Love Does Not Insist On Its Own Way
Jeffery Anselmi / General Adult
Love Better / God’s Love; Greed / 1 Corinthians 13:5; Luke 22:39–43
You may have heard the phrase:
It’s my way or the high way!
But, if we want to love better, we must remember…
The “high” way is to not seek my way.
INTRODUCITON
SLIDE #1-TITLE
- You may have heard the story of two friends who met for dinner in a restaurant.
- Each requested a filet of sole, and after a few minutes, the waiter returned with their order.
- Two pieces of fish a large and a small were on the same platter.
- One of the men proceeded to serve his friend.
- He placed the small piece on a plate and handed it across the table.
- Well, you certainly do have nerve! Exclaimed his friend.
- What's troubling you? Asked the other.
- Look what you've done he answered.
- You’ve given me the little piece and kept the big one for yourself.
- How would you have done it? The man asked.
- His friend replied that if I were serving, I would give you the big piece.
- Well, replied the man, I've got it, haven’t I?
- At this, they both laughed. Daily Bread August 11, 1992.
SLIDE #2- MAD KID
- Have you ever been around a person who makes everything about them?
- You may have heard the phrase: It’s my way or the high way!
- But, if we want to love better, we must remember…
- The “high” way is to not seek my way.
- It is hard to love others when all you think about is yourself.
- The unholy trinity of me, myself, and I will not allow us to show love, patience, or grace to other people.
- In this series, we have been examining how to love other Christians better and how to love people in our community better.
- To accomplish that feat, we need to learn how to love better.
- I know that if we pay attention and open our hearts to what God’s Word says about this, we will be able to love better.
VERSE SLIDE- 1 SLIDE 1 COR 13:5
1 Corinthians 13:5 NET 2nd ed.
5 It is not rude, it is not self-serving, it is not easily angered or resentful.
SERMON
SLIDE #3 MAIN POINT 1
I. The principle explained.
- It is one thing to say that love does not insist on getting one’s own way, but what does that statement mean, what does it look like.
SLIDE #4- WHAT DOES IT MEAN
- I have to wonder if, as Christians, we are all a little bit guilty of grabbing onto a statement, such as love is not self-serving, and think because we read it, that we possess it.
- What does it mean that love does not insist on its own way?
- Let’s look at the Biblical definition of the word self-serving.
SLIDE #5 SELF SERVING DEFINED
- The phrase “self-serving” refers to actions or behaviors primarily motivated by the individual’s interests, often at the expense of others or without consideration for others’ needs.
- It implies a focus on self-benefit, whether consciously or unconsciously.
- Oscar Wilde said, “Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live. It is asking others to live as one wishes to live.”
- A person who does everything for their own gain, and often times that gain comes at the expense of others, does not care about others and, by definition, does not love others.
- Richard Whately (1787-1863) was a significant figure in 19th-century British intellectual life, known for his contributions to several fields.
- He stated this concerning selfishness: “A man is called selfish not for pursuing his own good, but for neglecting his neighbor’s.”
- Some people will go so deep in their pursuit of what they want, and even how they want it, that they harm others along the way.
- Let’s consider a phrase most of us have either used or have had used against us at some point in life.
SLIDE #6- A COMMON PHRASE
- My way or the highway.
- There is a better way than my way, and there is a better highway.
- How about the Higher way?
- How about doing things the way God would want them to be done?
- If we want to love better, we must remember that the HIGH way is not to seek MY way.
- The question is, how does one avoid making life about me, myself, and I?
- We can look to Jesus for the answer, as He is the ultimate example of what it means to love better.
- The passage we will focus on in Luke 22 describes a significant moment in the New Testament, occurring just before Jesus's arrest.
- This passage occurs in the Garden of Gethsemane, at the Mount of Olives, after the Last Supper.
- Let’s turn to Luke 22:39-43.
VERSE SLIDES- Lk 22:39-43 2 SLIDES
Luke 22:39–43 NET 2nd ed.
39 Then Jesus went out and made his way, as he customarily did, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him.
40 When he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.”
41 He went away from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and prayed,
42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me. Yet not my will but yours be done.”
43 Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.
IF WE ARE GOING TO BE ABLE SEEK THE “HIGH” WAY VERSUS “MY” WAY, WE MUST HAVE:
SLIDE #7 POINT 2 SLIDE
II. A commitment to prayer.
- If we are going to master the feat of seeking the HIGH way, it begins with prayer.
- It amazes me how much we do not value prayer, and I do not exclude myself from that statement.\
- How often do we panic and forget to take it to the Lord in prayer?
- How many times have we gotten upset because things did not go the way we wanted them to, and instead of praying to God, we get mad?
- Think about this: what did Jesus spend a great deal of time doing during His walk on earth?
- PRAYING!
- Praising can be easy when all is well, but what do we do when life becomes challenging?
SLIDE #8- JESUS FACED CHALLENGES
- Jesus was about to face the most challenging time of His life.
- When faced with this most challenging time of his life, what does he do? He does what comes naturally to him: He prays.
- Jesus felt all the things we feel, so going to the cross was not going to be fun for Him.
- For Jesus, praying to the Father during the most challenging time of His life was second nature because He prayed to the Father about everything in life.
- We often forget to pray because we are not used to doing it.
SLIDE #9-PRAYER AS A DEFENSE
- Jesus used prayer as a defense.
- The impending suffering weighs heavily upon Him, yet He seeks solace in prayer.
- His command to the disciples underscores the importance of prayer as a defense against spiritual weakness.
SLIDE #10- FINDING STRENGTH
- Prayer brought Jesus strength and confidence to face what He was about to face at the cross.
- In times of anticipation and anxiety, like Jesus, we can find strength and clarity through prayer.
SLIDE #11- FINAL POINT 2 SLIDE
- A challenge for us to do the same as Jesus.
- If the Son of God needed to pray, don’t you think we need to do the same?
- Let us develop the habit of drawing near to God during challenging moments.
- Love, as described in 1 Corinthians 13:5, “does not insist on its own way.”
- Let’s go back to ver 42.
VERSE SLIDE- LK 22:42 1 SLIDE
Luke 22:42 NET 2nd ed.
42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me. Yet not my will but yours be done.”
IF WE ARE GOING TO BE ABLE SEEK THE “HIGH” WAY VERSUS “MY” WAY, WE MUST HAVE:
SLIDE #12- POINT 3 SLIDE
III. A commitment to embrace God’s will.
- Part of our prayer is to seek His will and accept His will, but also to embrace His will fully.
- This is hard for us because we so badly want to manipulate and control outcomes, paths, and destinies.
- An essential aspect of embracing God’s will is to allow ourselves to be vulnerable to God.
SLIDE #13- VULNERABILITY
- Prayer involves vulnerability before God and a readiness to accept His will, even when it conflicts with our desires.
- Vulnerability requires trust.
- We have to be able to trust to be vulnerable to God’s will.
- You must trust that God has a better plan and path for you than the one you are now on.
- Jesus is facing the suffering of the cross; He is not excited to face the cross.
- Jesus is open and honest about the situation at hand.
- Part of being vulnerable before God is being honest with God.
- Jesus was not holding back.
- Father, if you're willing, take this cup away from me.
- This is where the prayer stops for most of us.
- Jesus desired not to have to go through the suffering.
- His way at this point, and understandably so, was to have the Father find another way.
SLIDE #14- SURRENDER
- However, taking the cup away was not the end of the verse.
- YET NOT MY WILL BUT YOURS BE DONE!
- Jesus was willing to surrender His will for that of the Father even though Jesus knew what that meant and the pain He would endure.
- Many of us struggle with the thought of surrendering our will to a God we do not see or touch.
- We have issues surrendering our will to those we see and hear.
- Even when it is not easy, we have to be willing to surrender and accept his will.
SLIDE #15-ACCEPTANCE
- Yet not my will, but yours be done!
- If we are not vulnerable and willing to surrender our own ways for God’s, we will never move toward acceptance.
- Let’s move back to verse 43.
VERSE SLIDE- LK 22:43- 1 SLIDE
Luke 22:43 NET 2nd ed.
43 Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.
IF WE ARE GOING TO BE ABLE SEEK THE “HIGH” WAY VERSUS “MY” WAY, WE MUST HAVE:
SLIDE #16- POINT 4 SLIDE
IV. A commitment to trust God will show up.
- This is the hard part: trust God enough to know He will show up in some way in our times of joy and in our times of need.
- In our darkest hours, if we do not think God cares enough to show up, we will never allow His will to reign in our lives.
SLIDE #17- DIVINE SUPPORT
- Jesus received divine support during His moment of anguish.
- Notice that God did not remove the cup from Jesus but rather strengthened Him for the battle.
- Understandably so, our view of God showing us is God taking the cup of suffering from us.
- Who doesn’t want that?
- God will strengthen us for the battle, to get through the pain, to walk through the valley of the shadow of death!
SLIDE #18- BELIEF IN GOD’S PRESENCE
- If we do not believe God will show up, we will show up instead.
- That is the time we do the MY way instead of the HIGH way in life.
- We have to know God is with us and that the Holy Spirit is in us.
- If we do not believe those things, we will never invite God into our lives.
SLIDE #19- ALLOWING GOD TO WORK
- When we do this, why would God show up uninvited when he can stand back and say, “OK, you do it!”
- We don’t want it that way, but we cannot have it both ways, we cannot be in control and God be in control simultaneously.
- We need to know that God loves us and He is in control.
- Trust that God is with you in times of trial.
- Look for His strength manifested in unexpected ways, whether through people, scripture, or your inner spirit.
CONCLUSION
SLIDE #20- FINAL SLIDE
- Selfishness can cause us to miss the blessings that come from God’s power working for us, in us, and through us to love people better.
- We must not insist on our own way because—if we let God help us and use us—he will position us to love other people better.
- The most miserable people care only about themselves, understand their troubles, and see only their own perspective.
- If you want to love better, learn to follow the HIGH way instead of the MY way!
