I want to look at love today and as Christians how do we represent what love really is.
Turn to Romans 2:1-3 and mark that passage.
We are going to start with Matthew 7:1-5
A recent poll done by the Barna research group showed that only 1 out of 5 non-Christian young adults say they consider the church to be a loving environment.
And for un-churched youth that number is even lower.
Why is this?
People on the outside looking in at Christians consider us hypocritical and judgmental.
Why?
Because a lot of the time we are.
The word hypocrite comes from an old Greek word that refers to the wearing of a mask.
In fact the definition of a hypocrite is “One who puts on a mask and pretends to be what he is not.”
The Bible warns us about being a hypocrite, in fact in the King James Version the word hypocrite is found 20 times.
What about being judgmental?
Well it goes hand in hand with being a hypocrite.
Matthew 7:1-5 says, "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ’Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. ”
Romans 2:1-3 says, “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. 2 Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3 So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? ”
We get so tied up in our little religious lives that we can’t see all of the sin in our own lives.
87% of young non-Christians ages 18-34 say that the term judgmental accurately describes present day Christians.
And we wonder why we don’t attract young couples in our churches today.
Dr. W. A. Criswell, was the pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, TX, for many years. One day he was talking to his son and said that if he ever had a moral lapse in his life and it caused him to sin, that He hoped that no-one in the church would find out, because according to Dr. Criswell, “Christians are the most unforgiving and judgmental people on the face of the earth.
We set in our pews and in our homes and judge people, we go to Walmart and judge people because of the way people look or dress.
An author by the name of Phillip Yancey once said, “Having spent time around sinners and also around self proclaimed saints, I have a hunch why Jesus spent so much time with the former group: I think He preferred their company. Because the sinners were honest about themselves and had no pretense, Jesus could deal with them. In contrast, the saints put on airs, judged him, and sought to catch him in a moral trap. In the end it was the saints, not the sinners, who arrested Jesus.”
Jesus had compassion on people.
The word compassion comes from two Latin words, cum and passio
The word cum means “with” and the word passio means “to suffer.”
So the word compassion means “to suffer with.”
Jesus had compassion because He understood people’s problems.
He loved them despite their problems and hang-ups.
1 Corinthians 13:4-13 (NLT) tells us, “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when full understanding comes, these partial things will become useless. When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.”
We all have lost loved ones, but what about those people who have lost loved ones but then have a tragedy such as a fire or tornado, or even a hurricane. These people have now lost the pictures and air looms that they used to remember their loved ones by. Now all they have left is love. But love will last forever. It conquers all.
We have to have a heart of compassion if we are truly going to serve people as Christ did.
We have to have love.
There are a lot of great love stories in the world.
Some of you have your own love story, how you met your spouse, those little things that make them so special.
But the best love story in the world is
John 3:16-17, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
God has so much love for us that He sent His son to die for us.
Now having a child has changed my whole view of death.
My daughter means the world to me.
The only thing I fear worse than losing her, is something happening to me and her having to grow up without her father.
We have a father who will never leave us.
God would only leave us if He didn’t care about us and our problems.
But he sent His son to die for our sins, I think that alone shows He cares and that He loves us still today.
John 15:9-17 tells us, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.”
Jesus gave us a command, LOVE EACH OTHER!
How can Christ shine through us if we do not love those around us?
Are you following Christ’s command?
Do you love others? Not just your family, but your neighbors, coworkers, others you come in contact with.
1 John 4:7-8 says, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
If we are going to call ourselves Christians then we have to love one another, otherwise we are sinning.
There is a story about a little boy visiting his grandparents and he was given his first slingshot. He practiced in the woods, but he could never hit his target. As he came back to Grandma’s back yard, he spied her pet duck. On an impulse he took aim and let fly. The stone hit, and the duck fell. The boy panicked. Desperately he hid the duck in the woodpile, only to look up and see his sister watching. Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing. After lunch that day, Grandma said, "Sally, let’s wash the dishes." But Sally said, "Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen today. Didn’t you, Johnny?" And she whispered to him, "Remember the duck” So Johnny did the dishes. Later Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing. Grandma said, "I’m sorry, but I need Sally to help make supper." Sally smiled and said, "That’s all taken care of. Johnny wants to do it." Again she whispered, "Remember the duck." Johnny stayed while Sally went fishing. After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and his sisters, he couldn’t stand it any longer. He confessed to Grandma that he’d killed the duck. "I know, Johnny," she said, giving him a hug. "I was standing at the window and saw the whole thing. Because I love you, I forgave you. I wondered how long you would let Sally make a slave of you.”
Don’t let sin make a slave of you. It’s can be so easy to do sometimes.
If we are not careful we can have hatred for others build in our hearts through something called judgment.
We become the judge of the world and the people around us.
If you don’t have love in your heart something is wrong.
The greatest commandment that Jesus gave us is to Love Him, and the second is to love our neighbor.
As Christians we must get along, there should be no divisions in the church.
There should be nothing but love for Christ and your neighbor.
If you are holding a grudge, today is the day to let it go.
