OPEN: A mother looked out a window and saw Johnny playing church with their three kittens. He had them lined up and was preaching to them. The mother turned around to do some work.
A while later she heard meowing and scratching on the door. The cats were obviously upset and frightened. She shouted out to her son: “Johnny, what are you doing to these cats?”
“Mom, I’m baptizing them.”
She went to the window and, sure enough, there was Johnny dunking the kittens in water.
“Johnny, stop that!” she said, “You’ll drown those kittens.”
“Johnny looked at her and said with much conviction in his voice: “They shoulda had thought about that before they joined MY church.”
APPLY: Little Johnny was being spiritual. He was fulfilling his religious duty. He was living a “Purpose Driven Life.”
Now, for those of you who haven’t been here for awhile…we’ve been talking about the study book by Rick Warren: “The Purpose Driven Life”
I. As I prepared today’s sermon, it occurred to me that down thru the ages, many religious people who have been VERY filled with purpose.
* they’ve been very driven to do (what they saw as) their sacred duty
* they’ve sought to express their spirituality in very dynamic and powerful ways
But MANY of those purpose driven people have ended up being like that little boy baptizing his cats… they risked destroying the very church they thought they were serving.
Many have tended to become like the Pharisees of old. You realize, of course, that the Pharisees were very religious, very purpose driven. They tithed faithfully. They regularly attended worship services every week. They knew not only the Bible, but also practically every commentary about the Bible. In fact, they were so impressive that Jesus said that YOUR righteousness would have to surpass “that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law,” in order to get into the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:20
(pause…) But Jesus never liked the Pharisees. You don’t have to read very into the Gospels to realize that the Pharisees were not the good guys in this story.
So, Jesus never much good to say about them. But, why not? What’s not to like? They were religious… they were purpose driven…
Well, the reason Jesus wasn’t pleased with these leaders was because – in the midst of all their righteousness and purpose driven lives - they had overlooked one important quality that made the difference to God. They had trouble loving people. They didn’t much care for people that didn’t fit their mold. If you weren’t just like them – they weren’t going to like you.
II. Corinth had fallen into this trap
The people at Corinth were very talented people. God had given them a whole array of gifts and abilities and they felt driven to use to use those gifts and abilities for God.
But as you read thru 1st and 2nd Corinthians you get the impression that these folks didn’t much like each other.
• They argued over who had the best gifts.(I Cor. 12-14)
• They argued who had been baptized by whom (I Cor.1:10-17)
• They were so divided that they wouldn’t even share their food at fellowship meals
• AND they had even gotten into the habit of suing each other (I Cor. 6:7)
This was not a happy church
ILLUS: They remind of the story of an old synagogue in Eastern Europe. (pause…)
When the Shema prayer was said, half the congregants stood up but half remained sitting.
The half that was seated started yelling at those standing to sit down, and the ones standing up yelled at the ones sitting to stand up...
The rabbi, educated as he was in the Law and commentaries, didn’t know what to do. His congregation suggested that he consult a 98 year old man in a local nursing home, who was one of the original founders of their temple.
The rabbi hoped the elderly man would be able to tell him what the actual temple tradition was,
so he took a representative of each faction of the congregation along with him.
When they got there the one whose followers stood during Shema said to the old man, “Is the tradition to stand during this prayer?” The old man answered, “No, that is not the tradition.”
The one whose followers sat asked, “Is the tradition to sit during Shema?” The old man answered, “No, that is not the tradition.”
By now, the rabbi was confused and he began to say “but, the worshippers fight all the time, yelling at each other about whether.....” The old man interrupted, exclaiming, “THAT is the tradition!”
That was Corinth
A very religious church
A very talented church
A very “purpose driven church”
But a church that had forgotten how to love.
III. And so… Paul dedicates an entire section of this letter to explaining what they needed
He starts out by explaining that the most talented man (purpose driven man) in that church was WORTH NOTHING to God if that man lacked love.
I particularly liked one man’s rendering of this chapter: He puts it this way (pause…)
“Though I’ve taken 3 years of Greek & Hebrew - if I have not love, I’m a scholarly windbag.
And though I teach a Sunday School class, and come to every Sunday evening service, and though I have missed only one week of visitation (when I had the flu), if I have not love, I am nothing.
And though I tithe every week, and always have my Bible study lesson done on time, and have driven the kids’ Sunday School class to the lake once, and though I invited the preacher’s family over for dinner last month, if I have not love, the whole thing means nothing.”
We can be the most purpose driven group of people in town but if we don’t have love – we’re not a church… we’re a glorified Optimists Club.
How do I know that??? How do I know – that if we don’t have love we’re not a church. Because Jesus said
“BY THIS all men will know that you are my disciples - if you love one another." John 13:35
IV. Now, that doesn’t mean that we Christians are never going to disagree
ILLUS: When I was in Bible College – a bunch of us guys would stay up to the wee hours of the night and heatedly argue over some doctrine we tho’t was important. If you had walked into the room in the middle of that argument you’d have tho’t we were mad at each other. But the next morning, we’d be slapping each other on the backs and telling jokes to one another.
How could we behave like that? Because we liked each other… we cared for each other… we sensed we were all on the same team and serving the same God.
Doctrine was important – but so was the love we had for each other.
V. So… if loving one another doesn’t mean we don’t argue… what does love look like?
Love is patient, (pause after each line to give time for the words to sink in).
Love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude,
it is not self-seeking,
it is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.
Now… what does all that mean?
It means that Godly love isn’t focused on ME… it’s focused on YOU.
Most people have this backward. They believe that the Bible says others should love ME, then if others don’t love ME that way, than others have failed ME. But the Bible never approaches things that way. It doesn’t speak of how other should treat ME… it speaks of how I should treat others. Am I kind, patient… am I keeping a record of the wrongs others do to me… am I easily angered and rude, etc.
That’s what Paul wrote
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Philippians 2:3-4
Christianity – at its finest – focuses on things in this order:
Jesus First
Other’s 2nd
Ourselves Last
ILLUS: How many of you have ever watched one of those “reality” shows? Now I don’t personally watch them, but Brad (our Youth Minister) does. And he was telling about one very spectacular episode on a show called the “Amazing Race”. The plot of this show is that about 6 or 7 couples compete in several races across the globe, and the most successful couple wins $1 Million dollars. On this particular episode, the race was being held in Canada on the snow covered slopes of some mountain there. As it seems that almost all reality shows do, the cameras focused on the contestants before and well as during the race. Two particular couples caught Brad’s eye. One husband and wife pumped themselves up for the upcoming race by encouraging each other with a phrase that went something like: “Picture that Million Dollar Prize on top of the mountain.”
Cut away now to the 2nd couple – Christians – who said something like this to each other: “Picture Jesus on top of the mountain waiting for you.”
On the day of the race, as the task became more and more difficult, the husband of the 1st couple became increasingly angry and greed driven, berating his wife and insulting her.
By contrast, the other couple appeared to be totally at peace. The husband was encouraging his wife and they were both quoting scripture to each other.
Now realize… both these couples had a goal. They were both driven to accomplish something significant. But there was a significant difference between them. And that difference was in the love that Christian couple showed to each other.
ILLUS: I once read a story about Zig Ziggler. Apparently he loves golf and once took his son with him out to the golf course. His son was still relatively new to the game, so Zig was very impressed by his son’s performance on one of the par 4 holes. At the tee, the boy lifted the ball straight and true down the fairway. A second shot got him onto the green within 14 feet of the cup. Wanting his son to succeed, he went to great trouble in sighting the shot for him and gauging the lie of putt and then told his son just how he ought to play it. His son stepped up to the ball and putted the ball perfectly into the cup just as his father had taught him. His first birdie.
Then it was Zig’s turn. He also had made the green in 2 shots but his putt was far easier. For a moment he considered flubbing the shot so that he would not overshadow his son’s achievement, but then he decided against it because it would go against everything he had taught his son about doing his best. He sank the putt easily and also birdied the hole.
As they were walking away to the next tee, Zig casually asked his son "Well, son, were you rooting for me on that last shot."
"Dad," the boy replied, "I always root for you."
Notice that Ziggler and his son both had a goal. They were driven to succeed in a game of golf. But both of them were more focused on rooting for each other. Making each other succeed. Rooting for each other. You see, that is what lies at the heart of the kind of Love God wants us to have for each other. He wants us to “root for each other.” He wants us to want our Christian brother and sisters succeed… and to feel good about themselves, and feel God’s love and power in their lives.
CLOSE: My point is this…We should be people who have purpose driven lives. Our purpose is to build up God’s kingdom. But above all else, our purpose should reflect the God that we serve. And our God is a God of Love. In fact, we learn how to love from Him.
As John wrote: We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19
And Jesus Himself said “…love one another, as I have loved you.” John 15:12
So, if we love each other… our ministries and our service to God will become powerful and will reflect the God that we serve.
And, our love should be something that is real and seen by others so that others can see the kind of God we serve.
One person observed: Love is a language that can be Heard by the deaf and seen by the blind.
Our love should be something that should be able to be seen…
ILLUS: Back in the 1600’s, there was an Emperor in India - the Emperor Shah Jahan
He was a great conqueror and would ride with his troops into battle atop a large elephant.
In 1631, when he went South to make war upon rebel forces, as usual he had his beautiful dark-eyed queen of 19 years at his side, even though she was pregnant. It was on this journey that tragedy struck: his bride Mumtaz Muhal died in childbirth.
Devastated, Shah Jahan left his wife’s deathbed and went straight to his quarters, locking the doors behind him. For 3 days he remained within, taking no food or drink. When he reappeared 9 days later, his raven black hair had turned completely white.
Returning to his palace, the emperor began the construction of his wife’s tomb on the Jumna river within easy view of his windows. To build it, 22,000 men and women labored 24 hours a day for 22 years. It was a white marble tomb decorated with 28 different types of gems. A sheet of pearls was spread over the coffin, doors of solid silver opened onto the tomb.
Does anybody know what that monument is called? That’s right – it’s the Taj Majal.
It is a monument to love… a monument that is not only easily seen, but is universally recognized.
Likewise – when we love as we should – that also is a monument that is not only easily seen… but universally recognized.
But, whereas the Taj Majal is a “dead” monument to a dead love.
Our Christian love is a “living monument to a living God.
If there is anyone here this morning who wants that kind of relationship with God… or desires to become part of a congregation where they can be loved and protected, we give a time of invitation…
The others sermons in this series are:
1. Irreplaceable - Genesis 1:24-31
2. Shaped to be a Servant - Ephesians 2:3-10
3. Making God Smile - Psalm 51:15-19
4. Formed to be Friends of God - John 15:9-16
5. Adopted for a Purpose - Ephesians 1:3-14
6. A Purpose Filled Love - 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
7. Purpose Driven Worship - Romans 12:1-8
8. Purpose Driven Strength - 2 Corinthians 12:1-10
