Behold...Love
Behold • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 1 viewNotes
Transcript
Love
Love
One of the greatest honors in the ministry is officiating or performing a wedding. I have had the privilege of officiating quite a few weddings as a minister of the faith. Matter of fact, I was able to perform one sisters wedding and then turn around a few months later and do the other sisters wedding. This coming weekend, I get to do a wedding for Luke and Katie. You may not know them, they are friends of the family that we meet through 4-H.
What makes this one of the greatest honors? Simple answer is love. I get to stand before them and before God as they profess their love to one another. Their love is on display for all to see. The bible calls this kind of passionate love between husband and wife as EROS. The honor comes from playing just a small part in this union that is actually a binding contract between the two of them. Most people do not see it that way. Think about it, when you get married, you and your spouse sign the contract, two witnesses sign it and me as the minister comes as a type of notary signing it also. It is binding covenant contract.
Believe it or not, we have a covenant contract with God that is based on God’s love for us. It is a covenant for His people. It is a covenant to all of those who call upon the name of the Lord and believe in their heart that God raised Christ from the dead. It is from that moment that you did that, you signed your name to that contract, to not be a slave to this world but to be an heir to the kingdom of God.
When the time came to completion, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then God has made you an heir.
In today’s society, the first thing that comes out of our mouth’s when marriage get’s rough is “I want a divorce!” Why because that EROS love is a love that has conditions. Give some examples!
The covenant contract God has with us is built on Agape love. An unconditional love. We serve a God who never changes. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. It is us that changes. The main reason is role reversal. We want to be God. We want the control. And so we break the covenant contract. His people have been doing it for ages. Just read through the prophets in the Old Testament. They continue to rebel against God, but His love never changes.
They refused to listen
and did not remember your wonders
you performed among them.
They became stiff-necked and appointed a leader
to return to their slavery in Egypt.
But you are a forgiving God,
gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in faithful love,
and you did not abandon them.
Forgiving, gracious, compassionate, slow to anger, never abandoning, and abounding in faithful love. That is the God that they served and rebelled against. It is the same God we serve, and are we rebelling against Him?
I ask this because even though Nehemiah spoke these words, the Israelites continued to rebel. Even Isaiah had to address it
Though the mountains move
and the hills shake,
my love will not be removed from you
and my covenant of peace will not be shaken,”
says your compassionate Lord.
Remember, I said God’s love is unconditional even though we break that covenant all the time. He still loves us unconditionally. So much so He sent His love down to us in the form of a baby. A baby not born in a palace but born in a manger, a feed trough. His love was not born to trumpets and cymbals, or to the parades, or the royalty coming to pay their respects. No His love was presented to the shepherds. Those that did not follow the religious traditions, they were the ones outside, they did not follow the law, they did not follow the covenant law. He loved us so much that he sent His son to us.
For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
He sent His son to us knowing that 33 years later he would lay down his life for us. That 33 years later he would show His love for us by dying on the cross.
No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends.
Earlier in Galatians, we mentioned that Christ was born of woman and under the law. Meaning that Mary and Joseph followed the law and on the eighth day after the cleansing period, they brought Christ up to the temple.
When the eight days were completed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus—the name given by the angel before he was conceived. And when the days of their purification according to the law of Moses were finished, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (just as it is written in the law of the Lord, Every firstborn male will be dedicated to the Lord) and to offer a sacrifice (according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons).
There was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, looking forward to Israel’s consolation, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he saw the Lord’s Messiah. Guided by the Spirit, he entered the temple. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to perform for him what was customary under the law, Simeon took him up in his arms, praised God, and said,
Now, Master,
you can dismiss your servant in peace,
as you promised.
For my eyes have seen your salvation.
You have prepared it
in the presence of all peoples—
a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and glory to your people Israel.
His father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and told his mother Mary, “Indeed, this child is destined to cause the fall and rise of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be opposed—and a sword will pierce your own soul—that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
There was also a prophetess, Anna, a daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was well along in years, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and was a widow for eighty-four years. She did not leave the temple, serving God night and day with fasting and prayers. At that very moment, she came up and began to thank God and to speak about him to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.
She went out to spread the good news. Are you willing to spread the Love of Christ to everyone?
In 2014 the average American spent $740 on Christmas gifts. Why? To demonstrate their love for someone else? Truth be told, some of those gifts were probably purchased out of obligation. How many of us have an Aunt Mabel that we forget to buy something for, only to have to grab something last minute, because we don’t want to show up empty-handed?
The heart of the Christmas gift shouldn’t be out of obligation, but out of love, with no expectation of repayment. God has provided the gift of grace to your life through Jesus Christ. You cannot and should not repay him for this gift. Your service in life is just a thank-you note to Him.