By this all will know that you are My disciples, If You Have Love for One Another.”

I. The Wrong Way – Ranking and Comparison

Romans 12:3-4 – 3For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. 4For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function…

1 Corinthians 12:31-13:3 – 31But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you A MORE EXCELLENT WAY. 13:1Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but

have not love, I am nothing. 3And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

• The Verdict on Tongues — White Noise: “I Say Nothing.”

1 Corinthians 13:1 – Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I HAVE BECOME sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.

• The Verdict on Prophecy, Knowledge, and Faith — Identity Loss: “I Am Nothing.”

1 Corinthians 13:2 – And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I AM NOTHING.

• The Verdict on Self-Sacrifice — I Gain Nothing: “I Profit Nothing.”

1 Corinthians 13:3 – And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, IT PROFITS ME NOTHING.

II. The More Excellent Way – Love

I. Motherhood Is More than Birth — It’s a Life Rhythm

• Raising Children requires a Daily Rhythm.

Deuteronomy 6:7 – You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.

• Raising Children requires a Devoted Parent.

Deuteronomy 6:6 – And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.

II. Motherhood Takes More than You – It Takes a Family

• The greatest protégé Paul ever had was discipled at a kitchen table.

1 Corinthians 12:14-22 – 14For in fact the body is not one member but many. 15If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? 16And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? 17If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? 18But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. 19And if they were all one member, where would the body be? 20But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. 21And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.

I. The Autoimmune Mechanism

• A healthy body attacks what’s foreign; an autoimmune body attacks what’s natural.

Galatians 5:15 – But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!

• The church's Autoimmune Disease is an “Anti-Body Ideology” — the deeply embedded theology of individualism that has taught us to function as isolated units rather than connected members.

I. He Became Flesh

John 1:14 – And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

II. He Humbled Himself

Philippians 2:7-8 – 7He made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

III. He Suffered Innocently

1 Peter 2:22 – Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth.