Loose Your Love, Loose Your Light
Revelation 2:1-5
I heard a story once about a lighthouse and rescue squad off of a dangerous point on a certain seacoast. They did a wonderful job rescuing the hurting and lost, that is until the town got the idea of reconditioning the old lighthouse for a newer and better one. It was completed and so nice that the community began meeting there and having other club social events. Before long everyone was having such a good time at the club socials that no one wanted to do the rescuing. But after all, rescuing was in its mission, and it was a lighthouse so they appointed a rescuing committee.
One rainy evening there was a terrible shipwreck off the coast and the rescue committee went out and returned to the lighthouse with hurting and bleeding victims. At the next club meeting a vote was taken to build a bathhouse to clean up the bleeding victims before they brought them into the lighthouse. Someone argued against it, but was told to go start your own lighthouse if you didn’t agree, which they did.
Today the seacoast is still a dangerous place and there are many shipwrecks. The coast is filled with elaborate lighthouses, but most of the victims these days drown.
WE HAVE BEEN CALLED TO BE LIGHT
If the church is affective today the evidence of it will be how we affect the darkness in this world.
The Bible says in Philippians 2:15 That Christ wants us to be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
And again the Bible says in Matthew 5:14,16 “Ye are the light of the world.”
• Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father, which is in heaven.
The church shines today by being different from a crooked, and perverse world. Unfortunately, it’s getting harder to tell the churches from the world. Our churches are just about as selfish as our local clubs. The works that are carried out are not done in love, but to make them look good. We need to be filling our communities with good works, and the key to good works is going to stem from the love we have for those we offer the good works to.
Light is influencing, and we are called to be that influence. We have to penetrate the darkness because there are lost souls at stake. Our neighbors, our friends, and our families need us to step up to what God is calling us to do and make a difference in this world.
WE’VE BEEN CALLED TO LOVE
Christ summarizes the best way we can be that light to a particular lawyer when the Lawyer asked Him in,
Matthew 22:36-40 Master which [is] the great commandment in the law?
* Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.
* And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
You see, if we ever accomplish great evangelistic campaigns, if we ever make the church a positive influence in the world again, it will only happen because the church has fallen back in love with God and others.
Christ, told the church of Ephesus, “You have left your first love!” They had some good characteristics. They could recognize what was good and what was evil, but without love it was as “sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal” (1Cor.13:1) You see, in God’s eyes love is the key factor, not duty, not laws, but love!
Now here’s an interesting thing God says to the church of Ephesus, He tells them that if they don’t repent, He will remove the candlestick from them. In other words, God said to the church, all of your works are not going to make a difference in your communities without love. We need to do what we do because we love one another and God. That is when our neighbors will experience Christ’s church at its best.
So here’s where my title comes from, loose your love and you’ll loose your light!
So what do we need to do? Well the first thing we need, if we‘re going to influence our community is have:
A LOVE FOR GOD THAT KEEPS US FROM LOVING THE WORLD
1 John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things [that are] in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
James 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
Titus 2:11-12 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
The grace of God teaches us all about denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, and about living righteously and Godly. God is interested in us walking in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. You can’t be a light or an influence to others if you’re as dark as the world.
When we love God with all of our hearts, souls and minds, we recognize that what God stands for is the opposite of the world’s agenda. God’s grace that has saved us is also teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. God knows that our light shines brightest when we are living righteously, soberly, and Godly in this present world for Christ’s sake and the sake of others. We do that best when we’re truly head over heels in love with them.
It’s a sad day in the life of the church when we can’t see a difference between the church and the world. I’m afraid there are church members who are getting use to the dark. Here’s what God’s word has to say about that too:
John 3:19 “Men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil!” Notice the words, "loved darkness" Instead of loving God there’s a love for the darkness. Oh how we need to examine the object of our love.
When we loose our love for God and others we loose our light!
The second thing we need is to have:
A LOVE FOR OTHERS THAT WILL CAUSE US TO WANT TO BE ATTRACTIVE
When I saw my wife for the very first time,I did everything I could to get her to be attracted to me. I put my best foot forward. I did everything I could to get her attention and to win her heart! I loved her and I wanted her to love me!! The church needs to be attractive to the lost world. Jesus was! Sinners longed to be around HIm, and He went to where they were. We have to be intentional in our attractiveness. The church needs to put its best foot forward. If we are the body, we need to look our best, act our best, and show an onlooking world that we care for them.
The problem with many churches that I’m seeing today is that instead of loving and being concerned for others we become distracted and concerned for ourselves. The churches are becoming like the lighthouse I mentioned at the start. They’re becoming more like social clubs instead of spiritual hospitals.
We can get so concerned about ourselves and about our denomination that we will be offensive to people in need just to keep ourselves looking good in our denomination’s eyes. But true Love will cover a multitude of sins. We may be loving but it’s a love for ourselves and not for those needing Christ.
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When we quit loving, we quit shining. When we quit shinning, we quit being attractive to the communities. The churches have hidden their lights today under the bushels of pride, arrogance, and selfishness. The world knows it, God knows it, but the church of Ephesus and our churches are having a hard time seeing it. God has warned that He will remove our candlestick or (our light)
We could use a bushel burning today. Many of our Churches have their light hidden under one.
Jesus died because He loved His Father and because He loved you!! We need to repent and fall in love all over again. Lord, help us not to get caught up in our buildings and our activities and forget about letting our lights shine. Help us to rescue the perishing and care for the dying.
