Testify of Love
Matthew 5:13-16
Thom Tapp, a pastor in TN and one of my favorite cartoonists said this yesterday, “Thanksgiving is not a season, it is a way of life. How can a Christian NOT be thankful?”
As born again believers, we have every reason to be thankful, and not just once a year...but daily.
And most of all, I think we should be thankful when it comes to service.
If you were here last Sunday morning, you know that I presented a challenge...a dare if you will.
It was the love loud dare, an opportunity for all of us to intentionally make an effort to show someone the love of God, not just in words but in deed.
Not only say you love, but demonstrate love and do it loudly!
Here is that challenge...read it.
Before the day is over I want to give you an opportunity to share, as the Lord leads, a bit of your experiences from this past week.
I want you to testify of love this morning.
But first, lets consider God’s word in light of this past week of service and this week of Thanksgiving.
Read Matt. 5:13-16 and pray.
Transition:
Last week we were challenged with the Love Loud Dare, a call for us to love loudly in our church and community…in both word and deed.
This morning, I want us to testify of love…sharing a few of our experiences from this past wee; but first let’s consider what Scritpture says about why we should love loud.
3 truths I want us to consider this morning about loving loud, first of all we love loud...
1.To be salt
Jesus said that we are to be the salt of the earth.
Think about the many uses of salt, and just how they relate to us as born again believers.
Here are 3 things that salt does...
A.Adds Flavor (make things better)
Anybody here works in a hospital kitchen?
OK, let’s talk about that food then.
Have you ever eaten hospital room food?
I don’t think there is anything more bland than hospital food.
You bite into it and you taste...nothing.
So what do you do?
You grab the salt and pepper...why?
To add taste, to make it better.
Folks, we are here to make things better.
We are here to love loud in action and deed.
We should make things better in this world, and most of all make others hunger for what we have.
Psalm 34:8
When we are salt, doing good by loving loudly, we should have an influence on others for what we have.
While we make this world a better place, we also influence others to taste and see that we have the good stuff.
Along with adding flavor, salt also has a tendency to...
B.Make Thirsty
Too much salt can cause someone to become thirsty.
Illus: When I was in Zimbabwe as a summer missionary we had to go out one day to get some fire wood, the reason we needed fire wood was to have hot water.
While most, if not all of us, have our water heaters indoors and attached to either gas or electric, the water heat on our mission statement was a water tank on top of a wood burning heater.
If we wanted a hot shower in the morning, we got up early enough to start the fire and get the water warmed up in time to grab that shower.
So, we went out one day to get some fire wood, loading up on the laurie truck and heading out with axes in hand and some snacks to keep our energy up.
We got out there, grabbed our equipment and started to work, “I’m a lumberjack and that’s OK, I sleep all night and work all day!”
But here is the deal though, idiot boy here found the bag of sunflower seeds and popped a handful of them in his mouth.
I got to my log and started swinging away, and started sweating and then realized I had a mouth full of sunflower seeds...salty sunflower seeds.
Yeah, that little canteen of water I brought didn’t last too long.
Isa. 55:1 says....
People should see that the only provision for their thirst is God by our witness, by our loud love.
We should live our lives in a way and love loudly so that people will see that the nourishment they need can only come from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Like salt makes us thirsty, our lives should make others thirsty for God.
And a final use of salt is that...
C.Promotes Change
Actual changes take place as a result of salt.
In northern states where snow is an issue in the winter a mixture of salt and sand is laid down on the road to melt the snow and ice and make the driving conditions a bit safer.
And if you were to see the bottom of vehicles driven for a long time in these northern states you would see that it is a rusty mess as a result of the salt.
In fact where I grew up in New Iberia, we had 3 islands in the area, all being salt domes...and you could usually tell which vehicles were used by salt mine workers to go back and forth to work.
The paint was not only chipping away to rust, but in some cases there were actual holes in the body of the vehicle.
Why?
The salt caused changes.
Folks, God has called us to be agents of change.
Promoting and encouraging change through the life changing Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Not just saying “don’t smoke, drink, cuss and chew....or date girls who do”...but sharing the gospel that leads someone to want to make that change.
But you cannot be an agent of change unless you have been changed yourself.
And that change is called salvation, and it comes by grace through faith alone.
Have you given your life to Jesus Christ?
Called upon Him so that your sins might be forgiven?
If not, today is your day.
How...
So, Jesus said when we love loud we do it to be salt, but He also says...
2.To be light
We are to be a light to the world, in our community and beyond...and Jesus said nothing should hide that light.
And when we love loud, the light probably shines the brightest.
Two things about light, first of all it...
A.Pierces Darkness
I was never real good in sciences, but one thing I did learn in basic earth and physical science was that darkness does not overtake the light.
While it may seem to be “dark”, all you need is a little bit of light to pierce it.
ILLUS: When we lived in KY took a weekend trip down to Leitchfield and took one of the tours of Mammoth Cave.
If you aren’t familiar with Mammoth Cave, it is one of the largest cavern systems in the US with over 350 miles of it mapped...and that is just a small fraction of what it covers.
The tour we were on took us deep into the caverns and we got to a point where the tour guide told us to stand still and experience total darkness...and he shut off the lights.
And it seemed like we were encompassed by the dark, you couldn’t even see your hand in front of your face...it was actually a bit frightening.
While it only lasted for a few seconds, it seemed much longer, he finally turned on a light...and it pierced through the darkness.
Darkness only exists where there is no light, but when there is light the darkness stands no chance.
Folks, as light, we are to pierce through the darkness of the world we live in.
1 John 1:5 says....
And it is that light that resides in us and should shine through us...and it should pierce the darkness by our loud love.
Along with piercing the darkness, also know that light...
B.Shows the Way
I’ve mentioned before my experience serving as a camp staffer at Central Hills Baptist Retreat, located in the rolling hills of central MS.
The camp is in a dense wooded area, mostly pine and maple trees, with trails running from place to place.
At night, being 10 miles from the nearest town, those wooded areas would get very dark...and as a result, a flash light was of the utmost importance.
So, with handy dandy light in hand I would gather my campers in a straight line and hit those trails...and I would lead them as we would walk until we saw what we were looking for in the dark; which was light.
Either at the camp center, the lodge, our activity area or camping area...we knew when saw that light in the darkness we were not only heading in the right direction but also near our destination.
We are to be the ones pointing people in the right direction...which is into a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
As a camp counselor I could have taken up the flash lights and sent my kids off into the woods and said, “OK, see you in the chapter...get there the way you see best!”
I could have, but then a search a rescue would have been needed for the ones who would have just given up and floundered on the trail in the darkness.
Sounds a bit like the world we live in, huh?
Jesus said that He alone is the Way, the Truth and the Life...and the only way to God is through Him, and that too should be our message.
We need to be like Peter after Pentecost who proclaimed “There is no other name under heaven by which men must be saved”...and proclaim it in both word and deed.
And that is best done when we love loud.
Why do we love loud?
We do it to be salt, we do it to be light and then we also do it...
3.To God be the glory
We should do what we do for one reason, so that God would be glorified.
We love loudly so that God might be glorified, because when it is all said and done, that is what really matters.
All of creation screams out to the glory of God...beginning with creation itself.
When God said “It is good”, that meant He was glorified.
And on His mind...is you and me and all of mankind.
Listen to what Psalm 8:1-5 says.
He crowns us in His glory by creating us in His image, and then takes it one step further by saving us through His Son who died so that God might be glorified in our salvation.
And when we love loudly and minister to each other and become salt and light to those who need us to be salt and light...yep, you guessed it, God is glorified.
And when God is glorified and the Son is lifted up...men will be drawn to Him.
And that is why we love loud...so that people will be drawn to Christ for salvation.
When we testify of love, I believe that people will be saved...when we let our actions and words match.
Transition:
This week, as you stepped out and loved loud, hope it wasn’t just a one time event.
I hope these were just some fresh examples of how you can love loudly and show others that God loves them...because ultimately, that is what they need to know.
Especially now as we head toward the Christmas holidays, people need to know that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten....
