“Opening Ourselves To others”
Opening ourselves to ‘Christ’-mas
Luke 1:46-55 (The Song of Mary) ~ Matthew 1:18-25 ~ I John 4:7-19 (quotes taken from the NKJV unless noted)
Wakelee Church ~ December 12, 2004
Theme: When we open ourselves to others in love, then we live out the Song of Mary, the nobleness of Joseph, and the reason for the Christ-child!
Introduction –
This morning we’re going to talk about opening ourselves to others…in short, we’re talking about love.
Love is a very popular word in our society, and many are out there searching for it. But this very key, one of the deepest human needs of them all, often goes unfulfilled, is often misunderstood and is more than often misused.
On Amazon.com, they list 2,652 book titles regarding “heaven”, 10, 304 for “money”, 16,765 for
“sex”, 18,818 for “God,” and more than any of these, “love” is listed in 30,066 book titles.
If you “Google” the word love, and you have to be very careful doing this, you will find all sorts of websites (225 million to be exact.) Here are some examples that you will find:
I love Dogs.com
I love Cats.com
I love Cheese. Com
I love Lucy.com
And for those of who who are single out there…
True Romance Dating Service.com
Love Test.com
Matchmaker.com
The Love Calculator.com (On this site you type in your name and your mates name and it gives you the odds of your relationship lasting. AnnMarie and I received a 77% chance that we’d stay together – pretty good odds, the site says.)
The interesting aspect is that on all these sites, love is seen as something that humanity creates not God. This seems to be a way that many people see it...
One man wrote: "Dear Abby, I am in love and I am having an affair with two different women other than my wife. I love my wife but I love these other women too. Please tell me what to do, but don’t give me any that morality stuff." Signed: Too much love for only one.” In this case Abby’s answer was classic. She wrote: “Dear Too much love for only one. The only difference between humans and animals is morality. Please write to a veterinarian."
Real love, opening ourselves to others, is more than that...
An eight year old girl wrote once that “Love is not when Daddy reads me a bedtime story…true love is when he doesn’t skip any of the pages…”
You see, real love is something more…
Perhaps you read the story about a woman and her husband who came to a pastor and said,
"We’re going to get a divorce, but we want to come to make sure that you approve of it." There are people who come to the pastor hoping that when they say there is no feeling left in their marriage, the pastor will say, "Well, if there’s no feeling left, then, the only thing you can do is split."
Instead, the pastor says to the husband, "The Bible says you’re to love your wife as Jesus Christ
loved the church."
He says, "Oh, I can’t do that."
The pastor says, "If you can’t begin at that level, then begin on a easier level. You’re supposed to
love your neighbor as you love yourself. Can you at least love her as you would love a neighbor?"
The husband says, "No. That’s still too high a level."
The pastor says, "The Bible says, Love your enemies. Begin there." [Levels of Love, Citation: Erwin Lutzer, "Learning to Love," Preaching Today, Tape No. 99.]
At the very heart of who we are as Christians, opening ourselves to others through this concept of love defines us…
Love is the key. Joy is love that sings. Peace is love that rests. Long-suffering is love that endures. Kindness is love’s touch. Goodness is love’s character. Faithfulness is love’s habit. Gentleness is love’s self-forgetfulness. Self-control is love holding the reins.
[www.sermoncentral.com ~ Donald Grey Barnhouse]
Mary knew this love….Joseph knew this love…and Jesus is this love!!!
I – Mary, filled with the Spirit, knew about Jesus’ love…
“…He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy…” – Luke 1:54
In the midst of what had to be a difficult pregnancy, with many talking behind her back,
fueling the rumor mill at ever higher and higher rates, Mary kept the love she had for her
child, and the love that he would have for the world, at the forefront of her mind.
II – Joseph, fresh from seeing visions, lived out God’s love.
“Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife…” – Matthew 1:24
Joseph…feeling stunned, confused, rejected, and possibly angry…listed to what the Lord had said to him and did the right love by living out God’s love through his wife and step-son.
III – Jesus, the Son of God, the baby of Bethlehem, is love…I John 4:7-19
“…In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” – I John 4:10-11
[Read I John 4:7-19 having the congregation follow along saying the "love, loves, loved" words.]
Did you hear the message????
Left me leave you with one more opening ourselves to other illustration...
Conclusion – On April 28, 1999, just eight days after the Columbine shooting, shock rock singer Marilyn Manson was scheduled to perform a concert in Iowa City, Iowa. And since Manson’s music was prominent in the lives of Columbine killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, there was a lot of emotion surrounding his concert. Mark Forstrom, a local Youth Minister in the area wrote about what happened.
He wrote, "The police, the media, and the community began to prepare for angry protests and ugly brawling between Christians and Marilyn Manson supporters."
Suddenly, something totally unexpected happened. Emerging thru the vehicle of e-mail, another local movement suddenly sprang to life— that the only way to truly change our moral climate is to soften hard hearts. (The hearts of Manson fans have been hardened by
their perception that Christians are mean-spirited, hateful, and judgmental.) Thus, the idea was birthed to unravel that stereotype by encouraging Christians to show the pure LOVE of Christ to these fans in tangible ways.
Concert day finally arrived, and tension filled the community. The media geared up for an ugly battle between Manson fans and the Christian opposition.
Instead, what they observed here was an amazing testament to the power of and love of Christ! Scores of Christians from churches all over Linn County and as far away as Des Moines (2 hours away) converged on the sidewalks outside the Five Seasons Center, to do two POSITIVE things: pray, and to show unmistakable love. It was a sight to behold.
~ Groups conducted "prayer walks" around the arena.
~ People prayed in huddles on the sidewalk.
~ Churches around the city held special prayer eetings.
As for showing LOVE to the fans,
~ One church purchased 100 pizzas, which were freely given away to the fans in line and bystanders.
~ Cookies and over 1,200 cans of soda were purchased or donated and distributed.
~ Someone made turkey & cheese sandwiches and gave them away.
~ One pastor asked Manson fans who passed by how he could pray for them—many
shared specific things & were prayed for on the spot.
~ After the concert, about $200 in cash (collected mostly by a local youth group) was
given out to pay for parking in the parking ramp.
The Christians involved said, "We’re Christians and we’d like to show you God’s love by paying for your parking tonight."
The immediate results of this love in action were phenomenal:
~ People continually asked, "Why are you doing this?" and then listened to the answer. ~ Two "live" radio reporters (one inside the stadium and one outside) discussed--on the air--how preferable it was to be outside with the generous Christians.
~ At least 3 people gave their lives to Christ through the loving care of the Christians.
~ At least one other fan that we know of chose not to go to the concert, ending up in church the following Sunday.
~ After getting the pizza, one kid commented, "Wow, Marilyn Manson never gave me anything!"
~ A Marilyn Manson web-site, reporting on our Christian response admitted, "so maybe those Christians aren’t half bad!"
As for the concert itself, we saw God work a miracle there as well. After only an hour, Manson abruptly ended the concert early. He suddenly flew into a rage: he threw his microphone to the ground, and stormed off the stage, never to return!
Jesus Christ is love. And His love calls us to reach out, to open ourselves to other in that same love given to us. Agape love, the highest form of love, is referenced in the New Testament 137 times as a verb and 116 times as a noun. I believe that God is trying to tell us something…
Questions to ponder this third week of Advent…
What does love mean to you?
When have you experienced someone opening themselves to you in love?
What commitment are you willing to make to become more loving this ‘Christ’-mas?
Closing Prayer
Lord,
We give you thank for the enormous love you have for us and you have shown to us.
We thank you for Mary and Joseph..for their examples of love.
We give you thanks for your Son, Jesus Christ, who came to this earth as your Love incarnate…
Lord, help us to love…
In fact, help us to love as Christ loved.
He made time for all people, we pray that you would help us to do the same.
He was quick to forgive, we pray that you would help us to do the same.
He was vulnerable, honest, and compassionate, we pray that you would help us to be the same.
In the name of Chrsit we pray…Amen.
Closing Song # 213 – Lift Up Your Heads
Benediction
As we leave this place,
May we open ourselves to our God…our Faith.
May we open ourselves to our Reality…our Hope.
May we open ourselves to Others…our Love
May we open ourselves to the True Joy, found in Jesus Christ our Lord.
For its in Christ, we find our faith, our hope, our love and our joy…
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…Amen.
