Help, I've Misplaced My Love!

Help, I’ve Misplaced My Love!

John 13:1

Powerpoint for this and hundreds more free sermons at our website: http://www.gbcdecatur.org/sermons/MisplacedLove.html

Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour

was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father,

having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.

SEVEN MISPLACED AREAS OF LOVE…What not to love.

1. LOVE OF SELF.

2TI 3:2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters,

proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

A young man said to his father at breakfast one morning, "Dad, I’m going to get married."

"How do you know you’re ready to get married?" asked the father. "Are you in love?"

"I sure am," said the son.

"How do you know you’re in love?" asked the father.

"Last night as I was kissing my girlfriend good-night, her dog bit me and I didn’t feel the pain until I got home."

Ill.--It’s so normal to love ourselves that Jesus said, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”

2. LOVE OF MONEY.

1TI 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some

coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves

through with many sorrows.

Love-letter lament:

Dearest Jimmy,

No words could ever express the great unhappiness I’ve felt since breaking our engagement. Please say you’ll take me back. No one could ever take your place in my heart, so please forgive me. I love you, I love you, I love you! Yours forever, Marie.

P.S.-- And congratulations on willing the state lottery.

Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also!

Now I lay me down to sleep

I pray my brand new car to keep

I pray my stocks are on the rise

And that my analyst is wise

That all the wine I sip is white

And that my hot tub’s watertight

That racquetball won’t get too tough

That all my sushi’s fresh enough

I pray my cellphone always works

That my career won’t lose it perks

My microwave won’t radiate

My condo won’t depreciate

I pray my health club doesn’t close

And that my money market grows

If I go broke before I wake

I pray my Lincoln they won’t take.

3. LOVE OF PRAISE.

JN 12:43 For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.

Ill.—my son, Jacob, 6, playing GameCube: “no daddy, I’ll play, you watch and say good job!”

Ill.—encouraging words are fine, but praise is like perfume…It’s ok to sniff it a little, but don’t swallow!

My grandfather once told me that there are two kinds of people: those who do the work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was less competition there.

Indira Gandhi

[work behind the scenes, not just up on the stage!]

4. LOVE OF WORLD.

1JN 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

ill.--A scuba diver is in the water but breathes the air which is from above--he takes his environment with him.

Do you take breaths of heaven out into the world w/ you? Do you bring the world into your home, your head, God’s house?

5. LOVE OF PLEASURE.

2TI 3:4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.

How about it?

Do you give God as much time as you give the TV?

What if you read your bible and prayed for half your lunch hour?

Which do you choose, church or hobby? Both are fine, but when head to head, who wins, and who gets tossed in the back seat?

Where’s the radio tuned to? Christian, or something of the world?

How about food? Do you eat to live or live to eat? [supersize generation!]

How about giving? Where do you choose to put your money? Do you give the cable company more than you give to Missions? Do you spend more on eating out than you give to Club 52 for the youth?

Almost Valentines day: how about love for one another, pleasing each other, and where does sex fit in? [many men act like Archie Bunker from the time they get home until bedtime, and suddenly turn into Rudolf Valentino!]

These are the days of selfish love and self-gratification. We never receive as much pleasure as when we focus on pleasing others.

How about shopping/spending?

6. LOVE OF DARKNESS.

JN 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

Making decisions in the dark can lead to some regrettable consequences. Back in the days before electricity, a tightfisted old farmer was taking his hired man to task for carrying a lighted lantern when he went to call on his best girl. "Why," he exclaimed, "when I went a-courtin’ I never carried one of them things. I always went in the dark." "Yes," the hired man said wryly," and look at your wife!"

7. LOVE LOST.

MT 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

[outline courtesy Dr. Tom Wallace]