16, May 2004
Dakota Community Church
Love in the Family of God
Part Two: Loving the Brethren – B.
Opening Illustration:
What is the church?
Russ Blowers is a minister who is active in his local Indianapolis Rotary club. At club meetings each week a member gives a brief statement about his job. When it was his turn, Russ said: "I’m with a global enterprise. We have branches in every country in the world. We have our representatives in nearly every parliament and boardroom on earth. We’re into motivation and behavior alteration.
We run hospitals, feeding stations, crisis pregnancy centers, universities, publishing houses, and nursing homes. We care for our clients from birth to death.
We are into life insurance and fire insurance. We perform spiritual heart transplants. Our original Organizer owns all the real estate on earth plus an assortment of galaxies and constellations. He knows everything and lives everywhere. Our product is free for the asking. (There’s not enough money to buy it.)
Our CEO was born in a hick town, worked as a carpenter, didn’t own a home, was misunderstood by his family, hated by enemies, walked on water, was condemned to death without a trial, and arose from the dead--I talk with him everyday."
1Peter 2: 9-10
9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
2Corinthians 6: 16-18
For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said:
"I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people."
17Therefore "Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you."
18"I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters,
Says the LORD Almighty."
Luke 10: 25-28
25On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
26"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"
27He answered: " ’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ’Love your neighbor as yourself.’ "
28"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."
A. Why love the church? (Two weeks ago)
B. What does Real Christian love involve? (This week)
Psalm 133
1 How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!
2 It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down upon the collar of his robes.
3 It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the LORD bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.
The Christian life is meant to be a shared experience.
Colossians 3: 12-16
12Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
15Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
Qualities of Real Christian Love:
1. Real Christian love is genuine.
1John 1: 5-9
5This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
8If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Phony Christian play love involves:
- Superficial surface talk.
- Pretending
- Politicking
- Guarded behavior
- Image protecting
- Mask Wearing
These attitudes kill real Christian love because they prevent authenticity.
A deep relationship cannot be built on lies and pretences.
The world thinks intimacy happens in the dark but God says it happens in the light with openness and honesty.
James 5: 13-16
13Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. 14Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Notice that there is a time for happy singing as well as problems and that the problems are supposed to get solved.
Sometimes a loving relationship is killed by one person never finding solutions only crying and sucking away the life of their loved one.
2Timothy 3: 5-7
5having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.
6They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.
- Get real
- Grow and mature
- We only grow by taking risks
- If you get hurt, get up and try again and again – love is worth it!
Illustration: "The Hallmark"
Many of us can t tell fourteen caret gold from eighteen carat. Some of us can t even tell gold plate from solid gold. In old London town the jewelers of Goldsmith’s Hall took pride in doing good work, and they wanted each customer to know what he was buying. So they devised a mark of quality, and its use became established by law. When a piece of gold was stamped with a little crown and the figure 18, everyone knew it was eighteen carat. "The mark of the hall" guaranteed it.
If we are true disciples of Jesus, He stamps upon us a mark of quality, a hallmark, a guarantee that we are genuine. "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
2. Real Christian love is mutual.
Mutual love involves giving and receiving. It is a two way street that requires two people.
Building reciprocal relationships, sharing responsibilities, and helping each other is the heart of real Christian love.
1Corinthians 12: 24-26
25so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
Romans 1: 8-12
8First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. 9God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you 10in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you.
11I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong-- 12that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.
Real Christian love requires:
- Mutual accountability.
- Mutual encouragement.
- Mutual serving.
- Mutual honoring.
- And:
Romans 14:19
19Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.
Illustration:
Whenever people expend themselves, they want results. If they lay down their life, they want someone’s life raised up. If they empty themselves, they want someone to be filled. They want their sufferings to bear fruit.
If this doesn’t happen, they’re tempted to give up. The refusal of the gift quickly becomes a reason not to offer it. Instead of leaning into resistance with love, they’ll back off and say, "Well, we tried."
However, the motive for offering love is not that it be successful. Christians want response, but they are not bound to it. They sacrifice for others because they are the recipients of sacrifice. They are the current generation of a long line of broken bodies and shed blood.
This gift Christians have received, they freely give. They join the living history in enacting the dream of God, [which] is a people sustained and transformed by mutual sacrificial love.
[Love’s Motive, Citation: Fr. John Shea in U.S. Catholic (March 1990). Christianity Today, Vol. 34, no. 7.]
3. Real Christian love is merciful.
As Christians we often tend to drift toward judgementalism and harsh comparisons, this is the furthest thing from real love.
Galatians 6: 1-3
1Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. 2Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
Luke 6: 35-36
35But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
James 2: 12-13
12Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!
Jude 1: 20-22
20But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. 21Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.
22Be merciful to those who doubt
Anyone doubt that real Christian love is supposed to be merciful?
Love is not judgmental!
2Corinthians 10: 12 (The Message)
12We’re not, understand, putting ourselves in a league with those who boast that they’re our superiors. We wouldn’t dare do that. But in all this comparing and grading and competing, they quite miss the point.
Illustration:
In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote, "Do not waste your time bothering whether you ’love’ your neighbor act as if you did. As soon as we do this, we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him less."
4. Real Christian love is tangible.
1John 3: 16-18
16This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
We cannot love in words only!
- Help with the move.
- Serve in the ministry.
- Attend the baby shower or house warming.
- Meet the need.
- Be available, answer the phone.
Are you frustrated that your priorities are unimportant to others? Maybe it is a problem of sowing and reaping.
James 2: 15-18
15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.
19You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that–and shudder.
Illustration:
This Is My Church
It is composed of people just like me.
It will be friendly if I am.
It will do a great work if I work.
It will make generous gifts to many causes if I am generous.
It will bring others into its fellowship if I bring them.
Its seats will be filled if I fill them.
It will be a church of loyalty and love, of faith and service.
If I who make it what it is, am filled with these,
Therefore, with God’s help, I dedicate myself to the task of being
All these things I want my Church to be.
Anonymous
