SERIES: “THE GROWTH FACTORS”
TEXT: VARIOUS
TITLE: “THE AFFECTION FACTOR”
INTRODUCTION: A. Love: as defined by kids
1. “When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails
anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got
arthritis too. That’s love.”
2. “When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You know that
your name is safe in their mouth.”
3. “Love is when someone hurts you, and you get so mad, but you don’t yell at them
because you know it would hurt their feelings.”
4. “Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before
giving it to him, to make sure the taste is okay.”
5. “Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and
listen.”
6. “Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after
they know each other so well.”
7. Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer
than Robert Redford.”
8. Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.”
9. “You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you
should say it a lot. People forget.”
B. Tuesday is Valentine’s Day
--Men, are you ready?
1. I couldn’t think of a better day than two days before Valentine’s Day to address the
subject for this morning
2. We’ve been studying “The Growth Factors”
a. This morning we’re looking at “The Affection Factor”
b. The importance of love in growing our congregation numerically and ourselves
to spiritual maturity
3. Jn. 13:34-35 – “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved
you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my
disciples, if you love one another.”
I. THE PRIORITY OF LOVE
A. Our society is confused about love
1. They see it as something expressed in a greeting card
2. We love our pets, our spouses, our children, pizza, chocolate, sports, etc, etc. etc.
3. But we need to understand the importance of love
--the Biblical kind of love which found its epitome in Jesus Christ
B. Jesus placed a premium on love as an essential quality to be nurtured in the lives of His disciples and in
the corporate life of the church
1. Love is not just “vital”. It’s “essential”
2. People don’t need the mushy, fuzzy, spineless ooze produced by secular minds
--They need the meaty compassion and commitment that we see in Christ
C. The scriptural emphasis
1. Jesus said that the second of the greatest commandments was to “love your neighbor as yourself”
2. Eph. 5:1-2 – “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as
Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
3. Col. 3:12-14 – “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with
compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive
whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And
over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”
4. 1 Jn. 3:23 – “And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love
one another as he commanded us.”
D. Have you noticed that love is not an option? It’s a command
1. 1 Jn. 5:3 – “This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,”
2. So why do we have such a difficult time when it comes to loving others?
3. The first verse of the following poem was written anonymously years ago.
--The next five were written by Ian Service
What joy to love the saints above
When I get home to glory.
To love below, the saints I know,
Well, that’s another story!
To love mankind I always find
To be a simple task.
To have love for the man next door
Is more than one should ask!
Love’s full and free when two agree;
It isn’t hard at all.
But easy it ain’t to love the saint
Who drives me up the wall!
When someone’s kind, and has Christ’s mind,
I love him with great ease.
But one who hurts with words he blurts,
Don’t make me love him, please!
If no one needs my loving deeds,
I love unstintingly.
But hungry saints with real complaints
Should stay away from me!
But Jesus said, to those He led,
“By this all will discover
That you are Mine. This is the sign –
That you love one another.”
II. THE POWER OF LOVE
A. Where there is a lack of love in the congregation there is a multitude of sins: griping and complaining,
innuendoes, gossip, political infighting and so on.
--But when the congregation truly loves each other, it’s a place of acceptance, encouragement, and
tremendous spiritual growth.
1. Christian Schwartz, Natural Church Development: …”Our research indicates that there is a highly
significant relationship between the ability of a church to demonstrate love and its long-term growth
potential. Growing churches possess on average a measurably higher “love quotient” than stagnant or
dying [churches]… Unfeigned, practical love has a divinely generated magnetic power far more
effective than evangelistic programs which depend almost entirely on verbal communication. People
do not want to hear us talk about love, they want to experience how Christian love really works.”
2. Acts. 2:42-47 – “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the
breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous
signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common.
Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they
continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together
with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord
added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
B. When you get a group of people together who genuinely believe something, who practice it in their
lives, and who really enjoy each other, it’s such a contagious atmosphere that you can’t keep people
away from it.
1. Tertullian (about AD 200) quoted the heathen as saying about Christians: “See how they love one
another . . . see how they are ready even to die for one another.”
2. John Chrysostom, who lived about 150 years after Tertullian, complained, “. . . even now there is
nothing else that causes the heathen to stumble, except that there is no love . . . . Their own doctrines
they have long condemned, and in like manner they admire ours, but they are hindered by our mode
of life.”
3. Jim Kane, paraphrase: “1 Corinthians 13 - church version”:
If our church could hold services in five languages or our members could speak three, but we didn’t
love others, we would be all talk and no action.
If our church really expressed it’s spiritual gifts with wholehearted service and we became spiritual
giants, but we did not love others, what good would we be?
If our church had such faith that resulted in great healings and great miracles taking place, but we
really did not love others, what would be the point? If we gave 50% of our budget to various missions
across our nation and around our world so that a great deal of spiritual and physical poverty was
alleviated, but we did not love others, why would we do it?
Our church is patient and kind. Our church is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Our church
does not demand its own way. Our church is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been
wronged. Our church is never glad about injustice but rejoices when the truth wins out. Our church
never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
God and His love will last forever. But, our church’s pronouncements and decisions and giftedness
and abilities will all disappear. Our church now knows only a little but when the Lord returns, our
church will know everything.
It’s like this, “When we were still new believers, our church spoke and thought and reasoned like a
new believers. But as we grew up, we became mature believers. Today, we don’t see things clearly or
fully understand every thing that has happened to us. All that our church knows at this point in time is
partial and incomplete, but one day our church, and all of those redeemed by God, will know
everything that God knows!
There are three things that will endure beyond our church - faith, hope, and love - and the greatest of
these is love.”
C. Lawrence Richards and Clyde Hoeldtke, A Theology of Leadership: “The overwhelming testimony of
the New Testament is that love both expressed and experienced among members of the body is
absolutely essential if that body is to be healthy and alive.”
III. THE PRACTICE OF LOVE
A. Practicing agape love is the true test of our faith.
1. 1 Jn. 3:16-18 – “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we
ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother
in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love
with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the
truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence.”
2. Augustine: “What does it look like? It has hands to help others, feet to hasten to the poor and needy,
eyes to see misery and want, ear to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.”
B. 1 Cor. is the standard by which we measure our love for others:
1. Never fails
2. Is always kind
3. Does not get envious
4. Does not boast
5. Is not rude
6. Is not proud
7. Is not self-seeking or self-serving
8. Does not anger easily
9. Keeps no record of wrongs
10. Takes no delight in the evil of others
11. Rejoices with the truth
12. Always protects
13. Always hopes
14. Always perseveres
C. The practice of love is taught by Jesus’ example earlier in the chapter.
--John 13:1-5 – “It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to
leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed
them the full extent of his love. The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already
prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things
under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the
meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water
into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around
him.”
1. Love is humble
--it was the job of the lowliest servant to wash feet
a. The word “humility” comes from a compound Greek word which, when put together, means: “to
think with lowliness. To be lowly in mind.” And it is the absolute antithesis of arrogance.
b. Then there’s boxing promoter, Don King, who was being interviewed about his many
accomplishments. He said, “Sometimes I amaze myself! And I say that with all humility.”
--No he didn’t. Nothing can be “said” in humility. It can only be done. Quietly. Without
announcement.
2. Love is selfless
--Don’t you think that Jesus’ feet were dirty, too?
3. Love is merciful
--Jesus washed even the feet of the one who would betray Him later that night
CONCLUSION: A. Do you remember the pot-bellied pig craze a few years ago when people were
spending hundreds of dollars to own one of those exotic house pets imported from
Vietnam? Well, this craze started when breeders of these particular pigs claimed two
things: that these pigs were very smart and that they would only grow to a weight
of 40 lbs. For some reason, many people apparently loved the idea of a smart, mini-pig
running around the house for, thousands of these pigs were sold.
Well, it turned out that the breeders were only half-right. These pigs were very smart.
Some could even be trained to walk on leashes and use litter boxes. But they often grew
to weigh as much as 150lbs or more! Some grew to 250 lbs. Another drawback that the
owners of these unique pigs discovered was that they often became openly aggressive –
not at all pet-like.
So, what did people do with their unwanted pot-bellied pigs? Well, fortunately,
according to an article in U.S. News and World Report, a man named Dale Riffle came
to the rescue. Someone had given Dale one of these pigs as a gift and he fell in love with
it -- even though it never learned to use its litter box and in fact developed a tendency to
eat carpet, wall paper, and dry wall
Well, Riffle loved his pig so much that he sold his suburban home and moved with
his new pet pig, whom he had named "RUFUS," to a 5-acre farm in West Virginia...and
then he started taking in unwanted pot-bellied pigs and before long the guy was living in
“hog heaven”. When the article was written he had 180 pig residents on this farm! And
these pigs don’t just live there...Riffle treats them to a luxurious lifestyle. The article
states that these little porkers snooze on beds of fresh pine shavings every night. They
wallow in mud puddles. They soak in plastic swimming pools to piped-in classical
music. They wait in line for one of Riffles belly rubs. They even socialize in age-graded
pig affinity groups....whatever that means.
And these pigs never need fear that one day they will become bacon or pork chops.
Believe it or not there is actually a waiting list for unwanted pigs wanting to get a hoof in
the door at Riffle’s farm. Riffle says, "We are all put on earth for some reason and I
guess pigs are my lot in life."
B. Now, I’m sure you would agree that it IS amazing that anyone in his right mind would
fall so totally in love with pigs!
--But listen to something even more amazing:
1. The central theme of the Bible is that our majestic, all-powerful, all-knowing,
perfectly holy, God...is passionately in love with imperfect, sometimes openly
rebellious, frequently indifferent people like you and me.
2. You see, in many ways sin makes human beings even more unlovely than Riffle’s
pigs.
a. Listen to the bleak picture that Romans 3:10-17 paints of the human race: “There is
no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks
God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one
who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice
deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and
bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways and
the way of peace they do not know.
b. So all human beings are flawed because of sin.
--Rom. 3:23 – “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
C. We are fallen creatures.
--Isaiah said that even our best attempts at goodness are as filthy rags in comparison to
the holiness of God.
1. But God loves us anyway.....even to the extent of wanting to adopt us as His very
own.
2. 1 Jn. 3:1a – “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be
called children of God! And that is what we are!”
