Live Out Love!
Be hospitable to strangers
Serve the Suffering
Honor my spouse
Be Content with your stuff
Slide
ARTICLE IV:
OUR VISION
We believe that ALL people matter to God and that God wants ALL people in relationship with Him through His Son, Jesus Christ.
Therefore, we at Hickory Creek Community Church desire…
…..to be a church where people at every stage of life can come and be ministered to so that they can minister to others.
..…to be a church where we minister to those who are younger and older, in school and out of school, those with kids and without kids, those who work and those who are retired.
…..to be a church where “being” the church is more important than “doing” church.
..…to be a church that glorifies God and exalts the name of Christ in everything we do.
…..to be a church that is more interested in where people are heading than in where they have been.
…..to be a church that encourages people to take the “next step” of faith and maturity from whatever point they are at.
…..to be a church where the healthy help the hurting and the hurting are becoming healthy.
…..to be a church where the words “Love God…Love People…Live it Out!” is more than just a motto, it is a way of life.
Our vision gives some sort of idea of how it will look in our church if we are living out our motto.
It helps us to know if we are teaching appropriately and applying that teaching, then we should becoming closer to looking like a church that is stated in our vision.
In our study of Hebrews, the author has been laying out the case that Christianity is better than Judaism, or for our purposes, better than any other way of life that we can think of as a choice to live.
And, with that being the case, experiencing the power of the risen Christ in you, you should now live in a way that shows the truth of your beliefs and one of the main things that should get expressed is love and he gives some practical ways for these Hebrews and for us to Live Out Love!
Slide
Turn with me to Hebrews 13:1-6 and let’s read what the author has to tell us.
Hebrews 13:1-6
13:1 Keep on loving each other as brothers. 2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. 3 Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
"Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."
6 So we say with confidence,
"The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?"
The author of Hebrews begins his final thoughts to this church with this.
Keep on loving your brothers.
He knows already that they have been loving others.
He told them that in Hebrews 6
Hebrews 6:10
10 God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.
They have been showing love, but he encourages them to keep on living it out.
And he gives them practical advice on how that love is going to look.
The first way he tells these Hebrews that they can Live out Love is to
Be Hospitable to Strangers
Slide
Hebrews 13:2
2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
NASU
Hebrews 13:2
2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.
There is an allusion to the story of Abraham in Genesis 18 when he welcomed in the Lord and 2 angels who were strangers and he did not know it and showed them hospitality. Abraham was a man of God and of hospitality.
In fact, throughout the Old Testament, we see that God wants his people to be hospitable to foreigners and strangers.
Leviticus 19:33-34
33 "’When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. 34 The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.
Deuteronomy 24:17-18
17 Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge. 18 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you from there. That is why I command you to do this.
The author is telling them that not everything you have been taught is bad. Showing hospitality to strangers is good. But you do not have to go back into Judaism to do good things.
In fact in Christianity, with the power of the Lord working in your life, you are truly going to be able to accomplish the things of the Lord to the fullest.
And some of these things that we do give us a fuller understanding of God’s love for us.
Why does God want us to be hospitable to strangers?
Because He was hospitable to us while we were strangers.
While we did not know God, While we were still sinners against God, God redeemed us and made us part of his family.
Romans 5:8
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Loving by being hospitable is a reflection of the very character of God , the God that you and I serve.
Being hospitable is not just about entertaining someone. It is about loving someone as yourself.
Leviticus 19:33-34
33 "’When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. 34 The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt.
Love people as ourselves.
In the New Testament, we see Jesus give this same teaching as well.
Matthew 25:31-40
31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 "Then the King will say to those on his right, ’Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 "Then the righteous will answer him, ’Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 "The King will reply, ’I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
Showing hospitality to God’s people is the same as showing hospitality to the Lord for His people are his body.
Well, we live in a different world today.
Inviting a stranger into your home could be quite dangerous.
How can we live out love through hospitality today?
If you see someone new at church or at work, invite them out to lunch. Help them to feel welcome. This is something that you would appreciate if you were new somewhere and a stranger. Love someone as you would like to be shown love.
Invite a new neighbor or someone from church over for dinner.
Hospitality is about helping someone else to feel welcomed and apart of you, just as Christ has done for us.
Takes Time
This isn’t always the easiest thing to do because it takes time, and this is the one commodity that seems in such short supply in our lives, but making time for someone is really showing love that God want us to express.
We need to Live out Love by being hospitable to strangers.
A second way to Live out Love is to
Serve the Suffering
Slide
Hebrews 13:3
3 Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
The author is talking about those who are in prison or being mistreated and suffering for their faith. He already spoke about them in chapter 10.
Hebrews 10:32-34
32 Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. 33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. 34 You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.
We need to remember those in prison and being mistreated for their faith.
And that does not mean just think about them in our heads.
We need to serve them as we can.
The reality is though that there are not many people in this country who are suffering much for their faith.
There are plenty however throughout the world who are suffering and imprisoned and mistreated for being Christians.
We need to be serving them
How do we do that?
One way we serve them is to
Pray for the suffering
Slide
When Peter was put in prison because King Herod wanted to persecute those in the church, it says in
Acts 12:5 – “the church was earnestly praying to God for him.”
We need to be praying for those who are suffering and held captive because of their faith in Jesus.
In Afghanistan right now there are 19 South Korean Christian aid workers who are being held captive. 2 of their group have been executed and 2 were released, but we need to be praying for these brothers and sisters in Christ who have been captured and persecuted because of their faith in the Lord.
Stop and pray
Speak for the Suffering
Slide
Use your voice and vote to apply pressure for our country to pressure other countries in their humanitarian treatment of Christians.
We have people who risk their lives going to countries to minister in the name of Jesus. Those of us in the safety of the United States need to speak out for freedoms and humanitarian treatment of Christians and in fact all people in the world.
All people are created in God’s image.
We can also serve the suffering when we
Give to the suffering
Slide
Support financially, those who risk suffering to go to other countries to minister in the name of Jesus.
We as a church need to do a better job of this.
We have had in mind to start a missions team but have not gotten around to it.
Now with some staff help, we will have a team up and running by year end and looking to support missionaries and others who are exposing themselves to prison and hardship for their faith.
These are all ways that we can remember and serve those who are suffering prison and mistreatment because of their faith in Christ.
A third way to practically live out love for the Christian is to
Honor your Spouse
Slide
Hebrews 13:4
4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. (from New International Version)
Now we need to honor our spouse as an overall practice, but the specific way of honoring our spouse being talked about here is through maintaining the purity of the sexual union within marriage.
Adultery
It says God will judge the adulterer. Now husbands and wives, this does not mean just physically not being with someone other than our spouse in a sexual way, but also mentally being with someone else.
Jesus said that if we lust after another, we have committed adultery in our hearts.
We need to honor our spouse with our minds and our bodies.
Sexually immoral
But it also says God will judge the sexually immoral.
For you who are not married, we honor our future spouse by not having sex outside of the marriage bed.
God has designed marriage as the boundary for where we can express ourselves sexually.
We need to respect those boundaries but we are also obliged to honor our spouse by meeting their sexual needs within marriage.
The Sexual need is the one area of life that cannot be filled outside of marriage.
We can have nearly every other physical or emotional need legitimately met outside of the marriage relationship, except for the sexual needs of a husband or wife. Those needs can only be met by a spouse and we honor our spouse by meeting those needs for them and not meeting our needs outside of that relationship.
So Live out Love by honoring your spouse with your mind and body.
Finally, to live out Love you need to
Be Content with your Stuff
Slide
Hebrews 13:5-6
5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
"Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you."
6 So we say with confidence,
"The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?"
(from New International Version)
How is this living out love?
When we are content with what we have, then we are showing our love and trust in the Lord and His provision.
Jesus told us in
Matthew 6:24
You cannot serve both God and Money.
God is the one who has provided what we have.
Money does not provide what we have.
God provides what we have.
We have to get away from the thinking that our money determines our worth.
God determines our worth.
Luke 12:15
15 Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."
This is something that is really hard in our society.
How is it that we can find contentment and avoid being controlled by money rather than God?
Make giving a regular part of what you do.
Give to the church
Give to missionaries
Give to other charities that help those who have less than you do.
Give generously.
As we practice giving in the name of the Lord, we can trust that God will provide exactly what we need so we can continue to give and be content.
As Paul wrote to the Corinthian church
2 Corinthians 9:10-11
10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
As we give and find contentment in what we have God makes sure we have just what we need so we can continually show our love and trust in Him and our love for others by being generous in our giving.
Conclusion
God doesn’t want us to just speak of our love.
He wants us to live out love.
Some of the practical ways that the author of Hebrews has given us to Live out Love is
Be Hospitable to Strangers
Serve the Suffering
Honor your spouse
Be content
This last part of living out love, though,
Contentment is going to affect every area we talked about today.
Paul said
Phil 4:12-13
I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
If you can’t find contentment in the Lord,
it will be hard to truly be hospitable to others as unto the Lord.
It is hard to serve those who are suffering for Christ effectively because it is Christ in our life that will propel our ability to serve
It will be very difficult to honor your spouse without a contented relationship with Christ because you will be looking to your spouse to bring a contentment that they can never bring, only the Lord can.
Be content and trust in the Lord.
To truly live out love, you need to find contentment in the Lord only.
Maybe you are here today and you have been trying to live a life of love but have been failing and you are not finding contentment in any area of life.
Living out a life of love in the power and strength of Jesus Christ is going to lead to a life of contentment.
You can’t do this apart from Christ though.
So if you are not experiencing contentment, you have one of 2 problems.
You have never received Christ as your Savior.
Or You have received Christ but you are not relying on Him for living.
If you haven’t received Him, how do you do that?
You believe that Jesus is the Christ, that He is God in the flesh and that he died for your sins and rose again after 3 days.
When you truly believe that it is helpful to acknowledge that to that Lord.
Just turn to Him and tell Him that you know
You have sinned,
Jesus is the Christ,
Jesus died for your sins
Jesus rose again fulfilling the Scriptures and
That you receive Him as your Savior.
If you are a Christian and not relying on Him, then you need to start doing that.
How do you do that?
Take the step of faith that the Lord has placed in front of you.
Maybe it is one of these ways we talked about today.
Do you need to show hospitality to someone?
Maybe you need to serve the suffering in some way.
Perhaps it is honoring your spouse.
Or maybe you need to start giving some or more money away to find greater contentment with the Lord.
I am not sure which one it is for you, but I can give you a hint.
It is probably the one that you least want to do.
Commit to doing that in the name of the Lord and ask for the strength to do it.
If need to receive the Lord, then pray with me now and acknowledge your belief to God and if you have received the Lord, then pray for the strength to take the next step on the road to contentment and the peace of God.
Pray
