"[Love] does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth." (1 Corinthians 13:6)
Senior Pastor Dr. Jaerock Lee
The love that God wants seeks the benefit of others; it gives joy, hope, and life; and, it is spiritual love that is unchanging forever. On the contrary, fleshly love seeks its own benefit and is variable. The spiritual love's 15 characteristics are recorded in 1 Corinthians Chapter 13 that is called "Love Chapter".
Among the characteristics of spiritual love, we covered nine of them in previous editions: being patient, being kind, not feeling jealous, not boasting, not being arrogant, not acting unbecomingly, not seeking its own, not being provoked, and not taking into account a wrong suffered.
Now, let's delve into the next characteristic of spiritual love: not rejoicing in unrighteousness. Unrighteousness refers to disgraceful outward actions. Only when you don't rejoice in unrighteousness can you achieve spiritual love.
Then, what does it mean that love doesn't rejoice in unrighteousness? And what should we do to achieve spiritual love that doesn't rejoice in it?
1. What is it not to rejoice in unrighteousness?
In a developed country, chances are high that honest men achieve success. Conversely, corruption and unjust things are rampant in undeveloped countries. Almost everything is done with money in such countries. Unrighteousness is closely related to rise and fall of a country.
It also has a tremendous influence on an individual life. If you are selfish thinking your prosperity is all that matters in your life, you can't have true satisfaction and you can't love anybody. So God teaches us that it is true love not to rejoice in unrighteousness but to rejoice with the truth.
'Not rejoicing in unrighteousness' and 'not taking into account a wrong suffered' sound similar. But the difference is, 'not taking into account a wrong suffered' is not having any form of evil in the heart while not rejoicing in unrighteousness is not being pleased with disgraceful outward conducts or actions, and it is not participating in them.
Suppose you are jealous of a friend who is wealthy. You also dislike him because it seems that he is always boasting of his wealth. You also think of something like, 'He is so rich, and what about me? I hope he will go bankrupt.' This is to think of evil things. But one day, somebody swindled him and his company went bankrupt in a day. Then, if you take pleasure in it thinking, 'He was boasting of his wealth, so good for him!' This is to rejoice in unrighteousness. Furthermore, if you participate in this kind of evil work, it is to actively rejoice in unrighteousness.
2. To achieve spiritual love
1) We must not violate law and do any harm to others.
We must not do anything that is obviously unrighteous to anybody. One may gain wealth through the ways that are not right and without the sweat of labor. He cheated or threatened others to take it from them. Also, one may break the regulations or laws of the country and seek his personal gain. For example, a judge unrighteously gives a sentence after receiving bribes and passes sentence and punishment on an innocent person. It is unrighteousness.
When somebody sells something, he may cheat in the volume, or he may use cheap and low-quality raw materials to gain unrighteous profit. Or some people seek their own benefits without caring about others. Aside from these cases, many people in the world cheat others to gain unrighteous money.
Let's suppose you are a high-positioned civil worker, and you came to know that one of your close friends is earning a great amount of money in some business illegally. If he is caught, he will be harshly punished, and this friend is giving you a great amount of money asking you to be quiet about it. He says he will give you an even greater amount later. Even if you are in desperate need of the money, if you love God, you can't act in unrighteousness and you have to follow the right path.
2 Chronicles 19:7 says, "Now then let the fear of the LORD be upon you; be very careful what you do, for the LORD our God will have no part in unrighteousness or partiality or the taking of a bribe." God is righteous; He has no unrighteousness at all. We may cover eyes of people, but we cannot secretively cheat before God. Therefore, even just with the fear of God, we have to walk the right way with honesty.
The Bible tells us about Abraham's story. When Lot, his nephew in Sodom, was taken captive by other kings in a battle, Abraham brought back all the people of Sodom and all the goods as well as his nephew Lot and his possessions. So the king of Sodom felt thankful and told him to take the goods. But Abraham turned him down (Genesis 14:22-23). Also, when his wife Sarah died, the sons of Heth who owned the field where he was wanted to give him a burial place for his dead. But he paid the full price as recorded in Genesis Chapter 23. This was because he was honest and didn't have any desire to gain unearned income or wages of unrighteousness for free.
Those who love God and are loved by Him don't cause damage to others and violate the law to get their personal profits. They don't want anything except for fair compensation. Thus, if some rejoice in unrighteousness, it proves they don't have love for God and their neighbors to that extent.
2) We must not do anything that is not in agreement with the Word of God.
It is not only to violate the law and cause damage to others, but also any and every sin that is against the Word of God is unrighteousness. When the evil in heart comes forth in a specific form, it is sin and this is unrighteousness. Among the many sins, especially, unrighteousness is the work of the flesh. That is, evil like hatred, jealousy, and envy comes out in a form of actions like fighting, violence, fraud, and murder.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 says, "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God." Therefore, those who act in unrighteousness should realize it is difficult for them even to be saved and they must repent thoroughly.
The Bible talks about Achan who fell into destruction due to love for the wages of unrighteousness. He was a person of the second generation of Exodus, so he grew up witnessing what God had done for his people since childhood. God led them under His protection with a pillar of clouds in the day and with a pillar of fire at night. Achan saw the flowing water of Jordan River stop and the sturdy city of Jericho fall in a moment. He knew very well the reason why Joshua the leader told them not to take anything in Jericho: it was because everything in it would be given as offering to God.
But he was blinded with greed when he saw the spoils from the city of Jericho. When he saw a beautiful mantle from Shinar and shekels of silver and a bar of gold, he disregarded God's Word and Joshua's asking and concealed them secretly in his place. In the end, his unrighteous conduct led to the Israel's defeat in the following battle. His unjust action was eventually exposed and all his family members were stoned to death.
Dear brothers and sisters. Our sinless Jesus was crucified to save us who were unrighteous as written in 1 Peter 3:18. If we realize His great love, we must not rejoice in unrighteousness. When we don't rejoice in it, we won't act in it and will live according to the Word of God as well. Then, we can enjoy prosperous lives always. I hope that you will quickly cast off unrighteousness, lawlessness, and untruth and you will fill your hearts with goodness, love, and the word of the truth that belong to God. I pray in the name of the Lord that by doing so you will possess spiritual love.
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