Living For Love

Living for Love

Scripture: Ephesians 4: 17-32 Date: 14 February 2010

Purpose: It help the listener understand that loving Jesus results in living for Him.

I will say his name is Jeff. He was a young married man with two small children. I first met him when his wife was reassigned to Fort Hood, TX and started coming to the 19th street Chapel. They both became regular attenders and active in our fellowship. But something seemed to be missing.

I had often wondered why they never seemed to take off in their spiritual lives. Yes, they were involved in the church. Jeff even helped with the children’s programs from time to time but something kept them from the victory they needed in their spiritual life.

Marriage difficulties brought them to my office one afternoon. And as we visited I can assure you that the problems in their marriage was only a symptom of the real need.

As they sat in my office and shared their story I could not believe what I was hearing. Jeff and his wife were still doing marijuana. Not every day or even every week, but then they really couldn’t tell me how often they were using.

Jeff’s climb up the corporate ladder at his civilian job according to him, required that he lie to his customers and sabotage a fellow employee.

He had become so addicted to porn that it was affecting intimacy with his wife who took his disinterest as a sign that he was cheating on her, so to pay him back she had an affair with a man in her battalion.

The revelation of that affair is what brought them to my office, and though they definitely had issues in their marriage, the real problem was two lives out of control!

Jeff and his wife made a decision to Love Jesus - but not to Live for Him! That my friends I think is the story of many who say they are Christians. They have made a decision to believe in Jesus because they love Him, because they want the promise of eternal life, because they want more than what they presently have, but a decision to believe is nothing without a decision to change! Choosing to Love Him is choosing to Live for Him. And He is Love.

Ephesians: 4 17-32

17So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.

20You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. 21Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

25Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26"In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27and do not give the devil a foothold. 28He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.

29Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

-RELEASE CHILDREN FOR CHILDREN’S CHURCH-

In our text for today the Apostle Paul is contrasting the life of a Christian to that of a non-Christian. It is a stark and sobering difference. Most of us here this morning have committed to Love Jesus, that’s the easy part, but how do we commit to Live for Jesus? Just as we chose to Love Him, we too need to choose to Live for Him because Jesus is Love and,

I. Living for Him is a choice!

A. And it begins with our mind.