REVIEW LOVE IS THE GREATEST OF ALL Because God is Love
1. the selfless promotion of others is applying GOD DIRECTLY TO THE PERSON.
e. It is the one sure fire way to make sure your faith doesn’t work
i. Faith doesn’t work without the selfless promotion of others…it is dependent on love in order to work.
ii. You can’t treat people badly and expect your faith to reach out and pull in the blessings of God
f. It is HOW people know you’re a Christian! IT IS THE EVIDENCE OF THE RENEWED SPIRIT.
II. The greatest enemy to LOVE
a. The world is hurting and that pain will never stop unless we get the root of the problems that plague individuals and societies. THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM IS THE GREATEST ENEMY TO LOVE
b. 2 Timothy 3:1-6 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
i. For men will be lover’s of themselves (“lover of (one’s) own self” once. 1 loving one’s self. 2 too intent on one’s interest, selfish.)
c. The greatest enemy of Love is SELFISHNESS!
d. Selfishness is the source of all the world’s trouble. Look at what it leads to in the scripture above….
e. Selfishness comes in so many different forms, that is why we don’t recognize it.
i. Babies
ii. Children who take other kids toys
iii. Our desire to look better and do better than other people
iv. Our cringing when someone we don’t think deserves blessing, gets blessed anyway
v. Selfishness is all about BEING FIRST IN EVERYTHING!
1. There is nothing wrong with wanting to do our best, IT IS WRONG TO ENJOY SEEING OTHERS FAIL SO THAT WE CAN SUCCEED.
f. ALL FORMS OF SELFISHNESS ARE BAD
i. There is no harmless form of it…
1. The pain caused in our world from Sexual Abuse is from selfishness
a. 66% of all prostitutes are victims of child sexual abuse
b. 36.7 of all women in prison were abused as children
c. 1/3 of abused children will later abuse their own children
d. 94% of all sexual abuse victims are under the age of 12 the first time they are abused.
e. ALL OF IT BEGINS WITH SOMEONE BEING SELFISH
2. Greed is selfishness
a. The spirit of never being satisfied and always wanting more.
b. THE CRISIS OF DEBT IS BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE SELFISH AND WANT MORE
c. People regularly kill, steal, and lie for money and all of that is rooted in selfishness
3. Divorce
a. I DO NOT THINK PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN DIVORCED ARE BAD PEOPLE BUT SELFISHNESS IS THE ROOT OF ALL DIVORCE
b. One way or the other
c. How different would marriage be in our world if we got married and set our minds to do all we could do to keep our partner happy…not ourselves.
i. Well what if I am taken advantage of
ii. That’s cautious but still selfish thinking.
iii. WE NEED TO PUT FAITH IN THE WORD OF GOD AND NOT OUR PARTNER ANYWAY
1. 1 Cor 13:8 – LOVE NEVER FAILS
2. Even if they are selfish and don’t respond and maybe even leave you….GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU, RESTORE YOU, AND IF YOU’RE FAITH IS IN HIM…AND YOU WALK IN HIS LOVE INSTEAD OF SELFISHNESS IT WILL NEVER FAIL!
3. I am in charge of the harvest that I receive in my life because it is based on the seeds I sow. If we sow mercy, we reap mercy. If we sow love we will reap love!
4. Any other terrible thing you can think of is based in selfishness!
ii. Real joy is not found in getting your way all the time
1. How many times have we gotten our way and ended up just a miserable.
2. How do you respond when you don’t get what you want? ARE YOU ABLE TO TRUST GOD TO TAKE CARE OF YOU OR DO YOU LIVE IN FEAR THAT IF YOU DON’T TAKE CARE OF YOU NOBODY ELSE WILL?
g. Selfishness is a choice
i. We need to love ourselves or else we can’t love others
1. Mark 12:29-31 29 Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. 30 And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. 31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
2. But we should not be so in love with ourselves that we are the center of our world and all we care about is getting what we want.
a. That goes to giving to someone else ONLY WHAT YOU WANT THEM TO HAVE
b. Advertisers trick us to believing we want what they are selling…but the truth is we want what they are offering because that’s all they are offering. In turn they are giving us what they want us to have
c. You ever decide to bless someone but were offended by what they wanted to be blessed with? YOU EVER BUY SOMEONE A GIFT AND WERE OFFENDED THEY TOOK IT BACK AND GOT SOMEONTHING ELSE?
i. By blessing you are getting what you want not necessarily what the person wants
d. We can not fail to realize that the true path to happiness is GIVING OUR LIVES AWAY RATHER THAT TRYING TO KEEP IT FOR OURSELVES.
e. Mark 8:34-35 34 When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me 35 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.
h. We don’t learn it we are born with it
i. Just like LOVE is put into the recreated spirit automatically, SELFISHNESS is born preprogrammed into our flesh
1. Why we cry when we come out
ii. It is this automatic response, that is hard to identify and over come that actually hides the love of God we have when we are born again.
iii. Phil 4:5 5 Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon.
iv. Matthew 5:16 let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.
v. But it is our LOVE and Generosity that shows GOD SO IF YOU’RE GOING TO WALK WITH THE GREATEST YOU HAVE TO STOP THINKING ABOUT YOURSELF AND HOW IS IT GOING TO AFFECT YOU?
vi. We are so accustomed to seeing that our desires are satisfied that the very thought of forgetting about ourselves even for a day is frightening.
1. But when will I take care of my needs….etc
2. NOBODY is telling you to forget yourself totally, but I am telling you that you shouldn’t be consumed with yourself because you are leaving less room for LOVE to shine out of you. You are giving in to Love’s greatest enemy.
