Introduction and Context
Well, I bring you greetings from Providence, Rhode Island. And you can shake your hand at the back and you can check off your bucket list of meeting somebody from Rhode Island. And yeah, the Lord's doing a work there. I'm excited, Danny and Pam's son has served with me as an elder there and a good friend.
And as a Baptist, you should know about Providence, Rhode Island, because it is where the First Baptist Church of America is. It's where Baptist started here in the United States.
So yeah, and thank you, Nathan, for that introduction. I did plant and pastor church for 25 years in New England, and then 13 years ago, God changed my heart to pursue a ministry aimed at helping parents pass the gospel to their children.
The Message Overview
And we'll be talking a little bit about that in the message, but also there's some resources and I'd love to meet with you and talk with you afterwards. But yeah, it's been a joy to be down here and think about some what the Bible has to say about parenting.
Well, you may not know his name, but you might know his face because on October 23rd, 2022, Michael McGuire got off work and he rushed to take his son to a basketball game. Nothing unusual about that, except McGuire got off work at a coal mine and he didn't have time to change or clean up. He rushed right to Rupp Arena at the University of Kentucky.
As he enjoyed the game with his son, a fan snapped a photo that quickly went viral. And the Kentucky men's basketball coach, John Calipari, was moved by that image. He said, "Our American dream started in a Clarksburg, West Virginia coal mine." And so this picture really hit home. He ended up giving his family, this family, VIP tickets to future games.
You see, Michael McGuire's actions displayed love to a watching world. And this morning, we're going to look at a passage that shows how your church and your family can display love to a watching world as well. So if you have your Bibles and want to follow along, look at John chapter 13. We'll be looking at John chapter 13, verses 31 to 35.
We're going to look at some of what Jesus says to his disciples. It's from this passage, it's from the final night of Jesus' earthly life, and he's gathered with his disciples in the upper room. And now Judas has left the room to betray Jesus. The final events are in motion, and Jesus is free to address the true disciples.
And what does he say? This is from John chapter 13, 31 to 35. Jesus says this: "Now, when he was gone, Jesus says, 'Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in him. God is glorified in him, and God will glorify the Son in himself and will glorify him at once. My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now, where I am going, you cannot come. A new command I give you, love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this, everyone will know you're my disciples if you love one another.'"
Let me just pray, commit our time to the Lord. Father, as we open up your word, thank you for it. It is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path in a dark world.
God's Hidden Glory
Open up the Word by your spirit this morning and pray in Christ's name. Amen.
Well, if you like to take notes, my main point this morning is really simple: God's hidden glory is shown to the world through the cross and through His people. God's hidden glory, that's the main point, just to think about. God's hidden glory is shown to the world through the cross, through His cross, through the cross, and through His people.
And let's look, let's look thinking about that first point there, verses 31 to 33. And that is this: the triune God is glorified in the cross. The triune God is glorified.
Understanding the Word Glory
In the cross. And you can see that, verse 31 to 33. When he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now is the Son of Man glorified." So now that Judas is gone, the events are in motion. Jesus says, "Now is the Son of Man glorified," and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, then God the Father will also glorify him at once.
You know, we use the word glory a lot. It's used a lot in scripture, but I want to ask you, do we actually know what it means? We can use religious words and not really know what they mean. One of the reasons I think we can be confused is because the word glory has different meanings in scripture.
So, one way it's used, glory is the inherent greatness of God, the inherent magnificence of God, the majesty, the perfections. My word for that is glory-own, glory that's in God, magnificence in God. But another way the Bible uses the word glory is when the glory is seen, when that greatness comes out. So, for example, you know the Christmas story of the glory of the Lord shone around the shepherds and the angels. So, glory is used for manifestation of that greatness.
And also, we use the word glory. The Bible uses the word glory or glorify as in speaking about that greatness. So, "Come, glorify the Lord with me." So, that's the idea of speaking. And we can even think of also just heaven as a place. He's gone to glory, glory, the place where we can see God's greatness better, without hindrance.
But glory is actually not just a religious word, although we don't use it in this, but we do the same thing. For example, we do this on the human level. Herschel Walker, right? Amen. Thank you. I was hoping for that. He was a great football player. Bo Jackson was great. Okay. Okay. There we go. Keep going. I won't bring up Alabama. We won't do that. So we'll just keep going. He was great. And then part of the joy is going on a Saturday and seeing that greatness. So, it's great, seeing the greatness, and then what completes the joy? It's talking about that greatness, right? Like, "Oh man, did you see him? Oh, wow, that was incredible."
And so, giving God glory is not just a religious word, although we use it a lot in church. It's something we do naturally in life. Well, what the Bible says is that God has great glory. And one day, one day we will see it. We will see him face to face. But right now, that glory is veiled. It's partially hidden. Scripture does say that the heavens proclaim the glory of God. So, creation speaks that glory. We're not often responsive to that, but the heavens are speaking that glory.
But what this passage says is if you and I want to see that glory, it's in the cross and in the resurrection. It's in Jesus. Jesus had pre-incarnate glory in the presence of the Father, but he set that aside when he came to earth. And so, what most people saw when they saw Jesus was a carpenter. Maybe a prophet, but a carpenter. Someone said, you know, back in the day, if you had met Jesus, what would you have done? And shake his hand. Because that glory was veiled. It only came out occasionally. It came out at the miracles and it came out in the transfiguration. In the transfiguration, the glory of Jesus overwhelms the disciples, but for most it was hidden. For many it was hidden.
And Jesus comes to—back to our verse—Jesus says, "Now that these events are in motion, now the Son of Man is glorified." Now, the Father is glorified in the betrayal, the crucifixion, ultimately the resurrection, and the ascension. This is going to display how great God is. If you're looking from the outside, you're like, "Wait, okay, so they're going to kill you, they're going to torture you, they're going to strip you naked. How is that glory?"
Because of this. The idea, the understanding of the cross is this: God, who cannot let sin go unpunished, who is perfectly holy, who is perfectly just, and holds us rightly under his justified wrath and anger. That's what our sins deserve. And so, what is—how can we get out of this? There is no way humanly, but God says, "I am the type of God that will send my own Son to die in your place." That's how we see the greatness of God. We serve a God who not only is just, but also is merciful, and those meet in the cross. So, gaze long and hard at the glories of the cross.
I've been a Christian over 50 years. Maybe some of you are like me. You've been a Christian a long time. We cannot grow complacent. There is more to learn about the cross no matter how long you've been a Christian. Jerry Bridges said it this way.
If you want proof of God's love for us, for you, then we must look first at the cross, where God offered up his son for our sins. While we were still sinners, God proved his love for us. Romans 5:8. That's the kind of God we serve: one who would sacrifice his own son.
So if you're here, you're a follower of Jesus. Obviously, I'm a guest speaker, but I'm glad you're here. And you need to understand that Jesus says the central event of history is the death of Jesus on the cross and the resurrection.
You don't understand God until you understand that God's greatness is hidden to our eyes and heart. But in the events of the cross and in the events of the resurrection, it reveals the greatness of the cross and applies to your life.
But then, if you're following along, Jesus seems to abruptly shift gears.
The Love of Disciples
So in verse 31, 33, he's talking about him being glorified. And now he talks to his disciples, his people, and what they'll do while he's gone. And that brings us to our second point, which is this: that the triune God is glorified in the love of the disciples for one another in your church. God is glorified in the love we have for one another.
You see, the cross creates a new people, a new followers of Jesus. And then, look in verse 34 and 35. Jesus says this: "A new commandment I give to you, little children: Love one another, just as I have loved you, so you also are to love one another." This is how all the people will know you're my disciples—if you love one another.
We're so loved. God is so loved. He has sent his Son to die in our place. He's filled us with his Spirit, the Spirit of love. Now, "love one another" is so hard to put into practice, right? 22 times the command to love one another is repeated in the New Testament. And really, that's the center, sort of that's the diamond. And then there are all sorts of "one another" facets in the scripture: encourage one another, admonish one another, show hospitality to one another, sing songs to one another. These are all facets of "love one another," but the preeminent one is "love one another."
1 John 4, so John, the author of the Gospel of John, also wrote letters. 1 John 4 says, "Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." No one's ever seen God, but if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. It's actually love for one another is a mark of salvation. In that same letter, John writes, we know we pass from death to life. How? Because we said a sinner's prayer. John says, because we love the brothers. One of the ways we know that God's changed our heart is we love people who are not like us, who can be hard to love.
There's a church tradition which says, again, John, the author of John, the Gospel of John, and then these letters, there's a church tradition that said when he was an old man in Ephesus, he had to be carried into church in the arms of his disciples. And at those meetings, he was accustomed to saying no more than this: "Little children, love one another." After a time, the disciples were wearied by always hearing the same words. And they said, "Master, why do you always say this?" And his response was, "It is the Lord's command. And if this alone be done, it is enough. Love one another."
Why is that so important? Well, some of it has to do with the nature of sin. So rightly, we think of sin as lawbreaking, as rebelling against God. But Augustine also talked about that sin causes us to curve in on ourselves. I have a friend with arthritis, and it causes her hands and fingers to curl in on themselves. All of us are born with that problem—not physically, but spiritually—we're born curved in on ourselves. And Jesus is saying, "Love God, love one another."
Why does Jesus say it's new? And if you're a note taker, this is still under point two, but why does Jesus say it's new? Because actually Leviticus 19:18 says, "Love your neighbor as yourself." And Jesus, when he was asked, summed up the law in Matthew 22:36, he said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and your mind," and the second, "Love your neighbor as yourself."
So why is this new? Well, actually there's three things, and this is again, if you're a note taker, this is under the second point. There are three different things that are new. First, there is a new standard. Not "Love your neighbor as yourself," but "Love your neighbor as I have loved you." There's a new standard. This is, he's saying, I'm calling you to a sacrificial love, a self-crucifying love, a wise love, a humble love, a foot-washing love. "Love one another as I have loved you." So there's a new standard.
There's a new priority. "Love your neighbor as yourself." Well, who is my neighbor? There are 8 billion people in the world. And Jesus puts a priority. Disciples are to love disciples. Now, there may love can manage multiple priorities, but Galatians 6:10 spells this out as well: "As we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, especially the household of faith." So love can manage multiple priorities.
And Jesus also says there's a new result. So not only a new standard, a new priority, but a new result. This is how the world will know that we're his disciples. Francis Schaefer, the late Francis Schaefer, said this: "We must never forget that the final apologetic which Jesus gives is observable love of true Christians for true Christians." Tertullian, who was a church father, he reported that as they put this into practice, the Romans would say to each other, "See how they love each other. See how they love one another."
So supernatural love in me from Christ to me and through me is to result in moving into loving others. And if you become a Christian as an adult, often, what's attractive—yes, there are rational reasons for Christianity. We can talk about all the rational reasons, but it's often the supernatural love of Christians for both those who don't know Christ and even the church.
So let me just give you three applications here, thinking about this passage. The first is, again, if you're not a Christian, there perhaps are many different gatherings here in Milton or Atlanta, and you're going to find a crowd there. But the question is, is there supernatural love in that crowd? And the answer is not. Because only in a healthy church of Jesus Christ are you going to have supernatural love that overcomes barriers. So as you repent and trust Christ, he can give you supernatural forgiveness and love as well.
But for those of us who say, yes, I've trusted Christ, let me ask you this: Who is your biggest challenge to love right now? Who's your biggest challenge? We will be challenged beyond our natural ability to love until we die. So maybe you've been hurt. Maybe you put up walls. But when you do that, when you put up walls, you cannot love another person. So ask God to fill you with the love of Christ for people who have hurt you, who are hard to love.
Sometimes functionally, you know, we know the verse where Jesus says, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Bless those. And we kind of reserve that verse for, okay, if someone comes to kill me for the name of Christ, I will pull out that verse and try and love them. But functionally, sometimes your coworker is actually acting like an enemy. Functionally, maybe someone who's an in-law. There are other people, and I just want to connect that verse to perhaps someone who's in your life, where God is saying, supernaturally, with my power, love that person.
I want to join that, though, with another application. So to love them, but also a verse that's really struck me is Philippians 1:9, which is Paul's praying for Christians. So this is my prayer for your church. This is the way you should pray for your church. Paul prays in Philippians 1:9 for the Philippians. He said, this is my prayer for you. I am praying that your love would abound more and more. I'm praying that you will be more loving in 2026 than you were in 2025. I'm praying that your love will abound more and more.
And then the rest of the verse says this: in knowledge and depth of insight. I'm praying that you're going to have more love, and I'm praying that you're going to have wiser love. I'm praying that more knowledgeable love. And why does Paul pray that? Well, because sometimes, and probably especially here in the South, and I can say this as a—I'm still a southern boy, my taste buds are southern—sometimes we equate love with nice, right? We don't say something that needs to be said. We just say, "Bless your heart," you know.
Love is not always nice. Jesus said in Revelation 3:19, those whom I love, I rebuke and I discipline. See, sometimes love is kind. Sometimes love receives and does not say back. But sometimes love rebukes. Sometimes love corrects. And so this is why Paul's praying. He's saying, I'm praying that you are more loving and I'm praying that you are loving wisely. Because we can mistake love for perhaps niceness sometimes.
I had a professor who had a prodigal daughter and he would say, he said, every morning my wife and I would wake up and say, "Lord, do we love our daughter by rescuing her from the consequences of her sin? Or do we love our daughter by letting her feel the consequences of her sin?" And that's part of wisdom. That's how parents and really all, we're praying. I want to love this person. I want to even love my enemy. But how, Lord? How? Do I receive this? Do I bless them? Or do I need to speak truth in love?
So the triune God is glorified, is seen, is put on display as we love each other. People who are very different. Sometimes irritating each other. Sometimes hard to love. You know, churches often have Uncle Joe. Uncle Joe is, he kind of, he doesn't have a lot of social skills, and we're his only family. If you don't know who Uncle Joe is, you might be Uncle Joe. But that's great because this is a loving family. And so that's great.
But let's move on. And I want to take those two things and then I want to apply it to a smaller group, and that's our family. And that's the third point: the triune God is glorified in our love for one another in our family.
Parenting and Family
Now let me give a sidebar here to singles, whether young or older. There are applications as we think about this point. Some of you perhaps have roommates. Some of you may have extended or even broken families. So this really applies. Hopefully this applies whether you're in the actual child rearing or not.
But I want to read this verse again, but instead of thinking about the church, I want in your mind's eye to be thinking about perhaps your family. Because living the gospel in your home is a beautiful and difficult calling. Let me read this verse again. "I give you a new command. And kids, this applies to you as well. Love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you also are to love one another. By this, everyone will know you're my disciples if you love one another."
You see, the biological family was meant to be foundational to God's plan in the world. So you know the story of Adam and Eve. They were the king and queen of our race. They were, you know, sometimes we sort of say, "Oh, that's a fairy tale," or a story back then. Well, they're actually your great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandparents. So we're—this is, these are, these are our ancestors.
And what we see is that what was meant to be a blessing through the passivity of Adam and the sin of Eve, it led to rebellion. And so all of us, sin affects all of our relationships. When families are created, sin is right there in the mix. So what is a family? One sinner marries another sinner and creates other little sinners. Incredibly cute little sinners, but still little sinners.
So that explains you may have grown up in a family that was deeply affected by sin. And that's why perhaps there are deep wounds and scars. That there are secrets of abuse that you've never told anyone. But let me ask you this: Do you believe that God's ability to heal and restore is infinitely greater than our parents' ability to tear down and destroy? And the answer is yes. Yes. By the grace of Christ, the answer to that is an encouraging and resounding yes. God can redeem what was meant for evil.
But how do we love in our families? How do we apply this? We can think about, again, how do we apply to John 13:34 and 35? I want to give you some different applications. It may be especially applicable if you're in the midst of—you are married and you perhaps are raising children, but it's also applicable again for singles as well. So we want to parent or love our homes with Jesus in mind.
From God's perspective, family is not ultimate. Jesus and his kingdom is. We are surrounded by a child-centered culture which worships children, idolizes the family. But Jesus says in Matthew, "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me."
So like concentric circles, my first priority is to walk closely with the Lord himself. And then if I'm married, my spouse is my next priority. My children come after that, church, family, and the world. But all of those are priorities. See, our children, if you're in the midst of parenting, our children need to realize that we live for something bigger than them.
As I remember as a young dad, I'm trying to balance, man, there's all these opportunities. And of course, everybody's coming after you. "Do this, do this, do this." And I asked a friend of mine, I'm saying, "How do you decide when there's so much you can do and you're just..." And he said, "I want my children to know that I live for something bigger than them. Jesus is the center of the universe, not our children."
So we want to love at home, realizing and remembering that family is not ultimate. Jesus is. But we also want to parent with God's Trinitarian. We talked about this Trinitarian glory. We want to parent and love in our homes with that in mind. You see, there are different aspects where God can display his nature to the world.
So the Bible has a rich theology of singleness. So if you're single, and you are joyful and you are living for the glory of Christ, you are displaying the gospel. So, like Jesus and Paul, you're saying, "I'm living for a different place." There is no marriage in heaven. And you, as perhaps as a single, endure the struggles of loneliness, you're displaying the gospel to the world.
But the Bible also says that if you're married, Ephesians says you have a chance to be a model of Christ's love for the church. That's another, we're sort of a miniature of this little model here, that we are displaying Christ and the church. And if you have a family, even more so that you can display the Trinity. Because in the Trinity, there is love and joy.
I appreciated Nathan's comment about joy: that now there is diversity, but there's also in the Trinity, there's also unity. There's a chance to serve one another.
Tim Keller helps us understand. I remember growing up in the church, and maybe some of you have this thought. If you read Genesis 2 and you're thinking, "Why did God create men and women?" And it's easy to think, well, I mean, this is my child's understanding of it, is that, well, he was kind of like a lonely bachelor who wanted a dog, you know? He just wanted to create, he was just kind of by himself and like, "Oh man, I should make some people."
But actually, that couldn't be further from the truth because the Bible says that from eternity past, our God is triune. He's three persons who've had perfect fellowship. And it was out of that love that he created people.
Tim Keller said it this way: "The world was not created by God who's only an individual or an emanation of an impersonal force. We believe the world was made by God, who is a community of persons who've loved each other for all eternity."
You, talking about us, you were made for mutually self-giving, others-directed love. Self-centeredness destroys the fabric of what God has made. That has application in the church, that has application in family and marriage. Self-centeredness destroys the fabric of what God's made.
So, we're meant to be, if we have a family, pictures displaying God in some ways, whether single, married, or married with children. Remember, I said earlier, sin causes us to curve in on ourselves. So, the Trinitarian family is there's love and joy and overflowing love for others.
Kind of a third application here, thinking about parenting with kingdom values, is that we want to parent with eternity in mind.
Parenting with Kingdom Values
One of the things with the disciple-making parent, and I'm happy to meet you in the lobby afterwards, is this realization to take this book and then apply it to our family life. And if you do that, what you realize is that God has not just given you a baby, but he's given you an eternal soul that you get to influence. An eternal soul. And that gives great value to what you and I are doing. And it provides direction.
So, surveys said, what most people say their goal for their kids is they will be happy and successful. What does the Bible say? I want to suggest to you, happiness, success, those are great. But the ultimate first priority is that they would love and follow Jesus. That's where we're aiming as much as we can.
So mom and dads, if you're in the weeds parenting, that's why your work is so important. You might be some of the church's hardest disciple makers. You think, "All I'm doing is just wiping noses." No, you're discipling the next generation. Let me illustrate this. The story is told of three stone cutters. And a man walked by and he said, "What are you doing?" And the one said, "Cutting some stone." He walked by to the second one. "What are you doing?" He said, "Ah, just making a living." Third person, "What are you doing?" He said, "I'm building a cathedral to the glory of God." Same work, different vision. You see, the vision gave meaning to the work.
And God gives us little children so that we can influence them to become fully devoted followers of Christ, who love him and love others. It's frustrating, it's rewarding, it's profoundly glorious work. But God has prepared you to be the greatest spiritual influence on your children. We're preparing them not only for the graduation day, but for the judgment day. And so parenting is really disciple making.
And so we want to give our children the best, but what is the best? Ultimately, it's the gospel. I can tell you, my kids are 34 to 28. You run out of time and you run out of money. You cannot give our kids everything they want, nor should we. But the main thing is the gospel. We want to make sure that we hold out the gospel. We can't give spiritual life to our children, and we're not ultimately responsible for their choices. Some of you, no doubt, have prodigals, and so you raised them sharing the gospel, but they made different choices. But nevertheless, discipling them can be one of our greatest privileges.
But let's be honest: homes are some of the most challenging places to live out the gospel, right? Things we would never say to anyone else, we say to our children, or we say to our wives or our husbands. Anger that we hide from others spills over. Laziness that others don't see is obvious in our home.
And so, kind of as a last application, I want to encourage us to think that we want to live in our homes and realize that these other people are not my happiness providers, but they're my holiness providers. They're to train me in holiness. Yes, they bring joy and happiness, but this is the place where God is going to reveal my heart and make me more like Christ. What God does is use the close quarters of home to shine a floodlight on my heart idols. He's revealing what's really in my heart. Because when I come to church, I can look good. "How are you?" "I'm fine." "How are you?" "I'm fine." We're all fine. Do we need Jesus? You know?
In my home, I realize if I'll think about it, if I'll take responsibility for my actions and my reactions, I'll realize, man, I need the Lord. I need the Lord. You know, some people talk about today about, oh, marriage, I found my soulmate. Sharon, we've been married 37, coming up on 38 years. So, yes, she's my soulmate. That doesn't stop us from having times of, shall we call it, intense fellowship, if you know what I mean. We are very different. If there are two ways to go somewhere, we will go the different ways. And yet, God is using that to make me more like Jesus, make her more like Jesus. It doesn't help if I say, "Hey, God's using me to make you more like Jesus." I need to realize, though, God is using that to make me more like Jesus.
There are times, for example, passage you all know, read at every wedding, 1 Corinthians 13, or many weddings, where I've had to say, "Lord, your word says love is patient. Was I patient with her? Was I patient with the kids? No, I was not. Your word says love is kind. Was I kind? No, I was not. Love is not rude. Was I rude? Yes, I was rude. Love does not insist on its own way. Was I? Did I? Yes. Love is not irritable or resentful. I've been those things." And so I can confess that to the Lord and confess that to members of my household.
You see, in God's sovereignty, He's using your home life, my home life, to grow me to be like Jesus, no matter what the other person does. And that has application even if you're not married or with kids: that God is using other people to make you more like Jesus. So no matter what the other person does, will you ask the Lord, "Lord, I want to please you. I'm going to please you no matter what my spouse does, kids do, etc."?
And kids, this applies to us as well. God calls you to love one another, to love your siblings, to love your parents. So this is a command really for all of us. So yes, your parents, but also you. How are you doing, kids, in loving your siblings, not picking at them? That's not very loving. How can you love your siblings and your parents more?
And just one final application is realizing God is using your family. This is really—we've talked about this—using your family to train your heart. So God doesn't just leave us aware of our sin. The gospel empowers us. The gospel forgives our sins and empowers us in holiness. I can be, and I have seen growth in being more patient, more kind, less rude. God can do that in us as well so that we are more loving moms, more loving, wiser loving dads, more loving kids, no matter what, to please Christ, no matter what anyone else does. More loving in the church.
You see, what God is doing is using the daily grind of your small choices, your micro-choices, to train your heart to love Him. Love your nearest neighbors. Love, functionally, your enemies. I wonder if you remember the original Karate Kid. Do you remember that? Where Daniel asks, "Mr. Miyagi, train me in karate greatness." And so what Miyagi does is actually assign Daniel to mundane work, like waxing his collection of antique cars, painting his fence, sanding his floor. It looks mundane. It looks, "I don't understand why I am doing this."
And when the exhausted Daniel vents his complaint, Miyagi reveals how each mundane chore was invariably preparing him for karate greatness. You see, "wax on, wax off" was training him in ways that he couldn't even understand. God is also using the micro-choices as you choose. Nobody else can see it, but you're saying, "Lord, help me to love this person that's close to me." God sees that, and God is training you through those mundane things, shaping your soul so that you're pleasing Him and becoming more like Christ.
Conclusion and Prayer
The triune God is put on display for all to see in the cross. The triune God is put on display for all of us to see in our love for one another, and the triune God is put on display in your family. On October 23rd, 2022, Michael Maguire showed the world what love looked like, and the world took notice. As your church focuses on the greatness of the cross and shows them love and community, you also will see and show the glory of God.
Let's pray. Father, we just want to stop and reflect on the greatness of the cross. What kind of deity would sacrifice his own son for sinners like us? And so we stop and give you thanks. And Lord, thank you for the privilege of also loving one another, giving us, and adopting us into the household of faith where we have brothers and sisters. Sometimes hard to love, families hard to love. And yet you are molding us into Christ's likeness as you call us to love others.
We look to Jesus and He, by His Spirit, empowers us. So would you, perhaps in the congregation now, there are all sorts of hard relationships where it's hard to love. Would you give us that supernatural love that displays Christ? Would you give us wise love? What does that look like with these particular situations?
And Lord, I pray for our families that they would display you, that we would reflect you—mom, dad, brother, sister—we would display you to the watching world. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.