Sermon for 3/1/98
Love May Bring Heartache, but it’s worth it!
Introduction:
"We become vulnerable when we love people and go out of our way to
help them." That’s what the wealthy industrialist Charles Schwab
declared after going to court and winning a nuisance suit at age 70.
Given permission by the judge to speak to the audience, he made the
following statement: "I’d like to say here in a court of law, and
speaking as an old man, that nine-tenths of my troubles are traceable
to my being kind to others. Look, you young people, if you want to
steer away from trouble, be hard-boiled. Be quick with a good loud no
to anyone and everyone. If you follow this rule, you will seldom be
bothered as you tread life’s pathway. Except you’ll have no friends,
you’ll be lonely, and you won’t have any fun!" Schwab had made his
point -- love may bring heartache, but it’s worth it!
WBTU:
A. Last weeks sermon. Love does not rejoice in evil, but rejoices in the truth.
B. Love is costly, but it is worth it. It was worth it for Christ.
Thesis: Paul gives some concluding comments about love in 1 Corinthians 13:7. Today we are going to examine what love always does. This verse has been called love’s roof.
For instances:
I. Love bears all things, it always protects.
A. We can bear things from others and for others. We can always strive to protect others from unpleasant circumstances and situations. We can do this because God always does it for us.
B. Galatians 6:2- Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
C. Psalm 34:19f- Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers him out of them all. He guards all his bones; not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked, And those who hate the righteous shall be condemned. The Lord redeems the soul of His servants, and none of those who trust in Him shall be condemned.
D. The Lord will not put more on us than we can bear.
E. Mother protecting and bearing with children.
F. Shepherd looking after the sheep.
G. A Christian’s love provides shelter for every situation in which it finds others.
H. Love builds a house with a roof over it large enough to take in whole stature of our fellow man.
I. A father who attended church with his little boy found fault with everything in the service. As he walked home, he criticized the minister, the sermon, the choir, and everything in general. The boy, who had noticed what his father put in the offering plate, said, “Well, Dad, what can you expect for a dime?” Sometimes we build very low-roofed dwellings indeed, because we lack sufficient charity to make room for the virtues we might discover in the lives of others.
J. Not suggesting that love is to give shelter to wrongdoer and make excuses for him. Last weeks sermon.
K. Love cannot be crushed beneath the burden.
L. Putting up with annoyances and burdens in silence. Love allows nothing external to have power over it.
M. The best way to put out a fire is to cover it.
N. How can we shelter people?
1. Pray for them.
2. Encourage what is good, strengthen what is weak.
O. We need to try to protect people from themselves. Love may bring heartache, but it’s worth it.
II. Love believes all things, always trusts.
A. Trust is the best way to describe this. We don’t need to be gullible.
B. My experiences with trust. I must trust because I can trust Christ.
C. Jeremiah 17:7-8- Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.
D. Love believes all things that ought to be believed- all things that are true.
E. A Christian grocer was in financial difficulties because his customers thought they could run up their bills indefinitely. They felt that such a saintly man would never press them for payment or take them to court. Their ready excuse was, “We don’t have money to pay our bills.” “How can I pay my creditors, if the people I have trusted do not pay me?” Puzzled the grocer. What should a Christian do in such a case- believe all things and all men and go bankrupt? A novel idea came to him. He posted the following notice on the bulletin board in front of his store: “On this bulletin board, thirty days from now, will appear the names of all persons who have been indebted to me for one year or more and who, after repeated requests, have refused to pay! Some have told me that they are unable to pay, but they are able to build homes, drive cars, and have other things that I could have if I had the money due me. I hope I don’t have to put any names on the board, but I won’t be put off any longer!” Results followed immediately. Many paid their old accounts, while others promised to do so on the next payday. Love believes all things that further honest and virtue in others.
F. A storm wrecked a ship. The only survivor was a little boy who was swept by the waves onto a rock. There he sat all night long. In the morning he was seen and rescued. One of his rescuers asked him, “Did not you tremble while you were on the rock during the night?” His answer: “I surely did tremble but the rock did not.” We are human. We cannot help but tremble, but the Rock on which we stand never does.
G. Love trusts always. Love may bring heartache, but it’s worth it.
III. Love always hopes.
A. I can have hope for others because Christ always hopes for the best in me.
B. Romans 8:23-24- Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope. We must hope for Christ’s return and the hope of heaven. We should have the same hope for our fellow man.
C. Many people out there without any hope.
D. As Christians we should never be pessimistic or fatalistic. We must be faithful and also hopeful- But how?
1. Women began to hope around Jesus.
2. Thief on cross hoped in Jesus.
3. Love sees vilest but does not despair. Love knows the worst and yet hopes for the best.
4. The Lord was patient and hopeful for his disciples.
5. Coin that was lost.
6. Sheep that was found.
7. Prodigal son.
E. Hopefulness toward future. Many people don’t have that.
F. Jesus was full of hope even when on cross.
G. Love remembers; love can see when other eyes are blind; and love can cling when other hands are loosed in despair, because love realizes God has a gracious plan, which He will fulfill.
H. The Lord is hopeful for everyone. He delays his coming so that people can still come to Christ.
I. Psalm 27:13-14- I would have lost heart, unless I had believed, that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!
J. When a Christian was asked what he would like to have buried with him, he said, “My Bible and a fork.” When asked why he wanted a fork to be buried with him, he made this response. “When you are at a banquet, and the meal is complete, the waitress while cleaning the table tells you to hold your fork, because dessert is coming.” He went on to say, “After death, something wonderful is in store, waiting for us. First, the marriage supper of the Lamb, and then eternity with Christ.”
K. Because of this hope we can hope in others. Love may bring heartache, but it’s worth it!
IV. Love endures all things, always perseveres.
A. God has been so patient with us. He has endured a lot of things from us, but he always perseveres in the end.
B. Patience in respect of things and people.
C. Love will suffer patiently and optimistically.
D. Things that crush everything else will never be able to crush God’s love in us.
E. Even when hope has given up; love still remains alive because of this. It endures, it perseveres.
F. His love endures forever. Hebrews 12:1-2- Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
G. Love always endures. Love may bring heartache, but it’s worth it.
H. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow- Perseverance is a great element of success. If you knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody.
Conclusion:
No one ever said it better than C. S. Lewis: To love at all is to
Be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung
and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it
intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal.
Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all
entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your
selfishness. But in that casket -- safe, dark, motionless, and airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.... The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers of love... is Hell.
C. Ephesians 5:1-2
D. Love may bring heartache, but it’s worth it!
