I am the Vine..Displaying God's Love
Well, I guess everyone made it through the "Spring Forward" phase of the year. As usual, I noticed a decline in worship attendance due to the losing an hour of sleep. Nevertheless, God was very generous to us in worship! His presence was felt in a great way.
Seven wonderful people were taken into the church membership as well! To God be the glory.
We continued our series called "Hello, my name is Jesus"-I am the true VINE." The message was from John 15:1-8-"I am the vine, you are the branches"
Galatians 5:22-23-"The fruit of the Spirit is LOVE"
1 John 4:7-16: 7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."
Note that the love we are talking about is Agape' love, the love that Jesus has for us with no limits or no strings attached. This is the kind of love we are to have for each other. Instead of waiting for others to love us first, we are to be intentional and love others.
Romans 5:8 "Jesus died for our sins while we were still in sin." This is refreshing to know that Jesus loves us that much.
Three things jump out at me when we think about the love of God working through us to love others:
I. Accept God's love as unconditional
[A minister one day sat in the office of his church to meet anyone who might have spiritual difficulties.
Only one man came.
"What is your difficulty?" asked the minister.
The man answered, "My difficulty is the ninth chapter of Romans, where it says, 'Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated,'"
"Yes," said the minister, "there is great difficulty in that verse; but which part of the verse is difficult for you?"
The latter part, of course," said the man. "I cannot understand why God should hate Esau."
The minister replied, "That verse has often been difficult, but my difficulty has always been with the first part of the verse. I never could understand how God could love that wily, deceitful, supplanting scoundrel named Jacob."]
II. See God's love in action
[Richard Armstrong, Make Your Life Worthwhile, reports the story about a man in Wales who sought to win the affection of a certain lady for 42 years before she finally said, "Yes."
The couple, both 74, recently became "Mr. & Mrs."
For more than 40 years, the persistent, but rather shy man slipped a weekly love letter under his neighbor's door.
But she continually refused to speak & mend the spat that had parted them many years before.
After writing 2,184 love letters w/o ever getting a spoken or written answer, the man eventually summoned up enough courage to present himself in person.
He knocked on the door of the reluctant lady & asked for her hand.
To his delight & surprise, she accepted.]
*Now, try to imagine how God has shown mankind His love down through history
-Time & time again He tried to get His message of love through to His human creation w/little response.
-Finally, He wrapped up His message in person.
-God's love for us was displayed in the person of Jesus Christ.
III. Let God's love for you be YOUR love to others
The Greeks had 4 separate words for love:
1. Eros = passionate sexual love
2. Storge = Family love & devotion
3. Philia = Friendship & affection
4. Agape = Care & concern with no limits
Seven wonderful people were taken into the church membership as well! To God be the glory.
We continued our series called "Hello, my name is Jesus"-I am the true VINE." The message was from John 15:1-8-"I am the vine, you are the branches"
Galatians 5:22-23-"The fruit of the Spirit is LOVE"
1 John 4:7-16: 7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."
Note that the love we are talking about is Agape' love, the love that Jesus has for us with no limits or no strings attached. This is the kind of love we are to have for each other. Instead of waiting for others to love us first, we are to be intentional and love others.
Romans 5:8 "Jesus died for our sins while we were still in sin." This is refreshing to know that Jesus loves us that much.
Three things jump out at me when we think about the love of God working through us to love others:
I. Accept God's love as unconditional
[A minister one day sat in the office of his church to meet anyone who might have spiritual difficulties.
Only one man came.
"What is your difficulty?" asked the minister.
The man answered, "My difficulty is the ninth chapter of Romans, where it says, 'Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated,'"
"Yes," said the minister, "there is great difficulty in that verse; but which part of the verse is difficult for you?"
The latter part, of course," said the man. "I cannot understand why God should hate Esau."
The minister replied, "That verse has often been difficult, but my difficulty has always been with the first part of the verse. I never could understand how God could love that wily, deceitful, supplanting scoundrel named Jacob."]
- The minister was right — God's love for us is hard to understand.
- Why should He love us? We've rebelled against Him — We've slandered His name — We've refused to follow His way for our lives.
II. See God's love in action
[Richard Armstrong, Make Your Life Worthwhile, reports the story about a man in Wales who sought to win the affection of a certain lady for 42 years before she finally said, "Yes."
The couple, both 74, recently became "Mr. & Mrs."
For more than 40 years, the persistent, but rather shy man slipped a weekly love letter under his neighbor's door.
But she continually refused to speak & mend the spat that had parted them many years before.
After writing 2,184 love letters w/o ever getting a spoken or written answer, the man eventually summoned up enough courage to present himself in person.
He knocked on the door of the reluctant lady & asked for her hand.
To his delight & surprise, she accepted.]
*Now, try to imagine how God has shown mankind His love down through history
-Time & time again He tried to get His message of love through to His human creation w/little response.
-Finally, He wrapped up His message in person.
-God's love for us was displayed in the person of Jesus Christ.
III. Let God's love for you be YOUR love to others
The Greeks had 4 separate words for love:
1. Eros = passionate sexual love
2. Storge = Family love & devotion
3. Philia = Friendship & affection
4. Agape = Care & concern with no limits
Corrie Ten Boom was a lady that certainly displayed Christian Agape' love! Here is a link to her book called The Hiding Place on Amazon...
- Agape loves even when
love is not deserved.
- Agape loves w/o
restrictions — It reaches out to meet the need wherever a need arises.
- Agape loves by choice
& by will, not just by feeling & emotion. — it is the only kind of love
that can be commanded.
- Agape loves w/o
counting the cost, & w/o calculating its own profit.
- Agape loves the
unlovable, expecting nothing in return.
Agape love is a high standard, but it's achievable, with God's help.
ReplyDelete