WHAT DOES LOVE LOOK LIKE?
(Servants and Sacrifice)
Part 1 of 2 part series
INTRO-
Good morning Cross Pointe Church!
Let me begin with, there is a good chance that I will say something that upsets you today.
I might as well go ahead and get it out of the way.
I am not a fan of Valentines Day. It is another one of those made up Hallmark Days designed to take your money or make you feel guilty if you don’t get your spouse something for Valentines Day.
Let me also add, that if you need Valentines Day to show your spouse you love them, you’re doing something wrong!
-Whew, ok. Let’s get to todays’ word!
Key verses are found in Romans 13:8-10
John 13:34-35
Throughout every day, I say to Lisa, “I love you”. I say it so often that it becomes an annoyance to her.
So, sometimes I’ll jazz it up and say “I love you Lisa Louise Hoyland Lentz”. And boy, that gets her every time. It is all she can do to hold back the tears in response to my terms of endearment.
But the truth of the matter is this:
I’m expressing three kinds of love to her when I say “I love you”.
These are all derivatives of Greek words for love.
Philia: deep friendship- She’s my best friend! And you don’t have to get your best friend Valentines Day gifts
Eros: romantic love-maybe a Valentines Day gift here and there wouldn’t hurt, if ya know what I mean!
Agape- which is a sacrificial and unconditional love
Today, we are going to look at that 3rd example of love-agape
The title of today’s message is:
What does love LOOK like?
When I began looking at the word love in the bible, I discovered a few things, that I want to share with you today.
There are 59 “one anothers” in the NT. These all teach us, exhort us, and admonish us how to treat each other.
Let’s look at a few of the “one another” verses beginning with John 13:34-35.
Stand with me as we honor God while reading His Word
In those 2 verses we see “love” or some tense of the word 4 times, and 3 of those are “love one another”.
Think Jesus is trying to tell us something?
Jesus says “a new commandment I give you”, because we have a new standard-the love of Jesus.
A servant-like, selfless love that Christians display toward one another as witnesses to the world as His disciples.
To love one another, we must be unified in Christ.
Paul puts it like this in Ephesians 4:13-15, 29 (bible)
This type of love, agape love; is not a natural love, but rather a super-natural love given to us through the Holy Spirit.
Listen to what Jesus tells us in John 14:15-17 (bible)
We cannot rely on our own human qualities to achieve this higher standard, we must ask for it from God.
Read John 14:12-14
The epistle to the Romans has always been a “power book” for me. On a couple of occasions I’ve mentioned power verses, but Romans is a “power book”.
-What does love look like? Bearing others burdens
Romans 15:1 “we then, who are strong, ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves”.
You really have to read ch. 14 to get a grasp of what Paul is conveying here, but a couple of points to consider:
“We then, who are strong”…what makes us strong? I believe what makes us strong is our reliance on Gods’ grace for our salvation. Our FAITH makes us strong!
Here’s another thought that came to me “Could an aspect of Outreach be to bear burdens of strangers”?
Romans 15:7 NASB “Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us, for the glory of God.
One day we will be flawless, but in the meantime, we are to accept one another, for God’s glory!
-What does love look like?- Accepting one another!
Let’s look at Colossians 3:16-17 (bible)
Admonish- caution, reprove, warn
Teaching
Wisdom-Greek “skilled in the affairs of life”
For whatever reason, after I read this verse;
Acts 16 came to me.
As a reminder, let me set this up:
Slave girl with a spirit of divination, following Paul, Silas and others.
Finally Paul had enough of her declarations, and told the spirit to come out of her.
Her masters were upset because she was the golden egg.
Went to authorities and told them Paul and Silas were breaking Roman law, and they were arrested.
After arrested they were beaten with rods.
Acts 16:25 “but @ midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God (listen to this)
“and the prisoners were listening to them”.
Read Colossians 3:16-17 (bible)
History tells us that Acts 16 happened in 51 AD and Paul wrote Colossians in 62 AD.
So, Paul was teaching from wisdom (skilled in the affairs of life)
Paul was teaching the Colossians (and us) to sing praises even in, or especially in our most difficult times.
-What does love look like? Discipleship
I know we are covering a lot of territory today, but I believe these are passages that will sustain us as we go into “Outreach Mode”.
James 5:13-16 (bible)
Effectual-Greek transliteration is “energeo” (inner-gay-o) it is also where the English verb “to energize” comes from.
It means “to work, to be at work, be operative, be effective, to avail.
When we are praying and operating in the Holy Spirit, we are making His power available.
THIS IS WHAT LOVE LOOKS LIKE!
Praying for specific needs:
James says:
Suffering- Let him pray
Cheerful-Sing psalms
Sick- Call for the elders, pray over them
Confess sins and pray for one another
1 Peter 4:10-11 NASB
“As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God”.
v.11 “Whoever speaks, let him speak, as it were, the utterances of God; whoever serves, let him do so as by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory, and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
-What does love look like? Serving others
You know, speaking truth is always tough, even when spoken in love.
So much of our society today is teaching that speaking truth is “hate speech”, when in fact it is “love speech”.
The prophet Amos put it like this: Amos 5:10 “they hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks the truth”.
Ephesians 4:25 “therefore put away lying, let each of you speak truth with his neighbor.”
In John 18:37-38 we see a conversation between Pontius Pilate and Jesus and it goes like this (bible)
Pilate is mocking truth-I believe that Pilate knows that the world is corrupt, and that the truth is unrecognizable.
Sound familiar?
-What does love look like? Truth
Paul tells the Thessalonians
“for the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First the Christians who have died will rise from their graves.
Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth, will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.
So, encourage one another with these words”.
1st Thessalonians 4:16-18
Are there days when you need an encouraging word from Christian brethren?
Let me say this: If you have the gift of encouragement, use it in full battle mode, because the devil lies!
-What does love look like? Encouragement
Because “dead people don’t sing”. It doesn’t matter if they are physically dead or spiritually dead” Dead people don’t sing!
Our Christian brethren need a word of encouragement every day from a spiritually alive friend! Are you that friend?
Ok, we are getting ready to land the plane!
The captain comes on the PA system and says “buckle up, we are about to descend”
Last week we examined Romans 13:1-7
Today I’d like us to look at Romans 13:8-10
To truly grasp the context of this passage, I believe we need a brief overview of Romans chapter 12.
Paul calls us to:
Be living sacrifices to God
Serve God with the spiritual gifts He gave us
Behave like Christians
Romans 13:8-10 (bible)
Paul says “owe no one anything except to love one another”. In other words, we are to be continually in debt to love one another!
-What does love look like? Loving one another.
The first time the word love is seen in the bible is Genesis 22:2 (bible)
John 3:16 “for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life”.
Until this week, I never saw the connection in these two passages.
-What does love look like? Sacrifice
We are instructed to:
Show love to God: Luke 10:27 (repeat)
Show love to others: Matthew 22:39
Show love to ourselves: Proverbs 19:8
These are but a few of the examples of what love looks like as illustrated in the bible.
Just a quick recap:
-What does love look like?
Bearing others burdens
Accepting one another
Praying for others
Serving others
Truth
Encouraging one another
Loving one another
Sacrifice
-Goodbye to those online-
Close out in prayer:
Father thank you for showing us how to love one another.
Thank you for your word that is everlasting to everlasting
Thank you for loving us first
Lord, I pray that if there is anyone here today that needs a word of encouragement that they be bold and come to the altar
If there is anyone hear today that needs their burdens lifted that they bring it to you, even now
If there is anyone who needs prayer for anything, that they come forth and we will pray over them
Father, I thank you for your grace and your mercy, and that you showed us an unconditional and sacrificial love by sending Jesus to die in our place
We can never repay you, but we can love one another in your name!
And it is in the name of Jesus that we call on you now.
Amen
