When Love Grows Cold

When Love Grows Cold

Scripture: John 13:34-35; Matthew 24:12; Ephesians 4:31-5:2

Good morning, Strangers Rest! The title of my message this morning is “When Love Grows Cold.” Before I go any further, I want you to know that I will be driving on everybody’s street today so when I get to your house it’s okay to say “Amen – that’s where I’m living!” I am saying this so that no one comes up to me after this message and says “That was a great message! They really needed to hear that!!!” because I will ask you “Who is they?” This message is for all of us, me included. Deacon Jones reminded us last Sunday that people will always remember how we make them feel and honestly, some of us are creating memories in others that are not that good. If someone left this Church and never joined another Church, they left Strangers Rest because they were probably hurt and had feelings that they were possibly not welcomed here for whatever reason. And trust me when I say this: they are still carrying that memory. What do you think they might be telling others who are looking for a Church home about Strangers Rest?

You have heard several messages from me focusing on how we need to treat one another. You have heard about forgiveness; you have heard about how memories affect us; you have heard about grace; and you’ve heard about not getting distracted. Every message that you have heard thus far from me, besides my Mother’s day message last week, held elements of this core message: that we must evaluate, and change when needed, how we treat one another. What you will hear this morning is the reason why we must change. As you listen to the message, I want you to ask yourself “Is my love growing cold?” Now I will tell you how to identify if this is happening, but it will be up to you to choose to change. What I can tell you this morning is that for some of you, your love has begun to grow cold, and that is not where you want to be.

I am not sure that you recognize it, but the Church today, as a corporate body, has an identity problem. Jesus said in John 13:34-35, “(34) A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. (35) By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” Now the Greek word for love in these verses is the work agapao and it means “to love in a social or moral sense.” When the Church loses its ability to love in a moral sense we have a problem. Now the Church has an identity problem because the love of many in the Church is growing cold. It is the love that we show to one another by what we say and how we live that tells others we belong to Christ and that we are His servants. But, when that love starts to grow cold, that identifying trait begins to fade.

Jesus warned His disciples of this when He told them in Matthew 24:12, and I will read this from the Amplified Bible, “(12) And because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will become cold.” (Matthew 24:12 Amp) When you read the verses preceding this one, you will find that what Jesus was saying was prophetic. Now although the word “love” in this verse in English seems to mean the same as when used in the previous verses, here in the Greek it is different. The Greek word for love in this verse is agape. I know you’ve heard that word before. That word in the Greek means our unconditional affection and benevolence for one another – our unconditional desire to care for one another. In this verse Jesus was telling His disciples what would happen to most in the Church after His resurrection. Strangers Rest, he was talking about the Church today and that includes you and that includes me. In those verses Jesus identified some of the signs of the last days and how Christians, His followers, would succumb to the trials and persecutions surrounding them from the “outside” and the apostasies and false prophets from the “inside”. By reason of these trials and persecutions from without, and the apostasies and false prophets from within, most of the Church’s love for Christ, His doctrine and for one another will grow cold.

This is so important to understand. You see, for Christians, in these last days we will be attacked not only from those who do not believe, but the most hurtful attacks will come from those who are members of our spiritual family and who worship alongside of us each week. And this is what Jesus was warning His disciples and each of us about. When those attacks start happening – and they have already started – especially from other believers, the pain from those attacks often causes us to go into protection mode from future attacks. So, what do we do? We withdraw, sit back and stop being involved. When this happens, we have allowed others to dictate our relationship with God by stopping us from doing what He has called us to do. You see, in those moments our love starts to grow cold, and it gets easier and easier to stand back and let things play out from a distance versus remaining steadfast and ensuring that we continue to demonstrate our love for Christ in how we treat others regardless of how they treat us. Some of you know exactly what I am talking about. When our love grows cold the fire we have within us to do right by others slowly begins to go out. And before we know it our lives will be centered solely on self and what we want. And what is so sad is that we won’t recognize that it is happening. We will be so involved in the hurt and rejection that our responses will feel justified. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter four.