Reflecting God's Love
Living in the Light • Sermon • Submitted
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John 13:34-35 Reflecting God’s Love
Year’s ago I owned a Firebird and I really enjoyed driving that car. One of the features of that car is that it had T-Tops.
One day I was cleaning that car, and I had taken the glass tops out and had propped them up nearby. I went back to working on the car, and I stood up and went back to look at my work, and I noticed something.
At my front tire, there was smoke starting to rise. I quickly put two and two together and realized that those T-Tops were reflecting the sunlight onto the tire and it was starting to burn. That glass reflected the sunlight intensely enough that if I hadn’t caught it in time, I would had a Firebird that was on fire.
I tell you that story, because in similar fashion we are to be a reflection of Jesus Christ. And what would it be like, if we were magnifying our Lord onto this world. Well friend we would set the world on fire, not in a bad way, but in a wonderful way.
Now Jesus wants us to reflect him, and he gives us one particular characteristic we are to reflect in this world.
[Read Scripture]
What is it that Christ wants us to reflect? It is his “love”. Friend, Jesus said that we are to love one another as I have loved you.
Can you say you do that? Its pretty hard to “like” some people much less than to “love” people. Yet, that is exactly what the Lord commanded us to do.
Well, God has made an exception for me, I don’t have to love everyone. Is that so? Well if you don’t mind, would you show me in the scripture where he said that was the case for you?
You see, it is not in our nature to love everyone. If someone does us wrong, we pay them back. If someone hurts us, we hurt them back. There are some people we encounter and for whatever reason we don’t like their personality, we don’t like the way they talk, we don’t like the way they look, and we just resent them.
But Christ wants us to go against the fleshly nature in us, and take on the nature of Christ, and Christ’s nature is to love people. And he tells us to love one another. So, if we are going to live in the light, then friend we must reflect the love of Christ to love like he has loved us. Now think about the love of Christ, because this is the same way we are suppose to love.
A Serving Love
· Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
· Christ demonstrated to us his love by serving people. He was willing to do things that others thought beneath them. Example: washing the disciples feet.
· Now we don’t like to serve, we want someone waiting on us. Don’t ask me to go and do those hard things. But that is exactly what Christ is showing us that we must do.
· Think about this Jesus washing his disciples feet, you know who was there and had his feet washed? Judas. A man that the Lord knew was going to betray him. Yet the Lord showed love by washing his feet as a servant.
· Most people want to serve God, but only in an advisory position.
· Friend, you can’t love like the Lord unless your willing to serve like the Lord.
A Sacrificing Love
· So we are to love others with a serving love, but we are also to love others with a sacrificing love.
· John 15:13 “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
· Are you willing to sacrifice yourself, things that are important to you, for someone else?
· Let’s say, that you came into $10,000 dollars. Hefty amount of change. And you been wanting to buy a side by side cart. You’ve been wanting one for a long time and now you have the money to get it. But let’s say, your neighbor comes up to you. That aggravating neighbor that plays their music way too loud. That neighbor who has encroached on your property. That neighbor that just aggravates you. Well, that neighbor comes up to you and says, I need to have an operation and I need $10,000. Would you lend me the money?
· What would you do? Would you say sorry or would you sacrifice the $10k to help your neighbor?
· If it is hard for us to lend someone the money, how would we ever be able to sacrifice ourself for them?
· Yet, that is how Christ loved us. He sacrificed himself to save others. To save people who didn’t care about him.
· Sacrificial love isn’t necessarily dying for someone, but it is showing them that you are willing to part with something precious to help them come closer to Jesus.
· Friend, if we are going to live in the light of Christ, then we must be willing to sacrifice ourselves, to give up our lives for Jesus Christ.
A Sharing Love
· So if we are to reflect God’s love it must be a serving love and a sacrificial love, but it also must be a sharing love.
· Do y’all remember in school those opportunities for show and tell? I mean, we would get to take things that we loved to school and share it with our classmates.
· I heard about one kid who brought in a pair of gloves that his dad made him wear while breaking into houses.
· Listen, Christ loves us, and he shared that love to us.
· John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
· God shared with us his love through his Son. And he is in our life. Then friend we ought not to be embarrassed by what we love.
· If you are willing to share your love for a car, for sport, for a place, for anything, then friend why are you embarrassed to share your love for Jesus.
· I know people who love different things. I know people who love cars and they can tell you whatever you want to know about cars. They can tell you the displacement of an engine, the gear ratio for a rear differential, they even know the torque specs for a valve cover. Yet, these same people say they love the Lord yet they can’t share one verse of scripture to someone.
· Do we really love the Lord if we aren’t sharing his message to others. Friends sharing is caring and caring is sharing.
· If you want to live in the light of Christ, then share that light to others. Don’t be intimidated or scared, show you love for Christ and be unashamed!
A Sincere Love
· Now quickly, there is one more way we are to love others, just like Christ loved us. And that is with a sincere love.
· You know, people can say they love someone or something and not really be sincere about it.
· You see loving Christ is more than just saying you love Christ, it is also about showing that you love Christ.
· Was Christ sincere about his love when he came to Earth? Absolutely. To the point he died for us.
· Sincerity for the Lord is saying and showing the Lord you care about him by how you love others.
· Look at verse 35
· We want to let people know we are a Christian by the cross around our neck, or the sticker on our car, or by the shirt that we wear. But you know how Christ wanted us to show others we are a Christian? By the love that we show.
· If we are going to live in the light of Christ, then friend we must reflect the love of God to others.
Conclusion
When my grandparents died last year, I received a brass bell that hung at their door way. I remember as a kid pulling on that string to ring that bell. Over the years the shine of that bell diminished. If got dirty and it dull.
In a lot of ways, that is just like us. We have allowed our light to diminish and not shine. It has been covered by the things of this world.
But when I got that bell I took it to my shop and I began to polish that bell. It took me some time. But that bell shined again. Friend, that is exactly what Christ wants to do with you. If you want to love others like Christ commanded, then you need to allow Christ to dwell in your heart.
How well are you shining for Jesus? Do others see that light? If not, then maybe its time to come and let the Lord fix that.