Childrens sermon - clanging pot, glasses w/ water
ILL >>>In her book, Living with Love, Josephine Robertson tells a story. "In 1883, a youthful clergyman, the Rev. Joe Roberts, arrived by stagecoach in a blizzard to minister to the Indians of Wyoming. This great, wild area had been assigned to the Protestant Episcopal Church by President Grant. Soon after Joe Roberts arrived, the son of the chief was shot by a soldier in a brawl, and Chief Washakie vowed to kill the first white man he met. Since this might mean the start of a long, bloody feud, young Roberts decided to take action. Seeking out the tepee, fifteen miles away in the mountains, he stood outside and called the chief’s name. When Washakie appeared, Roberts opened his shirt.
"I have heard of your vow," he said, "I know that the other white men have families, but I am alone. Kill me instead."
The chief was amazed and motioned him into his tent. "How do you have so much courage?" he asked.
Joe Roberts told him about Christ, His death, His teachings.
They talked for hours. When Joe left, the chief of the Shoshones had renounced his vow to kill and resolved to become a Christian.
Washakie had seen love in action.
Every group which calls itself Christian would do well to decide what it should do to make love visible in the home, church, community, and world. For unless love becomes visible it is not love at all.
Real Value
ILL>> Dolly Madison, wife of the fourth president of the United States, was one of the most popular women in American history. Wherever she went, she charmed and captivated everyone obscure and well-known, rich and poor, men and women alike.
She was once asked to explain the secret of her power over others. Surprised by the question Mrs. Madison exclaimed, "Power over people. I have none. I desire none. I merely love everyone." And those who love are richly rewarded by love returned.
Can a person increase his or her own personal worth?
YES!! Love is the difference between worth and worthlessness, being a pain or pleasure, being heard or ignored.
I Cor. 13:1-3 read 1st
Of course Jesus already said “Love your neighbor!” but you may be like - one church -- Leaving the sanctuary, a church member comments: "I’d like to see you love MY neighbor."
Love here is a new word for love, first used by the Christians in the NT. It is a word specifically intended to describe the selfless love of Christ. (agape)
This is the love that is more a excellent way!!
(Eph 5:2 KJV) And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
You do not have to worry about your gifts!! When you love like this you will use them!! They will come out!!
The first 3 verses are a symmetrical balance between an act of godliness (the exercise of a gift) and the consequent value of a person if the act is done without love.
So - if these gifts and giver are without value or importance if not done in love - then the only way to have value as a Christian is through this word Agape!!
Our love for God is tested by the question of whether we seek him or his gifts.
Ralph Washington Sockman (1889-1970)
You can increase the value of yourself and others by making God’s love (God) the overwhelming force in your life!!!!
The first verse describes the area of speech in the life of a believer.
I. Loving Speech verse 1
A. Communication is worthless without love ( worthless noise) Ill > clanging pot
(1 John 4:8 KJV) He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
(1 John 4:16 KJV) And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
1. It can be taught or caught.
2. It can flow from you.
B. Human Value “ “
You are the sum of your words. (I am become as…)
1. Take your words - squeeze all love out of them - measure the love = value
2. You can instill value in children & adults as you speak love to them
3. Love is reflected by those you love
4. Ill>> Wizard of OZ to Tin Man A heart is not judged by how much you love but by how much you are loved by others
The second verse pushes love into living!! - In our relationships with others, often what passes for love is little more than a neat business transaction. People are kind to us, so we repay them with equal consideration. When they treat us unjustly, our negative response is really what they asked for. Everything is so balanced, so fair, so logical with this eye-for-an- eye and tooth-for-a-tooth kind of justice. But Christian love never settles for only what’s reasonable. It insists on giving mercy as well as justice. It breaks the chain of logical reactions.
General Robert E. Lee was asked what he thought of a fellow officer in the Confederate Army who had made some derogatory remarks about him. Lee rated him as being very satisfactory. The person who asked the question seemed perplexed.
"General," he said, "I guess you don’t know what he’s been saying about you."
"I know," answered Lee. "But I was asked my opinion of him, not his opinion of me!"
II. Loving Spirituality verse 2
A. Preaching requires love
I love, my God, but with no love of mine,
For I have none to give;
I love thee, Lord, but all the love is thine,
For by thy love I live.
Madame Jeanne Marie de La Mothe Guyon (1648-1717)
B. Spirituality requires love
(Eph 4:2 KJV) With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
B. Bible knowledge “ “
C. Faith “ “-- Erwin Lutzer, said ------
I was preaching in the Midwest one day, when a woman came to me with a little girl at her side. This woman showed by the cast on her arm and some scars on the side of her face that she had been in the hospital. She said, "I was in the hospital because of a very serious fire. There were burns over two-thirds of my body. My husband walked into the hospital room, took one look at me, and said, ’You’re not the woman I married.’ " He left her to marry someone younger and more beautiful.
Human love says, "As long as you stimulate me, as long as I can be proud of you, as long as you’re beautiful, I can love you. If you change, my love for you changes."
See: Mt 5:32; Lk 6:32-36; 1 Co 13:1.
D. Human value You are the sum of your actions ( I am nothing if I have not love)
III. Loving Service Beware of anything that competes with loyalty to Jesus Christ. The greatest competitor of devotion to Jesus is service for him. -- Oswald Chambers
A. Give to “charity” w/ the wrong motivation?
B. Giving (2 Cor 8:24 KJV) Wherefore show ye to them, and before the churches, the proof of your love, and of our boasting on your behalf.
B. (Eph 3:19 KJV) And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
A. All self sacrifice w/ out love is a waste.
(Gal 5:6 KJV) For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.
B. I gain nothing A man’s spiritual health is exactly proportional to his love for God.
C. S. Lewis (1898-1963)
Mother Teresa heard vows from 11 new members of her growing order, the Society of the Missionaries of Charity, and spoke briefly about this weekend. Her trip here Saturday from Cuba was unannounced, but about 700 people crowded Mission Dolores for the profession of vows by sisters who have completed their novitiate. "Love, to be real, must cost," said the frail and stooped Mother Teresa, 75, whose big voice belies her stature, "It must hurt. It must empty us of self."
· USA Today, Nov. 17, 1986
The story is told of a wealthy man who lost his wife when their only child was young. A housekeeper was hired to take care of the boy, who lived only into his teens. Heartbroken from this second loss, the father died a short time later. No will could be found; and since there were no relatives, it looked as if the state would get his fortune. The man’s personal belongings, including his mansion, were put up for sale. The old housekeeper had very little money, but there was one thing she wanted. It was a picture that had hung on a wall in the house -- a photo of the boy she had loved and nurtured. When the items were sold, nobody else wanted the picture, so she bought it for just a few pennies. Taking it home, she began to clean it and polish the glass. As she took it apart, a paper fell out. It was the man’s will, and in it he stated that all his wealth should go to the one who loved his son enough to buy that picture.
The legacy of heaven and the inexhaustible riches of God’s love belong to all who trust and love His Son.
See: Eph 3:17-19; Eph 6:24
