Rediscovering Love
Matthew 22:34-40
February 10, 2002
Introduction
This week we celebrate Valentine’s Day and all over the place we are seeing the decorations, the cards, the candy, stuffed animals and a host of things that are used to express love. With all of this focus on love, you would think that our society would have a firm grasp on the subject. Let me ask you a tough question: what is love?
A group of four-through eight-year-olds were asked: “What does love mean?” Their answers vary from the amusing to the profound.
* Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.
* Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.
* Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.
* When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.
* Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired.
* When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.
* When you tell someone something bad about yourself and you’re scared they won’t love you anymore. But then you get surprised because not only do they still love you, they love you even more.
* Love is when mommy sees daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Tom Cruise.
Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.
What is love?
It is silence--when your words would hurt.
It is patience--when your neighbor’s curt.
It is deafness--when a scandal flows.
It is thoughtfulness--for other’s woes.
It is promptness--when stern duty calls.
It is courage--when misfortune falls.
Love ever gives. Forgives, outlives,
And ever stands With open hands.
And while it lives, It gives,
For this is love’s perogative-- To give, and give, and give.
The bible says a great deal about love. Today, I want to focus our attention on the words of Jesus and his giving us the Greatest commandment.
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37 Jesus replied: " `Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: `Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
Main Body – Matthew 22:34-40
I. The deep need for love – Why do we need love?
A. Love is absolutely needed in life
1. God created us to need love
a.) Every person needs love. You need it, I need it we all need it
b.) God created us in a way that we need to give and receive love
2. Love makes us complete
a.) Without love we are nothing
b.) Without love we can accomplish nothing
c.) Without love we simply just exist
d.) Without love we cannot follow Christ
A Christian without love is like a river without water
B. Love must begin with God
1. God is the source of love
a.) God is the author of love both human and divine
b.) God gives us the ability to love Him. John Wesley defined sanctification as having a perfect love for God
2. The requirements of loving God
a.) Commitment: The issue of dedication
b.) Trust: The issue of devotion
c.) Surrender: The issue of desire
d.) Growth: The issue of development
3. The focus of love
a.) Heart: The heart was seen as the symbol of devotion or will
b.) Soul: The soul was the symbol of life and being alive
c.) Mind: The mind was the symbol of reasoning and understanding
II. The impact of love
A. Love creates change in us
1. Love makes it possible for us to truly live life
a.) Without love we are not really living
b.) Only when we have love will we find the abundant life that Jesus promised us
2. Love allows us to become what God has planned for us to become
a.) Love helps us to reach the potential that God instilled in our lives
b.) Love propels us toward greatness in life
B. Love creates change in others
1. Love makes change in us
a.) The world around us ought to see a difference in us
b.) Love should make us stand out in the crowd
1.) Love changes our attitude
2.) Love changes our behavior
3.) Love changes our relationships
2. Love is contagious
a.) Love is caught by other people it cannot be taught
b.) Love reveals the living witness of Jesus Christ in our lives
c.) Love works like a magnet – some people will be drawn to you and others will be pushed away
III. The results of love
A. love leads us to heaven
1. love is being centered in and driven by Christ in such a way that we are moved to action
2. love leads us in our walk with Jesus
3. love allows us to keep our focus in life
B. love leads others to heaven
1. Our love for God has direct implications on others
a.) Our love for God must be our #1 priority in life
b.) Our love for God should spill over into our love for others
2. Our love for others allows us to share the gospel
a.) Love gives us a boldness and a courage every day in life
b.) Love writes the good news of Jesus on our hearts and in our minds
IV. What happens when love is lost? – Revelation 2:1-7
1 "To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands: 2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. 4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. 5 Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. 6 But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
A. Service is not the same as love
1. It is possible to serve God without love
a.) Serving God out of a sense of duty is draining
b.) Living for God out of legalism will sap the love out of your life
c.) Service alone will not produce love
2. Serving out of love
a.) Serving and living for God and it will create love in you
b.) Love starts and ends with God
B. When love is absent God will not move
1. The church of Ephesus
a.) They were busy serving God - They were doing the right things
b.) Ephesus seems to have lost their love
2. Forgetting their first love
a.) The church had lost their first love
1.) They were too busy being servants instead of being Christians
2.) The love of their faith was gone
b.) Results of a loss of love
1.) God held this loss of love against them
2.) Repent or lose the status as a lampstand
3.) The terrible loss of the tree of life
C. Where are we with God?
1. Does this church have the love level God desires?
a.) Are we at the love level that God desires?
b.) Is this church a place truly showing love and doing what God wants to do in this community?
2. Do you have the love level God desires for your life?
a.) Are you at the love level God wants for your life?
b.) Are you truly love about what God wants to do with your life?
c.) Do you need a new filling of the love of God?
