(Series) "Relaunch 2015"
pt. 1 - I Will Be Loving
Galatians 5:22-23
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Introduction: How many of you would like to make some changes in your life in 2015? I suspect that most of us would. If I told you that it is possible for you to radically change your life and that anyone could do it would you believe me? Well you can and over the next 9 messages we hope to show you how. Most of what I'm going to say applies to those who are already Christians but anyone who has a desire to see change in their life can benefit. When Paul wrote this letter he was dealing with a theological problem that involved some who wanted to teach that in order to be saved you had to put your faith in Jesus and then be circumcised, much like those today who insist that baptism or church membership is necessary for salvation. The primary theme of Galatians is the grace of God, yet much of Galatians is dedicated to the work of the Holy Spirit. For example, Galatians encourages us to live daily by the work of the Holy Spirit, because that is the only way that the grace of God comes to bear on and in and through our lives. By the time he gets to the 5th chapter he has already refuted their arguments and turned the emphasis upon what the Holy Spirit can do in the life of all those who trust Christ and him only. Those who held the position that I spoke about were trying to live the Christian life in the flesh and let me tell you that is an impossibility. We have many today who are doing the same thing and they are displaying all kinds of negative spiritual and personality traits but there is a better way and that brings us to these two verses. Bob Hoekstra writes: "Too many Christians, after meeting God, do not grow in acquaintance with God. And for some reason modern Christianity has become too accepting of this trend, as if it were the norm. God never intended us to me him in salvation and then be strangers until we stand before him in glory." There are so many who will say that they have been Christians for 20, 30 or even 50 years but the truth is they have not grown much past that first year and are just repeating their first years' experience 20,30, or 50 times without moving forward towards Christlikeness. Make no mistake my friends; the goal of God in salvation is Christlikeness. God wants to change us into the image (icon -- exact replica) of His Son in character, conduct and personality. If you don't believe me listen to these verses:
2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
The verb changed is in the perfect tense so it can be read, "...are being changed..."
1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
Let me translate the first few words before we get into our lesson. "The fruit of the Spirit..." is better translated "...the fruit that the Spirit produces..." The path to Christlikeness is a work of the Holy Spirit so obviously we must have the third person of the Trinity living within us to work in us. Second, we must yield to the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit in order for Him to produce fruit in us.
I want to present three principles for your consideration this morning. First let's consider:
I. The Argument for Love
In order for us to understand what love is and to have a biblical concept maybe it would be good for us to consider what it is not! It is not sentimentality. Let me give you one example. Have you ever heard someone say that they just did not have the heart to spank little Johnny or Suzie not matter what kind of behavior they exhibited because they "just loved them too much?" Well that's not love, it just sentimentality and misguided and misinformed at that. What does the Bible say about the subject of corporal correction? Just one verse ought to settle the issue.
Proverbs 13:24 Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him. ESV
Also love is not sensuality or sexuality. Our culture is soaked with sensuality and sexuality and it is based on selfishness and narcissism. People use people and then just discard them without any consideration or thought as to the other persons welfare. It is not a "crush" or infatuation. You hear of people who said they "fell" in love. The problem with that is if you can fall in you can fall out just as easily! Love is much than that because of its...
a. Consider Loves Source
1 John 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. This means that in His essence God is love. God is love therefore God loves! This may be an over simplification but it is true nonetheless. It is also true that when we come to know God personally we experience His love in a way that is unique. Paul wrote about this in:
Romans 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
Shed abroad means (ekkechutai). Perfect passive indicative of ekcheō, to pour out. "Has been poured out" in our hearts. This is an action that occurs in time with continuing results. When we come to Christ God "pours out" His love into our hearts. Until this happens we do not have the capacity to love like God loves.
b. Consider Loves Superiority
Most of you know that there are two main Greek words in the NT for love. One is phileo which would be characterized as "friendship" love and the other is agape which is the word that signifies the love of God, His love for the world, the love Christians have for each other, and the love of a Christian husband for his wife. It is a devotional, sacrificial love. Nowhere is the difference between the two words illustrated better than in the Lord's final dialogue with Peter.
John 21:15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest (agape) thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love (phileo) thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.
16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest (agape) thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love (phileo) thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest (agape) thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love (phileo) thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love (agape)
c. Consider Loves Stigma
1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
In Gal. 6:17 Paul said that he bore in his body the "marks" of the Lord Jesus. The word is where we get our word stigma. Love is the mark of a true believer.
It identifies us with Jesus and is the evidence that we truly are followers of Jesus Christ.
1 John 3:14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. KJV
Second consider:
II. The Analysis of Love
Fortunately for us we have Paul's analysis of "agape" love in 1 Corinthians 13.
a. Loves enhancement
Everything is made better by love. There is no act so menial that love does not enhance, ennoble, and elevate. Also, great deeds done without love are worthless.
Matthew 10:42 And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward."
1 Corinthians 13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. ESV
Love changes everything we do, everything we say and even how we think!
b. Loves explanation
In verses 4-7 Paul tells us what love does? Love is not passive but active.
1 Corinthians 13:4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant
5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. ESV
c. Loves endurance
1 Corinthians 8 Love never ends... ESV
Love is the gift that keeps on giving! Do you remember the woman who broke the alabaster box and poured the perfume on his head? Listen the words of our Lord:
Matthew 26:13 Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.
Finally consider:
III. The Application of Love
The purpose of "Relaunch" is not just to provoke thought or to provide information but to share truth that we lead to transformation and above all else I wanted to give you a real opportunity to change your life. This decision is in your hands, it's your choice. There is no doubt in my mind that becoming a more loving person will change you and those around. What are some of the thing that you can change?
a. Your practice
What will becoming a more loving person do to your behavior? Becoming a more loving person will increase your passion for God and the things of God. There will be a renewed desire to serve Him and others. You will focus on the needs of others instead of us. This is especially true of our brothers and sisters in Christ.
THE NEW DISHWASHER
In the fourth year of his layoff from his job, Dad gave Mom a dishwasher for Christmas. You have to understand the magnitude of the gift: Our old house had its original wiring and plumbing, and neither could handle the required installation. There was no spot in the small kitchen for such a large appliance. And we hadn't even been able to meet the mortgage interest payments for over six months. But Dad hated the thought of washing dishes; he would rather do anything else. And Mom had undergone major surgery that spring, a radical mastectomy for breast cancer, and found it difficult to do any work requiring the use of her arms. No large box appeared, no new plumbing or wiring was installed, no remodeling of the kitchen occurred. Rather, a small note appeared on a branch of the Christmas tree, handwritten by Dad: "For one year I will wash all of the dirty dishes in this household. Every one."
And he did. He really did.
SOURCE: Judy Rogers, Westerville, Ohio, in Guideposts, Dec. 1988.
Galatians 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. KJV
Galatians 6:9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
A HUNGRY ENEMY
A woman wrote to "Pulpit Helps" to explain a miraculous lesson her family experienced. During one of their family Bible readings as new Christians, they ran across the verse, "If your enemy is hungry, feed him" (Romans 12:20 RSV). She writes:
Ours sons, 7 and 10 at the time, were especially puzzled. "Why should you feed your enemy?" they wondered. My husband and I wondered too, but the only answer John could think of to give the boys was, "We're supposed to because God says so." It never occurred to us that we would soon learn why. Day after day John Jr. came home from school complaining about a classmate who sat behind him in 5th grade. "Bob keeps jabbing me when Miss Smith isn't looking. One of these days, when we're out on the playground, I'm going to jab him back. I was ready to go down to the school and jab Bob myself. Obviously the boy was a brat. Besides, why wasn't Miss Smith doing a better job with her kids? I'd better give her an oral jab, too, at the same time!" I was still fuming over this injustice to John Jr. when his 7 year old brother spoke up: "Maybe he should feed his enemy." The 3 of us were startled. None of us was sure about this "enemy" business. It didn't seem that an enemy would be in the 5th grade. An enemy was someone who was way off... well, somewhere. We all looked at John. Since he was the head of the family, he should come up with the solution. But the only answer he could offer was the same one he had given before: "I guess we should because God said so." "Well," I asked John Jr., "do you know what Bob likes to eat? If you're going to feed him, you may as well get something he likes." "Jelly beans," he almost shouted, "Bob just loves jelly beans." So we bought a bag of jelly beans for him to take to school the next day, and decided that the next time Bob jabbed John Jr., John was simply to turn around and deposit the bag on his "enemy's" desk. We would see whether or not this enemy feeding worked. The next afternoon, the boys rushed home from the school bus and John Jr. called ahead, "It worked, Mom! It worked." I wanted the details: "What did Bob do? What did he say?" "He was so surprised he didn't say anything - he just took the jelly beans. But he didn't jab me the rest of the day!" In time, John Jr. and Bob became the best of friends - all because of a little bag of Jelly Beans. Both of our sons subsequently because missionaries on foreign fields. Their way of showing friendship with any "enemies" of the faith was to invite the inhabitants of those countries into their own homes to share food with them around their own tables. It seems "enemies" are always hungry. Maybe that's why God said to feed them.
SOURCE: Pulpit Helps
b. Your personality
Henry Wingblade used to say that Christian personality is hidden deep inside us. It is unseen, like the soup carried in a bowl high over a waiter's head. No one knows what's inside--unless the waiter is bumped and he trips! Just so, people don't know what's inside us until we've been bumped. But if Christ is living inside, what spills out is the fruit of the Spirit.
Are you satisfied with who you are as a person? Are there things about yourself that you are not satisfied with? Are there things about your personality that seem to turn others off? Are you constantly in drama with those around you? Becoming a more loving person will take the rough edges off you personality and will soften the hard places in you. There is not an area of your personality that will not be enhanced and improved by love. But let me caution you with the words of J.B. Phillips who said, "Anyone who opens his personality to the living Spirit takes a risk of being considerably shaken.
c. Your profession
An unkind, unloving, bitter, unforgiving, grudge bearing, critical, judgmental Christian is not an attractive Christian and will have a detrimental influence for the cause of Christ. Instead of being an attraction they will be a distraction but it doesn't have to be that way. Some of you will say that you can't change or that you are too old and set in your ways to change but you are "selling the Holy Spirt short." He can change you and change your life but you must cooperate with Him. Yield yourself to the Spirit of God and He will produce a harvest of spiritual fruit in you!
Gary Thomas, in his book Authentic Faith, describes a friend of his named Mike. He met Mike when he went to college. Mike was a leader among students. He had everything: a contagious personality, athletic ability, good looks, and natural appeal. And everybody wanted to be around Mike. Everybody wanted to be Mike.
But a few years after college, Mike suffered a brain hemorrhage, and, as a result, he lost everything: his handsome appearance was gone, his voice was slurred, he couldn't teach any more. Everything that others admired in Mike was now taken from him.
His treatment required months of grueling therapy, but eventually he was able to function again. The devastating effect on his body was paralleled by an equally powerful change in his spirit. He still attracted followers, but he was no longer focused on himself. He was focused on God. In college, when I was around Mike, I wanted to be like Mike. Now, after spending time with Mike, I want to be more like Jesus."
My friend when people are around you do they want to be more like Jesus? If you love like Jesus loves the answer will be yes!
