At times we can see self-reproach as a spiritual virtue. It appears to be in the category of agreeing with God that I am a sinner.” Which is a true statement. However, self-reproach is applied in such a way that “I am chief among sinners” becomes “God must hate me” rather than “God must love me.” This interpretation leads to all kinds of corrosive beliefs. A self-examined life becomes a search for some hidden or unconscious sin, rather than a celebration of the grace we find in Christ.
Wednesday, December 4, 2024
Monday, June 12, 2023
Being Helpful Toward Others
It has been a while since I have written a post. I was leading a Bible study yesterday and it was a good lesson on how to be an encouragement while offering constructive criticism. At times we can fall into a critique that points more toward division rather than toward positive change. This can make or break relationships. Honestly, I have had positive and negative examples of this. And if I am honest, I have been a positive as well as a negative example of this. So, let’s dig in.
Advice from a father-in-law?
There can be danger in giving and receiving advice from in-laws. Let me just start off by saying I have the most wonderful in laws ever. You might think you have the best, but you don’t. I am the lucky one that got the best. Early on in my relationship with my wife Amy (because of my immaturity), I felt threatened by them. This type of situation can be an opportunity for conflict and division. We see though in the context of Moses’ relationship with Jethro (his father-in-law) a beautiful example of how a father-in-law can speak, transforming truth into his son-in-law’s life.
Monday, April 11, 2022
Let Your Light Shine (Good Works)
Matthew 5:14–16 CSB
“You are the light of the world. A city situated on a
hill cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but
rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. In the
same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good
works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
The church is to be a light to the world. We are not to hide
from speaking the truth. However, in this metaphor Jesus is not talking about
preaching or teaching specifically. He is talking about action. And while
preaching and teaching are good works for the edification of other believers,
preaching and teaching do not necessarily shine a light to the world (unless an
unbeliever happens to show up in church).
Notice the phrase “so they may see your good works.” We have
this task while on this earth. Jesus has given each and every follower
responsibility to live in such a way that good works abound and that they
abound for the public to see. In order to be seen then the work here must be
some tangible manifestation of goodness. What is “Good?” When we do something
that is honorable, beautiful, kind, generous, friendly, pleasant, excellent,
and the like then we are doing something good. It is this goodness that honors
God and leads others to give glory to our Father in heaven.
Just to be clear these good works are not “works of the
law.” Works of the law is man’s attempt to earn favor with God. It reduces the
relationship with God to a mere transaction in which we do certain things and
God returns the favor. These works of the law are completely inadequate to
living a transformed life (Ephesians 2:8-9). If you do not have a relationship
with God then you need to receive the good news message of Christ. Works of the
law will not rescue you from mistakes, problems, and missing the mark.
If you have a personal relationship with Christ then good
works are evidence that you are walking with Jesus and that you are His
follower (Ephesians 2:10). These good works are commanded over and again
throughout the Bible. Christians are to be known for their goodness.
It is sad to me that we often come up short in showing
goodness to those around us. Often times we miss the mark due to poor attention
to those around us. We also are so interested in our own agenda that we look at
others in our lives as objects and not real people. This self-absorbed approach
to life leads to a lack of goodness in our lives. We fail to demonstrate
goodness toward others. In many ways the church has put it’s light under a
basket. The light of good works is so infrequently celebrated that one begins
to wonder whether the church is about the Lord’s work.
Not all is hopeless; I am thankful that there are
individuals that are shining a light. They inspire me with kindness,
generosity, encouragement, friendliness, and love. I think it is important to
celebrate Christians that are shining the light of good works. This is not to
glorify them, but rather to say what great glorious work God is doing in and
through the lives of His followers. Faithful workers also point the way to
restored hope of being the lampstand that God has called His churches to be
(Revelation 2:5). May God restore our conviction to be a light; May we be
diligent in good works; may God be glorified.
God Bless You
~BJ
Wednesday, March 9, 2022
Love (Rescue from the Curse)
I have been posting on love these many months. I have one more post on this topic and will be moving on to other topics. I will, God willing, revisit this subject that has been near to my heart. This post is not directly about love, but rather the removal of the curse as an act of love by God.
There will no longer be any curse.
Revelation 22:3a
There are times when the full weight of guilt rests upon our
conscience. The guilt and shame overcome and drag us down to the depths of despair.
This tangle of condemnation rests upon everyone. You see there is not a one of
us that can escape the reality that we all miss the mark in life (that is sin).
Missing the mark is no small thing either. Sure, we can think about minor sins
and say that was not a big deal. However, how can we gage how large a sin must
be before it is considered bad. Is the badness related to the nature of the sin
itself? What if the sin is frequent does that make it worse? Does remorse change
the nature of guilt? All of these and more are interesting questions. James an
early follower of Christ answered these questions this way: “For whoever keeps
the entire law, and yet stumbles at one point, is guilty of breaking it all.
(Jas 2:10)” That seems harsh to the modern ear. Paul another follower of Christ
said it this way: “For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse,
because it is written, Everyone who does not do everything written in the book
of the law is cursed. (Ga 3:10).” The point is this if you are depending on
being a good enough person to please God you have already come up short.
Loving God and loving others well is a response to having
the curse removed from your life. The curse is that we can never be good enough
on our own. No amount of good works can make you a good person. However, when
the curse is removed, we can reach the full potential of what God has created
us to be. In many ways this returns us to the occasion that Jesus said to love
God and love others. The question was how to inherit eternal life. To which
Jesus replied to Love God (with all heart, soul, and strength) and to love your
neighbor as yourself. A follow up question was “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus used a parable to explain that our neighbor
is another human being in need that we care for regardless of what group they
identify with.
We come up short though. So, are we hopelessly under the
curse? Yes and no.
“Yes”
As I have already mentioned we cannot be good enough to remove
the guilt and shame of our sin. We remain under the curse of this sin and our virtuous
deeds do not rescue. It is a hopeless and impossible state.
When the disciples heard this, they were utterly
astonished and asked, “Then who can be saved?”
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all
things are possible.”
(Mt 19:25–26)
With man it is impossible to be saved from the curse.
“No”
Our hope is in God’s promise. It is possible to escape the
curse when we come to and trust in God.
For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and
only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal
life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to
save the world through him. Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but
anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed
in the name of the one and only Son of God.
(Jn 3:16–18)
Simply stated it is God’s love for us that provides the
escape from the curse. The progression is quite simple. God loves us. He gives
us a way to escape the curse. His Son Jesus provided the way. If we believe in Jesus,
we receive the escape of the curse. Dear friends that is God’s love!
Monday, February 14, 2022
Love Sustaining Love
Watch Sermon Here: https://www.sermonaudio.com/solo/rbcchurch/sermons/213222013388097/
A few weeks back someone asked me, “How love could be both
the root and the fruit of the Christian life?” It is a very good question. Today
I hope to describe how love and be the root, growth, and fruit of the Christian
life. To illustrate this, I am going to use the analogy of an apple tree. I am
holding in my hand here an apple seed. And in my other hand an apple. Now we
can understand how this can become this over time. This analogy is useful in
understanding love of God and how it can be the seed, root, growth, and fruit
of our lives.
Another way to examine love is to look at it grammatically.
“Love loves love!” is a complete sentence. Love is the subject, action, and
object. In this way we can look at love as being a complete package. It is the
fullness of love that is lived out in the Christian life.
As I mentioned in last week’s sermon God is the source and
author of love. God is love. In this way when we come to Christ God plants the
seed of love in our heart and lives that is His Holy Spirit. When we allow this
love to mature in our lives it is the action of this love to produce
sanctification in our lives. By loving God and others well the seed of love
grows into maturity. In the flesh we simply love those who love us. Jesus says
“What good is it to only love those who love you. Even sinners do the same.” So,
then the higher mature love is to let God through His process of sanctification
work in your heart to put to death selfish and unloving ways. As we mature then
God uses our lives to produce mature fruit. This fruit of love is then a
witness to a lost world, but also a ministry to the brothers and sisters in
Christ.
In this way love can be both the source and the fruit. And
this should not come as a surprise to us. The Bible frequently describes how we
reap what we sow.
Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a
person sows he will also reap, because the one who sows to his flesh will reap
destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap
eternal life from the Spirit. Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will
reap at the proper time if we don’t give up.
Why should we expect anything different when it comes to the
greatest spiritual virtue of love?
The point is this: The person who sows sparingly will
also reap sparingly, and the person who sows generously will also reap
generously.
Let’s dig into God’s Word!
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
Every branch in me that does not produce fruit he removes, and he prunes every
branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit. You are already
clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I in you.
Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the
vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the
branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because
you can do nothing without me. If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown
aside like a branch and he withers. They gather them, throw them into the fire,
and they are burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever
you want and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this: that you
produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples. “As the Father has loved me, I
have also loved you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commands you will remain
in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. “I
have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be
complete. “This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you. No one has
greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends. You are my
friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants anymore,
because a servant doesn’t know what his master is doing. I have called you
friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard from my
Father. You did not choose me, but I chose you. I appointed you to go and
produce fruit and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask the
Father in my name, he will give you. “This is what I command you: Love one
another.
I have already talked about the second part of that passages
in the past two sermons. Jesus has laid down His life for our sins. He is
talking about those that place their faith in Him the ones that listen and obey
Him. Jesus is calling them friends. This is what happens when we turn from
living a sinful and selfish life to trusting in Christ as our Lord and Savior.
What a friend we have in Jesus.
This command to love is connected then to the sacrifice that
Jesus has made. Jesus also is a commanding us to “love one another.” This
command to love one another is connected then to the first part of this passage
with an important phrase. Jesus says in John 15:9
““As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Remain in my love.” The
phrase “remain in my love” establishes a clear connection between the visual of
vine and branches and His teaching on loving obedience to God and sacrificial
love toward others. Taking it a step further I believe that the description the
follows the metaphorical language is one of Jesus’ explanations to his
disciples (See Matthew 13:10-17). We know that Jesus would use the
metaphorical language of parables and then pull His disciples aside to explain
what the parables meant.
The Source of Love
Ultimately Jesus is our source of Life and Love. In this
passage Jesus refers to himself as the vine and refers to us as branches. God
the Father is the gardener. We see then that it is our connection to and
abiding in Christ that gives us life and fruitfulness. We often look at our
salvation experience through the lens of getting a ticket to heaven. However,
if we take the metaphoric language seriously there is a life sustaining
connection to Christ that is needed. It also says that those that are not
fruitful are cut off and thrown into the fire.
The question might be what causes a branch to be unfruitful?
There is a verse I want to zero in on here. John 15:6
“If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown aside like a branch and he
withers. They gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”
I recall when we used to have rose bushes that I would cut
back once a year. In the spring as the bush would grow there were on occasion
branches on the bush that although they were connected to the base of the rose
bush physically, they were not connected in a life-giving way. This is referred
to as die back. It is important to cut out the die back when it is detected as whatever
is causing it can infect the health tissue in the rose bush and cause it to
die. I bring this up because Jesus seems to be saying that there is a
difference between being physically connected to the vine and abiding in the
vine. When we are merely physically connected, we do not produce fruit because
we are dead. In the same way a dead rose branch will never produce a rose and
needs to be cut off if we are not connected to abiding in Christ then we will
likewise be cut off. That is dead in a spiritual sense. This has eternal
consequences. This passage also says that these branches will be burned up.
This is a clear representation of eternal punishment in hell in my opinion.
John 3:16 “For God loved the world in this way: He gave his
one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have
eternal life.” This is a familiar verse to most church goers. It also can be
familiar to the world at large. Less familiar is John 3:18
“Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe
is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and
only Son of God.” It is this condemnation that leads to branches being burned
up.
Notice the connection to love though. In John 3:16
we read “For God so loved the world.” In John 15:9
we read “remain in my love.” The Gospel is an expression of God’s love for us.
We experience and are connected to God’s love when we believe in Jesus Christ
as our savior.
Jesus is the source of our love. It is his love that flows
into our lives and enables us to bear the fruit of love.
Using the picture then this apple seed is symbolic of the
gospel of God’s love. If this gospel it received and planted then it grows up.
Love, more specifically God’s love is that seed.
The Growth of Love
Pruning
It would seem that there is more to this than simply
believing in Christ. In this metaphorical language Jesus also says that God the
Father is pruning those that remain in Christ. There is not only salvation, but
also a process of sanctification that is occurring as God removes those parts
of you that are getting the way of being fruitful. As followers of Christ then
we must be willing to respond to God to remove those barriers. Jesus not only
describes the action of being cleaned, but also the method of being cleaned.
Notice John
15:3 “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.”
It is the Word that God uses to do His pruning. Our Heavenly
Father is the Gardener and His Word is the pruning shears. God’s word is often
represented as an instrument that cuts.
For the word of God is living and effective and sharper
than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and
spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of
the heart.
There are so many things that get in the way of the fruit of
love. None greater in my estimation than the thoughts and intentions of the
heart. Truly as I think about the times that I have failed to love well it is
nearly always one of these two. On the one hand the way that I think about the
other person has a huge influence on how I treat them. It is also possible that
when it comes down to it, I really never intended to love them in the first
place. My thoughts about the other person simply become a way to soothe my
conscience for acting in an unloving manner toward them. I can justify being
unloving because they deserve it.
One more point before moving on. I realize that we can push
metaphors too far so as to lose their meaning, but if you will indulge me just
a bit. Pruning shears are no good to us if they simply sit in the shed
collecting dust. It is only when we take them out and use them to prune that
the purpose of the shears is fulfilled. Can I just say an unopened Bible is
like pruning shears stored away in a shed. As we talked about last week it is
only by being in the Word of God that we can know what it is that we are to
obey. This week I would extend that to say that it is only by studying the Word
of God that God can actively remove those things that God wants out of our
lives. If you wonder why God is not producing fruit in our life individually or
in the collective lives of our church is it possible that we do not spend
nearly enough time in His Word if we spend any time at all?
So back to my analogy then. The seed of the gospel grows up
into a tree. This apple tree is cared for by God. He loves and cleans the
believer so that they will be fruitful. At times this cleaning is unpleasant.
No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful.
Later on, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who
have been trained by it.
We often consider suffering and discipline as being the
opposite of love. But it is not so God genuinely cares for you and longs for
good in your life. Submitting to His discipline is for our ultimate well-being.
Apathy that is a lack of care or concern is the opposite of love.
Do not despise the Lord’s instruction, my son, and do
not loathe his discipline; for the Lord disciplines the one he loves, just as a
father disciplines the son in whom he delights.
So then love is the growth of the apple tree toward
maturity.
The Fruit of Love
Keep my commands / Love one another
I know we discussed this last week. One of the key ways that
we express love toward God is through obedience to His commands. Jesus tells us
that keeping His commands is the way that we remain in His love. This truth can
generally apply to all the commands of God. In the New Testament there are over
300 commands of Christ. Admittedly not all the commands apply to us. Some apply
to the disciples alive at the time of Christ. Jesus in this passage focuses on
one command in particular. In John 15:9 “As the Father has loved me, I have also loved
you. Remain in my love.” He then redirects the command to focus on others in John 15:12
“This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you.” He repeats the
command again saying John 15:17 “This is what I command you: Love one another.”
The command to “Love one another” placed so closely to the
Vine metaphor and the keep my commands statement would make this particular
command of primary importance. The fact that Jesus says it twice would make
this an especially important emphasis of His teaching to “remain in his love.”
It seems that to remain in Christ’s love that we are obliged to love one
another. This is consistent with other passages in scripture as well. I have
covered many of these “love one another” commandments in my previous two
sermons. Just to highlight a couple of them:
Above all, maintain constant love for one another, since
love covers a multitude of sins.
Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must
love one another.
Love one another deeply as brothers and sisters. Take
the lead in honoring one another.
Truthfully, I could go on and on with the multitude of
verses that command us to love one another that are in God’s Word. The command
to love is an unambiguous teaching of God’s word. If we are to remain in Christ
then Love ought to be central theme of our relationships. Further Love that is
our ability to love one another is the central evidence that God’s love is in
us.
The primary purpose of abiding, pruning, obeying, and loving
is found in John
15:8 “My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove
to be my disciples.” The aim is to glorify God through being fruitful and
proving to be Jesus disciples.
In Galatians and Ephesians, we find a good summary of what
this fruit is to look like.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The
law is not against such things.
Ephesians
5:8–10 (CSB)
Walk as children of light—for the fruit of the light
consists of all goodness, righteousness, and truth—testing what is pleasing to
the Lord.
Love is a sort of shorthand for all these things. Notice
that the in the Fruit of the Spirit that Love is the first thing that is
mentioned. It is not a stretch to suggest that Love is the premier fruit.
Notice also that the Fruit of Light which is goodness, righteousness, and truth
is consistent with Loving God which is to say obeying His truth. Fruitfulness
in the Christian life necessarily involves love both loving God and loving
others. That is why Jesus said:
Matthew
22:37–40 (CSB)
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all
your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important
command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and
the Prophets depend on these two commands.”
Love also is how we prove that we are Jesus’ disciples as
well:
“I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I
have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this everyone will know
that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
When the people outside the church look in, they don’t say,
“Oh those people sure are smart!” Nor do they say, “Those Christians they are
so righteous.” No Jesus says it plainly, “Everyone will know that you are my
disciples, if you love one another.” Love is our witness to a dark world. Love
is our witness when everything around us is violence. Love is our witness when
contempt is the way of the times. Love is our witness while the world is
tearing itself apart. Love, it is love that is our witness. It is love that
shows others that we are abiding in Christ. In short if you want to Glorify God
then you must love Him and love one another.
This apple is the fruit of the seed and the tree of the
apple. In this same way Love in particular the love of Christ is the seed of
love in our lives. As we abide in Christ the love and life-giving sap allows us
to grow up and mature like an apple tree. God prunes us with His word. Finally,
this same love become the fruit that glorifies our Heavenly Father. Love
sustains love.
Love Sustains Love
As we draw to a close this series of messages on love, I
want to challenge you all to consider a few things.
First are you in Christ? This message only makes sense if
you are in Christ. If not then I want to encourage you to seek to be in Christ.
Truthfully Jesus is seeking for you this morning. If you want to be found in
Christ then in a few minutes we will be having a time of commitment. I would
love to have a chance to share with you about how to abide in Christ. Our staff
would also be available after the service if you want to pull one of us aside
to learn more about this.
Second, if you are in Christ are you in God’s Word? As we
have learned the only way, we can know what is pleasing to God is to study His
message to us found in the Bible. We also learned today That God prunes the
dead things in our lives using the Word found in scripture.
Finally, Are you fruitful in love? This is a burden for me.
Everywhere I look in our times there is contempt, mean spirited words, hate,
and violence. Brothers and Sisters, we must present ourselves different from
the world. We cannot fall into the darkness of the world or follow the ways of
the world. Let our love that is love for God and love for others shine brightly
in a dark dark world. Further let’s not make this love mere lip service. Let’s
not make this love be a simple attitude adjustment. No let’s serve God with all
our heart, mind, soul, and strength. Let’s sacrificially love and build up one
another. Let’s take the greatest love story humanity has ever known to a world
that desperately needs His love. That is the heart our Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s
pray!
Monday, February 7, 2022
From Love Commanded to Love Lived Out
Here is the link to this sermon: https://www.sermonaudio.com/solo/rbcchurch/sermons/26222242321050/
God’s Faithful Love
Prayer as it relates to love
God’s Love Is Faithful
Loving God’s Truth
Loving Others
What does love look like?
Conclusion
Bible college professor Yohanna Katanacho, who pastors a
small church in Jerusalem, is subjected to much persecution. Israeli soldiers
who patrol the city looking for potential terrorists impose spontaneous curfews
on Palestinians and have the legal right to shoot at a Palestinian who does not
respond quickly enough to their summons.
Yohanna tried and failed in his attempts to love his
enemies. The Israeli soldiers’ random daily checks for Palestinian
identification cards—sometimes stopping them for hours—fed Yohanna’s fear and
anger. As he confessed his inability to God, Yohanna realized something
significant. The radical love of Christ is not an emotion, but a decision. He
decided to show love, however reluctantly, by sharing the gospel message with
the soldiers on the street. With new resolution, Yohanna began to carry copies
of a flyer with him, written in Hebrew and English, with a quotation from
Isaiah 53 and the words “Real Love” printed across the top. Every time a
soldier stopped him, he handed him his ID card and the flyer. Because the quote
came from the Hebrew Scriptures, the soldier usually asked him about it before
letting him go.
After several months, Yohanna realized his feelings
toward the soldiers had changed. “I was surprised, you know?” he says. “It was
a process, but I didn’t pay attention to that process. My older feelings were
not there anymore. I would pass in the same street, see the same soldiers as
before, but now find myself praying, ‘Lord, let them stop me so that I can
share with them the love of Christ.’ ”
—“When Love Is Impossible,” Trinity Magazine (Fall 2005)
This morning I hope I can give you a taste of what it means
to love God and love others. Truthfully, I have been working on this for nearly
a year and half and I still believe I have much more to learn about Love. The
likelihood that I will be able to condense all there is to know about
practically living out love in a 30-minute sermon is nil. If I were to preach
on the what the Bible teaches about love every Sunday it would take nearly 4
years to deal with every passage that the Bible mentions love. There is no way
possible to accomplish that task in a few sermons. So, my hope is to highlight
a few things and then encourage you to do some exploring on your own.
God’s Faithful Love
In God’s word we read that God is love.
Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is
from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. The one
who does not love does not know God, because God is love. God’s love was
revealed among us in this way: God sent his one and only Son into the world so
that we might live through him. Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but
that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another. No
one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us and his love
is made complete in us. This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us:
He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and we testify that the Father
has sent his Son as the world’s Savior. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son
of God—God remains in him and he in God. And we have come to know and to
believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in
love remains in God, and God remains in him. In this, love is made complete
with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because as he
is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; instead, perfect
love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So, the one who fears
is not complete in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I
love God,” and yet hates his brother or sister, he is a liar. For the person
who does not love his brother or sister whom he has seen cannot love God whom
he has not seen. And we have this command from him: The one who loves God must
also love his brother and sister.
God is love. We look to the life of Christ as the
manifestation of God with us. He is our Emmanuel which means God with us. In
this passage I just read Jesus demonstrates His love by pursuing us and
ultimately sacrificing His life for our salvation. He was willing to give all
for you and for me for our ultimate wellbeing. That we might be able to be
saved from sin and destruction.
In the Old Testament we learn about “Faithful Love.” The
Hebrew word is hesed (Hay-sayd). This word is most often translated “faithful
love.” It also is translated “Kindness” “Loyalty” “Gracious” “Faithfulness” and
“Constant Love.” When we say God is love it is this love that we are
referencing. God’s love is faithful, God’s love is kindness, God’s love is
gracious, God’s love is constant!
The first time this word is used in the Bible it is in a
prayer by a servant of Abraham while seeking a bride for Abraham’s son Isaac. Genesis
24:12-14
“Lord, God of my master Abraham,” he prayed, “make this
happen for me today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. I am standing here
at the spring where the daughters of the men of the town are coming out to draw
water. Let the girl to whom I say, ‘Please lower your water jug so that I may
drink,’ and who responds, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels also’—let her be
the one you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you
have shown kindness to my master.”
As he finishes the prayer Rebekah arrives. She is beautiful
and full of hospitality and grace. She invites the servant of Abraham back to
her father’s house. She was a perfect match for Issacs. So the Servant praises
God saying: Genesis
24:27 “Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not
withheld his kindness (hesed) and faithfulness from my master.”
Prayer as it relates to love
Before moving on I want to note something about prayer as it
relates to love. This servant knew something about God’s faithful love. He
prayed that God’s faithful love would be made reality. When it came to pass
then He worshiped and praised God for His faithful love. This seems to me a
good pattern for us to follow. We seek to learn about God’s faithful love, we
pray that God’s faithful love be a reality in our lives, and praise God when
His faithful love is manifest in our lives.
There are many other occasions that God’s people praise
God’s faithful love. One such instance is in the song the Israelites sang after
crossing the Red Sea on Dry land. The whole event was evidence of God’s mighty
hand at work. The protection from the Egyptians pursuing them, the parting of
waters, the crossing all of it was God’s hand. They sang a song of praise. One
stanza of this song says
With your faithful love, you will lead the people you
have redeemed; you will guide them to your holy dwelling with your strength.
300
Sermon Illustrations from Charles Spurgeon The Love of God Burns in Our
Hearts (1
John 4:7, 19; Jude 21)
You have a magnifying glass and hold it up before the
sun until you focus the rays on a piece of dry wood and set it on fire. Now,
while you see the wood burning to ashes, will you tell me what it is that
burns? Does the heat of the sun burn the wood or does the wood burn? The heat
that you feel while the wood is burning, is it due to the sun or to the wood?
Of course at first the fire is purely and simply the flame of the sun, but
afterwards the wood itself begins to burn; the sun burns the wood and then the
wood itself burns.
Even so the love of God comes into our heart, and then
our heart loves too, and in both cases “love is from God” (1 John 4:7).
No man is a Christian unless he himself loves God with his own heart, but yet
our love to God is nothing more or less than the reflection of God’s love to
us: so that it comes to the same thing.
The point I think is to understand how to love God we must
first learn to understand God’s faithful love for us, seek to have that love
manifest in our lives, and praise Him for his faithful love. The foundation of
our love for God is not something that we find in ourselves ultimately. It is a
manifestation of God’s faithful love flowing through us back to God and toward
others. God’s faithful love in us.
God’s Love Is Faithful
Our affections can ebb and flow. The things I loved as a
young adult seem quite trivial to me now. And the things that seemed trivial
back then have become more important to me now. Love expressed in this way is
not really the type of love we are seeking to understand here. God’s love is
faithful. If we are to represent and manifest God’s love then our love ought to
be faithful as well. What does faithful love look like?
As a Christian we know that God highest love is the atoning
work of Jesus Christ. What does that mean? Jesus said before He died on a cross
that
“This is my command: Love one another as I have loved
you. No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends.
You are my friends if you do what I command you.
We also read that:
This is how we have come to know love: He laid down his
life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.
When we look at these words of Christ and John, Christ’s
sacrifice is central to the love we are discussing here today. You see our sin
separates us from the faithful love that God wants to show us. So much so that
left to our own ends we remain separated and unable to obey the command to love
others. So, is Jesus asking us to do something that is impossible then? Well
yes and no. It is impossible to love as God has commanded us without some
supernatural change in our hearts and lives. Jesus is more than an example of
how to love others. He is the very substance of Love that enables us to love
God and Love others. It is the Gospel that is the source of ultimate love that
flows into our lives and redeems our souls so that we can love God and love
others empowered ultimately by God’s Holy Spirit.
Now if you have obeyed the Gospel then you already know what
I am talking about. However, if you are here this morning and you have never received
the message of salvation for your soul then the rest of this sermon is unlikely
to do you any good. You must settle in your heart today whether you will
surrender your life to Jesus Christ and make him savior and Lord of your life.
Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection from the dead is the most supreme
and loving act of all history. He wants you to respond and follow in his loving
sacrifice. That is the obedience Jesus and John are proclaiming here. To Love
God is to respond favorably to this Gospel call. This is the first step of
obedience that grows and matures into the fullness of loving God and loving
others.
Loving God’s Truth
Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the
truth.
Time and again God’s word connects obedience to loving God.
Last week a shared several verses with you that stated how if we love God, we obey
his commands.
But whoever keeps his word, truly in him the love of God
is made complete. This is how we know we are in him:
Truly obedience to God’s word is our act of love. We are
walking in love when we are faithful to God’s commands. This loyalty to God’s
commands then is an expression of faithful love. It is this love for which we
are striving. Why do we love God? Because God first loved us!
Jesus said it this way:
He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your
heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.
You see this love for God is Loving God with all your heart,
soul, and mind.
How do we know God’s truth?
So, if loving God is obeying his commands, then the next
logical question is how do we know God’s commands? Jesus has already answered
that by quoting the verse in the Old Testament. Let’s look at that verse now:
“Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love
the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to
your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk
along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on
your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. Write them on the
doorposts of your house and on your city gates.
So how do we know God’s commands? Well one thing you are
doing correctly right now is showing up. When we come together to hear from
God’s Word, we are learning a bit about God’s commands. So, seeking out solid
Bible teaching is essential. We have life groups that meet on Sundays and some
during the week. These groups spend time in God’s word learning from God’s Word
and challenging one another to live out God’s commands in our lives. One thing
though that is often missing is study God’s word for ourselves. Your love for
God will be directly related to the amount of time that you spend in the Bible.
This passage says to have God’s word in your heart repeat them to your
children, talk about God’s word as you go through life, bind them to your hand
write them on your forehead. God’s word is to be an intimate part of everyday
life not just something you study once or twice a week. If you want to love God
more, you would do well to spend more time studying and meditating on God’s
word. Then as God’s will becomes more and more apparent, then you will learn
and live out faithful love.
I just finished reading the Bible cover to cover in 90 days.
I am going through a second time and am about a third of the way through. I
read about an hour a day. Now think about this how many activities during the
day do you spend an hour or more that have no eternal consequence. Would you be
willing to join with me this year to give an hour a day for studying God’s word?
Maybe you don’t read as fast. That is OK it is not a race. Read at your pace,
just get into the word. Maybe you have a short attention span. That is OK as
well. Take 20 minutes in the morning, 20 minutes midday and 20 minutes in the
evening. My challenge to you is to regularly get into God’s word. It is only by
knowing God’s word that we can truly obey His word and it is only by obeying
his word that we can genuinely love God! If you commit to this hour a day you
will be able to read through the Bible easily within the next year. Even when
you miss a day or two along the way.
Loving Others
I would like to now turn our focus on to loving people. I
will not be able to adequately cover the breadth of this subject. I only hope
that we can get a taste of what it means and that you would as you dig into
God’s word to get the depth of how we are to love each other.
Without rehashing last week’s sermon let’s makes some quick
observations and then dig into a couple points. When we think about love for
others there are multiple categories of people that this applies to. Each group
we will experience and express love differently. This is mainly the nature of
the relationships that we have. For example, the love I express toward my wife
Amy is going to be different in experience and expression than the love I
generally express to all of you. Some key groups then we see in scripture are
spouses, family, elders (family and church), friends, fellow Christians,
enemies, and the people world in general. Quickly then in a marriage love is to
be demonstrated in the way that a husband lays down his life for his wife (Ephesians
5:25-33; Colossians
3:19; 1
Peter 3:7). This also is demonstrated in the way that a wife in turn
respects her husband’s loving sacrifice toward her and submits to him. The
Bible is unambiguous on this: A loving marriage is between a man and a woman.
Our culture is working hard to redefine the nature of marital relationships. We
cannot compromise on this to disobey God is to say we really do not love Him.
That being said Husbands if you want to learn love, learn to lay your life down
for your wife. This is not an either or. This love only works when both husband
and wife are doing their part in relationship. With family we are to raise our
children not in anger but to love and honor God (Ephesians 6:4).
With our parents we are to honor them (Ephesians 6:1-3).
With fellow believers we love each other by building one
another up, encouraging, meeting together, seeking unity, seeking peace, and
provoking loving works (Ephesians 4:1-3,Colossians 3:14,
Hebrews
10:24). With our elders we are to care for them (1 Timothy
5:3-4, 8). With church elders we are to honor them and make sure they are
adequately compensated for their work (1 Timothy
5:17-20).
With friends we tell them the good news of Christ and serve
them where we are able; we love our neighbors as ourselves (Mark 12:31;
John
15:12-13). With our enemies we love them by providing for their basic
needs, treating them with kindness, and praying for them (Luke 6:27-36).
I have included the references to these verses so that you in your personal
Bible Study time can get into God’s Word and write upon your heart the reality
of God’s faithful love, our love for God, and our love for others. This week
and in the last sermon I referenced about 70 passages about this subject. There
are so many more I could have referenced. Someone joked after the last sermon
“I hope you don’t run out of verses to use in your sermon.” This is not
possible. In fact, God’s word mentions love over 752 times. To put this into perspective
the Bible (The numbers vary a bit depending on the English translation)
mentions the word doctrine 6 times, Discernment 36 times, Teach and teaching
231 times, learn 82 times, truth 170 times, and Holy 653 times. God’s
overwhelming message to is in His Word is Love! The word love is found
throughout the Bible. Here is a graph that shows the frequency of the word
Love.
I will make all the Bible references in the last two sermons
available on the RBC website and a paper copy is on the table in the back. I
encourage you to dig into God’s word.
What does love look like?
I would like to spend these closing moments highlighting a
few things from the love chapter.
Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is
not boastful, is not arrogant, is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not
irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs. Love finds no joy in
unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all
things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. But as for
prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for
knowledge, it will come to an end.
Love is long-suffering. The word patient is defined as
suffering long for the one that you love. It is interesting to me that the very
first characteristic of love is suffering. It seems strange, but as you
meditate on in it ultimately becomes a profound truth. When we suffer long for
the person, we love it becomes the ultimate expression of love.
Love is kind. Kindness is greatly missing from our lives in
our culture. We are more likely to experience contempt and rejection that
kindness and love. We can all work at being more kind to one another and those
around us.
Love is not self-seeking. When we use relationships for
selfish ends we cannot claim to be loving.
Love one another deeply as brothers and sisters. Take
the lead in honoring one another.
The goal is to take the lead in the race of loving and
honoring each other. Further:
In every way I’ve shown you that it is necessary to help
the weak by laboring like this and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus,
because he said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.
Giving is a blessing. In fact, Jesus says the blessing that
comes from giving is greater than the blessing from receiving. Giving Love is
greater than receiving love from others! Showing Kindness is greater than
receiving Kindness. This is the mark of the Christian faith, “that we love one
another.”
Conclusion
What can we say then? First Love reflects God’s faithful
love. It is this loyal, kind, gracious, and steadfast love that God has for us
that is the foundation of the love that we have for God and others. It is only
by having this love in us through faith in Jesus Christ that this love is
possible. Second, to obey God is to love God. The only way we can know and obey
God is to saturate ourselves lives in His teachings. We do the through sermons,
study groups, and most importantly individual study of His word. Third, we know
that God has commanded us to love others. This takes many forms depending on
the nature of the relationship. It is unquestionable that we are to love in all
these relationships whether the inmate relationship of a spouse to the
challenge of those that persecute and hate you and everything in between. In
all things persevere in love. Finally, we need to recognize the love is
long-suffering, kind, and self-sacrificing. When we commit to this type of
love, which by is ultimately is expressed in Christ’s laying his life down for
our salvation our souls, then we will be revived, our church will flourish, and
our world will be transformed by the powerful faithful love of God. Let us
pray.
Sunday, February 6, 2022
Faithful Love
We live in the midst of great unfaithfulness. Loyalty, kindness, and compassion seem rare in our culture.
God on the other hand does not change. He is faithful and
loving. There is a Hebrew word that captures this trait of God (×—ַ֭סְדְּ) or (ḥesed).
This kindness and graciousness toward the object of His affection is faithful
love. This faithful love is so frequently connected to God’s mercy and grace it
is easy to conclude that God’s faithful love is expressed to those that turn to
Him and undeserving as they might be God shows them mercy. Here are some
examples:
Psalm 6:4 “Turn, Lord! Rescue me; save me because of your
faithful love.”
Psalm 13:5 “But I have trusted in your faithful love; my
heart will rejoice in your deliverance.”
Psalm 23:6 “Only goodness and faithful love will pursue me
all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord as long as I
live.”
Psalm 25:7 “Do not remember the sins of my youth or my acts
of rebellion; in keeping with your faithful love, remember me because of your
goodness, Lord.”
There are so many references that have this word. Nearly 250
times this “Faithful Love” is mentioned in the Scripture.
One more God’s faithful love is connected to His patience
with us when we miss the mark.
Psalm 86:15 “But you, Lord, are a compassionate and
gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth.”
There is security in knowing the faithful love of God. We can
turn to Him and experience the love of our Heavenly Father. In a world as
unloving as can be it is a blessing to know we serve a God that loves us more
than we deserve. We need only trust and obey to enter into and rest in God’s
faithful love. God’s faithful love is peace to our souls in a world than knows
nothing about peace.
Please know that we are praying for you. At times we do not
know the names or the faces, but God knows. We care with a care that comes from
God. God perfectly, we imperfectly as God enables us. Please know that a deep
compassion for you all fills our hearts. We long for RBC to be a community that
reflects God’s Faithful Love!
God Bless You
~BJ Olson
Thursday, January 20, 2022
I Pray That Your Love Will Keep on Growing
And I pray this: that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment, so that you may approve the things that are superior and may be pure and blameless in the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.
In this passage Paul is explaining the things that are in
his prayer life toward the people in Philippi. He is thankful (Philippians 1:3),
Joyful (Philippians
1:4), Praising their partnership with him (Philippians 1:5,7),
confident about Christ’s work in them (Philippians 1:6),
missing them, and affectionate toward them (Philippians 1:8).
These prayers are thanksgiving and faith. He then delves into the substance of
his intersession for the people of Philippi.
I want to draw attention to the progression of these verses.
First this progression is rooted in love. Love grows in knowledge and
discernment. This growth of knowledge and discernment leads to agreement with
superior things and sanctification in Christ. This sanctification leads to
works of righteousness in Christ that then culminates with glorifying and
praising of God.
I have an image of a tree when I think of these verses. The
root of the tree is love. The trunk of the tree is knowledge and discernment.
The branches of the tree are agreement with God. The leaves of the tree are
sanctification. The fruit of the tree is works of righteousness. Finally, the provision
these works leads to the glory and praise of God.
The love in this prayer is a request for an abounding love.
This love is overflowing and extravagant. It is more than that. This love is
more and more overflowing and extravagant. The word overflowing is the same
word that is used when the disciples collected 12 baskets from the five barley
loaves in John
6:13. This multiplied and overflowing love is Paul’s prayer for the
Philippian church. Love, if this prayer is fulfilled, is the unmistakable
miracle of God. This overflow is a work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of
believers expressed in their lives through the relationships they have with
others.
As I interact with this text, I recognize that despite the
best intentions to live out this type of love I am wholly inadequate to do so
(Romans 7). Truthfully the only way to constantly love with abounding love of
God is to persistently set your mind on the Spirit (Romans 8). It is only with
the indwelling and manifestation of God’s Holy Spirit that we can possibly
overcome our natural bent toward self-love and walk in the love and goodness of
God.
As our love for God grows it is evidenced by knowledge and
discernment. There is major distinction between a shallow faith that is easily
withered under trials (Matthew 13:20-21). This is not the case for faith that
reflects genuine love that God has for you and you for God. True spiritual
knowledge is an intimacy with God. So often we settle for knowing things about
God and fail to press on to knowing God. Jesus warns that knowing about God is
not enough. We must also know God in a relational way (Matthew 7:23).
Discernment is a sign of maturity in the faith (Hebrews 5:14).
Note though that discernment is maturity in handling the word of God. It is
popular to try to skip digging into God’s word to mature faith and rely on
popular preachers to tell you what to think. This creates immaturity and
division (1
Corinthians 3:1-4). True discernment then is studying the word of God to
strengthen your perception of God and Godliness. Growing in love, insight, and
perception of God is a relational and deep spiritual maturity. It is an
activity that is rooted in learning more and more from God’s word.
With a secure foundation of this growing love then you are
equipped to pay attention to praiseworthy things of God. We approve of the
superior things of God. These are of the highest quality and to be treasured.
We also notice the purity of God’s blessings and provisions. This pursuit is
blameless. We rise above the actions and words that give offence (in a sinful
manner). If people are offended it is at the truth of God but not offensive actions
on our part. We are transformed and renewed in our thinking and continue to
grow in greater and greater discernment (Romans 12:2).
As we apply this to our lives empowered by the Holy Spirit God does a work of
sanctification in our lives (1
Thessalonians 5:23 and 2
Thessalonians 2:13). There are no short cuts in this. God saves and
sanctifies through the Holy Spirit as we commit to knowing Him and His Holy
Word!
This is where things begin to be a blessing. With Love,
knowledge, discernment, approval of things superior, pure, and blameless
established in the heart of a believer then real spiritual fruit is produced (Galatians
5:22-25). This fruit is evident in the life of a believer and is ultimately
a blessing to those around them. This fruit becomes external evidence of God’s
work in the heart of the believer (1 John 2:29).
This fruit of righteousness brings soul filling life (Proverbs 11:30).
There also is a fruitfulness of service (Titus 3:14).
Of course, all of this culminates in the glorification and
praise to God (Philippians 1:11). In short Love for God, leads to growing
in knowledge and discernment, leads to approval of things superior, pure, and
blameless, leads to fruitfulness in Christ, leads to glorification and praise
of our God. And that my dear friends is my prayer for you!
God Bless You
~BJ
Friday, January 14, 2022
Be Imitators of God (and love)!
Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved
children, and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a
sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.
This passage in Ephesians is quite extraordinary. It is a
high calling to love as God has loved and to sacrifice as Christ has
sacrificed. In the same moment I am both inspired and apprehensive. I am
inspired by the high calling. I am apprehensive in that I am wholly inadequate
to call.
Paul has just encouraged the Ephesian Church to build up
others in love. He also indicates that the Christian life is a putting off the
old self and putting on of the new self (See Ephesians
4:17-5:5).
The things that related to the old self are corruption, evil
desires, lies, unresolved anger, theft, foul language, grieving the Holy
Spirit, bitterness, anger, wrath, shouting, slander, malice, sexual immorality,
impurity, greed, obscene behavior, foolish nonsense talk, and sharp caustic
joking.
That is contrasted with the new self which includes: renewed
minds, righteousness, truth, settling anger, honest work, sharing with those in
need, encouraging words, grace toward those we talk with, kindness, compassion,
forgiveness, sacrifice, and the giving of thanks.
In this way these two are a stark contrast by which we can
easily determine what sort of spirit is in the man. Does he more accurately
reflect the new man that God has called him to live out. Or does he continue to
dwell in the darkness of the old man.
Let’s make it more personal. Honest moment here. Reading
through the list of the old self do you see anything for which you need to call
upon the Lord to rescue you from? Again, the old self is associated with
corruption, evil desires, lies, unresolved anger, theft, foul language,
grieving the Holy Spirit, bitterness, anger, wrath, shouting, slander, malice,
sexual immorality, impurity, greed, obscene and foolish nonsense talk, and
sharp caustic joking. When a person claiming to follow Christ acts in this way,
we can safely conclude that he or she is more friends with the world than they
are friends with Christ.
However, the absence of evil does not necessarily result in
good. We as believers are called to put on the new man. Do you cultivate these
virtues in your daily life? Again, the new self is associated with renewed
minds, righteousness, truth, settling anger, honest work, sharing with those in
need, encouraging words, grace toward those we talk with, kindness, compassion,
forgiveness, sacrifice, and the giving of thanks.
There is a word that summarizes these things, “LOVE.” We are
called to “imitate God” and “walk in love.” The imitation of God is to walk in
love. Love and being like God are so intimately connected that this love is the
very nature of what it means to be a follower of Christ. In fact, Christ is
held up as the example of sacrificial love that we are to have for others. This
sacrifice of love is the very fragrant offering that is pleasing to God. This
love is affectionate cherishing, esteeming, positive regard, kindness, care,
and concern for the wellbeing of others. This Godly love is the mark of a
genuine believer.
Tuesday, January 4, 2022
From Love Lost and Misguided to Love Commanded
Robert Olson / General
Sermon Preached 1/2/2022 Watch Here: From Love Lost and Misguided to Love Commanded
Love...
…Lost
…Misguided
…Commanded
This
morning I am starting a series of three sermons. Today I am speaking on Love lost, love
misguided, and love commanded. Next week
I am going to speak to the practical ways that we can love God and love
others. And then on February the 13th I
hope to speak to the consistency and perseverance of love.
I would
like to give you a little background for this series. Approximately two years ago I was working
with a couple in my counseling practice.
We were discussing the Bible’s command for husbands to love their wives
and what that meant practically. This
couple had been through many bible studies and marriage conferences. Then the
husband who had been in church the whole of his life said something quite
amazing to me. He said, “I don’t know
how to love my wife.” At the time it
struck me as odd that a person that had sat under the teaching of some very
conservative and seemingly solid biblical teaching would make such a statement. After all “God is love.” We also have 1
Corinthians 13, the “love chapter.”
Also the predictable sermon on love on or around Valentine’s day. Several books, retreats, conferences and so
on. How was it possible that that this
husband could have spent so many years and not learn what it meant to
love.
I
determined to write a study on love.
Initially I was going to write the study on love in the marriage
relationship. It was intended to be an
exploration on the “love chapter.” I was
able to complete the draft copy of the study about a year ago. The preparation and writing of that study has
taken me personally on a journey that I did not quite expect. Not only did that husband not know what love
meant, I discovered my own understanding was woefully inadequate to what the
scripture has to say about love. In
fact, every time I look into scripture about love I discover more that I had
missed.
I recall
that a rather perfunctory survey of 1
Corinthians 13 and some commentary and a few books on marriage
counseling had been the whole of my knowledge on this subject. I was feeling pretty confident. Little did I know that God was about about to
confront my pride on this subject.
God’s
timing is everything. We as a church
were seeking God as to a direction for the future of Richland Baptist
Church. God gave Pastor Travis the
wisdom to put together a strategic visioning team. The team was started pre-COVID but not by
much as the majority of our meetings have been over zoom. In that we developed a statement to guide the
future of RBC. This was a labor of
several people in our congregation and the staff to genuinely seek out God’s
direction. Hours of discussion we were
able to distill what God was giving to us in three admonitions: Loving God,
Loving People, Multiplying Disciples.
For many years RBC has worked hard to fulfill the “Making Disciples”
mission of the church. In some ways this
new focus was not really new. God has
used and will continue to use RBC as a shining light for making disciples and
supporting missions work. But God in his
timing and wisdom was saying that RBC had lost its way when it came to
love. We had become a organization busy
doing important work, but all the while missing the opportunity to really
connect in a loving way to God, brothers and sisters in Christ, and the
community around us.
Mission Statement
“Saturated with continuous prayer, Richland
Baptist Church values the glory of God above all things by: Loving
God, Loving People, Multiplying Disciples”
This
parallel work confirmed to me and to others I believe that transformation and
sanctification needed to get back to a first love. As such God put it on my heart to advocate
for Love at every opportunity.
Ironically I think I have annoyed several with a overwhelming focus on
love. I was initially surprised that
there would be some that would be critical of this. After all Loving God and Loving others are
the two greatest commandments. Yet I did
step on some toes.
God was
working on me as well. I realize that I
come up short when it comes to loving as God would have me love. At every turn over the last couple of years
has been a test to love and offer encouragement toward others. At times I have even thought whether the
whole focus on Love was really worth it.
God in His grace always brought me back to the importance of love. He also made me painfully aware of how I had
come up short in this way. Many tears
have been shed as I realize how painfully obvious it is that I really don’t
know how to love. Am I a hypocrite
writing and talking about love? You bet
I am. But at least now God has my
attention. My hope is that He will get
yours as well.
I have to
apologize for such a long introduction.
However, I felt it would help you all understand where I am coming from
in this focus. I also know that this
journey is shared by many others. In the
Church staff and leadership have been longing for God’s love and
transformational love in our lives.
There have been many of you that have encouraged me over the last couple
of years. For every negative God has
used several of you to offer encouragement when I thought I might give up. As much of my thoughts have been public I
have been encouraged by pastors, bible teachers, and missionaries. Often through private messages offering
similar sentiment.
So the
focus of this morning and next week is Love.
Love Lost
First I
would like to look at love lost.
Revelation 2:2–6 CSB
I know your works, your labor, and your endurance, and that
you cannot tolerate evil people. You have tested those who call themselves
apostles and are not, and you have found them to be liars.
I know that you have persevered and endured hardships for the sake of my name,
and you have not grown weary.
But I have this against you: You have abandoned the love you had at first.
Remember then how far you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at
first. Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place,
unless you repent.
Yet you do have this: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also
hate.
This
message is from Christ through divine vision through John to the church in
Ephesus. According to this message the
Ephesians had a zeal for God’s righteousness.
Jesus commended them for taking a stand against evil, false teachers,
and unrighteous practices. They also
apparently faced hardships that they endured for following Jesus. They would have appeared to most of us I
think as a church that had it together doing the right thing. However something very important was
missing. Love. Not only was love missing, but it had been
abandoned.
Love was
abandoned in that the actions they were taking while righteous had no thought
of love. Love was something that did not
figure into their reasoning. They had
become a church of righteous activity devoid of any thought of love. Oh how far they had fallen from the love they
had at the beginning. This change in
focus also change the mission. Notice
that they also had stopped doing the works they had done at first. No doubt these early works reflected the love
they had for God and for one another.
In short
then they had abandoned the thought of love, abandoned the focus
of love, resulting in the abandonment of works of love.
Living in
a loveless relationship erodes the soul.
I have met with many couples that have abandoned the love they have for
each other. It is a sad situation. Often they are coming to see me to fulfill
some obligation that they made to seek counseling before seeking divorce. Truthfully though they are already divorced
in their heart. They have abandoned
their first love.
The same
loveless atmosphere can choke out a local body of believers. When love is abandoned in a church it becomes
agenda driven. Who ever has the greatest
influence wins the agenda. It becomes
works based. The measure of success
becomes programs, classes, and numbers.
Without love relationships take a back burner to the event and the
calendar. Without love guilt becomes the
primary driver of relationships. Every
action is taken to minimize shame.
Obligation replaces care and genuine concern. Without love preaching at people becomes more
important than ministering to people.
Without Love so called evangelistic events become more important that
addressing the needs of the community at large. Over time it erodes and chokes
out the vitality of the church.
R.C Sproul
speaking on common grace said it like this:
This unnatural schism took place where evangelicals began to
say “Oh social action, social concern, concern for the general welfare of the
human race that’s a liberal matter. That’s a liberal agenda. Whereas concerns
for the souls and personal salvation, that’s the real concern of the church.”
If Christ would hear that He would say “A pox on both your houses.” Because the
church is called not only to the ministry of special grace, but also to the
ministry of common grace… …If you find somebody sick and dying in a ditch you
don’t ask them how they got in that ditch. The love of Christ is to constrain
you to pull them out of that ditch and do everything you can. That is what the
story of the Good Samaritan is all about.
Jesus
offers this warning Rev 2:5 “Remember then how far you have fallen;
repent, and do the works you did at first. Otherwise, I will come to you and
remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.”
First
Jesus challenges them to remember how far they have fallen from first
love. In some ways I am hoping that is
what we are doing this morning. Remember
your first love when all was alive, brilliant, and good. Even bad news was greeted with an eternal
optimism in your soul. Before the bitterness
of ideology, demagoguery, and pride settled into your soul. Remember when the words “I forgive you”
flowed freely off you lips as an expression of the forgiveness you had received
from God. Now we choke on the words if
they are uttered at all. Remember when
kindness and compassion drove you to care and concern for your fellow humanity.
Love my dear brothers and sisters is the thing that is missing. Jesus continues by commanding repentance. Repentance is a change of heart and mind
toward the subject at hand. Jesus is
saying to change your mind about the importance of love. Love is the preeminent fruit of a life
filled with God’s Holy Spirit. We must
align our minds with this truth. That
without love everything and literally everything we do, say, or think is utter
meaninglessness and devoid of anything of value. We must agree with God. Here are a couple of verses to keep in mind
while repenting of how far we have fallen.
1 Corinthians 13:1–3 CSB
If I speak human or angelic tongues but do not have love, I
am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge,
and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am
nothing.
And if I give away all my possessions, and if I give over my body in order to
boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.
2 John 6
CSB
This is love: that we walk according to his commands. This
is the command as you have heard it from the beginning: that you walk in love.
1 John 4:20
CSB
If anyone says, “I love God,” and yet hates his brother or
sister, he is a liar. For the person who does not love his brother or sister
whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
In short
religious activity without love is nothing , disobedience
to God is not love, and saying you love God while hating others makes you a liar .
Love Commanded
You see
love is not a command of God it is the command of God.
Mark 12:28–31
CSB
One of the scribes approached. When he heard them debating
and saw that Jesus answered them well, he asked him, “Which command is the most
important of all?”
Jesus answered, “The most important is Listen, Israel! The Lord our
God, the Lord is one.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your
soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.
The second is, Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other
command greater than these.”
Think
about this for a moment. Jesus the Son
of God, creator of the universe, the savior of our souls identifies loving God
and loving others as the two greatest commandments. There are none greater than these. It would seem to me that if these two are the
greatest that we as believers ought to not only understand what it means to
love God and Love others, but we also ought to be practicing these as
well. When we acknowledge these commands
Jesus says Mark 12:34
“You are not far from the kingdom of God.” So not only are they the
greatest commands, but the expression of Love of God and Love of others is
directly connected to nearness of the Kingdom of God. Dear friends this Love is important. It ought to be the central characteristic of
the Christian faith.
John 13:34–35
CSB
“I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have
loved you, you are also to love one another.
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Again Jesus
makes love the core identity of being one of His disciples. And it is the love that we have for one
another that marks a follower of Christ.
We cannot miss this point.
Jesus
elevates love as the core of our faith.
1 John 3:16
CSB
This is how we have come to know love: He laid down his life
for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.
John 15:12–14
CSB
“This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you.
No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends.
You are my friends if you do what I command you.
Listen to
Paul, John, and Jesus! We have a problem
of Love. If you are offended by this
statement then let me just say you need to examine your rebellious heart!
Loving well is the clear teaching of Christ.
To be
offended by love is to be offended by Christ!
Love Misguided
One of the
problems that we face when it comes to love is that we can have affection for
things that are not of God. That is to
say we can have a misguided love. The
objects of our affection are as important as the affection itself. If we love something that is false then we
become a part of that falsehood. We
become married to something that is not of God.
Here are
some examples of misguided love. Loving only those that love you (Matthew
5:43-46), Loving money (Matthew
6:24), Loving popularity (Luke
11:43; 20:46), Loving evil deeds rather than Christ (John
3:19-20), Loving men’s praise over God’s Praise (John
12:43), Loving the world during hardship (2
Timothy 4:10), Loving the wages of evil deeds (2
Peter 2:15); Loving the things of this world (1
John 2:15); Saying loving words without loving action (1
John 3:18), Loving spiritual sounding displays of religion (Matthew
6:5), Loving favorites in your family (Genesis
37:3-4), Loving evil words (Psalm
52:3-4), Loving ignorance (Proverbs
1:22), Loving to offend and cause strife (Proverbs
17:19). This list is not exhaustive.
However, I think you get the point.
Having the
appropriate focus of our love and affection is very critical. Loving the wrong thing makes you unrighteous
not good. We must guard our hearts to love the things that God loves and reject
the things that God rejects. We must set
boundaries about our love. If we do not
we will find that our affections do not reflect the genuine love of God. On the other hand we cannot in our efforts to
set boundaries abandon the centrality of Love that God places in our faith and
hope. We must not abandon love of God
and others. Remember the stark warning:
Revelation 2:4–5 CSB
But I have this against you: You have abandoned the love you
had at first.
Remember then how far you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at
first. Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place,
unless you repent.
If we
abandon our love then God would be just in removing our influence and our very
existence as a church from this place.
It is that important to Jesus. It
ought to be that important to us.
As a
preview for next week I want to read a selection of way the scripture commands
us to love God and love others.
Loving God
Matthew
22:37 “He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
John
14:15 ““If you love me, you will keep my commands.”
John
14:23 “Jesus answered, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. My
Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”
John
15:10 “If you keep my commands you will remain in my love, just as I
have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.”
1 John
2:5 “But whoever keeps his word, truly in him the love of God is
made complete. This is how we know we are in him:”
1
John 4:16 “And we have come to know and to believe the love that God
has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and
God remains in him.”
1
John 5:2-3 “This is how we know that we love God’s children: when we
love God and obey his commands. For this is what love for God is: to keep his
commands. And his commands are not a burden,”
2 John 6
“This is love: that we walk according to his commands. This is the command as
you have heard it from the beginning: that you walk in love.”
Loving Others
Matthew
5:44 “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who
persecute you,”
Mark
12:31 “The second is, Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no
other command greater than these.””
John
15:12-13 ““This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you.
No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends.”
Romans
13:8-10 “Do not owe anyone anything, except to love one another, for
the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, Do not commit
adultery; do not murder; do not steal; do not covet; and any other commandment,
are summed up by this commandment: Love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no
wrong to a neighbor. Love, therefore, is the fulfillment of the law.”
1
Corinthians 14:1 “Pursue love and desire spiritual gifts, and
especially that you may prophesy.”
1
Corinthians 16:14 “Do everything in love.”
Galatians
5:14 “For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement: Love your
neighbor as yourself.”
Ephesians
4:1-3 “Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk
worthy of the calling you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with
patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to keep the
unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”
Colossians
3:14 “Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.”
1
Timothy 4:12 “Don’t let anyone despise your youth, but set an
example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in
purity.”
Hebrews
10:24 “And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and
good works,”
James
2:8 “Indeed, if you fulfill the royal law prescribed in the
Scripture, Love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well.”
1
Peter 1:22 “Since you have purified yourselves by your obedience to
the truth, so that you show sincere brotherly love for each other, from a pure
heart love one another constantly,”
1
Peter 4:8 “Above all, maintain constant love for one another, since
love covers a multitude of sins.”
1
John 3:11 “For this is the message you have heard from the
beginning: We should love one another,”
Truthfully
there are many more passages that I could include. I did not include Old Testament passages and
this was a survey of the New Testament.
God in His word elevates love above all things. In fact obedience without love is rejected by
God. Faithful love is the Character of
God and if we are to reflect God’s character in our lives then faithful love
ought to be our aim in our relationship with Him and in our relationship with
others. We will explore this in greater
depth next week. We will look at what
does loving God and Loving others practically look like. For now, let's examine our hearts to determine
whether we have come up short in the two greatest commands from our Lord and
Savior. Let us take notice of how far we
have fallen. Let us repent and set our
minds on the Love of God. Finally let us
return to the loving works we did when we first came to Christ! Let us Pray!
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