[Acts 4:10-12]
let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
{James Cha}
Saved from what?
Slavery to sin - John 8:34 (Romans 6:16-17)
Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin."
Slavery to fear of death - Hebrews 2:14-16
and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
What is Islam?
Islam means submission to Allah
Muslim is someone who is submitted to Allah
Islam began with Muhammad, who lived in the 600's
He was a merchant, a teacher, and a warrior.
Who is Allah?
Jews believe in God revealed in the Old Testament
Christians affirm the God of the TO and believe in the Trinity as revealed in the NT
Muslims claim that their Allah is the same as the God of the Bible.
Islam
Allah is distant and impersonal.
Allah's loves conditional.
Salvation is based on scales. It is not guaranteed.
Muhammad himself did not know his eternal destiny.
Keep the 5 pillars.
Heaven is pictured as men sitting on couches being served wine by perpetual virgins; majority in hell are women.
Allah wants Islam to take over the world, even by force.
Muhammad viewed men as superior to women.
Muhammad had 13 wives; His youngest, Aisha, was 9 at the time of marriage.
Muhammad has no record of healing the sick or raising the dead.
Muhammad initially doubted whether the revelation he received was divine or demonic.
Muhammad died peacefully in the arms of his youngest wife, Aisha; buried in Medina.
Muhammad won a following by military victory and/or forced conversion.
Muhammad washed the swords of his followers.
Muhammad taught that Jesus was not God.
What does the Bible say about Muhammad? (1 John 2:22-23)
Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.
The Baha'i religion came on the scene at 1850 AD. They say that the previous religions have failed and they have newer revelation.
God is looking for a man or a woman
Of Conviction - John 15:1-7; Acts 4:18-20
Of Compassion - Matthew 5:43-48; John 13:34-35
"For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him..." - 2 Chronicles 16:9 (ESV)
Feb 27, 2011
Feb 20, 2011
The Peacemaking Church: Conflict starts in the Heart
[James 4:1-10]
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, "He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us"? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
{Rev. Dwight Yoo}
Starting Principle - Get the log out of YOUR eye. (Matt 7:3-5)
The inclination of our hearts is to look others in a negative light. To see their faults and their failings. But this is a downward spiral. We can keep going and going in pointing out others faults because all of us are sinners. We will start to think others are worse than they are. But this is not what God wants us to do.
We are to look at our own faults and failings FIRST. What does that get us? We get a healthy sense of self-suspicion. When we get into certain situations, we will examine ourselves to see whether it is our sinful hearts leading us astray. James tells us that conflict starts in our hearts. The world tells us that the reason we have conflicts because of things outside... the traffic, our work, or a bad situation. This is why we are having conflict. BUT the Word tells us it comes from our heart. This is not referring to the organ, but when God talks about the heart, He is referring to the central control in our life. Proverbs 4:23; Matthew 15:19-24;
The desires and passions found in our hearts can be good as well as evil. These are the things that control and move us. Whether it is a desire to eat at Tyson's Bees or to have your children behave...
Let's take a peek at our hearts and how this works...
- i desire...
- (becomes) I Demand...
- (changes us) I JUDGE...
- (makes us) I PUNISH !
So desires that may be perfectly good become demands. And these demands become central to our satisfaction and happiness. They are now idols. They have taken God's place in our lives. Given time, when our demands are not met, they start to impact our relationships. We then begin to judge others according to whether they meet our demands or not. "SHE's a horrible friend." "My husband's so USELESS." Whether we say it or it is just in our hearts, we become overly critical of others. This is what James 4:11 says, "Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge." So then, when we become judges, we will then pass judgment and punish others become of their failures. We see others according to our kingdom rules and regulations. When they fail to meet your expectations or they are not meeting your "needs", you will give them the cold shoulder, shame them, or ignore them.
If you are giving people the cold shoulder or slandering others, it is a CLEAR sign that an idol is in control of your heart. When we punish others who are close to us, they do not want to love us more. It makes them hurt. It makes them get defensive, attack us back, or run away.
"double-minded" - James is telling us that we can only have ONE ultimate source of satisfaction and fulfillment. We cannot serve both God and money. We cannot serve both God and ______. (Friends, family, success, career, & spouse.) No matter what else it is, it will NOT satisfy. It will only disappoint. People are fallible, they will fail us.
We cannot simply remove an idol. Just removing an idol simply opens our heart to another idol. We must replace the idol with God. We must replace the idols of our lives with the desire to love & follow Jesus. Then our fears and anxieties will dissipate...
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, "He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us"? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
{Rev. Dwight Yoo}
Starting Principle - Get the log out of YOUR eye. (Matt 7:3-5)
The inclination of our hearts is to look others in a negative light. To see their faults and their failings. But this is a downward spiral. We can keep going and going in pointing out others faults because all of us are sinners. We will start to think others are worse than they are. But this is not what God wants us to do.
We are to look at our own faults and failings FIRST. What does that get us? We get a healthy sense of self-suspicion. When we get into certain situations, we will examine ourselves to see whether it is our sinful hearts leading us astray. James tells us that conflict starts in our hearts. The world tells us that the reason we have conflicts because of things outside... the traffic, our work, or a bad situation. This is why we are having conflict. BUT the Word tells us it comes from our heart. This is not referring to the organ, but when God talks about the heart, He is referring to the central control in our life. Proverbs 4:23; Matthew 15:19-24;
The desires and passions found in our hearts can be good as well as evil. These are the things that control and move us. Whether it is a desire to eat at Tyson's Bees or to have your children behave...
Let's take a peek at our hearts and how this works...
- i desire...
- (becomes) I Demand...
- (changes us) I JUDGE...
- (makes us) I PUNISH !
So desires that may be perfectly good become demands. And these demands become central to our satisfaction and happiness. They are now idols. They have taken God's place in our lives. Given time, when our demands are not met, they start to impact our relationships. We then begin to judge others according to whether they meet our demands or not. "SHE's a horrible friend." "My husband's so USELESS." Whether we say it or it is just in our hearts, we become overly critical of others. This is what James 4:11 says, "Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge." So then, when we become judges, we will then pass judgment and punish others become of their failures. We see others according to our kingdom rules and regulations. When they fail to meet your expectations or they are not meeting your "needs", you will give them the cold shoulder, shame them, or ignore them.
If you are giving people the cold shoulder or slandering others, it is a CLEAR sign that an idol is in control of your heart. When we punish others who are close to us, they do not want to love us more. It makes them hurt. It makes them get defensive, attack us back, or run away.
"double-minded" - James is telling us that we can only have ONE ultimate source of satisfaction and fulfillment. We cannot serve both God and money. We cannot serve both God and ______. (Friends, family, success, career, & spouse.) No matter what else it is, it will NOT satisfy. It will only disappoint. People are fallible, they will fail us.
We cannot simply remove an idol. Just removing an idol simply opens our heart to another idol. We must replace the idol with God. We must replace the idols of our lives with the desire to love & follow Jesus. Then our fears and anxieties will dissipate...
Feb 13, 2011
The Peacemaking Church: Live At Peace
James 3:13-18
Rev. Dwight Yoo
This is the second sermon in a series.
James writes this to a church in conflict. This church has a group of teachers that are saying the church should focus on this or that. This was not about heresy, it was probably more likely about something good. But there is a difference of opinion about what good things to focus on...
I feel our church is particularly susceptible to this. We can get too caught up in our causes and what we are passionate about. This, if left unchecked, can cause division and even for the church to fracture and split. James addresses those who claim to be wise and learned to show their wisdom by their works of faith. He tells them this would result in humility and meekness in their actions. The wise should be humble and meek...which was not the case here. Rather they were living contentious and antagonistic towards others in the church. How so? Consider how Jesus laid it all down laid it all down and lived humbly and meekly. We should follow in His footsteps. Conflict should be an opportunity to love and serve others. Not fighting to be right or trying to escape...but looking to benefit others. We should choose this over harsh zeal regardless of how great the cause. While the cause is good or your point is right, your actions are not spirit-led. The Spirit does not lead in this fashion. Not only this, but all this fighting and struggling to have our way...is demonic. James calls it DEMONIC. There is a time and place to take a stand for the right things in the right fashion. But by and large, it is destructive. Pure, peaceable, gentle, full of mercy, impartial, sincere, & open to reason...this is the way of the Spirit. Those who live like this will bring about a harvest of righteousness! Whether in marriage, parenting, at work, our in the church...there will be blessing. THIS IS WHAT WE ARE CALLED TO.
Rev. Dwight Yoo
This is the second sermon in a series.
James writes this to a church in conflict. This church has a group of teachers that are saying the church should focus on this or that. This was not about heresy, it was probably more likely about something good. But there is a difference of opinion about what good things to focus on...
I feel our church is particularly susceptible to this. We can get too caught up in our causes and what we are passionate about. This, if left unchecked, can cause division and even for the church to fracture and split. James addresses those who claim to be wise and learned to show their wisdom by their works of faith. He tells them this would result in humility and meekness in their actions. The wise should be humble and meek...which was not the case here. Rather they were living contentious and antagonistic towards others in the church. How so? Consider how Jesus laid it all down laid it all down and lived humbly and meekly. We should follow in His footsteps. Conflict should be an opportunity to love and serve others. Not fighting to be right or trying to escape...but looking to benefit others. We should choose this over harsh zeal regardless of how great the cause. While the cause is good or your point is right, your actions are not spirit-led. The Spirit does not lead in this fashion. Not only this, but all this fighting and struggling to have our way...is demonic. James calls it DEMONIC. There is a time and place to take a stand for the right things in the right fashion. But by and large, it is destructive. Pure, peaceable, gentle, full of mercy, impartial, sincere, & open to reason...this is the way of the Spirit. Those who live like this will bring about a harvest of righteousness! Whether in marriage, parenting, at work, our in the church...there will be blessing. THIS IS WHAT WE ARE CALLED TO.
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Feb 6, 2011
The peacemaking church: Conflict provides opportunities
{Rev. Dwight Yoo}
We will be covering a book "the peacemaker" by Ken Sande for eight weeks. This is not a complete departure from James, but it is certainly not an expositional series. We wish to focus on a specific core value for a season. In this case, we want to focus on Gospel Community.
What happens when the church does not handle conflict well?
Spiritual growth suffers - Ephesians 4:1-16
Marriages suffer - Ephesians 5:22-33
Friendships suffer - Proverbs 17:17;18:24
What if, by God's grace, we get this right?
Spiritual growth and renewal
Powerfully redemptive, long-lasting, world attracting marriages, families, and friendships
A Gospel community, whose relationships display the power of the Gospel to an unbelieving world.
That was the intro to this series. Now the sermon.
Matthew 5:9
The church should be a community of peacemakers in a world of conflict.
Conflict: "A conference in opinion or purpose that frustrates someone's goals or desires."
Conflict is not all bad. Even the apostles had them. There are two major bad responses.
Escape: aka peace-faking. This is self-centered. The person hates the situation and wants out. There is denial of any problem. They may run away from these situations. If they go to an extreme, they may choose to commit suicide.
Attack: aka peace-breaking. This is also self-centered. This person wants to always be right. They are convinced that the other person is the problem. Assault of either the emotional or even physical attack. They may litigate, take you to court. Taken to the extreme, they may murder others. This can be just pretending someone does not exist. Completely ignoring them.
KYRG - KISS YOUR RELATIONSHIPS GOODBYE.
The best and biblical response?
Peacemaking: It is about we. Directed towards finding just and mutually agreeable solutions to conflict. There is a covering over and overlooking of small sins. There is reconciliation over more serious sins. And for seriously contentious issues, there is mediation and even arbitration.
Three opportunities from conflict
Glory for God
Trust Him - Proverbs 3:5-7
Obey - John 14:21
Imitate - Philippians 2:1-7
Acknowledge - 1 Peter 2:12
Serve others
Put others first - Luke 6:27-28;36
Meet others needs
Show others where they need to grow - Galatians 6:1-2
Introduce them to Jesus - 1 Peter 3:15-16
Set an example of healthy conflict resolution (your kids are watching.)
Grow to be like Christ
Romans 8:28-29
We will be covering a book "the peacemaker" by Ken Sande for eight weeks. This is not a complete departure from James, but it is certainly not an expositional series. We wish to focus on a specific core value for a season. In this case, we want to focus on Gospel Community.
What happens when the church does not handle conflict well?
Spiritual growth suffers - Ephesians 4:1-16
Marriages suffer - Ephesians 5:22-33
Friendships suffer - Proverbs 17:17;18:24
What if, by God's grace, we get this right?
Spiritual growth and renewal
Powerfully redemptive, long-lasting, world attracting marriages, families, and friendships
A Gospel community, whose relationships display the power of the Gospel to an unbelieving world.
That was the intro to this series. Now the sermon.
Matthew 5:9
The church should be a community of peacemakers in a world of conflict.
Conflict: "A conference in opinion or purpose that frustrates someone's goals or desires."
Conflict is not all bad. Even the apostles had them. There are two major bad responses.
Escape: aka peace-faking. This is self-centered. The person hates the situation and wants out. There is denial of any problem. They may run away from these situations. If they go to an extreme, they may choose to commit suicide.
Attack: aka peace-breaking. This is also self-centered. This person wants to always be right. They are convinced that the other person is the problem. Assault of either the emotional or even physical attack. They may litigate, take you to court. Taken to the extreme, they may murder others. This can be just pretending someone does not exist. Completely ignoring them.
KYRG - KISS YOUR RELATIONSHIPS GOODBYE.
The best and biblical response?
Peacemaking: It is about we. Directed towards finding just and mutually agreeable solutions to conflict. There is a covering over and overlooking of small sins. There is reconciliation over more serious sins. And for seriously contentious issues, there is mediation and even arbitration.
Three opportunities from conflict
Glory for God
Trust Him - Proverbs 3:5-7
Obey - John 14:21
Imitate - Philippians 2:1-7
Acknowledge - 1 Peter 2:12
Serve others
Put others first - Luke 6:27-28;36
Meet others needs
Show others where they need to grow - Galatians 6:1-2
Introduce them to Jesus - 1 Peter 3:15-16
Set an example of healthy conflict resolution (your kids are watching.)
Grow to be like Christ
Romans 8:28-29
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Jan 30, 2011
Love's command from Jude
Jude 1:20-21
This is one of the brothers of Jesus. He lived with love and did not know it. He thought Jesus was crazy (Matthew 12:46-50) and gave him "family" treatment (John 7:1-8). Jesus knows of of family trouble... He has gone through the same troubles as we have with our own family. But now Jude acknowledges Jesus as the Christ and this book is what he has to say: "Keep yourselves in God's love." Turn to God and draw near to Him...and God will draw near to you. If you love God, you will keep His commands. One who does not keep His commands, cannot love God. Why? Because if we love Him, we will pay attention to what He says. Period. But this does mean read your bibles everyday. People in those days didn't have bibles... So the best interpretation should be to live our lives in faith... "I know God wants me to do this, so I'm going to do this." Obey...for there is no other way. Faith acts. Faith moves. This is how faith grows. We should respond to God in faith. This is not necessarily a call to study. It is a call to do so we will know. We want to know before we do. Want to build up your faith? Use what God has given you and God will give you more. Love does not stay where it is...it keeps moving outward. So if you wish to stay in God's love, we must keep moving out. God's love does not grow stagnant.
This is one of the brothers of Jesus. He lived with love and did not know it. He thought Jesus was crazy (Matthew 12:46-50) and gave him "family" treatment (John 7:1-8). Jesus knows of of family trouble... He has gone through the same troubles as we have with our own family. But now Jude acknowledges Jesus as the Christ and this book is what he has to say: "Keep yourselves in God's love." Turn to God and draw near to Him...and God will draw near to you. If you love God, you will keep His commands. One who does not keep His commands, cannot love God. Why? Because if we love Him, we will pay attention to what He says. Period. But this does mean read your bibles everyday. People in those days didn't have bibles... So the best interpretation should be to live our lives in faith... "I know God wants me to do this, so I'm going to do this." Obey...for there is no other way. Faith acts. Faith moves. This is how faith grows. We should respond to God in faith. This is not necessarily a call to study. It is a call to do so we will know. We want to know before we do. Want to build up your faith? Use what God has given you and God will give you more. Love does not stay where it is...it keeps moving outward. So if you wish to stay in God's love, we must keep moving out. God's love does not grow stagnant.
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Jan 29, 2011
Love's command from Peter
1 Peter 4:7-11
This is from the point of view of one who has walked on water with Jesus and stumbled many times. Peter even denied Jesus several times.
Maybe you've fallen several times. Maybe you've held yourself back because of expectations or pride. You've made some mistakes and you are not sure you want to try again. Jesus is calling you. Peter had gone back to fishing... From the original call to become a fisher of men. Jesus came back for Peter. For those of you who identify with Peter, Jesus calls to you as well. Peter was a man's man. Peter was told to leave everything behind.
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
This is spoken by one who has worked miracles and heard God during the transfiguration. ABOVE ALL. I can only hope you don't need to learn like Peter did. In addition to your skills, talents, gifts, self-control, and clear-thinking... ABOVE ALL... LOVE ONE ANOTHER. We need to start with love. Deeply...like a well of love that can handle even when someone repents seven times seven in a single day. We need this at church, because there is a multitude of sins here. So we must love deeply to cover them.
Forgiveness proves love. Love proves faith. And faith proves salvation.
This love will remind when someone has forgotten the way of Christ. It will tritone those who are straying into dangerous territory. It will encourage those who are discouraged.
Those who do not love God, do not know God. THIS is the great warning. Pay heed and give it all to Christ. This is an all-or-nothing proposition. Don't continue to refuse the call of God, accept and give it all to God.
This is from the point of view of one who has walked on water with Jesus and stumbled many times. Peter even denied Jesus several times.
Maybe you've fallen several times. Maybe you've held yourself back because of expectations or pride. You've made some mistakes and you are not sure you want to try again. Jesus is calling you. Peter had gone back to fishing... From the original call to become a fisher of men. Jesus came back for Peter. For those of you who identify with Peter, Jesus calls to you as well. Peter was a man's man. Peter was told to leave everything behind.
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
This is spoken by one who has worked miracles and heard God during the transfiguration. ABOVE ALL. I can only hope you don't need to learn like Peter did. In addition to your skills, talents, gifts, self-control, and clear-thinking... ABOVE ALL... LOVE ONE ANOTHER. We need to start with love. Deeply...like a well of love that can handle even when someone repents seven times seven in a single day. We need this at church, because there is a multitude of sins here. So we must love deeply to cover them.
Forgiveness proves love. Love proves faith. And faith proves salvation.
This love will remind when someone has forgotten the way of Christ. It will tritone those who are straying into dangerous territory. It will encourage those who are discouraged.
Those who do not love God, do not know God. THIS is the great warning. Pay heed and give it all to Christ. This is an all-or-nothing proposition. Don't continue to refuse the call of God, accept and give it all to God.
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Love's command from Paul - Ephesians 5:1-7
Communication today is very different. We are told that the worse thing is to be boring. But if we look in scripture, we find that God gives us his presence in a quiet voice. I think if we are honest, we don't just want to be entertained. We want to meet with a God who loves us deeply much more. We are to be different in how we love one another. Love is not about being entertaining.
So then, how are we to communicate love to each other?
"Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them."
- Ephesians 5:1-7 (NIV)
Our God is a triune God. He is one God, but three persons. Because of this, we know that God is always loving. Love is in community and outward-facing from the self even before man came into being.
In Ephesians, Paul is trying to correct the church in Ephesus. He is saying that as Christians, as those who have been born again, we now have a new choice. We now are free to choose to love. We are new creations and as such, we should act like it. Ephesus was drawn to the false gospel of performance. Revelation 2 tells us of this:
"To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first."
- Revelation 2:1-4 (NIV)
For Christ, love is primary. It is not secondary or tertiary. When we make it a secondary priority, we are not following Christ. We have lost the Gospel. Consider this warning seriously. How do we know that losing love means losing the Gospel? Consider 1 Corinthians 13:2-3 (NIV) "If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing." What is nothing? How far does NOTHING get you? Do you have NOTHING?
"Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place."
- Revelation 2:5 (NIV)
This is what we should do when we have lost love. We should repent. Why do we constantly have trouble with sexual immorality? Because we do not have the love of God. Battling sexual immorality is IMPOSSIBLE without traveling the road of the love of God. We cannot fight a spiritual battle without the love of God. We must dedicate ourselves to living lives of love. To be children of God, constantly walking with God.
For a society where we are missing rites of passage, let me ask:
When does a boy become a man? Let me give you a definition, when he starts giving more than he is getting. When he is blessing and not just being blessed.
Let's explore the greatest commandment
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” - Matthew 22:37-40 (NIV)
Why do you get up in the morning? Why do you eat? Why do you do what you do? If we do any of these things w/o selfless love, we are wasting our time. More than just praying. More than just going through the motions. Acting in love will please God.
There are two walls to love. Guilt and shame. But Christ has taken our guilt. He has paid for our sins in full. He is our righteousness. Jesus wants also to cover our shame. But we have to come to God with our need, our inability to love those around us. Then God will come and answer our prayers and empower us.
Consider that when catastrophe hits our lives, this can be a great testimony. But instead, we just want it to go away. Why? Because all we want is our own comfort... and we super-impose it on everyone. Instead, we should see these conflicts, these problems as opportunities to love more.
So then, how are we to communicate love to each other?
"Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them."
- Ephesians 5:1-7 (NIV)
Our God is a triune God. He is one God, but three persons. Because of this, we know that God is always loving. Love is in community and outward-facing from the self even before man came into being.
In Ephesians, Paul is trying to correct the church in Ephesus. He is saying that as Christians, as those who have been born again, we now have a new choice. We now are free to choose to love. We are new creations and as such, we should act like it. Ephesus was drawn to the false gospel of performance. Revelation 2 tells us of this:
"To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first."
- Revelation 2:1-4 (NIV)
For Christ, love is primary. It is not secondary or tertiary. When we make it a secondary priority, we are not following Christ. We have lost the Gospel. Consider this warning seriously. How do we know that losing love means losing the Gospel? Consider 1 Corinthians 13:2-3 (NIV) "If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing." What is nothing? How far does NOTHING get you? Do you have NOTHING?
"Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place."
- Revelation 2:5 (NIV)
This is what we should do when we have lost love. We should repent. Why do we constantly have trouble with sexual immorality? Because we do not have the love of God. Battling sexual immorality is IMPOSSIBLE without traveling the road of the love of God. We cannot fight a spiritual battle without the love of God. We must dedicate ourselves to living lives of love. To be children of God, constantly walking with God.
For a society where we are missing rites of passage, let me ask:
When does a boy become a man? Let me give you a definition, when he starts giving more than he is getting. When he is blessing and not just being blessed.
Let's explore the greatest commandment
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” - Matthew 22:37-40 (NIV)
Why do you get up in the morning? Why do you eat? Why do you do what you do? If we do any of these things w/o selfless love, we are wasting our time. More than just praying. More than just going through the motions. Acting in love will please God.
There are two walls to love. Guilt and shame. But Christ has taken our guilt. He has paid for our sins in full. He is our righteousness. Jesus wants also to cover our shame. But we have to come to God with our need, our inability to love those around us. Then God will come and answer our prayers and empower us.
Consider that when catastrophe hits our lives, this can be a great testimony. But instead, we just want it to go away. Why? Because all we want is our own comfort... and we super-impose it on everyone. Instead, we should see these conflicts, these problems as opportunities to love more.
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