We are a Church of Love Givers
Go Higher • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 7 viewsThe love of God will cause our hearts to have compassion for lost, the least, and the church.
Notes
Transcript
Hayley Birthday
Kaylyn birthday
Teressa
Wife: Do you love me just because my father left me a fortune?
Husband: Not at all, darling. I would love you no matter who left you the money.
—
Little Ashley: When I get older, I’m going to marry the boy next door.
Visitor: Why is that?
Little Ashley: ‘Cuz I’m not allowed to cross the street.
—
Attending a wedding for the first time, a little girl whispered to her mother, “Why is the bride dressed in white?”
“Because white is the color of happiness, and today is the happiest day of her life,” her mother explained, keeping it simple.
The child thought for a moment, then asked, “Why’s the groom wearing black?”
God Seekers
Big Believers
Truth Tellers
Love Givers
Go-Getters
Open Handers
Our main portion of scripture for today is found in 1 John 4:7-12
7 My dear friends, we must love each other. Love comes from God, and when we love each other, it shows that we have been given new life. We are now God’s children, and we know him.
8 God is love, and anyone who doesn’t love others has never known him.
9 God showed his love for us when he sent his only Son into the world to give us life.
10 Real love isn’t our love for God, but his love for us. God sent his Son to be the sacrifice by which our sins are forgiven.
11 Dear friends, since God loved us this much, we must love each other.
12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is truly in our hearts.
If we are going to rise above the hatred of this world we must combat that hatred with love. We need to be the ambassadors for Christ. We must be known by love. It’s what will combat the hate we have all seen in the world.
But not just any type of love. True love that comes from God.
We Must Love the Lost
We Must Love the Lost
My daughter Katie is incredibly sweet. One day she decided to make cookies for the family.
She used all the right ingredients except she exchanged the measurements for the salt and the sugar. They sure did look good, but man oh man they weren’t! They even smelled good! But I’ll never forget that bite.
You have to follow the recipe. If you put in the wrong ingredients then you are not going to get what you wanted. In fact, it may be a bit salty.
This lost world we live in needs love. Not just any kind of love. It needs to know the love of God that can bring heart transformation. Personally, I think it’s the missing ingredient. I think without the love of God this world is a bit salty.
Jesus very plainly told us that we are to be known as Love Givers.
30 You must love him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.’
31 The second most important commandment says: ‘Love others as much as you love yourself.’ No other commandment is more important than these.”
Not only are we to love God with everything that we are, but we are also to love others as well. We are to be known by this love that is a result of our relationship with Christ.
If the world needs love and we are to demonstrate love then we had better define it shouldn’t we?
What is love? Well, I think it is best to let the bible define it for us...
4 Love is kind and patient, never jealous, boastful, proud, or
5 rude. Love isn’t selfish or quick tempered. It doesn’t keep a record of wrongs that others do.
6 Love rejoices in the truth, but not in evil.
7 Love is always supportive, loyal, hopeful, and trusting.
8 Love never fails! Everyone who prophesies will stop, and unknown languages will no longer be spoken. All that we know will be forgotten.
Now, let’s hit the brakes…I am at Starbucks (which already puts me in a bad mood) and the lady in front of me is looking at the menu like it’s the first time she's ever seen it before. I mean she is reading each and every word on the board. Out loud.
I just want my coffee…cappuccino
Patience and Kindness was not top of mind in that moment.
But what if it was?
What if like the verse says, I didn’t demand my own way all the time? Or I didn’t keep a notebook full of all the things that people have done wrong to me?
The next time someone gets what they have coming to them I don’t secretly get some satisfaction?
Instead of focusing on the negatives, what if we were known as people who never give up, who never lose faith, who are always hopeful no matter what we face?
You know what I think would happen if we live like that? I think we would see OUR lives changed.
And even more than that I think we would see the WORLD change.
If we live in love towards those who are lost it will not only take us individually higher, but it will bring the world with us because love is contagious.
The Church is made up of all kinds of people, gifted in various ways.
Everyone of us is given the ability to love others. Our church must be committed to being love givers.
We're called to be love givers. That's the job description of every Christian.
We know what Christ has done in our lives, and like those whom he healed, we're called to go and tell others, go and love others.
7 My dear friends, we must love each other. Love comes from God, and when we love each other, it shows that we have been given new life. We are now God’s children, and we know him.
8 God is love, and anyone who doesn’t love others has never known him.
As believers we have a responsibility to love others.
The fruit of our relationship with God is that we show love to everyone.
When we see the depravity of the world we shouldn’t get angry, we should get motivated. There should be empathy not apathy.
It’s so easy to isolate and focus inward when everything outside these walls seems to be chaos. But what God is calling us to do is to break out of these walls and show the love that He had placed inside of us.
We CAN make a difference. Things CAN get better if we are willing to put in the effort.
We must put our love into practice.
Indian Church in Lawrence. Feeding 100 people.
If we want to see this world changed it’s going to take intentional love. We must put our love into action.
I don’t know what that looks like in your life, but I do know that if you have been born of God then your life will be a reflection of God’s love each and every day.
The world desperately needs this kind of love that you can give.
We must Love the Least
We must Love the Least
It so much easier to love those who matter to us the most. When I think about my wife and my girls, immediately, I am filled with love for them. I picture their faces and my heart is easily overcome with feelings. It’s easy to love them.
It’s kind of difficult to say we love people we don’t know.
Well, unless they are super cool, rich, or famous, right?
I mean I’ve never met Duane Johnson, but I think he’s way cool. I’m pretty sure we’d get along.
I’ve seen Moana about 10,000 times with my girls and I am just saying I think we’d be friends.
What about people who aren’t all that cool, rich, famous, or good looking?
there was once a teacher who had a special relationship with his 10th grade student. This student named Robbie was on the football team, but he wasn’t very popular and he wasn’t a star player. In fact he had never even been put into a game.
It didn’t matter to Robbie though. He would always be the first person on the practice field, the first person suited up for the game, and He’d be the last guy to leave making sure everything was put up and in order.
Well, the teacher said Robbie came to him one day and asked if he would stand up with him at half time. This was interesting because it was one of those moments that happens each year in high school football where the Dad’s get to come out on the field and stand with their sons during a ceremony. The teacher found out that that Robbie had lost his father and didn’t want to be on the field alone.
The teacher was very honored and was happy to stand there with him during the ceremony.
My favorite part of the story was when the teacher was talking about watching the game. Apparently, he was hoping that Robbie was going to get some game time. He watched as the coach put everyone into the game except for the student. Well, the 4th quarter came and the their team was up by 20 points. This is the point when most coaches starting putting in the back ups for the back ups.
The teacher was waiting for his guy to be put in, but it just wasn’t happening. So, he did what anyone would do in the situation…he stood to his feet and started yelling “PUT ROBBIE IN THE GAME!” At the top of his lungs!
The coach didn’t hear him…or at least he didn’t pay attention to him and never put Robbie into the game. They won and the teacher went down to chat with his student.
Robbie said, “yeah I heard you yelling for me, and I really didn’t think I could blow a 20 point lead, but I’m happy just to be part of the team.”
That story struck a cord with me because so often we put or love and attention on the “Best” people. We focus on the quarterback and forget there’s a Robbie on the team.
There are people in this world who are being overlooked. Hurting people within our reach that need to feel loved.
That teacher standing to his feet and yelling for his student is a hero to me. He was rooting for the guy no one cared about…the forgotten guy. The guy who had experienced the loss of a father and needed someone to stand next to him.
Jesus pointed this forgotten guy out in His teaching:
35 When I was hungry, you gave me something to eat, and when I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. When I was a stranger, you welcomed me,
36 and when I was naked, you gave me clothes to wear. When I was sick, you took care of me, and when I was in jail, you visited me.”
37 Then the ones who pleased the Lord will ask, “When did we give you something to eat or drink?
38 When did we welcome you as a stranger or give you clothes to wear
39 or visit you while you were sick or in jail?”
40 The king will answer, “Whenever you did it for any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did it for me.”
You see friends, for us to become true Love Givers, we must go to the broken, hurting, and overlooked people.
We will all stand before Jesus one day and He may not be as concerned about how we treated those closest to us, or those that are so easily exalted, but he may ask what we did to show love to the unloved.
Do you want to know a good test to find our how much you love Christ?
The level of love you have for the person you love least is the same level of love you have for Christ.
That may seem harsh, but what did Jesus say? He said what you’ve done for the least of these you have done to Jesus.
When you understand the heart of Jesus then you can’t help but to embrace and love those rejected by the world.
True love givers are people who love the lost, the least, and each other!
We Must Love Each Other
We Must Love Each Other
The church is the body of believers. I feel as though the church does a pretty good job of beating up on each other.
Whether it be different denominations or even just members in a congregation.
Sometimes there just isn’t enough love resulting in unity.
20 But if we say we love God and don’t love each other, we are liars. We cannot see God. So how can we love God, if we don’t love the people we can see?
21 The commandment that God has given us is: “Love God and love each other!”
Now, more than ever before we must giver love to each other!
This is our safe haven.
We should find encouragement here with each other.
More than encouragement, we should find love here.
There should not be division or strife in the body of Christ.
Each person in this room has an individual purpose in the kingdom of God. But don’t forget that our purposes are all tied together as a believers.
We are all in the same ship, going to a final destination.
Part of our mission should be to build each other up. We should all be trying to lift each other higher.
Paul reminds us that we are in this thing together:
1 As a prisoner of the Lord, I beg you to live in a way that is worthy of the people God has chosen to be his own.
2 Always be humble and gentle. Patiently put up with each other and love each other.
3 Try your best to let God’s Spirit keep your hearts united. Do this by living at peace.
In order to walk worthy of our calling in Christ Jesus, members of the church body must work diligently to keep the spirit of peace which holds us together.
Paul goes on to say that we are one body. When we are all working together in love we can move in the right direction together. We can show love to the lost, the least, and to each other.
Today, my goal is to encourage you to love more, but to also let you know that you are loved.
9 God showed his love for us when he sent his only Son into the world to give us life.
10 Real love isn’t our love for God, but his love for us. God sent his Son to be the sacrifice by which our sins are forgiven.
11 Dear friends, since God loved us this much, we must love each other.
The love of God will cause our hearts to have compassion for lost, the least, and each other.
