Pastor Allan Kircher
Shell Point Baptist Church
16 February, 2014
How Christians Should Celebrate Valentine’s Day
1 Corinthians 13:8-13:13
• Friday was Valentine’s Day
• Have you ever wondered how Valentine’s Day got started?
• Here’s the story:
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• Approx. 250 years after Jesus/born in Bethlehem
• Priest/name/Valentine/lived/Rome.
• Claudius Emperor of Rome
• people called/Claudius the Cruel
• St. Valentine didn’t like Emperor Claudius
• He wasn’t/only one! Many people felt the same way.
Claudius wanted a big army
• Thought men should volunteer to join.
• Many men just did not want to leave home
• Didn’t want to go off to fight in wars.
• Didn’t want to leave/girlfriends/wives.
• So, not many men volunteered/Roman army
• Made Emperor Claudius very angry.
He had a crazy idea if men were not married, they would be more inclined to join his army.
• So Claudius decreed/no more marriages.
• Young people thought his new law was really cruel.
• Valentine thought it was ridiculous!
• One/favorite duties/priest/marry people.
After Emperor Claudius passed his law, Valentine kept on performing marriage ceremonies – but secretly.
He would whisper the words/ceremony while on the steps.
We’ll get more of the St. Valentine story a little later
• How do we celebrate Valentine’s Day?
• Stand up/truth/proclaim/Gospel/God’s love.
• Ps. 40:9-10
Sometimes it is:
• Dangerous/stand up against injustice/hatred/prejudice
• difficult to oppose the world’s view of things
• Difficult to proclaim the truth of God’s Love.
• But that is what St. Valentine did!
• That is what we are called to do!...
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1 Cor. 1:18 says…
• So we can expect opposition/unsaved!
• Our message is foolishness to them!
• not always going to be easy to stand up for Jesus
• won’t always be easy to tell of His love
• Doesn’t give us an excuse for remaining silent!
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Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit Apostle Paul writes in Romans 1:16… “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
Paul explains how boldness to proclaim the truth comes to us.
Romans 5:5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
It was Holy Spirit power and agape love for Jesus/transformed a band of scared disciples/day Jesus was crucified into a bold team of Gospel proclaimers.
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According to tradition, all of Jesus’ disciples except John died horrible deaths rather than deny their Lord.
They all went out under dangerous conditions…
• to spread the Gospel.
• Paul wrote a letter of encouragement to Timothy.
• 2 Tim. 1:7 says… For God did not give us the spirit…
And in 1:8…So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God.
• Paul tells Timothy not be ashamed/testimony of our Lord!
• Then he tells Timothy what he might have to face!
• “share with me in the sufferings for the gospel”
• Not everyone we speak to about Jesus will want to hear it!
• Some people may try to stop us!
• Some people may choose to avoid us!
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• Now, let me make one thing very clear!
• We should be willing to tell people about Jesus
• we should never try to ram it down their throats
Jesus said in John 3:17….For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
Unfortunately, many Christians think they are doing right
by running around shaking their judgmental fingers at lost sinners!
• Hit people over the head/bunch of Bible verses
Trying/convince them/they are going to hell if they don’t change their ways!
We should never try to lead them to Christ by being mean-spirited and hateful!
• The Gospel is a message of Love!
• God loves the sinners!
• Jesus loves them so much He was willing to die for them!
You won’t convince them that the Gospel is true..
• that God really does love them…
• If they don’t see some love in you!
• Let’s get back to our story about St. Valentine!
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One night, Valentine did hear footsteps at his door. The couple he was marrying escaped, but he was caught. He was thrown in jail and told that his punishment was death.
And that brings me to the next point of this sermon!
• Die to self for the sake of others.
John 15:13, Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
• Jesus says/genuine love is seen in a person
• Willing to lay down his life for his friends.
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When I meet with couples before performing their marriage I ask them if they would be willing to die for the other.
• They always say, "Yes!"
• They would die for the one they love.
• But in our daily lives/Not many ever face/life/death situation.
• We may never ever get a chance to die for another person!
========================================However, every day we do get opportunities to die to self.
Presented with many situation to sacrifice our wants for the wants of another.
• 1 John 3:16…..
• Not confined to actually dying for another person!
• Sacrificing your wants for the needs of others!
• Placing other people’s feelings above your own!
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Galatians 2:20 says:
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Galatians 5:24..And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
• Old carnal nature/causes us/selfish people/must be crucified!
• Holy Spirit within us persuades us to think of others!
Ephesians 5:2 says:
And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.
• Cannot “walk in love” and be selfish at the same time
• Sacrifice what you want for what your loved one wants.
• Let’s get back to our Valentine story!
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St. Valentine tried to stay cheerful. Many young people came to the jail to visit him. They threw flowers and notes up to his window. They wanted him to know that they, too, believed in love.
• One of these young people was/daughter/prison guard.
• Her father allowed her to visit him in his cell.
• They often sat and talked for hours.
• She believed he did the right thing by ignoring the Emperor and performing marriage ceremonies.
• Let’s move on now to the next point of this message!
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Give your life to Jesus
John 3:16….
• O.K. We claim to believe in Jesus and so we are saved!
• But are we loving people?
• 1 John 4:8-9 says...
If we are truly living through Him then we will walk in love!
1 John 4:16b…God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.
If we have given our lives to Jesus then we will abide in Him!
• To give your life/Jesus means becoming a new creature!
• 2 Cor. 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ…
• A truly “born again” Christian wants to please Jesus!
• Do you go thru day/I’m I pleasing Jesus?
• This action? This statement? This expression?
1 John 5:3 “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.
And what commandments is this talking about?
1 John 3:23 “And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.
So, we believe in Jesus as the Son of God who came to save us through His death on the cross and we choose to love one another!
• This “love” Bible talks about/sacrificial “agape” love
• Desires nothing but the best for others!
• God is love and the source of true love.
• Well, let’s see how our Valentine story ends!
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On the day Valentine was to die, he left her a note thanking her for her friendship and loyalty.
• He signed it, "Love from your Valentine."
• note started/custom/exchanging love notes/Valentine’s Day
• Written on the day he died, February 14, 269 A.D.
• Now, every year on that day, people remember.
• More importantly, they think about love and friendship.
When they think of Emperor Claudius, they remember how he tried to stand in the way of love, and they laugh -- because they know that love can’t be beaten!
CLOSING:
God loved us enough to die for us!
• St. Valentine loved God enough to die for God’s Truth.
What better way to celebrate/Valentine’s Day than to commit or recommit your life to Jesus?
I want to close by sharing some Bible verses about love!
Psalm 36:8 O Lord, how precious is your love. My God, the children of the earth find refuge in the shelter of your wings.
Psalm 40:12 Your merciful love/your truth will always guard me.
Psalm 13:5-6 But I have trusted in Your steadfast love; my heart
shall rejoice in thy salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me.
Psalm 19:20 The Lord came to my support. He set me free in the open, and rescued me, because He loves me.
Psalm 63:3 For Your love is better than life; my lips will praise You.
Psalm 86:15 But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
Romans 8:35, 37-39 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?....No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And our Scripture for today says in 1 Cor. 13:13
13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
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Love is the greatest thing we can possess as Christians!
It is the thing that will last!
• Grade School, we gave out valentines.
• Good for some kids in the class.
• Boys/girls who/popular/recvd more valentines/anyone else.
• Some/classmates got lots of nice valentines!
• Others got a few.
• And some did not get any.
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These Valentines from God are not just for a few.
• They are for you...for me... for everyone!
• Not just for February 14th..But/every day of the year.
Each day is Valentine’s Day when you are the beloved of God!
