Growing Closer to God pt 32
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Love
Love
Last week we talked about authority and I showed you how God speaks to me personally sometimes. It’s a question I often get and every once in a while I believe it’s important to open my relationship with God up so that it brings you to a better understanding of what God is doing in your life. So I want to continue with that this morning. Often times though I find that we don’t know what to do in the wilderness. It’s like trying to take someone who is born in the city and make them survive in the country.
So I want to save you from looking foolish and out of place. Often times I find that when I am in the wilderness I tend to become very me focused and believe it or not this is anti-biblical. If you look at Israel the times they got themselves in the most trouble, whether it was in the wilderness or in the promised land was when the word I, we, or us gets used. I am bored, I am hungry, Did you bring us out here to die. I want to go back to Egypt. We cannot defeat those giants that inhabit the promised land. Make us an idol. and the list goes on.
I find that when I take my eyes off myself it does three things
It stops me from focusing on my problems and gets me looking to God for things other than tales of woe and misery
It keep me busy so I don’t prolong my stay in the wilderness.
It’s biblical.
This morning I want to start with our verse.
Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Romans 8
Many people have concluded many things about this verse that aren’t true. I believe a solid understanding of this verse could lead you to not only understand more about Jesus, but also to show you how to be more like Jesus.
First, I don’t believe this verse has anything to do with money. There is nothing before or after this verse to give the context that debt, done correctly and for the right reasons, is bad. I believe in trying to live a debt free life and I believe the going into debt for stupid or covetous reasons is in fact a sin. I don’t believe banking, lending money, and borrowing money is bad. Jesus used parables about bankers in both Matthew and Luke.
To amount this verse, as many have to money, is missing the point entirely. This is Jesus in capsule. These two verses point so blatantly to the cross to give it any other distinction would diminish the high calling Paul is asking us to achieve.
The reason I believe this is because twice the term love is the fulfilling of the law appears.
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
The Fulfillment of the Law is love. Everything Jesus did was out of love. His life is a love letter to His people. It seems that when Jesus left his disciples it was to s
He is always near, even at times when he feels distant.
Love=our purpose
Love=our purpose
Love=our purpose
When you don’t know what to do love on someone.
The second thing this verse has caused people to do is distort God’s idea of love.
Love is not blind acceptance. Notice:
Love does no wrong to a neighbor
Love does no wrong to a neighbor
It is not love to watch someone aimlessly walk into a bear trap. When you see someone doing something stupid it is love to correct stupid. The world would have you to believe that love is the acceptance of sin, but rather in order to truly love someone sometimes you have to be willing to be hated by them. I would rather see someone curse me and eventually end up in heaven than think I am the greatest bobble head in the history of bobble heads and end up in hell.
Correction=love
Correction=love
Jesus corrected many people. And you say, but I am not Jesus—to which I reply—our life is a journey to become more like Jesus so we need to figure out how to correct people like Jesus did.
To love is to not have selfish motives. We can serve people without loving them. We can correct people and be right in our correction without loving them.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
What God has shown me is this: Even in the wilderness journey I can grow in love instead of boil in disappointment.
When you don’t know what to do instead of making a mess-be like Jesus.
In a world that is focused on I; focus on them
In a world that is focused on I; focus on them
I will either bring you to pride or boil you to despair, but no matter the circumstances when we focus on helping others through love our problems become less visible.
I remember a camping story I read somewhere. I don’t remember where I read or if it was in a movie, but a group of fathers were trying to show their boys how to survive on their own and grow into adult hood. These men journeyed their children into the middle of the forest, helped them set their tents, and helped them start a fire. Once they had what they needed the fathers stood up kissed their kids good bye and proceeded to walk out of the forest leaving the children there for the night. During the night the kids experience hardships in finding wood to keep the fire going, trying to figure out hot to cook their food and often they succumbed to the fear of the dark and the noises they heard that they couldn’t explain. They felt alone, but understood they needed to survive until morning. After a hard time the kids finally fell asleep. upon waking the next morning one of the kids spotted a tend not to far from their own, but far enough that in the dark it couldn’t be seen. When the kid approached the tent he saw their fathers sitting around the fire drinking their morning coffee. One of the dads began to explain: Son we watched as you struggled. We watched as you were afraid. We watched as you overcame your fear. You thought you were alone, but we never left you. Most importantly we watched while you learned to become men.
The other idea of this verse is that we are to pursue love. Love isn’t something that comes naturally. We are naturally self centered. We have to train ourselves to pursue love and they way we do that is by always keeping our motives in check.
Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.
Interesting the work for persue is dioko the prefix dio is also found in the term diogmos which means persecution and is found in where is says
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Love starts when we are in a place of service and gain nothing. I had put up a donation thing on facebook for shelves with wheels for the food bank. I had a college aquantance message me that he was going to buy one and have it amazon shipped to my house. He lives 2 hours away and has nothing do with this church, but acted out of love—out of a desire to just help.
Let all that you do be done in love.
1 Cortinthians 16:14