Theme: LOVE ONE ANOTHER
Text: John 15: 12
Intro.
A.Strong love for families is one of the most wonderful traits of Filipinos. The bond of family relationship is so strong in our culture. No wonder Filipinos tend to live with their immediate and extended families in one location where they could often see and communicate each other. Another proof of our strong family relationship is our fond of holding family or clan reunion. You don’t do this reunion tonight if you have hated each other. Therefore it’s your love to each other that makes you come together tonight as one family.
B.However, because we’re all imperfect humans and in some way commit mistakes, it would be possible that some of you are holding grudges against each other. If you were in that condition now, I’d like to advise you to unburden yourself this evening. It serves no good to you. Even how reasonable your anger be, bitterness will not make you a better person. Make yourself totally free to love, and free to enjoy the love and presence of your family members.
C.You chose “Love One another” as your theme for this reunion. It’s very wonderful and relevant to our season. We still feel the spirit of Christmas, isn’t it? A time that we remember the “Great Love of God” to us. He sent to us the Savior. We ought to be thankful, to be happy, and we ought to love one another as the Scripture commands us.
T.S. In the passage that I read, we find a command of Christ to us to “love one another.” This is so familiar. But, I don’t know about your understanding on this. Tonight, I want to give you the reasons and the kind of love that God expects us to exercise.
1.THE REASONS:
a)THE OPPORTUNITY TO LOVE IS SHORT.
Life, as told in the Scripture, is like a vapor, a dream, and a flower. These are imageries that indicate the shortness of life. Days are so fleeting; your life will soon go away without notice. What does this truth implies? It implies that each of us have only a very short time and opportunity to enjoy and experience the joy of loving and being loved. Our being together here on earth is so time-limited. You don’t know when you depart from this life. You don’t know the time when your mother, your father, siblings, relatives pass away. So I think, we don’t have to waste our time on selfishness, envy, bitterness, and hypocrisy.
2005 will end tonight. I think it’s wonderful to leave behind the hurts, the bitterness that we have of this year and start living free. If there needs to ask for forgiveness, the time is now! If there needs for reconciliation, do it now! The opportunity is short. It’s so funny and a sort of foolishness when you seek reconciliation with someone who is dead.
Another thing is extending support as expression of love. It’s so impractical when you wait someone dies to extend practical helps and supports. If we are to express our love, it is now! We don’t know the number our days. Life is short. Our lifetime here on earth is our opportunity to show our love to our loved ones.
2006 will start about an hour from now. Praise the Lord. He gives us one more year. What do you plan to do with your life of this brand new year that God would give you? I hope it will include your theme tonight: to love one another.
b)THE GREATEST PROOF OF LOVE TO GOD.
Our love to God is the greatest motive behind our love with each other. The love of God is the strong bond of our relationship.
“He who does not love his brother,” John says, “does not have God.” Only those who are out of relationship/fellowship with God are supposed to be unloving people.
The question that I would like to ask you tonight is this: “Do you have God in your life?” If yes, then you are supposed to be a loving, kindhearted, generous people to your family, relatives and others. John further said: “He who says he loves God but hates his brother is a liar and he still lives in darkness.”
Is anyone here ungodly? You have the right to be grim, to be onion-skinned, to be the worst person you want. But, warning: you won’t enjoy your lifetime existence, you won’t be happy. The highest happiness achieved is when you feel you are deeply loved –loved by God and by other people. This means that you must have a good relationship with God and with other people. This is possible of course when you allow God to fill you with His love through Jesus Christ His Son and express it to other people.
Let every day of 2006 be a joyous day by living in constant fellowship with God and by expressing love to your fellowmen.
c)THE VALUE OF LOVING OTHERS.
Ø The word of God says in Gal. 6: 7, “…For what a man sows, that he will also reap.” The principle here is about reciprocity. Although not every time we are recognized or compensated with the good things we do, but doing good is always being paid back in due time. Paul said in the succeeding verse, “Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall if we do not lose heart.”
Ø In 2 Cor. 5: 10 Paul says, “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” This means that every act of kindness, every act of love that we have done here in this life will be rewarded and be recognized by our Lord Himself in eternity. What a wonderful day it will be when we receive eternal rewards because of our decision and actions here. And I don’t want myself to face before God without anything worth praising.
Another thing is, our Lord promised to come again to take us into His heavenly home. All believers from time immemorial will be with Him for all eternity. Paul said: “And we shall be with the Lord forever.” Personally, I don’t want to be with Christ and all believers with something unpleasant I harbored in my heart. I can’t afford to pass this life away with one.
Since this life is our preparation for eternity, let’s be sure to prepare ourselves by doing good and live without anything against our fellowmen, especially with our family. It’s so wonderful to pass this life with people remembering you of many good things, and is recognized by Jesus Himself at His presence in eternity.
2.THE CHARACTERISTICS.
What kind of love that God expects us to share? God shows us that by the example of His Son. But sadly, people tend to define love by their own terms. And their application of love is limited by their definition.
How did Jesus love us? What is the characteristic of His love?
a)UNCONDITIONAL.
What do we mean by “unconditional love?” It means, “loving without conditions”. This kind of love has no criteria; it’s not based of anything that is of worth. It’s not “I love you because of,” but “I love you in spite of.” It’s pure and free from any manipulation. It is loving the unlovable.
Just like us. We’re so unlovable, but God embraced us with His great love. We are so unworthy, and nothing in us that attracts God to make us part of His big family. It’s all because of His Great, Pure, Amazing love.
This is the kind of love that God expects us to express. Sadly, many people, even those who call themselves Christians, love because of certain reasons and conditions.
b)SELF-GIVING.
Love is characterized by generosity. It’s unthinkable to love without giving. The greatest giving is the giving of oneself. God did it by giving Himself in the person of His son. Jesus exemplified it by giving Himself for us at the cross.
One of the major culprits that wrought great havoc to relationships is expectation. We expect too much. It is because of our human craving to get. We have this evil mindset! We want to get. We are so egocentric!
If only each of us would always think of what we can give, what we can contribute, or what we can share to improve others’ lives, relationships of husband and wife, of parents and children, of relatives would be more satisfying and enjoyable.
And look at the example of our Lord. He gave Himself because of a definite wonderful purpose –to bring us to His glory. The giving of Himself is for our ultimate good.
We must always remember that our existence and the station of life we are in have a purpose. There is a divine purpose why you are the husband of, the wife of, the son or daughter of, the parents of, the brother or sister of, the uncle or aunt of, the niece or nephew of, etc. The purpose for every relationship is that everybody will make a contribution for the betterment of each other Being part of the family, you are there to strengthen, edify, and uplift the lives of every member.
I encourage you to make yourself a catalyst of great morale and betterment to the lives of every member of your family. Make that your goal this year 2006.
c)BOUNDLESS.
The love that God wants us to have in our heart for our relationship with other people must be without limitations. It means that it will not alter for the passing of time. It means that it will not change because of circumstances. Like a man and a woman making their marriage vows saying, “For better for worse, in sickness and in health, for richer for poorer, till death do us part.”
This should be our commitment to our family. This should be our commitment to our spouse, to our children, to our parents, to our siblings, to our kin and relatives, and to every member of the big family that we belong.
CONCLUSION:
God wants to bless your family. Amen! But you know what? He wants to do it through you! Tonight, God wants you to make things better with your family. God does not want you to start the year with an embittered heart. He wants you to unburden yourself tonight and be free to love and enjoy the love of your family. If there needs to be reconciled tonight, do it. You will lose nothing but your bitterness that made you unhappy for a long time. And after that we can pray that God will bless your life to become a blessing of your family members.
