“I want to know what love is” – selected scriptures
By James Galbraith
FBC, Port Alberni
August 27, 2006
(texts within message)
Introduction
- will start on sermon series from Philippians soon
- wanted to share about something that we all can relate to
- we all want and need love, so here we go
- Back in the 80’s, a song came out that stood a bit apart from the usual froth of my generation
- I do like this music, but I recognize it’s strengths and weaknesses
- it was a love song,
but instead of the typical “I want you, I want you right now” message,
it was written from the standpoint of someone who feels empty inside.
He’s felt heartache and pain,
He feels lonely inside,
He feels that there’s something more he needs to search for,
and ultimately he makes the statement/question,
“I wanna know what love is”
That’s a question many of us ask, and maybe for some of the same reasons as the song writer:
- maybe we’ve been hurt by those who say they love us
- maybe we’ve never felt loved at all
- maybe we’ve been loved so much that we don’t understand how deep and true the Love of God really is!
Well, this message is my attempt to understand love,
as God himself wants us to know it and show it.
I’m going to tackle this in three steps
1. define/explaining love
2. understanding that love is expected of us
3. seeing love demonstrated for us, so that we can then love others
I. Love defined
Deuteronomy 7:8-9
8 But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.
If you wanted to summarize the Bible in ten words or less you could call it
“the greatest love story ever told”
love*
- (*) represents all versions of word - 787 times in Bible
60/66 books - with exception of 2 Kings, Obadiah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Haggai, Acts
Psalms
160 x in Psalms alone
- 69/150 Psalms
- 18 times in Psalm 119 - the longest Psalm
- 26 times in Psalm 136 - once in every verse
God and Love
- the words God and Love* occur together in 123 verses, in 42/66 books
- God is Love repeated twice in I John
Jesus and love*
forty verses, in 19/27 books of the NT
So what exactly is this love that occupies such an important role in the Bible?
I have yet to find a better definition than the one found in 1 Cor.13:4-8
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
4 Love is patient,
love is kind.
It does not envy,
it does not boast,
it is not proud.
5 It is not rude,
it is not self-seeking,
it is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs.
6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
7 It always protects,
always trusts,
always hopes,
always perseveres.
8 Love never fails.
This is the kind of love that God has for us,
and it is the kind of love that he wants us to have for others.
Which brings us to part two of this sermon - Love expected…
II. Love expected
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
** Love the Lord your God is repeated 12 times in Scripture
** love your neighbour as yourself repeated 9 times
People want to be loved. People need to be loved.
And most people are even prepared to love, if they will be loved in return.
However, love that comes out of our own strength is more often then not a selfish love.
We want to be taken care of
we want to be appreciated
we want to be treasured
we want to feel needed
we want to be accepted as we are for who we are,
and if someone is willing to give us this kind of love, we are, more often than not, willing to return it.
Our way of love is a love which needs to be returned in order to stay alive.
Christians are expected to love God and to love those around us,
but the love we are to have is far different than the love that we can deliver on our own.
Our love is to be the same kind of Love that God has for us.
God loved us enough to create us,
despite knowing in advance that we would rebel against him.
God loved us enough to warn us again and again that the way we were living would only lead to ruin, knowing that we would ignore his warnings and insist on doing things OUR way.
God loved us enough that when all messengers had failed,
he sent the one thing that meant everything to him - his only Son,
knowing that we would mock him, torture him and kill him.
It is relatively easy to love someone who loves you back,
but God love came to us while we had our backs turned to him.
Now that we know of his love, he wants us to accept it.
And once we accept it, he wants us to return it.
There is nothing we can give to him that he needs, but one of the great mysteries of our faith is that we worship a God who actually wants our love.
And how do we give it to him?
John 14:15,23,24; 15:10; 1 John 5:3
15 “If you love me, you will obey what I command.
23 Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
24 He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.
1 John 5:1-4
1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3 This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world.
We take him seriously. We do what he says.
Not because he wants us to miss out on so much,
but because he made the world
and he knows what can happen if we take a wrong step here or a there.
And how do we obey him? By taking his word seriously
And what is the most important commandment he gives us, besides loving him ourselves?
Love your neighbour…
God wants us to love the world with his kind of love. It is not enough to accept his love, we must share it to those who need it so desperately.
Love those around us. Neighbour means much more than those living next to us. And it is much more than just those we know and like.
Yes we must love those close to us, but our love must extend past that and to those who aren’t so easy to love.
Jesus made it very clear numerous times that his love went out to all,
that nobody deserved it on their own but that he loved them anyway.
And he also made it very clear that we were to love the same way he did, friend and foe alike.
So we’ve defined love,
and we touched upon the fact that God expects us to love him back,
and also to love those around us.
But no sermon on love is complete without a story about love that’s been demonstrated.
I’ll introduce this story with a passage from Romans.
III. Love demonstrated
Romans 8:35-39
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
He Is Always With Us - Topic: Security, Protection
The passengers on the bus watched sympathetically as the attractive young woman with the white cane made her way carefully up the steps.
She paid the driver and, using her hands to feel the location of the seats, walked down the aisle and found the seat he’d told her was empty. Then she’s settled in, placed her briefcase on her lap and rested her cane against her leg.
It had been a year since Susan, thirty-four, became blind. Due to a medical misdiagnosis she had been rendered sightless, and she was suddenly thrown into a world of darkness, anger, frustration and self-pity.
Once a fiercely independent woman, Susan now felt condemned by this terrible twist of fate to become a powerless, helpless burden on everyone around her.
"How could this have happened to me?" she would plead, her heart knotted with anger. But no matter how much she cried or ranted or prayed, she knew the painful truth - her sight was never going to return.
A cloud of depression hung over Susan’s once optimistic spirit. Just getting through each day was an exercise in frustration and exhaustion. And all she had to cling to was her husband Mark.
Mark was an Air Force officer and he loved Susan with all of his heart. When she first lost her sight, he watched her sink into despair and was determined to help his wife gain the strength and confidence she needed to become independent again.
Mark’s military background had trained him well to deal with sensitive situations, and yet he knew this was the most difficult battle he would ever face.
Finally, Susan felt ready to return to her job, but how would she get there? She used to take the bus, but was now too frightened to get around the city by herself.
Mark volunteered to drive her to work each day, even though they worked at opposite ends of the city.
At first, this comforted Susan and fulfilled Mark’s need to protect his sightless wife who was so insecure about performing the slightest task.
Soon, however Mark realized that this arrangement wasn’t working - it was hectic, and costly. Susan is going to have to start taking the bus again, he admitted to himself. But just the thought of mentioning it to her made him cringe. She was still so fragile, so angry. How would she react?
Just as Mark predicted, Susan was horrified at the idea of taking the bus again.
"I’m blind!" she responded bitterly. "How am I supposed to know where I’m going? I feel like you’re abandoning me."
Mark’s heart broke to hear these words, but he knew what had to be done. He promised Susan that each morning and evening he would ride the bus with her, for as long as it took, until she got the hang of it. And that is exactly what happened.
For two solid weeks, Mark, military uniform and all, accompanied Susan to and from work each day. He taught her how to rely on her other senses, specifically her hearing, to determine where she was and how to adapt to
her new environment.
He helped her befriend the bus drivers who could watch out for her, and save her a seat. He made her laugh, even on those not-so-good days when she would trip exiting the bus, or drop her briefcase.
Each morning they made the journey together, and Mark would take a cab back to his office. Although this routine was even more costly and exhausting than the previous one, Mark knew it was only a matter of time before Susan would be able to ride the bus on her own.
He believed in her, in the Susan he used to know before she’d lost her sight, who wasn’t afraid of any challenge and who would never, ever quit.
Finally, Susan decided that she was ready to try the trip on her own. Monday morning arrived, and before she left she threw her arms around Mark, Her temporary bus riding companion, her husband, and her best friend. Her eyes filled with tears of gratitude for his loyalty, his patience, his love.
She said good-bye, and for the first time, they went their separate ways.
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday ... Each day on her own went perfectly, and Susan had never felt better. She was doing it! She was going to work all by herself!
On Friday morning, Susan took the bus to work as usual.
As she was paying for her fare to exit the bus, the driver said, "Boy, I sure envy you."
Susan wasn’t sure if the driver was speaking to her or not. After all, who on earth would ever envy a blind woman who had struggled just to find the courage to live for the past year?
Curious, she asked the driver, "Why do you say that you envy me?"
The driver responded, "It must feel so good to be taken care of and protected like you are."
Susan had no idea what the driver was talking about, and asked again, "What do you mean?"
The driver answered, "You know, every morning for the past week, a fine looking gentleman in a military uniform has been standing across the corner watching you when you get off the bus. He makes sure you cross the street safely and he watches you until you enter your office building. Then he blows you a kiss, gives you a little salute and walks away. You are one lucky lady."
Tears of happiness poured down Susan’s cheeks. For although she couldn’t physically see him, she had always felt Mark’s presence.
She was lucky, so lucky, for he had given her a gift more powerful than sight, a gift she didn’t need to see to believe - the gift of love that can bring light where there had been darkness.
God watches over us in just the same way. We may not know He is present, but He is. We may not be able to see His face, but He is there nonetheless! Be blessed in this thought.
God Loves You - even when you are not looking.
Written by: Chaplain Jerry Vintinner
***
DO I need to say that no matter how powerful you may have found this tale of love, that the love Christ has for you is 100 times more powerful than the love you just heard about?
Probably not, but I am telling you anyway,.
The love of Christ makes anything else pale in comparison.
There is no comparison, and that incomparable love is yours for the asking.
DO you truly want to know what love is?
It is God giving you life, both physical and spiritual.
It is Jesus giving himself for you.
It is you giving of yourself for someone else.
