DON’T BE A BUMPER CAR CHRISTIAN
Jn. 13:34-35
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: CHURCH BULLETIN
1. An English teacher was at church reading a poster on the wall (not our church) which ended with “Donations Excepted.” 2. She couldn’t resist and marked through the word “Excepted” and put “Accepted.”
3. After the service, she walked back by the poster and noticed someone had marked through her word “Accepted.”
4. Curiosity drove her to see what the correction had been. It now read, “Donations Expected!”
B. BUMPER CAR CHRISTIANS?
1. How many of you have good memories of bumper cars? Sore necks or backs?
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqnko_x9KD0
Only the first two minutes.
3. Life is a lot like “bumper cars” at an amusement park. You get in your car, knowing that you will get hit . . . you just don’t know how hard.
4. And when you get hit, you step on the gas pedal, chase the one who has hit you, and hope to bump that person harder than they have bumped you.
5. That may be a fun strategy for bumper cars, but it’s a terrible strategy for life. When you get bumped in life, bumping back only escalates matters and in the end everyone suffers damage.
6. Jesus had a better strategy: Forgive those who have “bumped” us. Like Peter, we may wonder how many times we have to forgive. The Lord’s answer was that there was no limit to grace. (Matt. 18:21-22). [Joe Stowell]
C. TEXT
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Jn. 13:34-35.
D. THESIS
1. This morning we’re going to see how we can better represent Jesus to a lost world, our church, and our families.
2. Title: “Don’t Be a Bumper Car Christian!”
I. NATURAL REACTIONS TO MISTREATED
There are many situations that can provoke us to unChristlike responses:
1. Bad driver cuts in, almost wrecks you;
2. Boss gets onto you without cause;
3. A family member is belligerent, hateful to you.
4. A church member ignores you.
5. Your Christian values are mocked by unbelievers. HOW DO YOU REACT?
A. HURT -- it hurts!
1. Nobody likes rejection, or to be the butt of jokes, but it’s a part of life, to some extent, and also part of our lot as Christians.
2. "All who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" 2 Timothy 3:12. Peter says in his epistle that persecution is a witness that the Spirit of God is within us (1 Peter 4:14).
B. GET DEFENSIVE OR DENIAL
1. Take up for yourself.
2. Or deny the criticism is true.
3. HUMOR
a. Who knows how many pints are in a quart? (2)
b. On her way to a picnic, Julie Guiterrez stopped at a fast food place to order a quart of potato salad. "We don't sell it by the quart," the clerk snapped.
c. "Okay, then give me two pints, please," she replied.
d. Julie added, “I'm proud to say I held my tongue when she asked, "Do you want it in one container?"”
C. GET EVEN – ATTACK YOUR ENEMIES
1. In the flesh, you can even justify revenge or spiritualize it.
2. ILLUSTRATION.
a. Did you hear about the efficiency expert who did a seminar on time management for a company's junior executives? He ended one of his lectures with a disclaimer. "Don't attempt these task-organizing tips at home," he said. "Why not?" someone asked.
b. "I did a study of my wife's routine of fixing breakfast," he said sheepishly. "She made a lot of trips between the refrigerator and the stove, the table and the cabinets — often carrying only one item. So I asked my wife, ‘Honey, why don't you try carrying several things at once so you can be more efficient.' "
c. "Did that save time?" the questioner continued. "Actually, yes," the lecturer replied. "It used to take her twenty minutes to get my breakfast. Now I get my own in seven."
D. HOLD A GRUDGE/ BITTERNESS
"A grudge is the only thing that doesn't get better when it is nursed" (Treasury, p. 113).
II. SPECIFICS OF THE WAY OF LOVE
A. LOVE IN SHOE LEATHER
1. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8; “4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails.
2. This is a description of love in practical and personal ways. Are we always patient? Always kind? Do we boast? Are we self-seeking? Easily angered? Do we keep a record of other’s wrongs? [We ALL have a lot of work to do!]
B. LORD JESUS’ DESCRIPTION OF LOVE
1. 27 “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat….30do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. 35 But love your enemies….and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Luke 6:27-31, 33, 35.
2. In other words, we’re to do the opposite of what we’d like to do. We should “Love…bless…pray…do good.”
C. WHAT GOD TOLD JANET SEEVER
1. When Janet Seever was assigned to work with Rose, a middle-aged woman with graying hair. Nothing she did could please Rose. Her words stung her.
2. All day long Rose bossed Janet and told her all she did wrong. That night Janet, fighting back tears, prayed, "Lord, what do you want me to do? I can't take much more of Rose."
3. What the Lord impressed her with caught her completely by surprise -- she needed to love Rose. Janet replied, "Lord, I can't love Rose. You'll have to do it through me."
4. In the days that followed, Janet surrounded Rose with a warm blanket of prayers. She prayed, "Lord, help me love Rose!"
5. An amazing thing began to happen; Janet started seeing Rose as the hurting person she was. She learned Rose had elderly parents who needed her care, her own health problems, and an alcoholic husband she was thinking of leaving.
6. “I’ve learned that the world is full of people like Rose--irritating, demanding, unlovable. I've found that love is the best way to turn an enemy into a friend, and to plant the seed of the Gospel.”
III. WHY SHOULD WE BE LOVING/MERCIFUL?
A. BECAUSE GOD HAS BEEN LOVING TO US
1. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” Eph. 4:32.
2. Like the parable of the servant forgiven his large debt owed to the king, but wouldn’t forgive the small debt another man owed him – the King had him put in prison for not forgiving.
3. Since we’ve been forgiven, we must forgive!
B. WE DEMONSTRATE GOD’S CHARACTER
1. The world’s not going to see Jesus Christ In us until they see our love. We can’t act like lost people & represent Jesus. People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.
2. " God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them” 1 Jn. 4:16.
C. IF YOU WANT TO REAP MERCY, SHOW IT
1. Some people are afraid that if they’re too kind, people will run over them or take advantage of them.
2. It doesn't matter if people take advantage of us, as long as were acting like the Lord Jesus Christ. People took advantage of him. Don't let the takers make you cynical. Keep a positive attitude and an open heart.
D. BECAUSE IT HELPS US DIE OUT TO OURSELVES & BE MORE LIKE JESUS
1. Quote by Rick Warren, “God teaches us to love by putting some unlovely people around us.”
2. We grow into sons/daughters of our Father when we act like His kids – with grace & love!
IV. WHEN SHOULD WE SHOW LOVE?
A. TO ALL KINDS OF PEOPLE
1. IS THE PERSON A CHRISTIAN? Then they’re a part of your Body of Christ. If you harm them, you harm yourself & Christ.
2. IS THE PERSON UNSAVED?
a. If you're unChristlike to an unsaved person, you may drive them further away from Jesus. Instead of driving them away, win them to Jesus Christ!
b. Remember; the lost are watching us. A woman told a preacher that he had won her to Christ. He asked, "What sermon was it?" "None. It was when a man criticized you and you answered with kindness that I knew that what you had was real and from God."
B. PEOPLE ARE HURTING
1. Philippians 2:4 says, “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
2. Don't be so concerned about yourself that you can't see the needs of others. Be sensitive to others.
3. People with no friends, business failure, who are sick, or going through a divorce, have lost a loved one -- need a “touch” of compassion.
4. Remember the good Samaritan. He stopped his journey to help the bruised, battered, and bleeding man. It was a golden moment and he met the need.
5. DO YOU KNOW WHERE WE NEED TO BE KIND THE MOST?
C. OUR HOMES NEED JESUS
1. Why is it that we are the most unkind and say the most cutting remarks to those we love the best? "The Religion that doesn't begin in the home doesn't begin."
2. There are many marriages that could be saved by a little kindness. Emerson said, "Courtesy is made up of little sacrifices."
a. Husbands. Men should be the heads of their homes. But one of the marks of leadership is gentleness/ kindness. 2 Timothy 2:4 says; "The servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle."
b. Children. Psalm 18:35. The psalmist said, “Thy gentleness hath made me great." Do you want your children to be great? Be gentle to your children. Do you discourage or belittle them? To "belittle" is to be little. Your children need kindness -- they will grow and blossom under kind parents.
c. Wives. Proverbs 31:26 says of a virtuous woman, "She opens her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness." Your children need this kindness.
D. CHURCH MUST BE A HEALING PLACE
1. There was a man who'd had terrible things happen to him and experienced depression, and he came to church. All blessed him, but when he was driving out of the parking lot, a woman smiled and waved her hand.
2. Later, when contemplating suicide, the Lord brought the woman back to him. "Pastor," he said, "that smile saved my life." People around us need someone to love them!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. Josephine Ligon related an incident from her childhood that she never forgot. There was a family named Parsons in her hometown that preached and practiced forgiveness.
2. On one occasion, Josephine and some of her third-grade friends put a handful of pencil shavings into the Parsons girl’s sandwich.
3. They did it just to be mean and to make her mad. But she didn’t get mad.
4. Instead, the next day, without any sign of repentance from her persecutors, the Parsons girl brought everyone in the class a large, beautiful, hand-decorated cookie that said, “Jesus loves you.”
5. That little girl demonstrated the action of forgiveness and those third graders remembered it for the rest of their lives! (“Your Daffodils are Pretty,” Christianity Today [3/2/1979], p. 18).
B. ALTAR CALL
1. How many of you here this morning need healing from the bad treatment of someone? Do you need to forgive them for what they did?
2. Are there any of you who need to seek forgiveness from someone for being cruel, or selfish, or unkind?
3. How many of us need more of the Love of God toward others? More grace toward the lost? Let’s ask God to give us His love.
4. Let’s ask God to forgive our sins and to make us better Christians who think of others before ourselves.
