Sermon for 2/3/2008
Love is the Answer
Introduction:
Blessid Union of Souls- Violence is spread worldwide and there are families on the street
And we sell drugs to children now oh why can’t we just see
That all we do is eliminate our future with the things we do today
Money is our incentive now so that makes it okay
But I believe that love is the answer I believe that love will find the way
I believe that love is the answer I believe that love will find the way
WBTU:
A. Basically the Bible agrees with these statements. Love is the answer.
B. Read 1 Corinthians 13.
C. We are starting a series on 1 Corinthians 13 for the next several weeks. This sermon is a general introduction.
Thesis: This morning let’s start our discussion on love from 1 Corinthians 13.
For instances:
I. I Corinthians 13:11 (Something is lacking because we are adults)
A. When my children get into a fight, we have them say they are sorry and then hug.
B. The children do it reluctantly. “Why can’t you just love each other?”
C. Same dynamic is in effect when someone comes to me with marriage problems. I ask them, “Can’t you just love one another? Can’t you forgive one another? Can’t you be kind to one another?” And, basically, the response was “No, I can’t. I’m out of love. I don’t have any more love for that person or I don’t have any more forgiveness.” And those are honest replies. How can I help people love somebody?
D. Many times I give them tips on how to love each other. Show clip from Andy Griffith Show Andy, the Marriage Counselor.
E. I even show them why they need to love each other- Commanded in Bible.
F. “What’s my motivation?” This famous line has been uttered in many movies. Alfred Hitchcock even alluded to it in describing his work with some of the actors in his films: “When an actor comes to me and wants to discuss his character, I say, ‘It’s in the script.” If he says, ‘But what’s my motivation?’ I say, ‘Your salary.’”
G. Many times our motivational techniques are somewhat lacking. Like Andy the Marriage Counselor, we fail. Why?
H. Loving people isn’t always easy. The vow breakers, truth benders. The money grubbers and backstabbers we meet, work with, and marry. How do we love someone who is hard to love? What’s our typical strategy for treating a troubled relationship? Try harder. So we try. Teeth clinched. Jaw firm. Conventional wisdom says that a lack of love implies a lack of effort, so we dig deeper, strain more. We’re going to love if it kills us! And it may do just that.
I. Preachers are guilty of doing this. “Love each other!” we tell the church. “Be patient, kind, forgiving! The beatings will continue until you love each other.” Reminds me of my children when they are having troubled relationships. Could it be that we are missing a step?
J. Max Lucado says, “We think that love is an emotion, so if we don’t feel love toward a person, we don’t love them (this is a childish view of love). My understanding of the biblical view of love is that it’s not so much a feeling as it is a decision, as it is resolve, a commitment, more loyalty than emotion. There is no person I’m going to feel like being around every single day. And I think I married the greatest person in the world. But there’s going to be some days in our marriage that I don’t feel like being with her but if my love is based on feelings, then I’m not going to stick it out. What I’m suggesting is God’s love for you isn’t based on his feelings toward you, but based on a covenant he’s made with us. If I can receive his covenant with me, then I in turn can give that covenant of love to others.”
K. Could it be that the first step of love is not toward them but toward God? Could it be that the secret to loving is first receiving God’s love?
II. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a (God is love)
A. Those verses are so romantic. Said at most weddings.
B. Go through verses and in place of love put Crystal. So romantic but definitely not truthful!
C. Go through verses and in place of love put Davon. Now we have a problem. Davon is not patient, Davon is not kind. Ask my wife and kids. This statement that Davon never fails is bordering on blaspheme.
D. This paragraph sets a standard that no one can meet. No one that is except Jesus.
E. (1 John 4:16 NIV) God is love. God the Son and God the Father are one. Therefore, Go through verses and in place of love put Jesus.
F. Rather than let this scripture remind us of a love we cannot produce, let it remind us of a love we cannot resist- God’s love.
G. (1 John 4:9 NIV) This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.(1 John 4:10 NIV) This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.(1 John 4:11 NIV) Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
H. Notice something in this passage. The Apostle John spends three sentences telling us how much God loves us. Then he takes just one sentence to say that since God loves us, we ought to love others. It’s a 3 to 1 ratio of where our energy should be if we’re to love effectively. God never tells us to love without telling us we are loved.
I. Max Lucado- Our tendency is to say, now go love- love your neighbor, love your wife, love your kids- without being sure that we’ve told them how much they are loved.”
J. Illustration- When we reach for the sponge that we use to wipe off the counter, the first thing we do is get the sponge wet, because the sponge is crispy and crusty and hard and brittle, and we can’t use the sponge for anything until we get it wet. People come with crusty and hard hearts. Take that hard heart and try to love somebody with that heart is impossible. We need to try to add the moisture of God’s love, to be immersed into God’s grace and forgiveness. And then, that heart changes. It becomes moist and useable and it really becomes a tool that God can use to love others.
K. How can we love the rebellious teenager, the grumpy spouse, the cantankerous relative, or the troublesome neighbor? We know we’re supposed to love, but that can be difficult to put into practice when the people around us seem so unlovable.
L. (1 John 4:16 NIV) And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.
M. We cannot share what we have not received. Have you received God’s love?
III. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (Receive God’s love)
A. (John 3:16 KJV) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
B. Confess- (Rom 10:9 NIV) That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
C. Repent- (1 John 5:3 NIV) This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,
D. Be baptized- (Rom 6:4 NIV) We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
E. Live for Christ- (Eph 5:1 NIV) Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children(Eph 5:2 NIV) and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
F. Let God love us according to 1 Corinthians 13 first, and then, in turn, live out 1 Corinthians 13 with others. Cannot share what we have not received.
G. (John 13:34 NIV) "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.(John 13:35 NIV) By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
H. Jerome, the Church historian, relates of the Apostle John that, when he became old he used to go among the churches everywhere repeating the words, “Little children, love one another.” His disciples, wearied by the constant repetition, asked him why he always said this, “Because,” he replied, “it is the Lord’s commandment; and if it only be fulfilled, it is enough.” How? By receiving God’s love, relying on God’s love.
I. According to Tertullian, in his “Apology for Christianity” the heathen said of the early Christians: Behold, how they love one another, and are ready to die for one another.
J. But people are so hateful? C. S. Lewis- The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers of love is hell.
Conclusion and invitation:
A. Without God and Jesus Christ, we gain nothing, and we are nothing.
B. (Mark 8:36) What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?
