Favorite Verse: Caleb Haack

What does it look like for us to love other people as Christians?  We dive into 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 to unpack what the Bible has to say.

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Transcript

Favorite Bible Verses and Pumpkin Patch

Speaker 1 0:04

Hey there , king of Kings family , welcome into another episode of Beyond Sunday Sermons , the podcast where we take a Sunday message and just break it down a little bit further , get some extra insights and get some extra voices to talk about them . And we are continuing our series right now called favorite verse , which I think has just been really , really cool , and that we've gone to different staff members and just been like hey , what's your life first ? You know , if you had to pick one verse from the Bible that you really feel like speaks to you personally , or that you center your life around , what would that be ? And that's created some cool discussions . Today we've got Caleb Hack . We get a chance to hear about his favorite verse . Caleb , first of all , tell us a little bit about your love of Valus pumpkin patch , because I'm pretty sure you are the number one fan on staff .

Speaker 2 0:53

I think this is a controversial topic right now because of just how expensive Valus has gotten . That's where all the conversations centered around now . But no , it's amazing . I grew up going there and now we've got our baby that we go and we had to put her up to the like measuring board , say she's this tall and then if we go back in future years it'll be cool to see how much taller she gets . If you go back right , you know you're going back .

Speaker 1 1:19

Well , you guys got that season pass , so you can go four times a week .

Speaker 2 1:23

We went three times and then it got cold .

Speaker 1 1:26

So and it will probably remain cold for time going on . That was a good sentence , mike . What do you think this is Mike White . By the way , he's the director of ministry here at K and Kings . What do you think about Valus ?

Speaker 3 1:40

We moved here 10 years ago and we said what's unique to Omaha ? And the one thing that came up was Valus pumpkin patch , and so we didn't get it until we got here . And then it was like , yeah , this is pretty cool . So when the kids were younger , they're now 15 and 12 . So they kind of go by themselves now and that's fine . But when they were younger it's super fun and seeing them add new things every year the chicken coop with the egg shooter stuff .

Speaker 2 2:01

That's . That's a hard . The hard side is the new thing . That's great , yeah All right , it's amazing .

Speaker 1 2:08

It's like turned into like a mini amusement park . I mean they don't have the rides , but it's like . So it's expanded so much .

Speaker 2 2:14

They're adding rides now .

Speaker 1 2:15

Are they really ? Yeah , they've got a couple years behind .

Speaker 2 2:18

Yeah , they've got a new like scrambler thing .

Speaker 3 2:21

So is Valus sponsoring this episode ? They're totally sponsoring it .

Speaker 2 2:25

They are now my favorite verse has everything to do with Valus today .

Speaker 1 2:29

So we probably should get into the Bible a little bit here . So , caleb , let's take a look at your favorite verse . It's actually two verses First , corinthians 16 , 13 and 14 . Yeah , be on your guard , stand firm in the faith , be courageous , be strong , do everything in love . That's the NIV version , which is important to note because we're going to talk about a different version coming up later in this conversation , but first I just want to start at a high level . What is it about those verses that is important to you , that speaks to you ?

Speaker 2 2:59

Yeah , well , I picked those verses for my confirmation , which is funny because it was 16 years ago yesterday and my mom sent me some pictures of that yesterday and I was like , wow , well , that works out . So , yeah , I mean , I grew up in the faith and you get through it in the Lutheran faith and then you go junior high about , you go into confirmation and that's where you really profess your faith in front of the congregation . You learn through Luther's small catechism and everything and you pick like a life first . So I picked this verse . I think I picked it because I was looking for a verse that talked about courage , because my name , Caleb , means courage or that's one of the meanings .

Speaker 2 3:43

The other meaning we can get into later if you want , but I really liked that first part of it initially when I chose it . You know , stand firm in the faith , be courageous , be strong I think those are important things . But verse 14 is pretty short do everything in love . And that that's the part that I think has really stuck with me . It's just speaking to how you want to live out your life and live out your faith and what it means to do everything in love is super important . So yeah , that's really really stuck with me through the years .

Speaker 1 4:20

Mike , you're the king of context . Can you just well just give us a little bit of context about this letter ? This is Paul's letter to the Corinthian church . What was going on at this time ? Why is he writing to them ? What's going on with the Corinthians ?

Speaker 3 4:34

Yeah , so Corinth was a big city . This is one of his longer epistles or just letters to churches . What we see this is unique with Corinthians , I think , is he's referencing a letter they've already written to him and so there's probably some other correspondence . So we have two recorded letters in Corinth , but there might have been four , maybe more than that . I don't know if scholars really know or agree on that . Corinth was a metropolitan city and the church was a mess .

Speaker 3 5:00

I mean , if you want to look at what not to do as a church , it's kind of the first Corinthians letter , just division . There was a lot of other gods that they worshiped and so you saw Christians kind of straddling the line of , yeah , I'm kind of in the Christian faith , but then I'm also in these temple worships and sacrifices and stuff like that . Division , sexual morality they're called out in chapter five , I think it's just all throughout . And then kind of what's customary for Paul , his longer letters he typically wraps with something like that where it's almost this grab bag collect all at the end , where he gives some shout outs to people , thanks people , encourages them , has some other theology at the end . But yeah , corinthians , both have that . Romans , you see , galatians a smaller portion , but there's typically at the end of that . So that's kind of in this end of that .

Speaker 1 5:45

I think what you just said is kind of interesting . I mean it's very interesting . But you're talking about there's division , there's these outside temptations where Christians are kind of wavering a little bit . So it makes a lot of sense be on your guard , stand firm in the faith , be courageous , be strong like stand firm . He's saying to them like that's a reminder , but then do everything in love . That almost feels like a little bit of a separate component , like all those first four phrases there , all kind of like build upon each other and then all of a sudden love comes in . What do you guys think about that ? Why do you think Paul included that there ?

Speaker 2 6:22

Yeah , this feels like it . I mean , you kind of said it . This is his catch-all . End of the letter , final instructions . He goes from talking about Apollo's and who's gonna visit and then these two verses , which kind of sums up , I think , almost everything he's wanting to tell them , and then he goes into these other people are visiting or go in different places , and so , yeah , those are just really the summary of everything he wants the Corinthians to get from this letter . Be watchful , stand firm in the faith , be courageous , be strong , do everything in love summarizes it all . So the stand firm in the faith , be courageous , be strong . I think it's interesting because the other passage , or the other version we were looking at too , is really talking about like men , the leaders of the church , and then to do everything in love almost feels tacked on like oh yeah , we'll do everything in love . So how can you be firm in the faith , how can you be on your guard , how can you have courage , but do that in a loving way ?

Speaker 3 7:29

Yeah , and I think further context . So it was a polytheistic society and so it was normal to have temples for all the Greek gods and what you would do is basically , you were going to battle , then you would go to the temple of I think it was Artemis and you would just offer sacrifices there , and usually there were temple prostitutes and stuff there . So you would go there for what you needed and then so kind of what beauty , which I need , obviously but you would go to the temple of Aphrodite or whatever it might be and you'd offer sacrifices in hopes of beauty . And so they were normally just everyday life go to whatever temple you had a felt need for , and so you were saying that the stand firm . It's like this , is it ? Watch , be on your guard , watch what's going around in society . We're calling you to one faith . So it was a vast departure from the culture in Corinth at the time .

Speaker 1 8:17

Caleb , you referenced briefly there the , the other translation that we want to talk about today , and that's the ESV version . Again , I'll read the NIV and then we can compare it to the ESV . So the NIV be on your guard , stand firm in the faith , be courageous , be strong , do everything in love . Esv says be watchful , stand firm in the faith , act like men , be strong . Let all that you do be done in love . What do you guys think about the differences there ? What stands out ?

Speaker 2 8:50

Yeah , the difference in translations is interesting to me always , because the NIV is more of a kind of thought for thought translation , whereas the ESV is definitely more word for word . So it's more likely , you know , paul used the word for men act like men , and that's the real difference we see here . Is that , well , is he talking to just the men in the town or is he talking to everyone ? And I mean , it was a patriarchal society , so the men were kind of the leaders , but but you don't always think of men as , oh , these loving people , right , we tend to be a little bit more , I don't know , aggressive or hard .

Speaker 2 9:31

Yeah yeah hard , and so let all that you do be done in love . How is that acting like a man ? You know how do men show love ? I think that's what's really interesting to me about that translation how do we show love ?

Speaker 3 9:46

Yeah , be like men , act like men . It's kind of a cool and I don't fully know like what it was back then to be a man . I couldn't give you . I think I know growing up for me there were these false images of what being a man was , and it was tough and it was lacking emotion and it was always confident and you never admit wrong and it was like , ah , there's just this false perception of what it means to be a man and so I think being a man in this couple of verses there's strength but there's gentleness , married together . I think you see Jesus with that , where he has bold truth but he has grace and he has compassion . I think it's perfect mix . So I think I know for me , in my journey as a Christian man , I've had to reorient what it means to be a man in culture . I don't know if you guys resonated with that or dealt with that at all .

Speaker 2 10:31

Yeah , I think for me , like , when I think of being a man , you know , it's easy to think like , oh , into sports or into you know manly things , or hunting , or I don't know what it is , and but I've , I've really started to equate it with more humility and versus you know being the more aggressive , or you know person who's taking charge or leading , but like , how can you lead from a posture of humility ? It's good and and when you're doing that , how is that like showing love to others and as we lead and as we , you know , spend time with our families or with our friends , like it's important for us to recognize . Like you know , we do have leadership qualities in different areas , but like everyone's important . You know we're , all you know , children of God and loving one another in that way is important .

Speaker 1 11:21

Yeah , yeah , I think in our Western society , I think that the the concepts of act like men and do everything in love are not synonymous .

Love in Corinthians

Speaker 1 11:35

I think acts like men is more so be self sufficient , like you said , my kind of be not . Don't be emotional , you know , be levelheaded , be firm , and some of those are good qualities . But when you think of do everything in love , if you are treating other people respectfully , like so many of those things that we associate with manliness , they can be , you know , part of do everything in love as well , and I think I didn't recognize this growing up , but my dad is just a great example .

Speaker 1 12:09

Just the way that he treats my mom , the way that he treated us kids , that he treated the people around him , I mean , was everything that he did done in love ? Maybe not , but but no one , no , like that's the case for anyone , and I think you know being able to look at people's lives who you admire and say that's what you know authentic manhood looks like . I think if you really examine their lives , you see that they try to live out first Corinthians 1614 as well as they can .

Speaker 2 12:41

Yeah , yeah , I think . I think that really speaks to the question like well , what is love ? Baby , don't hurt me .

Speaker 3 12:48

I don't know . Oh boy , we're going there .

Speaker 2 12:51

How do we love and what does it mean really to love ? How do I show that love ? And so I was looking at the Greek language that was used in this letter , and the word love he uses is agape , which I think we talk about probably the most , is the highest form of love , and there's actually eight . Mike thought there was four , but there's eight . He corrected me yeah .

Speaker 2 13:13

There's eight Greek words for love , and so agape is the selfless godly love . So that's the one that Paul is telling us . We need to do everything with a selfless godly love , and my thought when I was re-looking at this verse as my favorite verse was well like , everything I do in one way or another is kind of an act of love or an act of worship . Really , it's either like I'm loving myself or I'm loving others , or I'm loving God in some way . Everything I do is probably falling into one of those categories , but what Paul is saying is do everything with that selfless godly love .

Speaker 3 13:52

Yeah , that's an interesting thought . So you think everything you do is out of love ? Define love .

Speaker 2 13:58

Yeah , that's what we're trying to do .

Speaker 2 14:00

So , the love in the way of you think of maybe self love or selfish love . Almost it's all about me . What am I doing to make myself look better or take care of myself or put myself first . That might be a kind of love . And some of these other ones , self love the Greek word philatia is like that's a love , a word for love that they had , so everything does something in that way . They've got like mania , obsessive love .

Speaker 2 14:36

Another ones we talk about filia , affectionate love . Eros is the romantic or passionate love , storgae , familiar love . So there's all these different types of love . So that's the way that I look at . It is like , okay , I'm loving in these different ways . And then you wanna look at okay , well , what's the most important out of that ? How does God love me ? And you wanna show that love to others in a way that it's giving of yourself . And I don't always do that , nobody can always do that . Jesus was the only perfect person and he showed that kind of love . So we need to model our love after him and our love isn't always like that .

Speaker 3 15:16

Yeah , I think that's good . I think , if there's probably a healthy and unhealthy , so we might use the word love , but maybe what's at the center of my decisions and it could be healthy versus , like you said , selfish love , I'd probably . That's almost an oxymoron it kind of is yeah Right there . So it's like , yeah , that's not really love , but it's putting me at the center and it could be in a healthy way , it could be in an unhealthy way , but the ideal is that agape , that unconditional , self-sacrificial , and that's what Jesus showed .

Speaker 2 15:41

That's what Jesus did , 100% , when he would give his life for us . That's the ultimate act of unselfish love , and that's what faith is all about . And so when we're told to do everything in love , I don't know that I would sacrifice myself for you , mike . I don't know that hurts man , but that's what Jesus does for us . And you wanna get to that point where you're willing to give everything to follow Jesus ? That's cool .

Speaker 3 16:11

You said something earlier . I was reading through this this morning and he kind of gives his shout-outs and there's some familiar names of Apollos . You see Apollos referenced in I think it's chapter three , that he was a pastor , church planner in Corinth also . But then later on and this is where the Christian faith broke the mold , you see in verse 19 , priscilla and Aquila , who were huge leaders in the early church , very wealthy , had a house church they actually ran the church , I believe , but very big supporters . So it's kind of cool that you see them shouted out in verse 19 in kind of that closing chapter .

Speaker 3 16:45

But it's fascinating when you dig into each of these people a little bit more . And then even we had in one of our sermons I think it was the all in on giving that I did where if you look at the beginning of it they're talking about the collection for God's people , and so that was the Mastonian churches . In 2 Corinthians 8 , we're taking a collection for the Jerusalem Christians . So you just see all the Bibles just interwoven together . Like we might see it as a standalone letter , but it goes into Acts and it goes into 2 Corinthians and it goes . You just see it all throughout . It's so cool .

Speaker 2 17:14

Yeah , and Paul's spreading this message to all these people and they're taking it and they're doing their missionary work with these words in their mind .

Speaker 1 17:22

So that's cool . I think we're talking so much about love right now . Probably some of the most well-known verses about love are also in this letter , a couple of chapters before in 1 Corinthians 13 . I mean , if you've been to a wedding , you've heard many of these verses . Love is patient , love is kind , it is not envy , it is not boast , it is not proud , yada , yada . Love never fails . I you know , just looking through all of 1 Corinthians 13 . And then knowing that Paul is going to say do everything in love at the end of his letter a couple of chapters later , it's almost like he drops his truth bomb on him . And then at the end he's like hey , that thing that I told you about love , that's really important .

Speaker 2 18:07

Maybe go back and read that again . I was serious about that , yeah . Yeah , that's definitely some of the most used passages on love right there . And you just think again about , like , what was the Corinthian church really struggling with ? We don't know what their questions to Paul were , necessarily , but we get the answers and he's talking about love . So they weren't loving well , they were taking love and doing things that they thought were maybe love in a different way , but he gives them the reminder of this is what love really is . It's patient , it's kind . Love doesn't end . It endures all things , hopes all things . It goes on .

Speaker 3 18:50

Yeah , they twisted that . I think that kind of goes back to that selfishness we talked about earlier . Yeah , and you see it . I mean , chapter five is interesting , where I think he's sleeping with , like his mother-in-law or something .

Speaker 2 19:01

Wait , who's he ?

Speaker 3 19:01

here , they don't name one of the leaders of the church and I don't think the we don't know the exact size of this church , but it probably wasn't like King of Kings , huge , where you're a thousand people . I mean you're probably 50 .

Speaker 1 19:17

And you know , people knew each other's business More like a house and you're living right next to families and you're breaking bread and you're doing life together .

Speaker 2 19:24

They knew everything that was happening .

Speaker 3 19:25

They knew everyone that was that he's referencing and then it's like the Lord's sufferer , it's like stop , stop getting drunk and doing communion this way , like what's going on . So , yeah , paul reorients and I would . I would say to yeah , I've been in a number of weddings and Corinthians 13 is almost always there . It applies to marriage , but that's not the context in which Paul's writing it . If you look at chapter 12 , it's like one body , many parts of the church is what he's talking about . With this love , we can take it and apply it to marriage . I think it's true , but he's just saying that the church is a unique community of believers that functions this way . So that's where love is patient , love is kind . You're walking with one another . There's truth , there's humility , there's love that comes together in that great community .

Speaker 1 20:05

I think you make a great point there , mike , and I've got , I mean , as Sarah and I , my wife , as we were kind of preparing for marriage , we really centered in on 1 Corinthians 16 , 14 . Like that was our verse do everything in love . And I actually have that inscribed on the middle of my wedding ring here . And our thinking was just , you know , if we as impossible as this is , if we can strive to do everything , everything we do , everything we think is about loving the other person we can't fail Like .

Speaker 1 20:37

That's the bedrock of a successful marriage , and I think that you're you're definitely right , mike , and that these verses extend beyond marriage . This isn't Paul just saying , hey , husbands and wives , do everything to each other in love . He's saying it to everyone . But I think that marriage provides , you know , a great example and that , yeah , I screw up and I do things that make Sarah mad or disappoint her , but for the most part , I want to do things that make her happy . I want to . I don't buy flowers for anyone else , but all my flowers for Sarah because I love her and I'm . That's an act of love , you know things like that , and if we can apply that to other people in our lives , it looks different for each person . The way that I love you , mike , is different than the way that I would love my mom . But if we act towards each other in love , that's how we build this thing . That's how we get non-Christians looking at us and being like what's different about those people ? Who's this Jesus guy that they're following ?

Speaker 3 21:38

Yeah . And if you think about marriage , I mean you're what ? Three , four years coming up , four , yeah , you're five-ish , we're almost five , almost five , five in March , so we were 20 in August , and I just think it's some so radically different now than I was 20 years ago . And man , selfishness is death to a marriage , and so I know there are seasons of that , trying to grow out of that , grow up , maturing , becoming humble , hearing your spouse . And for me , you guys know me pretty well , but I'm very logical and so I can build my case and be right pretty quickly or defend myself . And so what I had to learn early in marriage was I would sacrifice the relationship to be right , and it was dangerous . And so then it's like again what's my motivation here ? It's to be right not to hear Liz's heart and work through something together . And so I don't know that's my wisdom , humility , my favorite quality in people , and I don't know how a marriage can be successful if you don't have humility .

Speaker 2 22:38

Yeah , yeah , I think , and leading in marriage from a position of leading in faith too . We have this opportunity to lead our families in faith and do that in a loving way . And right now we just had our baby and she's four months old now and it's so easy for me to be like , oh , I'm tired , I don't want to do the chores , I don't want to help out in a different way , but being sacrificial in my love is really giving and that's what's going to give life to our marriage . And then when I look at that too like we were talking about with other people who maybe we're not close with , or if somebody else has a need and we need to serve them too it's how can I sacrifice and love in that way ?

Speaker 3 23:23

Yeah , maybe think of Ephesians 5 . I think it's a controversial section , but it talks about why submit to your husbands . And we just stopped there . And people are irate about the word submit . It's like whoa , whoa , whoa . Just read the context , get into it a little bit more . Christian marriage was actually really unique in the culture where it was definitely equality between , but then go to 25 . So the husbands love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her . So it's like , okay , we get stuck on the word submission , but keep going and , husbands , you're called to die continually for your wife .

Speaker 2 23:53

Well , do you think about how Jesus loved and how he lived and how he submitted to his Father in heaven ? And he's there in the garden asking God , take this cup from me . If it's your will , I will do it , but I don't want to die . I don't want to sacrifice like that and nobody does . I don't know that Jesus necessarily would say he didn't want to , but he's balancing that . How do I do this love ? That's the ultimate sacrifice and that's what he does for us . And if Jesus can sacrifice for us and we're supposed to follow his example , how can we love others ?

Speaker 3 24:28

Yeah , and that's that transformation . I think you're right . In the garden , I mean , yeah , it's interesting to think that he obviously wanted to , but I think he realized that the gravity and weight of it in that moment , you know Right . But that sacrifice is huge . And then I think I was going back to identity . So , because of Christ's love for us , we have new identity and that's what you see . Paul goes back to it in his letters a lot and he goes back to like as dearly loved children of God , therefore act this way . So it's like it's always going back to identity that informs behavior , if that makes sense .

Speaker 1 25:01

Yeah , so Real good stuff , guys . I mean we just hit on a lot of topics , a lot of good

Exploring First Corinthians and God's Power

Speaker 1 25:07

stuff about love . As we wrap up here , is there anything else about First Corinthians , 16 , 13 , and 14 that you want to head on , or maybe something ? I mean , obviously we've touched on a lot of really good stuff , I think , so far today , but is there anything that you would just really hope that someone listening or watching to this takes away from it ? And that's their takeaway for the day ?

Speaker 2 25:28

Yeah , I think also the be strong , like it's just one simple phrase be strong . Where does our strength come from , you know ? Does it come from internally ? Is it myself ? Am I providing the strength ? Or you know , as he talks about , stand firm in the faith , be on your guard , be courageous , like those are qualities we get from God , and so our strength comes from God . Our ability to love comes from God . God is love , right . So we want to be able to take that and have the strength to love in that humble , godly , selfless way . Yeah , two thoughts .

Speaker 3 26:06

I think , as I've matured and grown in my knowledge of the word , my relationship with the Lord , I think Christianity is an internal relationship that then drives the external , if that makes sense . I think as a kid I've flipped those and so it was kind of this behavior modification where you like look and perform a certain way . But I was trying on my own power , and so I think when you dig into scripture , it's an internal transformation we talk about . We transform lives of King , of Kings , right . So there's a heart change that then drives your behavior . And then , second thing , shout out to Vallas Pumpkin Patch one more time your Kettle Corn kills it . So I love it . That's all I got today .

Speaker 1 26:40

Nice , I don't know if there's a better way to end it than that King and King's family , let's keep living our lives beyond Sunday .