Title: Pass It On-Love One Another
Place: BLCC
Date: 6/1/14
Text: Genesis 37:1-11
CT: May all who come behind us find us faithful in love.
According to a new study, science has apparently uncovered a shocking discovery: your cat doesn't love you (at least as much as your dog). Here's a summary of the study from Discover Magazine: "We're pretty sure this post is going to be hated by all the feline fanciers out there, but this study is just too good not to share. Here, researchers applied a test developed for use with children to investigate the relationships between cats and their humans. The SST can determine whether children, and apparently animals, view their caregivers as a source of safety in a threatening environment. It turns out that using this metric, dogs are 'securely attached' to their owners, but cats are 'not necessarily dependent on others to provide a sense of security and safety.'" So could it be that cats are aloof, trying to act like Christians who think they don't need community? Or are cats just more secure in who they are so they're less clingy than dogs? Which one do you feel more like?
This week we are dealing with the love we are to have for one another. Our job as Christian adults and leaders is to pass the baton of our faith to those who come behind us. If the baton is dropped the consequences can be eternal.
In God’s word there aren’t always good examples of how we should live. Often times God’s word shows us the consequences of living a way that is counter to God’s vision for us. All you have to do is look at some of the OT families to find some really dysfunctional folks.
I hope your childhood was or is a happy time where you felt safe, your mom and dad loved and cared for you, and your siblings were your best friends. If so, the story of Jacob and his sons may not apply to you.
But if not, you need to know you are not alone. The most famous family tree in the Bible suffered from a serious case of dysfunctionality.
Adam accused Eve.
Cain killed his little brother.
Abraham lied about Sarah.
Rebekah favored Jacob.
Jacob cheated Esau and then raised a gang hoodlums.
The book of Genesis is a relative disaster.
The story of Jacob’s family reads like a soap opera. The events leading up to the birth of Joseph show the weaknesses of the foundation of his family. With all due respect, the patriarch could have used a course on marriage and family life. Mistake number one: he married a woman he didn’t love so he could marry one he did. Mistake number two: the two wives were sisters. (Might as well toss a lit match into a fireworks stand.) The first sister bore him sons. The second sister bore him none. So to expand his clan, he slept with an assortment of handmaidens and concubines until he had a covey of kids. Rachel, his favorite wife, finally gave birth to Joseph, who became his favorite son. She later died giving birth to a second son, Benjamin, leaving Jacob with a mixed up household and a broken heart. This is the situation we find Jacob and his family as we come to our text today.
B. Genesis 37.1-11
1 Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.
2 This is the account of Jacob’s family line. Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate robe for him. 4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.
5 Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. 6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: 7 We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”
8 His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.
9 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”
10 When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
In The Message it says Jacob brooded over the whole business. He didn’t act to fix the problem . He didn’t deal with the issue that was bound to cause serious problems for his family. He avoided the problem.
C. Jacob’s lack of parenting here came with dire consequences. Joseph’s brothers hated him so much that they plotted to kill him-their own little brother. They did spare his life and only sold him into slavery. They deceived their father by taking the special coat that Jacob had made for Joseph and soaked it in blood and told Jacob his favorite son must have been killed by a wild beast and dragged away.
Though Jacob was beside himself with grief, the brothers lived with this lie for 22 years. When they found out Joseph had survived years later they did soften somewhat, but the family history during those 22 years includes rape, incest, immorality, bitterness and murder. Jacob had dropped the baton in many ways with most of his children. Jacob made two obvious mistakes with his sons.
II. A. Jacob’s Mistakes:
1) He did not communicate unconditional love to all of his children.
There was nothing wrong with Jacob’s loving Joseph and giving him a special coat. His mistake was in ignoring his other sons. He indulged Joseph while ignoring the needs of the other children.
Helps understand why they hated Joseph. Doesn’t excuse the way they treated him, but helps to explain why they did it. If you read the rest of the story, all these young men were insecure, insensitive and unspiritual. Think about it. Not one of the sons felt enough compassion for their father to tell him the truth though he mourned for 22 years.
2) He failed to train his sons to love others.
We know that Jesus said the first commandment to love God with all your heart, and the second is to love others as yourself. But the sons of Jacob couldn’t even love their own brothers. It was all about them. They were as self-centered as could be. The self-centeredness of our society is not really anything new.
Joseph didn’t do any better. Jacob failed there as well. If Joseph had been sensitive to the needs and feelings of his brothers, he would not have flaunted his dreams.
B. Two Lessons we learn from this
1) Children Need to Know They Are Loved Unconditionally.
Ask any school teacher and they will tell you the troubled kids at school are the kids who are not confident of their parents love. The resulting lack of security causes the student’s lack of concentration and behavioral problems.
In a book written several years ago, a couple by the name of Ezzo came up with five basic ways we demonstrate love to others. The book was titled Growing Kids Gods Way.
a. The first way to communicate love is encouraging word.
1 Corinthians 8.1 says, Love builds up. We all feel loved and appreciated when someone takes the time to express it verbally through words of praise and recognition.
b. The second way to communicate love is acts of service.
1 John 3:18, Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. I have learned that this is my wife’s favorite way for me to let her know I love her. Doing something special that goes beyond the normal that will be appreciated.
c. The third way to communicate love is gift giving.
Ephesians 5.25, Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. A simple impromptu gift can mean the world to someone.
d. The fourth way to communicate love is quality time.
Jesus did this with his disciples. Quality time means active participation with the other person, not just sitting in the same room.
e. The last way to communicate love is physical touch and closeness. Jesus did this by touching the blind, the deaf and even the lepers. Just taking someone’s hand or placing a hand on a shoulder can mean the world to a hurting or lonely person.
The Ezzo’s concluded that we all have a primary way we like to receive love and also express it. As parents we need to discover what the primary way is for our child. And believe me it is different for every child.
Children need to hear their primary way of communicating love. So do our spouses.
Proverbs 22.6, Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it. When parents or other adults fail to understand the child’s primary love “language”, the adult gets frustrated and the child is uncertain of their love. Taking the time to know your child’s primary way of receiving and understanding love will help us as adults to communicate to our children they are loved and appreciated.
2) Second lesson is Children need to be taught to love others.
Philippians 2.3-4, 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
Jacob not only failed to communicate unconditional love to his all his children, but he failed to teach them to love others. They didn’t care for the welfare of each other or their father.
Young people need to know they are loved unconditionally, but also need to know they are part of a community. It is not all about them. Other people living with them are valuable to God as well. We are to treat others with respect and kindness at all times.
Our goal as parents and adult leaders is not to teach young people to only think for themselves. The Bible calls self-centeredness a sin. We are to raise young people who have the mind of Christ. They are not to be free agents to do whatever they please, but God’s servants.
Philippians 2.5-8, In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross!
Talk about counter cultural.
It’s not enough to teach children to act morally. They must learn to think morally. They must realize the things we do affect others as well.
Child running in a crowd can hurt an older person or baby.
We should teach our children to think of others in even the smallest of situations.
Here is something that always bothers me. Grocery carts at stores that are scattered all over the lot. There is a place to put them. If we truly see others as precious to God why do we not put them in the proper place.
Jesus said we are to do unto others as we would have done to us. Someone has to gather those carts up. How do you feel when loose carts roll into your car or are taking up parking spaces.
We should teach our children to think of others in the smallest of situations.
When you arrive at church, do you grab the closest parking spot or do you think there may be someone who doesn’t walk as well as me who might need that spot more. Think of what parking farther away might teach your kids.
We should teach our children to think of others in the smallest of situations.
When you see trash or something laying around that someone will have to pick up, pick it up. When someone seems overwhelmed, give them a hand. Lift them up.
We should teach our children to think of others in the smallest of situations.
When we teach our children to think of others in the smallest situations, they will develop the character of God to deal with life’s giant situations as well.
Matthew 20.28, The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Jesus said also in John 34-35, “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.”
III. A. So let’s apply this to church. Are we communicating our love to one another? Do we as the church practice the ways of communicating love to one another we just heard about? Do we take the time to learn the language our fellow brother or sister needs to hear? Do we see others as precious to God or do we worry only about ourselves and our wants and needs. Our kids are watching.
Bob Russell relates a story in his book, When God Builds a Church. He said, “I heard about a church years ago that began bickering over the use of a musical instrument. Half the congregation wanted to use a piano, an instrument that was gaining popularity in the culture, in their church services. The other half felt it was a tool of the devil. Sharp disagreement resulted in hard feelings on both sides. One Sunday when the people came to worship, there was a new piano on the stage; and to the horror of half the congregation, it was played during the congregational singing. The half that disapproved walked out of the building in protest. The next Sunday everyone was back, but the piano was missing. Those who bought it couldn’t find it. They looked for months as accusations flew back and forth about the thievery. Six months later the piano was found. It had been hidden in the baptistry all along!”
Weren’t too many folks coming to Christ. If your church is to grow, there must be a sense of harmony and love among the leaders and congregation. The leaders have to communicate and be truthful with people. The congregation has to be supportive and encouraging of the leaders. Make every effort to maintain it because unity can be fragile.
B. God blesses churches that love one another. Acts 2.42-47, 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
The church exploded in growth because the people loved being together. When you get a group of people together who genuinely believe something and who really enjoy each other, it’s such a contagious atmosphere that you can’t keep people away from it. People assume that smaller churches must have better fellowship and stronger relationships because everybody knows everybody. But churches that genuinely love one another don’t stay small very long. If you want your church to grow—if you want to attract people to Jesus Christ and to your church—then learn how to love one another.
C. Psalm 71.17-18, 17 Since my youth, God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds. 18 Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come.
We must declare his love.
We do this through words/service/giving/time/closeness.
CT: May all who come behind us find us faithful in love.
Conclusion. Okay we all have someone who did his or her part in passing the baton to us. We have someone I hope who showed us what it means to truly love one another. Don’t drop it for the person behind you. Commit yourself to show the priority of your faith to those who come behind us. Put God first. This goes for all ages. Be a part of what happens here at God’s church. We all have the ultimate example of loving one another in our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. His is an example of love and forgiveness for all of us. If you’re not a baptized believer yet, the invitation is open now and any time, but if you need to make that demonstration of faith and yes love, won’t you come forward now?
