Celebrating Jesus at Christmas (Week 2)
3 Wise Men and a Baby
Cast
Angel #1 : Grace Logan
Kid #1 & Kid #2 : Maxwell Richardson & Josiah Plumhoff
Inn Keeper : Caden Upchurch
Inn Keeper’s Wife : Kaitlyn Giddings
Joseph : Dylan Bunner
Mary : Nora HamiltonAnimals : Addy Durham, Brenna Evans, Lucy Kinnaird & Anna Plumhoff
Shepherd #1 : Jacob Hamilton
Shepherd #2 : Aubrey Whitaker
Shepherd #3 : Emma Durham
Multitude of Angels : Willow & Alana Ingalls, Helen Estelle, Bella & Lily Dailey
Gaspar : Jonah Kinnaird
Melchior : Caleb Kinnaird
Binky : Danny Hurst
You can listen to the production here:
You can watch the video version by clicking HERE.
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Grow: Discovering Love (Week 3)
“Our Response to His Rescue: Loving God With All Our Hearts”
2) Young Life [deficit, busiest time of year, emotional stress of caring for so many kids and leaders] = STRESS
Story: Jonah and his retainer!
How does it feel when you do something for someone you love and they overlook it? How does it feel when YOU know what you’ve done, how you’ve taken care of them, and they don’t realize of acknowledge it, or even worse, believe that someone else or they themselves did the thing you actually did?
wants us to love him in return. He wants our full attention, our passion, our appreciation, our deepest love. He wants us to love him with all our hearts, all our minds and all our strength- with everything we have.
does it mean? What does it look like to love God like that, to that extent?
a new place, a land that He promised would become their new home.
God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery.” The context for the commands he gives is that He is the one who rescued them, gave them the life they’re entering. It is the memory of what God has done for us that motivates us to obey and trust His commands.
[**how would MY life be different? what has God done for ME?]
thinking. I don’t think she had a pushy attitude, I don’t think she was thinking “I’ll show them, I can be here just as much as they can”. No, I don’t think she was considering who else was there at all. I think her sole focus was getting to Jesus. He was the only one she saw.
appearance. When this woman brought in the alabaster jar, and opened it up, the smell would have filled the room, drawing even more attention to what she was doing. Rabbis weren’t even supposed to talk to women in public, and they definitely weren’t supposed to touch a woman, let alone a prostitute. She slips in behind him, on the floor, low as she can get, and starts to pour the perfume out onto his feet. And as she does, she begins to weep.
Listen to Katie’s Message here:
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Grow: Discovering Love (Week 2)
“Growing a Culture of Compassion”
Scott Underwood
- Intro and the muppets
- Elders and trustee make up the officers, whose job it is to lead the church, in conjunction with all the ministry team leaders.
- We meet once a month as officers and then again as elders
- Despite our differences, Chris and I sit together most meetings and have earned a certain reputation.
- Picture of the Muppets
- The specific job of the Elders is lead the church in following Jesus, taking care of the flock and equipping them for acts of service
- We take a couple times of year to share our hearts so you know more about us
- Today we are going to talk about the second half of Ken’s sermon from last week and then share a little bit on where we think the church is today and is going
- The title of today is Discovering Love – Growing a Culture of Compassion
As a starting point, what is going on in the heart of the expert of the law? How does that relate to what sometimes goes on in our heart? How do we test God?
I would say that every time we know we are supposed to do something and we don’t do it, we are testing God. “I know that you have said that I am supposed to forgive this person, but I haven’t, and there don’t seem to be any consequences, so why should I obey?” It sounds a little like Satan in the Garden. “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
If we truly believed him, we would obey his commands, not look to test Him.
After Jesus answered him the first time, the expert dove in again, this time to “justify himself.” Now, I thought I knew what the word “justify” meant, but I looked it up in the dictionary to make sure I did. Here’s what I found . . .
- Secular definition – show or prove to be right or reasonable
- Theological definition – declare or make righteous in the sight of God.
Whether Luke meant either of the two definitions, both are convicting. The first one implies an interaction with Jesus where the person administering the test wants to argue with the answer of Jesus. The second one suggests the attempt of the expert to “check the boxes” of his own righteousness, apart from grace of Jesus or the obedience in his heart to Jesus’ teachings.
Before we even get to the story of the Good Samaritan, Luke has taught us lessons about humility and self-justification.
So now Jesus tells the story of the GS. I have to believe when Jesus started into the story instead of giving a simple answer, the expert in the law started to get nervous.
After the sections about the Levite and the priest passing by the injured man, Jesus gets to the section about the Samaritan. I know that Jerry covered this story before he left, but it certainly bears repeating, especially in our current political and economic climate. As you may know, to make the hero of the story a Samaritan was offensive to all of the Jews that were listening. It would be like going to a Trump rally and making a Democrat the hero of the story, or going to a Democratic rally and making President Trump the hero. Not popular, and not a good start for Jesus. The fact that he contrasted the Samaritan against people of their own “parties” was further insult.
But on he went with the story. And as he told the story of the Samaritan’s encounter with the injured man, he said something that I think is the key to the whole story. The second half of verse 33 said, “and when he saw him, he took pity on him.” First, he saw him – really saw him. Not as an impediment to the completion of his daily tasks or an obstacle to be avoided, but saw him in his injured condition. The priest and the Levite saw the injured man too, but never really saw him in his true condition.
And then the Samaritan “took pity on him.” Pity is a weird word in 2019. It often has a negative connotation – “I don’t want your pity” or “Don’t pity me.” Even worse, to be considered “pitiful”.
But pity is simply another word for compassion. And we find Jesus being compassionate on numerous occasions –
- He had compassion on a large crowd and healed their sick (Matthew 14:14)
- He had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed Him (Matthew 20:34)
- He had compassion on the people at the feeding of the 5,000
- He had compassion on the crowds, because they were harassed and helpless (pitiful), like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36 and Mark 6:34)
As a side note, 2 Corinthians 1:3 praises the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort. Jesus is just simply doing the Father’s will by being compassionate.
Many of us are already compassionate, especially to those who close to us or like us. But here’s a harder question – How we doing with those people who not close to us or not like us or maybe even enemies to us? Dems vs Republicans, white vs black, liberals vs conservatives, illegal immigrants, LBGTBQ, pro life vs pro choice, criminals, etc. Do we have compassion on these people, or do our politics or preferences come before the words and deeds of Jesus?
If we get the compassion right, we have a much better chance of getting the love and service right, even if we don’t do it perfectly.
If we get the compassion right, we have a much better chance of getting the love and service right, even if we don’t do it perfectly. If we see thru the eyes of Jesus and our heart is with His heart, we have the Holy Spirit to help us get it right. When we look at this story, the man who was beaten had a variety of needs. Hope, transportation, medical care, food and lodging among others.
As a brief commercial for next week’s Gary Chapman The Five Love Languages workshop, it’s interesting to note that the injured man’s needs loosely line up with the 5 love languages. He needed
- Words of affirmation (hope)
- Physical touch – bandaged his wound, pouring on oil and wine
- Receiving Gifts – paid for the inn and care
- Quality time – he went with the man to the inn and took care of him
- Acts of service – the whole thing
If you know anything about the concept of the love languages, they are based on the idea that you need to understand and care about the other person’s preferred love language and then adjust yourself to meet them where they are. Buying and giving expensive gifts (because it’s easy for you to do) may do nothing to show your significant other love. You have to do what they want and value, even if it costs you everything.
In the story, The Gift of the Magi, by O. Henry, we learn about a young couple, who like so many others, are struggling financially. As they have been saving for Christmas presents for each other, they find that they have not been able to scrape together much more than a few cents. They really only have two things of value – the husband’s inherited gold pocket watch and the wife’s beautiful long hair. As the couple struggles to buy each other a treasured present, the husband sells the watch to buy the wife an ornate comb for her beautiful hair, and the wife sells her hair to a wig maker to buy her husband a chain for his treasured pocket watch. Now, whether that was their love language or not, the thought behind giving up what you value to give someone else what they value is clearly evident. It’s about the heart.
But let’s go back to the Good Samaritan – It’s also interesting that the story doesn’t involve our present day go-to maneuver, the “I’ll pray for you and walk away” maneuver. I believe that many times we are put in that situation specifically to meet the presenting need. If we don’t want to help, our prayer then becomes, “God please send someone who isn’t me to help this person.”
A questions for all of us If we are able to meet the need – what or who are we praying for? Someone who has the gift of service or more time or something else?
James 2: 14-17 (NLT) says, 14What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? 15Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, 16and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?
17So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.
In our emphasis on prayer, I fear that we have erred too far on the “I’ll pray for you” end of the spectrum and missed our opportunities to meet the needs right then and there.
There are many reasons for not meeting the need, but if often comes back to one foundational problem – putting our own needs/wants over the needs of others, and often over the call and example of Jesus. And now we are back to a question that would fit right in with our expert in the law from the Good Samaritan story.
If there are no immediate, visible consequences from our disobedience, why not serve ourselves first?
Well, if you believe Jesus, there are consequences and promises –
Mark 8:35 (NLT) – If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.
Mark 10:28-31 (NLT) – 28Then Peter began to speak up. “We’ve given up everything to follow you,” he said.
29“Yes,” Jesus replied, “and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News, 30will receive now in return a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property—along with persecution. And in the world to come that person will have eternal life. 31But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then.g”
As elders, we are encouraging us all to live a life that follows Jesus. Notice I didn’t say be a better Baptist or church member or even a Christian. Many people can be a Baptist, Christian or church member without following Jesus on a daily basis. Many can be those things with very few signs of the compassion of Jesus in their lives.
- I do what I want
- I am competitive
Our culture (in the body of Christ) should revolve around the Promises of God.
Listen to the Elders’ message here:
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Grow: Discovering Love (Week 1)
Discovering how Love is our ‘Miracle Grow’
As we delve into these words from Moses, it is vital that we realize he was taking to heart the importance of what he was about to teach them. There is a sense of urgency that can be seen even in the previous chapters. He was speaking to the group that had wandered around in the desert for 40 years, many of whom had never really had encounters with other nations or the enticements that those civilizations would have to tempt them to abandon all they had known and just join in to the culture.
He was telling them that THEY had to set the tone, following after God in all areas of their lives…heart, soul, mind and strength (Might). They had to determine in their hearts Who they would follow and what guidelines would lead their lives. They had to prepare their hearts (the soil) and keep focused (proper feeding of their hearts) in order for God to bless them and help them grow as His children.
The same is true today. We have to be reminded that we must keep God first in all that we do. If we truly love someone, we desire to listen and obey, to cherish and serve and to demonstrate our love in all that we do.
Illustration: Planting a garden.
- Prepare the soil (remove grass, weeds, rocks)
- Plant the seed
- Continue to feed and water (Miracle Grow)
- Continue to remove grass & weeds
- Then you will see the fruit (not overnight)
Just like the garden, we have to prepare our hearts…we have to choose to obey…we have to maintain the soil of our hearts in order to grow. All this happens when we open up our ears to hear the truths of God’s Word. And all of these truths are based on what is known as the GREATEST COMMANDMENT.
The Greatest Commandment: Deuteronomy 6:1-9
“Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the decrees —that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, 2 that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord alone. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Moses broke it down into these three areas:
- I have to teach them to you;
- You have to hear and apply to your life; and then
- You have to teach them to the next generation.
I. I have to teach them to you. (vs 1-3)
- This command sets the tone for all rules and statutes.
- God told me I had to teach you!
- Everything hinges on what I am about to tell you.
As defined by Easton’s Bible Dictionary:
“Fear of God – a designation of true piety*. It is a fear conjoined with love and hope, and is therefore not a slavish dread, but rather a filial** reverence.”
*piety: Reverence or dutiful respect
**filial: of, relating to, or befitting a son or daughter
This is what God, your Father is commanding/asking you to do – You and generations to come
“…you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I commanded you,…” Deut. 6:2
Keeping ALL! This means not just knowing them, but doing them.
For how long?
“…all the days of your life,…” Deut. 6:2
B. God will bless and prosper you.
“and that your days may be long. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.” Deut 6:2-3
…multiply you greatly
- This promise is not just for the people of Israel
- From the beginning of creation, it has been God’s desire for us to be fruitful and multiply. He loves to bless His children. But we have to follow Him and His commands.
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
Matthew 6:33
“And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”
Acts 2:46-47
“ I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.”
1 Corinthians 3:6-7
Illustration: Mission & Vision Statements (Show slides)
…the land will be blessed and thrive.
Same promise for us today!
“ And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:19
II. Hear what I teach you. (vs 4-6)
- He is Number 1!!!
- nothing comes before Him
Rhetorical question in Miriam’s Song:
“Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
Exodus 15:11
You are the one who places Him there, no one can do it for you.
B. Love with everything you have
- not the first time they heard this charge.
Deut. 4:29
- heart, soul, might (mind & strength) – with every fiber of our being.
- keep these words in your heart
“I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”
Psalms 119:11
- It has to become our native language.
VIDEO SONG: Native Tongue by Switchfoot
III. Now that you have heard, it is YOUR responsibility to teach
“You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
Deuteronomy 6:7-9
- Memorizing scripture
- Surround them with music, stories, & videos that have strong Christian values
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”
Philippians 4:8
B. Carry them with you
“My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you; keep my commandments and live; keep my teaching as the apple of your eye; bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.”
Proverbs 7:1-3
- Our values bracelets are a form of this
- Christian jewelry is another form
Show Slide: Deuteronomy 11:18
*Moses started his talk with this and shared it again because it was so important.
Illustration: Will & Christy Ragle’s Home.
- Intended to encourage family members
- Became a witness to Comcast guy
Conclusion:
As I told you two weeks ago, people are watching everything you do and say. This is especially true at home with our children. And like it or not, once you have heard the truth of God’s Word, you can no longer say, “I didn’t know.”
That is why Moses emphasized “HEAR WHAT I AM SAYING…” Maybe I should have started this message out the same way. So here is a reminder of the things I just told you…
- I just taught you the greatest commandment;
- You were told to hear what I was teaching you, to love God with all you got and the benefits of doing so; and
- It is your responsibility to teach your children.
We are here to help you, but you spend a lot more time with them than we can. You create the atmosphere in your home and car in which your child and those who are with you or visit you will either flourish or wither away.
We are here to help you with tools to help keep the soil healthy. And the first priority is follow the greatest commandment.
For loving God with all you have…
He will fill you with His love so that…
you can in turn love others as He first loved you!
Listen to the message here:
You can watch the video HERE.
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Love: It’s who I AM (Week 6)
“The Revealing Love of Jesus!”
Key Verses: Acts 9:1-19; 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
The love of Jesus reveals who we are! It is impossible to know the motives of a person’s life, to know what is in a person’s heart, and we must be warned against guessing or presuming to know the mind of another person. Yet, we make evaluations of one another based on words, body language, dispositions, actions, especially when you walk in relationship with a person over time. Our lifestyles reveal who we are and people are always watching.
The reality is that we all have bad days and not a single one of us wants to be defined by our worst day. I have bad days at home and I know that Kimberly has 20 years of marriage to measure me by, not just one day. That does not give me permission to give myself over to a bad attitude which leads to me having a bad day, but I know that she will not measure me by that one day. But when I have a bad day at church, especially if it is a Sunday morning service or a leadership meeting, there is nothing scarier because most people don’t know me personally so one day or one conversation or one divergent thought is how I am measured (or at least that is the fear I live with, whether real or not). We all want to be given the benefit of the doubt. We all want people to think the best of us even when we are not at our best. Are we giving others the benefit of the doubt? Are we thinking the best of others, especially when they are having a bad moment?
We would be doing what the world can do, on its best day, by giving one another the benefit of the doubt, and trust me, I’ll take that if I can get it from most people on most days. But we are called to do more than give the benefit of the doubt, we are commanded to extend grace – grace that must be extended, not because of a person’s behavior, but despite their behavior. As the church, God intends for us to be a conduit [pull out the garden hose] of His grace to one another (first) and to the world (next). We are to practice and perfect in here who we are called to be out there—love!
As one of my friends told me in response to this message, “I can run out of giving ‘the benefit of the doubt’, usually after one or two times, if I base my decisions on other’s performance. The world says, ‘Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.’ We have to be committed to being made foolish time and time again, 70 x 7, in our pursuit of extending grace.”
Sound scandalous? It is, because this is how Christ first loved us! It is scandalous because the stakes are high! Our love for one another, for our neighbors, and for our enemies is an essential part of how God is revealing His Kingdom plans to the world! Our theme verse for this sermon series has been 1 John 4:19, “We love, because He first loved us.” This is why for the last 6 weeks we have asked you to wear a red bracelet that proclaims, “Loving others as God first loved us.” Keep wearing this, remember it, memorize it, and most importantly, live it! This is what God is working in you. Through the Holy Spirit, God is working through you to reveal to others the love of Jesus Christ. And as you do this, you will be transformed from the inside out with each act of His love.
Our “7:1 Initiative” is an invitation to reveal the love of Jesus in practical ways. It’s a practical application to following Jesus and revealing His love to others! Are we loving well in relationships –who are your 7 people that you are learning to love with a sincere love? Are we serving others well in our communities—where is your 1 place of service that you are giving yourself to others in the name of Jesus?
[Display the mud-caked sculpture] We have a whole community that needs to know the doors have been opened to God’s love through the church and that they are safe to come be family with us. People who live in our communities will feel invited and welcomed into the church if they already have been welcomed and invited into your family by you revealing the love of Jesus to them in tangible ways. These people, just like you and me, are invited to come to us just the way they are. You don’t need to clean up to come to Jesus, but in order to become a part of Jesus’ plans to transform the world through He love, you must allow His love to change you!
We must be transformed by the love of Jesus! Allow me to share a story with you from the Bible that is one of the most famous illustrations of a life transformed by the love of God through the gospel of Jesus Christ: the conversion of Saul, the Jewish Pharisee and persecutor of the church, who became the Apostle Paul, the author of 13 of the books in the New Testament and the great missionary whose missionary work is recorded in the second half of the Book of Acts. Before Paul could reveal the love of Jesus to others, he first had to have his eyes opened by the revealing love of Jesus.
Read Acts 9:1-19.
[Start water going over sculpture] In this story, who are the 2 primary change agents in Paul’s conversion: 1) Jesus (obviously and very supernaturally!) and 2) Ananias (not so obviously, but instrumental to Paul’s experience). To reinforce what I taught you last week, had Ananias not been obedient to Jesus, especially when it didn’t make sense, we may not have had Paul who played such an essential role in the growth and expansion of the work of Jesus.
Your love for another person will reveal to them the truth of who God is and the truth of who they are in God and what God would have them do with their life.
Ananias didn’t want to look foolish! He had solid historical reasons to not like Paul because he only knew him as Saul. He didn’t trust him or his intentions and didn’t want to go help him. But when confronted by the revealing love of Jesus, Ananias obeyed Jesus by loving Paul. Ananias is the one who laid hands on Paul to restore his sight. Paul had a power encounter with Jesus that forever opened his eyes (a truth encounter) because Ananias loved Jesus by obeying Him! Ananias was willing to be used as the person who revealed the love of Jesus to Paul. That is both a sincere love and a revealing love!
[Reveal the sculpture] After Paul’s eyes are opened by the revealing love of Jesus, Paul goes on to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to the known world (Acts 13 – 28). After Paul’s eyes are opened, he makes it his life mission to open the eyes of the world to the love of Jesus. We only have a sketch of his ministry through the books of Acts, and a glimpse of all that he said through the preservation of the 13 letters of Paul in the New Testament. But it is clear that Paul teaches us so many wonderful things about Jesus and how to live as disciples of Jesus. Very directly, one of Paul’s constant themes of being a disciple of Jesus is being a person of love. Because love is the power Jesus uses to transform lives! The love of Jesus in you and then through you will reveal to others who you are in Christ, but also who they can be in Christ. You never know how your consistent steady life of love can change another person’s life and outlook on life.
Read 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. Can you personalize this scripture to your own life? How is God’s Spirit working in you to love people more and more like Jesus first loved us? What are some areas in your life right now where you need God’s grace to give you a fresh opportunity?
Love Week 6: Listen to it here…
You can watch the video HERE.
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Love: It’s who I AM (Week 5)
“The Sincere Love of Jesus!”
1 Peter 1:22-25; Luke 22:31-34 & John 21:15-17
Why? Because one cup is clean and one is dirty—the delivery system matters! You could have the best product in the world, but if it’s not delivered properly, then the message is lost…
You could have the best of intentions in how you are going to demonstrate love to another person, but if you aren’t a clean vessel you could end up hurting someone or pushing someone away. Love is like preaching: Great content is not enough, delivery matters.
What dirties our cups when it comes to love? Children raised in a deeply dysfunctional family find it difficult to navigate conflict or to believe yelling (or physical hitting) are acceptable ways to deal with anger. People who have found success in life by stepping on others find it nearly impossible to empathize with other people’s needs. Flatterers flatter. Gossips gossip. Neither sees what they are doing is unloving and hurtful. A person who has been deeply betrayed by a parent, boss, coworker, pastor, friend, spouse, or family member finds it difficult to trust again and interpret other people’s actions through their own wounds. The deeper our hurts, the deeper our fears, the more difficult it is to be a clean vessel of love, even as Christians. We all know it is true: hurt people, hurt people!
We see what dirties our cup, so now let’s turn to how our cups are cleaned so that we can love with a sincere love. The Apostle Peter teaches,
Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God. For, “All flesh is like grass, And all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, And the flower falls off, But the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word which was preached to you.[1] (italics added for emphasis; all caps are part of the formatting of NASB to show an OT quote)
While yes, this passage does say that we are to fervently love one another, in other words love one another from the heart with our whole being, the emphasis is not how passionately you love, but with what you are loving— a sincere love for the other! According to the BDAG Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament sincere means, “without pretense, genuine, literally ‘without play-acting.’”[2] It’s got to be the real deal, pure as if from the Source!
We are to have an overflowing love that flows from the Source and out of a cleaned cup. A cup that is purified through “obedience to the truth.” A cleansed vessel comes first through the forgiveness of God in Jesus Christ and then through our forgiveness of others, firsts through the receiving of grace and then through the giving of grace to others. Apart from Jesus, out of His yoke and out of the Father’s will, none of us can love with a genuine love that comes from God. This is the ongoing work of His Holy Spirit in and through us to obey the teachings of Jesus.
You have heard me say: “Hurt people, hurt people. Forgiven people, forgive people!”
How do we love with a sincere love? How can we do any of this since we are all affected by the dirt of our families of origin, the brokenness of our own choices, the woundedness of other people’s choices, and the general hot mess that is our culture and world that we live in?
Jesus gave us the answer to this by not only His example, but by His very commands to us: “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”[3] A sincere love must be purified of all boasting, arrogance, vanity, and selfish gain by following Jesus’ example and putting aside yourself for the other. You cannot love others sincerely when self-interests dominate your life!
When you want to hold a grudge against someone, obey Jesus and forgive. When you want to make yourself look better by talking about another person, obey Jesus and keep your mouth shut. When you want to lie, steal, or cheat to get ahead, obey Jesus and be content. When you want to disrespect someone under your authority or disobey someone in authority over you, submit to Jesus! This is the only way for your love to become sincere! By obeying Jesus in every area of your life, you will be forced to die to self, to your own pride and reputation, you will be forced out of your comfort zone and into God’s care for you. This is where your cup is cleaned.
This kind of love doesn’t come naturally for any of Jesus’ original followers. Let’s look at the story of Peter who taught us this command. Peter was a proud and boastful man. Jesus said to Peter after one such episode in Luke 22:31-34, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” But he said to Him, “Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!” And He said, “I say to you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me.”[4]
So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My lambs.” He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Tend My sheep.[5]
A sincere love is a purified love, one that has been stripped of our desire to use other people, to flatter people for our gain and not their good, to talk about people for our gain and not with their permission, to take from others instead of giving. Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 13:3-8a,
And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.[6]
God’s love is a cleansing power at work in us and God desires for it be a powerful force in the world through us. When we fall short of giving the kind of love that God first gave us, we then go to root of the issue so that He can cleanse our cup. We want to be clean vessels of God’s sincere love. Jesus Christ loves us with this kind of perfect love and though we fall short, it is God’s will that we love His way, to be like the great I AM, to love sincerely.
Throughout this sermon, I have been using the imagery of a clean versus dirty cup. I didn’t come up with the imagery on my own. I borrowed it from the master teacher. Jesus once said to a very religious and moral audience in Matthew 23:25-28,
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.[7]
Jesus is asking us to be sincerely in love with Him and in turn sincerely love others! Do you know what Jesus Christ has done for you to show you love and forgiveness? Have you experienced the grace of God at the Cross? When you encounter this love, you are transformed!
Our theme verse for this sermon series is 1 John 4:19, “We love, because He first loved us.”[8] This is why for the last 5 weeks we have asked you to wear a red bracelet that proclaims, “Loving others as God first loved us.” Wear this, remember it, memorize it, and most importantly, live it! This is what God is working in you. Are your daily decisions working in agreement with God’s goal for you to be a clean cup of His sincere love?
We ask that you put this value into action through the “7:1 Initiative”. It’s a practical application to following Jesus! Are we loving well in relationships –who are your 7 people that you are learning to love with a sincere love? Are we serving others well in our communities—where is your 1 place of service that you are giving yourself to others in the name of Jesus?
Love Week 5: Listen to it here
You can watch the video HERE.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update, 1 Pe 1:22–25.
[2] BDAG states, “ἀνυπόκριτος, ον (s. ὑποκρίτης; school. on Aristoph., Av. 798; Iambl., Vi. Pyth. §69, 188 αἰδώς; Ps.-Demetr., De Eloc. 194; Wsd 5:18; 18:15) pert. to being without pretense, genuine, sincere, lit. ‘without play-acting’ ἀγάπη (ApcSed 1:4) Ro 12:9; 2 Cor 6:6. φιλαδελφία 1 Pt 1:22. πίστις 1 Ti 1:5; 2 Ti 1:5. σοφία Js 3:17.—DELG s.v. κρίνω. M-M. TW. Spicq” (William Arndt, Frederick W. Danker, et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature [Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000], 91). The Apostle Paul about love states in Romans 12:9, “Let love be without hypocrisy”[2] and in 2 Corinthians 6:6 calls it “genuine love”; about faith in 1 Timothy 1:5, “But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith”; and about wisdom by James in James 3:17, “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.”
[3] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update, Jn 14:15.
[4] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update, Lk 22:31–34.
[5] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update, Jn 21:15–17.
[6] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update, 1 Co 13:3–8.
[7] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update, Mt 23:25–28.
[8] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update, 1 Jn 4:19.
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Love: It’s who I AM (Week 4)
The Modeling Love of Christ
We all need models of Christ’s love around us so we see demonstrations of how we are to love others. As we learn to love like Christ did, we become models to others in our network of friends and family. They in turn become models of Christ’s love to others. Let’s look at examples of this process from God’s Word and then talk about Why, To Whom and How to model Christ’s love…
Ephesians 5:12, 1 Timothy 4:12, 1 Timothy 5:1-2
We see this process in the lives of Paul and Timothy.
Timothy saw this model in his grandmother and mother. (2 Timothy 1:5)
1 Corinthians 1:11, 1 Corinthians 4:16-17
We need to be this kind of interconnected group:
- Fellow believers Modeling His love to us
- We go out and are sharing this love with others
This leads us to ask three questions:
- Why do we model Christ’s love?
- To whom should we model Christ’s love?
- How do we model Christ’s love?
We are the “diorama” of Christ to this community…
Question 2: To whom should we model Christ’s love?
Our neighbor – that is everyone else who is not a believer. (Matthew 22:37-40)
Our enemies! The unworthy… Even those who have deeply hurt us. (Matthew 5:43-48)
We love others by our actions. (1 John 3:18)
Example: Kevin’s story about falling into a mucky pond and the love his grandfather showed to help Kevin get cleaned up.
Love Week 4: Listen to it here.
You can watch the video HERE.
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Love: It’s Who I Am! (Week 3)
“The Boundless Love of Jesus!”
Key Verses: Luke 1:26-38 & John 19:25-30
Read Luke 1:26-38. Jesus’ birth is the beginning of a new way of God relating to His people and how His people were to relate to one another. While I am calling it new, in many ways it is only new in that it is novel to our life experiences. To God it is not new at all, but a return to the beginning of how He designed us to interact with Him and with one another—as Image Bearers who are members of God’s household.
Jesus came to reestablish the household of God by tearing down the boundaries between us caused by sin. God tore down the boundary between heaven and earth by taking on flesh and becoming one of us. That is a love that will do anything—the boundless love of Jesus Christ!
What was God’s vehicle for this great rescue mission? Family through a teenage mother named Mary! And God continues to use willing vessels of His boundless love to continue the work of this rescue mission!
God may have started with Mary, but through her He birthed Jesus whose family is to transform the world by giving the same love God first gave to them. Jesus’ family are not those who can find a genetic connection to Abraham or Moses or King David or Mary or one of the original Apostles. Jesus’ family is founded in FAITH, but made visible by LOVE!
Listen to Jesus’ words in Matthew 12:46-50,
While He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His mother and brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him. Someone said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You.” But Jesus answered the one who was telling Him and said, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Behold My mother and My brothers! “For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.”[1]
Our family loyalty is to Jesus, but the outflow of our loyalty to Jesus is to how we love one another. As Jesus says of this new family system in Matthew 23:9-12, “Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. Do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ. But the greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.”[2]
We are BOUND to Jesus, but our love must ABOUND to one another to show it. Mary, the mother of Jesus, made herself available to God as a willing vessel of God’s boundless love in Jesus Christ. But she then made herself available to God’s boundless love while Jesus was dying on the cross. How? Watch what happened in John 19:25-30,
Therefore the soldiers did these things. But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour the disciple took her into his own household. After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, said, “I am thirsty.” A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth. Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.[3] (emphasis mine)
Just like Jesus’ death on the Cross tore the veil between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, Jesus’ resurrection tore down all the boundaries of human love so that He could reestablish that which sin had destroyed: the household of God. I want to emphasize in John 19:27 the use of the word ‘household’. The Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible explains of this important concept: “Biblically, the term ‘family’ is interchangeable with ‘house,’ and ‘founding a house’ can refer to setting up a separate dwelling as well as establishing a family. In his preaching Jesus used the family as a symbol for the relationship of God to his people (Mt 19:14; 23:9; Lk 8:21). From the cross he handed over responsibility for the care of his mother to his disciple John (Jn 19:27).”[4]
By receiving John as her new son, Mary’s needs would now be cared for by her new family. Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection has made the way for a new human family with Jesus as the head, made possible by a love that does not come from ourselves, but from God in Jesus!
Are you willing to take on a new son or a new mother? Are you willing to practically live out the call to be family with others who are of the household of God?
What are some practical implications for your daily life if you were to love like Jesus?
As disciples of Jesus we are transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ into members of God’s household and as members of God’s family we are to “love others as God first loved us.” That is why we have given everyone a red wrist band, children and adults alike. To remind us to love when we don’t feel like. Love is not an emotion; it is a choice based on our identity in Christ!
John, the beloved of Jesus, teaches in 1 John 4:19-21, “We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.”[5] The very disciple that Jesus gave to His mother as a son, to care for her and provide for her, is now saying to us that we are to love one another in that same way. We are to love one another so that the world will know that we are His disciples. We are following the Way of Jesus, not the ways of the world!
Who are you following? This is where our “7:1 Initiative” hits home. It’s a practical application to following Jesus! Are we loving well in relationships –who are your 7 people that you are investing in as family? Are we serving others well in our communities—where is your 1 place of service that you are giving yourself to others in the name of Jesus?
We are to give one another the love that Christ first gave us. Give to others as He has already given to you. That’s why Jesus said of the coming judgment in Matthew 25:40, “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.”[6] When we love one another, we are loving God!
God is establishing His household and ultimately we are to love one another with God’s boundless love because that is the way people will see Jesus’ love for them. It is our love for one another and our willingness to welcome others into our faith family that puts on display God’s boundless love. If you create boundaries, your life becomes a wall of God’s love!
How are you loving? Are you willing to carry within you the love of God in Jesus Christ?
Remember, we are heading towards the greatest family reunion ever. There is a party we are on the way to and our job is to invite others to the party by the way we love them.
Who can you invite to into your life, into your home or out for a meal, to an event or activity that you care about, into your small group or class, to church with you?
Love Week 3: Listen to it here.
You can watch the video HERE.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update, Mt 12:46–50.
[3] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update, Jn 19:25–30.
[4] Hazel W. Perkin, “Family Life and Relations,” Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 768.
[5] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update, 1 Jn 4:19-21.
[6] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update, Mt 25:40.
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Love: It’s Who I Am! (Week 2)
“The Reflective Love”
I John 4:19-21; Acts 8:1-3, 9:1-6; Romans 8:35-37; John 13:34-35
Just a little over 14 years ago, on Easter Sunday, the first dramatic musical that we presented to this community was called “What Love Is.”, written by Christy Ragle and using the secular song from the group Foreigner “I Want to Know What Love Is”. It seems only fitting that we are covering this topic once again when our community, our church, our nation, our world is in need of this message of hope.
Take a look at these images:
1) The Durham Boys
2) The Kalisch Clan
3) The Clark Boys
Do you see the similarities in each of these families? They reflect the image of their parents because of DNA. I hope you can also see the love that they have for one another. Sure , there might be some sibling rivalry at times, but their love for each other wins over all.
In Genesis 1:26, it is written:
“ Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”
From the very beginning, it was God’ desire for us to reflect him. But sin separated us from Him, so He made a way for us to come back into relationship with Him.
We find written in 1 John 4:9-10,19-21:
.”God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our
We love each other because he loved us first. If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.”
A recent article on Reflecting God’s Love, stated: ”Love for God compels love for others; love for others reflects love for God. The two ideas can neither be separated nor compartmentalized.” We cannot say that we are in relationship with God if we cannot show love to those around us.
God’s Word gives a prime example of someone who thought he was doing what he was suppose to in order to get people to honor God’s law. He was enforcing law and not love. The guy’s name was Saul of Tarsus.
Acts:8:1-3
“Saul was one of the witnesses, and he agreed completely with the killing of Stephen. A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem; and all the believers except the apostles were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria. (Some devout men came and buried Stephen with great mourning.) But Saul was going everywhere to destroy the church. He went from house to house, dragging out both men and women to throw them into prison.”
Saul was a Roman citizen and a Pharisee who took it upon himself to show his zeal for God in making sure that the followers of Jesus were silenced since they were not following the Jewish laws and customs…all 613! Saul had been raised and taught that it was in following the laws that kept you in relationship with God. He could not have been more wrong. So Jesus got his attention…
Acts 9:1-6
“Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers. So he went to the high priest. He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains.
As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?” “Who are you, lord?” Saul asked. And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
He had a personal encounter with Jesus! He knocked him off his donkey, he fell to the ground and the Lord talked to him. It wasn’t a long talk, but he was struck blind and had three days to think about it! Even Ananias, the guy God spoke to about bringing the message of healing and hope to Saul, was fearful to go see him. But in those three days of fasting and prayer, God changed Saul’s heart! He was baptized and began preaching in the synagogue, which did not make the Jewish leaders happy. So they plotted to kill him (does this story sound familiar?) So some of the believers snuck him out of the city in a basket through an opening in the city wall. Saul returned to Tarsus and spent 3 years in Arabia (See Galatians 1:15-18) During that time, he spent time with the Lord and sharing the Good News about Jesus to the Gentiles. His name change from Saul to Paul was not part of the protective services plan, but rather Saul was his Roman citizenship name, and Paul was his Greek name, and the Gentiles would have been more familiar with it. I find it interesting that the name PAUL mean “small or humble”, and the Apostle Paul was not one to build himself up, but rather humble himself and make himself small so that God would be shown as his strength and power. (2 Cor. 12:10)
All throughout Paul’s life, he reflected the love of Christ, even to those who persecuted him, stoned him, flogged him, threw him in jail, and he went places with this message, knowing that it would cost him his life. Like Jesus, it was in Jerusalem that he was arrested. Like Jesus, he was taken before the Roman authorities. And like Jesus, he had false witnesses tell lies about him, but he never stopped sharing the message of love that God had given him to share.
In his message to the Romans, we find words of hope and encouragement for us when it comes to God’s love:
Romans 8:35-37
“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.”
This past Easter, almost 300 of our brothers and sisters in Christ were killed in Sri Lanka. This past Sunday, an Assembly of God pastor, his two sons and three others in the church were killed in Burkina Faso. Does it mean they were not loved by God because this happened? NO! Then what does it mean? It means the devil is going all out to silence the voices of those who are proclaiming God’s love in areas that are in desperate need of this message. Does this that the devil is victorious here? NO! The news showed interviews of some of the surviving members praying for those who were behind the attacks. Could you do that? We are called to pray for those who spitefully use us…to pray for our enemies! We challenge you each week to pray for the names in our prayer guide, but we also need to add to that the names of those who have hurt you, used you, or have treated you wrongly. For love covers a multitude of sin (1Peter 4:8)! This is where we will find the victory, even if it is not on this side of glory!
Therefore, we are to have an outward reflection of an inward reality. If we are to truly reflect the love of Christ in our lives, we have to live it out, demonstrated in EVERYTHING we do. Are we going to always get it right? No…but through God’s grace, we will get better and better at it. Then we will fulfill the words of Jesus that John the beloved wrote in John 13:34-35:
“So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
Love Week 2: Listen to it here.
You can watch the video HERE.
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Love: It’s who I AM! (Week 1)
“The Life-Transforming Love of Jesus!”
In preparation for my sabbatical (that is only 4 months away) I want to share with you some of my heart-felt desires for us. I have been praying for the church and three big foci keep standing out to me for now and into our future. Let me introduce them by asking three questions:
1) Are we a church focused on yoking with Jesus by studying the Bible to learn all that Jesus commanded us?
2) Are we a church focused on praying (communicating with God) as Jesus taught us and modeled for us?
3) Are we a church focused on loving others as God first loved us?
Today, right now, if we had a reputation in our community, I would want it to be found in one word: LOVE! To hear from our community, “We may not agree with them on some things or understand their faith in Jesus, but those Christians from FBC sure do love us well.” LOVE!
What the community sees is the tip of the iceberg of who we are! How we love others is a visible part of who we are as Jesus’ people. Invisible to most, including to one another, is our time with Jesus—our personal Bible study and prayer times. The good fruit of all that is invisible to our community is love! The Bible calls love a part of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) and the collective fruit shows our maturity in Jesus. It’s what we get when we connect with Jesus. Allow me to share a short illustration: Once upon a time, I was an athlete. No one saw how fast I sprinted in practice or how much I lifted in the weight room or how well I rested or practiced or kept my diet. In fact, if someone came bragging to me about how much they benched or squatted, but didn’t compete well, I was far from impressed! What matters to people are game day results, but every successful athlete will tell you it is what happens that is not visible that determines those results! For us, that is LOVE! If you tell people how much you read your Bible and how hard you pray, but you don’t love, they will not be moved![1]
We are called as disciples of Jesus, members of God’s household, to “love others as God first loved us.” In fact, the Apostle John, who is called the beloved of Jesus, teaches in 1 John 4:19, “We love, because He first loved us.”[2]
We just celebrated Easter and we saw God’s eternal love exemplified for us in Jesus Christ. The night before His death, Jesus gave a new commandment to the Church, in John 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love [ἀγαπάω] one another, even as I have loved [ἀγαπάω] you, that you also love [ἀγαπάω] one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love [ἀγάπη] for one another.”[3]
The Greek word agape is a key focus of this text because we are to love one another with God’s heart, His eternal love, an unconditional love that we cannot produce on our own. We are to give to others that which we first received. Listen to one commentator reflect on John 13:34-35,
The point is surely clear: The mutually lived-out heart love of Christians for one another will be the single greatest missionary force in the world. It is important to notice that the power for disciples’ love for one another does not come from the disciples themselves; it comes from the preceding love of Christ for them, a love they already know and experience. So disciples are not being asked to “work up” a love they do not already have at work in them by Jesus’ presence with them and by his prior and continuing love for them. They are more simply asked to let this love (that they already have and are experiencing) enjoy its source (Jesus) and its goal (other people). In teaching settings, in order to catch the full force of the Greek, I have sometimes translated our verse this way: “Keep on loving one another out of the well of my love for you! Come on, keep on loving one another!”[4] (emphasis original)
Today, you are being given a wrist band that we want you to wear. If you brought some kids with you today and they are in children’s church they are getting a wrist band too. The kids’ wrist bands simply say “love” and our wrist bands say, “loving others as God first loves us”. We want you to make God’s love visible to our communities. You may have received your wrist band on the way in, if not you will receive it on the way out. Please put it on and wear it for the next 6 weeks as we go through this series. Please memorize it, then remember who you are!
While the Bible says that “God is love” (1 John 4:7-21), it never says “love is God”. There is a big difference and one that begins and ends with Jesus. You don’t become loving focusing on love, but by focusing on the God who is love. Love is the outflow of your relationship with God.
How then do we become more loving if not by trying to be loving? Within this question is the key. You can’t become more loving by focusing on being loving. It doesn’t work. You have to set your eyes on becoming more like Jesus, who is love!
Disciples of Jesus are to be…
1) Jesus-yoked: “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me for I am gentle and humble in heart…” (Matthew 11:29).We are committed to applying the Bible in relationship with Jesus and people, not as rules, but as people who are “full of grace and truth” like Jesus. Remember, we can be right and wrong at the same time! Right in what we believe and wrong in how we live it and communicate it. The great proof of our relationship with Jesus is how we are like Him!
2) Prayer-connected and Spirit-empowered: We are in an ongoing conversation with God, as a way of life. Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Without connection to God, we are powerless to love as Jesus loved us! We are walking in the power of the Holy Spirit. With 1 & 2 in place, we can then do #3 truly and from the inside-out.
3) Loving others like Jesus: We are living out the Father’s Heart that we just spent 8 weeks focusing on in our “Belong” series based on the Parable of the Prodigal Son. This is where our “7:1 Initiative” hits home. Are we loving well in relationships –who are your 7 people that you are investing in? Are we serving others well in our communities—where is your 1 place of service that you are giving yourself to others in the name of Jesus?
Is your love real love (from the Source) or “fish love” (for yourself)? Watch this video to understand the difference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMcHtSjtNBY
Counterfeit loves doesn’t work and it doesn’t last! We need the real thing and that can only happen through a relationship with Jesus Christ! How do we learn to be like Jesus?
Listen to this book excerpt that illustrates the answer to this question:
Many [people] are trapped in brokenness that may not have to do with moral failure, but they really need help in putting their relationship back together. What’s their hope? Their hope, like ours, is the gospel. If the gospel can’t heal the worst situations when people yield, repent and open themselves to the disciplining, restoring grace of God, then the gospel isn’t worth much. But we know the gospel is worth everything because Christ provided it through His death and resurrection. People can sincerely seek healing for brokenness; however, they’ll never find it if the Christian community around them isn’t committed to healing. And that’s one of the tragedies occurring in places where men and women have failed—the Christian community doesn’t have the will to offer healthy healing. Only when the Church commits itself to restorative ministry will men and women stop acting in self-righteousness and, with the tenderness of Galatians 6:1, start being committed to getting every broken player back on the field again to serve in the Kingdom. Then I think we’ll see a revival spirit break out as we begin to act as if we believe restoration is possible and desirable.[5]
In response to this quote, one of our elders wrote me, “That’s awesome. And radical love, like the one demonstrated by Jesus, is all that will work. Not the pseudo-love that we often show, which often has as much self-interest and reciprocity baked in as any semblance of real love. No sacrifice, really very little discomfort.”
What the elder was talking about is the difference between real love (that comes from God first and is on display for the world to see through Jesus) and the fish love you heard the rabbi speak about earlier. When we love others with a desire for them to love us more or to reciprocate the love, then we are not loving them, we are loving ourselves through them.
This sermon is just the beginning of a 6-week series called, “Love: It’s who I AM” and this is not just a 6-Sunday focus on love. To love as God first loved us as Jesus said in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”[6]
What flows in and through you and out of you throughout you days, your circumstances? If there is bad fruit, then get to the root of it—confess, repent, and ask Jesus to transform you from the inside out! You can’t change yourself and you can’t make yourself a loving person and your relationships will suffer if you are peddling a counterfeit version of love. In fact, the testimony of Jesus suffers when His Church deals in counterfeit love!
The only way we will become people who love others as God first loved us is to receive the love of the Father by grace, as a gift! Paul said in Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”[7] God’s love is a love you don’t clean up to receive and you can’t work to earn it. It’s grace and once received it will fundamentally change who you are! God’s love is a life-transforming love! We have been placed in this area and in this time to be a part of Jesus’ mission to seek and to save the lost. The gospel transforms stories and we have the privilege to make that our focus.
How is our love for God and for one another in the church family attracting others to want to belong to the family of God? This is not a task to do. This is not an evangelistic strategy. This is not a church growth campaign. This is not a new class or method. This is who you are when you are in Christ.
Love: It’s who I AM! It’s who I AM in Christ Jesus. I am a new creation with a new nature. Behold the old has gone and the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17). Thank you Jesus!
Love Week 1: Listen to it here.
You can watch the video HERE,
FOOTNOTES:
[1] “The formidable Augustine of Hippo believed that all Christian reading of Scripture should be governed by the pursuit of virtue. In his case, he emphasized love (charity) above all else. As far as Augustine was concerned, reading Scripture should encourage the reader’s love for God and for his or her neighbor. ‘So anyone who thinks that he has understood the divine scriptures or any part of them, but cannot by his understanding build up this double love of God and neighbor, has not yet succeeded in understanding them’” (E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O’Brien, Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible [Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2012], 189–190). In an article on evangelizing Muslims, after great effort to discuss theology and approaches, the Patrick O. Cate writes, “However, no matter what we do or how we look at it, the sine quo non of introducing Muslims to our Savior and Lord is love and prayer” (Patrick O. Cate, “Gospel Communication from Within” (International Journal of Frontier Missions, Vol 11:2 April 1994), 97.
[2] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update, 1 Jn 4:19.
[3] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update, Jn 13:34–35. Emily Hurst, one of our church’s worship leaders, commented on this passage and provided an excellent resource to understand the depth of its language, “This being Jesus’ final command gives it great weight, and the Greek here makes it even more powerful. “Agapate allelous”, Love, here, is the agape love. The unconditional love, the soul-level love with which God loves us. It’s fairly obviously Jesus didn’t command us to “eros” love here; but I believe many have interpreted this verse to be referencing “phileo” love or “storge” love. Especially the latter, which is defined as natural affection or obligation. Instead, Jesus called us to value one another highly, as precious and to place the well-being of others above ourselves. I found this resource that broke down the four kinds well: https://www.mcleanbible.org/sites/default/files/Multiply-Resources/Chap3/GreekWordsforLoveWS_Chapter3.pdf.”
[4] Frederick Dale Bruner, The Gospel of John: A Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: Eerdmans, 2012), 796.
[5] H. B. London Jr., Neil B. Wiseman, and J. F. Dobson, Pastors at Greater Risk (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2011), Chapter 4.
[6] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update, Jn 3:16.
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