Sermon Central
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Love Does Not Insist On Its Own Way Series
Contributed by Jeffery Anselmi on Mar 22, 2025 (message contributor)
Summary: You may have heard the phrase: It’s my way or the high way! But, if we want to love better, we must remember… The “high” way is to not seek my way.
Love Does Not Insist On Its Own Way
Jeffery Anselmi / General Adult
Love Better / God’s Love; Greed / 1 Corinthians 13:5; Luke 22:39–43
You may have heard the phrase:
It’s my way or the high way!
But, if we want to love better, we must remember…
The “high” way is to not seek my way.
INTRODUCITON
SLIDE #1-TITLE
- You may have heard the story of two friends who met for dinner in a restaurant.
- Each requested a filet of sole, and after a few minutes, the waiter returned with their order.
- Two pieces of fish a large and a small were on the same platter.
- One of the men proceeded to serve his friend.
- He placed the small piece on a plate and handed it across the table.
- Well, you certainly do have nerve! Exclaimed his friend.
- What's troubling you? Asked the other.
- Look what you've done he answered.
- You’ve given me the little piece and kept the big one for yourself.
- How would you have done it? The man asked.
- His friend replied that if I were serving, I would give you the big piece.
- Well, replied the man, I've got it, haven’t I?
- At this, they both laughed. Daily Bread August 11, 1992.
SLIDE #2- MAD KID
- Have you ever been around a person who makes everything about them?
- You may have heard the phrase: It’s my way or the high way!
- But, if we want to love better, we must remember…
- The “high” way is to not seek my way.
- It is hard to love others when all you think about is yourself.
- The unholy trinity of me, myself, and I will not allow us to show love, patience, or grace to other people.
- In this series, we have been examining how to love other Christians better and how to love people in our community better.
- To accomplish that feat, we need to learn how to love better.
- I know that if we pay attention and open our hearts to what God’s Word says about this, we will be able to love better.
VERSE SLIDE- 1 SLIDE 1 COR 13:5
1 Corinthians 13:5 NET 2nd ed.
5 It is not rude, it is not self-serving, it is not easily angered or resentful.
SERMON
SLIDE #3 MAIN POINT 1
I. The principle explained.
- It is one thing to say that love does not insist on getting one’s own way, but what does that statement mean, what does it look like.
SLIDE #4- WHAT DOES IT MEAN
- I have to wonder if, as Christians, we are all a little bit guilty of grabbing onto a statement, such as love is not self-serving, and think because we read it, that we possess it.
- What does it mean that love does not insist on its own way?
- Let’s look at the Biblical definition of the word self-serving.
SLIDE #5 SELF SERVING DEFINED
- The phrase “self-serving” refers to actions or behaviors primarily motivated by the individual’s interests, often at the expense of others or without consideration for others’ needs.
- It implies a focus on self-benefit, whether consciously or unconsciously.
- Oscar Wilde said, “Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live. It is asking others to live as one wishes to live.”
- A person who does everything for their own gain, and often times that gain comes at the expense of others, does not care about others and, by definition, does not love others.
- Richard Whately (1787-1863) was a significant figure in 19th-century British intellectual life, known for his contributions to several fields.
- He stated this concerning selfishness: “A man is called selfish not for pursuing his own good, but for neglecting his neighbor’s.”
- Some people will go so deep in their pursuit of what they want, and even how they want it, that they harm others along the way.
- Let’s consider a phrase most of us have either used or have had used against us at some point in life.
SLIDE #6- A COMMON PHRASE
- My way or the highway.
- There is a better way than my way, and there is a better highway.
- How about the Higher way?
- How about doing things the way God would want them to be done?
- If we want to love better, we must remember that the HIGH way is not to seek MY way.
- The question is, how does one avoid making life about me, myself, and I?
- We can look to Jesus for the answer, as He is the ultimate example of what it means to love better.
- The passage we will focus on in Luke 22 describes a significant moment in the New Testament, occurring just before Jesus's arrest.
