A BIG HEART
John 13.34-35
S: Love one another
C: Loving fellowship as a basis for evangelism
Th: His power, His work – in us!
Pr: WE ARE MODELS OF GOD’S LOVE TO THE WORLD.
?: How? How do we do it?
KW: Qualities
TS: We will find in our study of Scripture five qualities that enable us to model God’s love to the world.
Type: Propositional
The ____ quality is…
I. HUMILITY
II. ATTENTIVENESS
III. GENEROSITY
IV. INSPIRATION
V. INTEGRITY
PA: How is the change to be observed?
• Acknowledge that we are created for interdependence.
• Demonstrate maturity in your relationships (be functional, not dysfunctional).
• Love one another.
• Model God’s love.
• Understand that potential new disciples come to Christ when they see relationships that work.
Version: ESV
RMBC 23 September 07 AM
INTRODUCTION:
I know this is an unusual request, but take a moment and find your bellybutton.
Don’t expose it, just find it.
And only find your own, and not someone else’s.
Don’t go poking someone else, right now.
Did you find it?
Got it?
OK.
Now…
1. What does your bellybutton teach you?
It is rather simple.
Our navel is a physical reminder that we all started connected to someone.
Now, we don’t know if Adam and Eve had navels…probably not…but Scripture did not deem it important enough for us to know.
We do find out, though, a related fact.
When God finished creation, everything was good.
Everything was good, except one thing.
One thing was not good.
After Adam had named all the animals, he discovers that he was alone.
And even though he had God for relationship, God says that it is not good for man to be alone.
God had designed it into man to not be alone.
God has designed relationship into the very fiber of our being.
You see…
2. We are created for interdependence.
We are not created to go through life alone.
During pregnancy, we are connected to our mothers, and after we are born, we continue to seek after connection.
We are not designed for independence.
We are designed to be interdependent – dependent on each other to make it through this journey called life.
We are entering our fourth week of our discipleship emphasis.
I appreciate all that Pastor Dick has done and continues to do to make this a special time of the year for us to concentrate on being better and stronger disciples of our Lord Jesus.
Please make use of the spiritual journal that we have provided.
It is greatly simplified from last year, but filled with good examples on how to apply each theme throughout the week.
This helps us to be unified as a church family.
Believe me, God wants unity and He wants us to be connected to Him.
Our theme this year is…
3. DE 07: His power, His work – in us!
Three weeks ago, in the message called…
3.1 The Plan (Matthew 16.18-19)
…we understood the priority of the church when we studied this text.
“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
You see, the church is God’s plan.
It is God’s design.
We, the church, are His vehicle to grow the kingdom by helping people to become committed followers of Jesus.
There is no other plan!
Two weeks ago, the message was named…
3.2 Who Do You Think You Are? (I Peter 2.9-10)
In the text in I Peter, we discovered our purpose…
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
We are really privileged as believers in Jesus.
We have a great job to do.
God has given us eternal kingdom purpose.
We are to proclaim His excellencies.
We are to communicate the good news about Jesus.
If we fail to do this, then we fail to accomplish His purpose for us.
Last week, our guest speaker, Will McFarlane, encouraged us to…
3.3 Fall in Love with Jesus Again (Revelation 2.4-5)
The theme, last Sunday, was based in Revelation 2…
But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.
It has been the history of the church to leave its first love.
It has been too easy to wander from loving God with all our heart, soul and mind.
We have failed to appreciate all that God has done for us and asked, instead, of our Lord, “What have you done for me lately?”
We seem to only appreciate the Lord when we receive some instant benefit.
We are not unlike a young woman attempting to reestablish her romantic relationship with her former fiancé, when she writes…
ILL Romance (H)
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 winning the state lottery.
I think it is reasonable to conclude that Marie’s motivation to return to the first love of Jimmy is a bit skewed.
Returning to the first love is not based on what can be done for us now, but what already has been done.
We continue this theme of love in today’s message.
For when we are truly in love with Jesus, something very fruitful occurs.
4. WE ARE MODELS OF GOD’S LOVE TO THE WORLD (John 13.34-35).
In John 13, Jesus gives a new command…
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
We are told to love one another.
You and I are to love each other.
This is not a suggestion.
This is not just an opinion that God offers to us.
He doesn’t say that this just might be a good idea.
He doesn’t tell us to just try.
He says, “Love one another.”
There are no options here.
We do it.
We do it according to His standard.
We do it in the very same way He has done it.
And we can do it, because love is rooted in who God is.
We can have a big heart for people, especially for fellow believers in Jesus, because He is in us.
We can be giving people, just like Jesus.
So…
5. We will find in our study of Scripture five qualities that enable us to model God’s love to the world.
OUR STUDY:
I. The first quality is HUMILITY.
ILL Personal
This week I had one of those experiences that we love as parents.
Joel got up on Tuesday morning and said he could not find his cleats.
And of course, he had a soccer game for South that afternoon.
Can I tell you what I did not say to him when he gave me that news?
I did not say – you knucklehead, what’s the matter with you – don’t you know how much they cost?
How many times have I told you to keep track of your things?
Can’t you do anything right, you ding-a-ling?
I did not say any of those things.
As we communicated throughout the day, we came to the conclusion that either the cleats were in lost and found at a bus garage or stolen.
Have you ever been to the lost and found in bus garages?
It is a real treat, let me tell you.
And I can’t believe how much stuff is already lost so early in the school year!
Since they were in any of the ten bins in the first garage, I went to the second bus garage, where there were eight barrels.
No cleats in one through six.
When I got to barrel seven, I found a cleat, but it was too big – not Joel’s.
I found another.
It was Joel’s.
I found another.
It was a match to the first.
I got to the bottom of that barrel and there were no more cleats.
So I went to barrel eight.
I am throwing stuff all over the place and literally got to the bottom and found his other cleat.
Can I tell you why I was not upset?
One, because I am glad to help my children when they mess up.
Kids do that.
They mess up.
My job is to help them grow, not put them down.
I don’t always get this right.
But once in a while, I do get it right.
The second reason I was not upset is. . .
Do you know how many times I have said, “Honey, where are my keys or my wallet or my shoes?”
By the way, do you know what Joel said to me when I handed him his cleats.
He said, “Thanks, Dad.”
We have every reason to be humble when it comes to our relationships with each other, don’t we?
We are far from perfect.
You see…
6. We look to raise each other up (Ephesians 5.21; Galatians 5.13).
Note these two phrases written by Paul…
…submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
…through love serve one another.
You may remember my teaching on submission that I have given before.
Submission is not a matter of putting someone down, telling them to submit.
That’s not what is meant.
Submission is the idea of raising someone up above you.
It is the idea of being other oriented.
It is serving, rather than impressing.
As many of you know, humility has been on my mind a lot during this past year, and I have discovered this…
The trouble with humility is that as soon as you think you have it...you don’t!
You start thinking about how better you are at humility than every body else, which ends up being a prideful thought.
I do know this…
I know I will never become humble as a permanent state.
But I need to practice humility.
I need to practice it routinely.
I need to put others first because it is a very sound way of modeling God’s love.
II. The second quality is ATTENTIVENESS.
Do you struggle with paying attention to others?
I do.
I am easily distracted.
When I am listening to someone, I am often mentally formulating what I will say next.
Sometimes I am thinking about what I have to do next or wondering who is trying to reach me on my cell phone.
But if we are to truly model God’s love, we will work against such distraction.
For…
7. We carefully watch each other (Romans 12.10).
Note again what Paul says…
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. (NIV)
Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle. (The Message)
ILL Relationship (S)
Many of you may recognize the words of this song.
You want to go
where everybody knows your name,
and they’re always glad you came.
You wanna be where you can see
our troubles are all the same.
You wanna be where
everybody knows your name.
The theme song for the 80s TV sitcom “Cheers” shows us how all of us are longing to be accepted by others. No one wants to go through life alone.
The theme song for “Cheers” set in a Boston bar could be the theme song for the local church.
When we pay attention to each other, we are conferring value to one another.
When we give time to each other, we are saying that you are worth my attention.
Our presence in each other’s lives establishes value.
Some fellow believers are harder to deal with than others.
We all know this.
We all have people like this in our lives.
They are annoying.
Or they are full of hot air.
They are irritating, or offensive.
Or they just make you crazy.
Nevertheless, if we are to model God’s love, we will be devoted to each other and be attentive.
III. The third quality is GENEROSITY.
Note what Paul says and then Peter…
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.
Kindness, forgiveness and hospitality are all opportunities for us.
They are opportunities where…
8. We liberally show grace (Ephesians 4.32; I Peter 4.9).
Don’t you just love it when someone is kind to you?
I do.
It makes you feel good.
Kindness means to be good, useful and helpful, considerate and gracious in all situations regardless of circumstances.
To be kind, though, takes work.
It is a matter of being deliberate.
It is a matter of being attentive and acting on what you observe.
Another way we show generosity is by being forgiving.
There are times when I have been wronged.
Other times I am hurt or let down.
But these are opportunities to keep no record of wrongs as Paul says in I Corinthians 13.
The other way we show generosity is by being hospitable.
Sometimes, it is hard to welcome people into our home.
ILL Personal
My sister-in-law and her husband know how to be hospitable.
Yesterday, we were at their house in Rochester, and they had all kinds of relatives and friends there.
I watched one eight year old boy who was lacking in social skills be treated with dignity (I thought he ought to be corrected several times).
Another friend brought a dog that was determined to steal food off plates or grab it out of your hand – yet there was never a complaint – even though the dog was pretty rude.
They showed tremendous patience because they understood that relationships are more important than these other matters.
When you welcome people into your home, they are going to act different than you do.
Yet, it is generous, and it is a way we model God’s love.
IV. The fourth quality is INSPIRATION.
9. We motivate each other to do better (Colossians 3.16; Hebrews 3.13).
Paul says, and then the writer of Hebrews…
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. (NIV)
ILL Personal
I am glad for friends who accept me, not for who I am only, but for who they believe I can be.
They speak truth into my life, in the midst of my flaws, my sin, my anger, my selfishness, and even my cowardice.
They won’t judge me.
They embrace me.
They pray for me.
They inspire me to do better.
They come alongside of me and encourage me.
They breathe into me hope.
We need to do this for each other.
We need to come alongside of each other to both warn and give comfort.
We should continually give attention to one another in order to guard ourselves and each other from the deceitfulness of sin.
We must remember that we are always in enemy territory.
So, when we inspire each other to do better, we certainly model God’s love.
V. The fifth quality is INTEGRITY.
Honesty is always a must for…
10. We speak the truth (Colossians 3.9; James 5.16).
Paul again says, and then James…
Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices…
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another…
We are to tell the truth.
If it involves a confrontation, we are to do it in love, of course, which is an art.
But have you noticed that we like to tell the truth in such a way that we don’t look so bad?
ILL Truth (H)
A man noticed the neighbor down the street was home every day, so after a few weeks he asked him what was going on. The neighbor replied, "I left my job because of illness and fatigue."
A few weeks later, his wife gave the man the real truth of what happened. Turns out his neighbor’s boss got sick and tired of him.
You know, there are times we just need to come clean and tell the truth.
We need to ‘fess up.
We need to admit we have done the wrong thing.
We need to tell it.
And note this, Satan wants us to keep it hidden.
He wants us to think it is a private matter and no one needs to know.
He does this because he thrives in the darkness, and he keeps his hold on us if we are silent.
So let’s speak the truth – about each other and about ourselves – because these are ways we model God’s love.
CHALLENGE:
Too often, I hear someone say that their salvation, their relationship with Jesus is a private affair.
But that is untrue.
If you truly know the Lord, your salvation is not a private affair.
For…
Someone prayed for you…
Someone introduced you to Jesus…
Someone helped you grow in your faith…
Someone taught you from the Scriptures…
This has hardly been a personal matter.
So…
Let’s really understand this very important truth…
11. The church is about “we,” not “me.”
There is a lot “me” thinking that goes on in the church.
And here are some symptoms of this kind of thinking.
We know that we are thinking “me first” when we…
…glory in our personal salvation without regard to others;
…look more for what we can receive from God rather than what we can share with others;
…come and go without connecting relationally with anyone;
…participate primarily in worship, and avoid other opportunities of ministry.
When these things happen, we are falling into a habit of getting what we can out of the church, instead of what we can give.
So our relationships are important!
As John says in I John, loving one another is the evidence that the true faith is in us.
And when we do this right, it is a point of attraction.
You see…
12. We model God’s love so that potential new disciples will come to Christ.
This is our mission – to make disciples.
This is our mission – to see people who do not know Jesus, come to know Him, and become committed followers of Him.
So our relationships are key in all of this.
Because, if we do not keep our relationships functional and healthy, we will be ineffective in accomplishing our mission.
Dysfunctional and bad relationships turn people off.
Not only that, it is inconsistent.
For if we cannot love one another, then we certainly cannot love God, love our neighbors, and love our enemies as we are commanded to do.
As a church, if we do not love one another and model God’s love, we can forget sharing His love with the lost in this community.
What we communicate won’t make sense.
We will not be bearers of life.
We will be utter failures in the kingdom and a disappointment to our Lord.
ILL Love (S)
In The Grace of Giving, Stephen Olford tells of a Baptist pastor during the American Revolution, Peter Miller, who lived in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, and enjoyed the friendship of George Washington.
In Ephrata also lived Michael Wittman, an evil-minded sort who did all he could to oppose and hu¬miliate the pastor.
One day Michael Wittman was arrested for treason and sentenced to die. Peter Miller traveled seventy miles on foot to Philadelphia to plead for the life of the traitor.
“No, Peter,” General Washington said. “I cannot grant you the life of your friend.”
“My friend!” exclaimed the old preacher. “He’s the bitterest enemy I have.”
“What?” cried Washington. “You’ve walked seventy miles to save the life of an enemy? That puts the matter in different light. I’ll grant your pardon.” And he did.
Peter Miller took Michael Wittman back home to Ephrata - no longer an enemy but a friend.
I believe that we can love like that.
It is within us.
But we do it here first.
It won’t make sense to anyone, if we cannot love each other.
For Further Study: Genesis 2.18; Leviticus 19.18; Romans 5.5; Galatians 6.1-2; Philippians 2.1-5; I Thessalonians 5.15; James 4.11-12; I John 3.10, 3.16, 4.7-8, 4.12
BENEDICTION:
Who do you need to love?
What relationship is holding you up from fulfilling the mission God has given you and the church?
You see, every day that we do not fix the relationshipswe have and love one another, Satan wins another day of minimizing our impact in the community.
I believe that God has great days ahead for us, better than we have ever had, but we must do our part.
We must love one another as Christ has loved us.
After the service is concluded and the postlude is finished, I will return to the platform.
If you have any need of prayer, I will be available to you.
Perhaps, you would like to know what it is to live a life of faith…
Or perhaps, you know that you have not been living your faith as you should, and you would appreciate prayer…
Or perhaps you have some other prayer need – physical or spiritual, please feel free to come up.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
RESOURCES:
SermonCentral
Axelrod, Marc A New Command: Love One Another
DeWitt, David Conspiracy of Kindness
Ebie, D. Greg We’re in this Thing Together
Gullick, John Love Our Greatest Asset
Jeffress, Mike Jesus’ New Command
Pittendreigh, W. Maynard Hospitality to One Another
Shepard, Tom The Marks of a Great Christian – Loving
Smihson, John Actions Speak Louder Than Words
Tanner, Clark Encouraging One Another
Vicente, Joel Love One Another
Articles:
Buchanan, Mark. "Perspective." Discipleship Journal, July/August 2005, 54-57.
Holz, Adam R. "Inspiration." Discipleship Journal, July/August 2005, 46-49.
Padrick, Stacey. "Attentiveness." Discipleship Journal, July/August 2005, 38-41.
Thomas, Gary. "Downward Mobility." Discipleship Journal, July/August 2005, 34-37.
Vernick, Leslie. "Courage." Discipleship Journal, July/August 2005, 50-53.
Woodley, Mathew. "Generosity." Discipleship Journal, July/August 2005, 42-45.
