"Nothing But Love" By General Pastor Peter F. Paine January 19th,
2014
Your verse for this month is (let’s
read it out loud together): John
13:35
By
this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love
one to another.
If
you have love one to another, then people will know that you are
Christ’s
disciple. If you
don’t have love one to
another, then people won’t know that you are Christ’s disciple. Now, this idea of loving
one another is a
very interesting thing, isn’t it?
In the
church, we can get to a place where we find fault with each other. You know, to a great
extent, that’s part of
the Christian experience because we live by a set of rules. Let’s just say that you’re
on a football team
and practice starts at 4:00 P.M., after school, and you show up a 4:05. Your other teammates say,
“Hey, you’re
late.” Are they
finding fault? Yeah,
well, they’re pointing out that you’re wrong, right?
In the church, it’s like that, too, because
the Bible gives us a set of guidelines, doesn’t it?
But, if we love one another, we’re going to
be able to work with each other in a way that shows the love of Christ. Yes, we’re going to see
each other make
mistakes. Yes,
we’re going to see each
other slip and fall. Yes,
we’re going to
see each other have moral failings, and all that goes with living life,
because
life is messy. I
love this verse,
because Jesus said that others will know that we are His disciples if
we love
one another. Let’s
talk a little bit
about love.
I’d
like to talk to you a little bit today about this idea of living a life
that is
nothing but love. Have
you ever been so
mad at somebody that you just couldn’t love them?
One hand up, two, three, ten, thirty… You ever been so mad at
somebody, you just
think, “What were they thinking?”
You
ever been so mad at somebody that the idea of forgiving them just
seems…
wrong? “They don’t
deserve
forgiving!” I’ve
been told—I don’t know
if it’s true—that there’s still a law on the books in 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.
You
see, love gives. Love
gives. God so loved
the world that He gave. Also,
I’d like to say to you this morning
that love sacrifices. God
so loved the
world that He sacrificed. If
you’re here
today and you say that you love, then it’s going to require some giving. If you’re here today and
you say that you
love, then it’s going to require some sacrifice.
You see, as we go through this life, and we
live with human beings, and we share this journey with others,
sometimes,
someone will have to go the extra mile for you, and sometimes you’ll be
the one
going the extra mile for them. That’s
just the way it is in life’s journey.
I
don’t know how many times—even if I was aware, that I could see it—I
would
still have to tell you today, I don’t know every time that someone went
the
extra mile for me, every time someone prayed me through a challenge,
every time
somebody lifted me up in prayer, every time someone was patient with me
when I
didn’t handle something the right way.
Anybody else here ever have to have somebody go the
extra mile for
you? I’m not
talking about if you went
the extra mile, I mean somebody had to go the extra mile for you. That’s the human dilemma;
we live in this
world, and sometimes we need people to carry our burdens. Sometimes we need somebody
to be the
extra-miler for us. Sometimes
we need
somebody to love us when we need killing.
Maybe you’re her today and you’ve never made a
mistake. Maybe
you’re here today and you’re
perfect. I don’t
know what that would
feel like. I just
don’t know what that would
feel like. I don’t
know what it would
feel like to be perfect, I don’t know what it would feel like to be so
justified
to be able to say, “I’ve never done anything as bad as you.” I think that’s why we get
comforted by the
evening news. Anybody
here—I’ve got to be
careful what I’m asking; maybe you
don’t want to pop
your hand up if the
answer’s yes—anybody here ever rob a bank?
Anybody here ever shoot your neighbor?
Anybody here ever hold up a Seven-Eleven? I mean, we see those
things on the evening
news, and we say, “I must be pretty good; I didn’t do that.”
I
was going down Dugdale—not this trip—and I saw the officer doing speed
checks
on the side of the road, and I saw—actually, I waved as I went by—and
then I
saw him pull out, and I saw the lights go on, and I heard the siren. I thought, “I wonder who
he’s after? I’m the
only one here.” When
he pulled me over, he said, “Do you know
what the speed limit is, here?” I
wasn’t
trying to be a smart-aleck, but it might have come across that way,
because I
said, “No, sir, but I have a feeling I’m about to find out.” He said, “It’s
twenty-five.” I
said, “Twenty-five?” I
asked another question that I probably
should have kept to myself, I said, “How fast was I going?” He said, “You were going
fifty!” I said,
“This is going to be an expensive
conversation, isn’t it?” He
said, “For
one of us,” and he was right. So,
the
reality is that we all make mistakes, and we all miss the signs, we
all, at
times, need to get someone else to tell us, or to love us through it,
depending
on the circumstances. Sometimes
you
can’t just pay the ticket and outlive it.
I was fortunate, because I had a good driving record
and when I went to
court, I was allowed to pay the fine and get whatever—I don’t remember,
this
was a while ago—and I may not have all of the numbers right, it’s an
old
story… The point
is, I thought I was
doing everything right. He
told me, and
I went to court, and paid the fine, and the judge said if I don’t get a
ticket
in six months or a year, it won’t go on my record.
So, it didn’t go on my record, but somebody
had to stop me and tell me I was wrong.
I remember that experience that day, and that
officer didn’t treat me
like I didn’t deserve to share the planet with him; he treated me like
a fellow
human being. Sometimes
we have to tell
our brother or sister that they’re wrong.
We should treat them with love, even if we’re
telling them that they’re
wrong.
I
came here today to talk to you about love.
I want to share something else with you, and it
comes to us in the Christmas
story. This is a
verse that we’re very
familiar with, when Mary is found with child, and now Joseph is getting
the
word, and Joseph didn’t know yet what the source was.
Joseph just knew that Mary was with
child. Joseph knew
it wasn’t his. Mary
also knew it wasn’t Joseph’s, but Mary
knew something that Joseph didn’t know, and that is that it wasn’t any
man’s. She knew
that. So, Joseph is
getting word that Mary’s
expecting a child, and look at verse 19: Matthew
1:19 Then
Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not
willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away
privily.
He
was going to put her away privately; he was going to be discreet. He was going to say, “You
know what? this is
a horrible thing, and I don’t think that we can get married, but I
don’t want
to embarrass you. I
don’t want to hurt
you. I don’t want
to make a public
example of you. I’m
going to be discreet
about this.” He
must have loved
Mary. I know some
of you will want to
talk to me after the service about how marriages were arranged then,
and maybe
they didn’t know each other, but I’d like to think that he loved her. I know he loved God, or he
wouldn’t have been
chosen for the task. Listen
to how he
reacts when he finds out she’s with child, “We’re going to do something
real discreet,
here.” Do you know that he had the right to make her a public example? He had the right to call
the Jerusalem
Gazette, and say, “You know what?
Let me
tell you about Mary.” He
had the right
to make a stink about it, but he chose not to.
He treated it with love.
The
Bible says that love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8). As Christians, sometimes
we have to do
something that’s uncomfortable; sometimes we have to put someone in
their
place. Sometimes we
have to tell someone
that they’re wrong. Just
like parents
have to tell their children. I
can remember
my father telling me more than once, “Peter, there’s no way that you’re
right
about this . There’s
just no way that
you’re right about this,” but one thing I never felt from my father is
that
there was no way that loved me. Even
when my father said there was no way I was right about this, I knew
that there
was a way that we were going to continue to have a father and son
relationship. No
matter how disappointed he was with me, no
matter how upset he was with me.. I remember the night that the State
Police
followed me into our driveway. He
wasn’t
happy that night. But
you know what I
still knew, in spite of that? That he loved me.
He wasn’t happy with me, and, at that point, I think
he was ready to
give my motorcycle away, but I knew he loved me.
Do people know that you love them when
they’ve violated your trust? When
they’ve hurt you? When
they’ve
disappointed you? I
don’t know who I’m
talking to, today. Maybe
it’s one
person, maybe it’s two, maybe it’s ten…
I
don’t think this message is going to apply to each one of us at this
moment in
our life, but somebody needs to hear this message today that love I s
possible,
no matter what the circumstance, and no matter what the situation. I came here today to say
that we can live a
life with nothing but love. We
can live
a life where we rise above it and we say, “What would God do? How would God react to
this? Is there a
way for love to cover this
multitude of sins? Is
there a way for
love to have it’s way here, and for love to win?”
These
are Paul’s words to the church. Paul
often had to tell the churches, “Hey, you’re not doing this right. Hey, you need to do this
better.” Sometimes
they were being too lax about
things; sometimes they were being too harsh about things. Sometimes they were being
too lenient about
things, sometimes they were being too…
Read First Corinthians chapter 14—we’re going to
stay right here—but, if
you read in First Corinthians chapter 14, he’s talking to the church in
Corinth
about the gift of the Holy Spirit and how it’s being expressed in their
worship. He’s
saying, we’ve got to
change some things, here, folks. That’s
the nature of leadership, isn’t it?
That
wasn’t God speaking to the church, directly, that was Apostle Paul
speaking to
the church as he was led of God. Galatians
6:1-2
Brethren,
if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which
are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness;
considering
thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
Bear
ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
By
the way, for those of you listening to this message right now, and you
think,
“Well, this is good news. This
message
isn’t for me because I’m already doing this.
I’m perfect here.
Really, on this
one thing, I’m really good at this.
You
know, on this one thing, I got it.
On
this one thing, put my picture up, because I’m the one that people
should look
to for example on this.” You
may be, but
I didn’t leave you out of this message, because there’s something here
for
every one of us. I
said I might be
speaking to just one or two, in this part of the message, but I’m going
to get
to you, if I haven’t gotten to you yet.
This idea of living a life of nothing but love
causes us to step up. It
causes us to live better; it causes us to
do more. It’ll wake
us up out of a sound
sleep and say, “Hey, that’s not what I have for you to do.” So listen to this message
in a way of saying,
“God, am I loving like You love? Am
I
living like You’d have me to live?
Am I
going through life in a way that pleases You?”
By
the way, in our society, we sometimes think—this is not actually part
of the
message, I’m just throwing this in for free—we think that if God’s
blessing us,
it means that we’ll have a nicer car, nicer home, nicer clothes, better
children, better parents… Not
always. Sometimes,
and I’ll pull one example, there’s
others I could choose: Who’s
thinking of
an example where, not always? Job,
sure. So, Job’s
doing everything right, and God
sends some challenges his way. It’s
an
interesting story, and that’s an oversimplification of it, but God
allows some
major challenges to go his way, doesn’t he?
We’re still talking about him today.
I that a good thing or a bad thing for Job? In case you’re not
familiar with the story,
basically there’s a guy who’s living right, and God says, “Okay, he’s
going to
have some real trouble, and, in the trouble, show others how the
faithful live
when it isn’t going well.” That’s
an
oversimplification, but that’s the essence of the story, in the fifteen
seconds
that I gave it. How
about Paul when he’s
talking about his thorn in the flesh. He
starts out talking about this problem in his life that was never
removed,
according to the references in Scripture (it might have been later, but
we have
no reference in Scripture of this problem in his life being taken away). He, after a long period of
time, and
challenge, comes to the conclusion that it was a good thing. Nothing
but
love. You see, if
we’re going to live
this life of love, we’re going to get things in the right perspective. We’re going to see things
the way God wants
us to see—it may take a while. We
might have
to go through some hurt to get there.
Galatians
6:1-2
Brethren,
if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which
are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness;
considering
thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
Bear
ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
Sometimes
love has to go the extra mile. Sometimes
love has to do more than its fair share.
Sometimes—you know life isn’t fair—and sometimes
love isn’t fair. My
wife, Debbie, and I have been married 38
years, and sometimes I’ve gone the extra mile for her, and sometimes
she’s gone
the extra mile for me. Sometimes
she’s
gone the extra mile for me and I didn’t even know it.
Sometimes I’ve gone the extra mile for her,
and she may not have known it. That’s
what love does, right? You
know, I talk
about Debbie and I being married 38 years and most of you know that
we’ve never
had a problem, never had an argument, never had a fight, never had a
disagreement, she never burned the rice… I mean, everything’s been
perfect in
our marriage. Three
perfect
children—never did anything wrong.
Did I
say that out loud, or did I just think it?
Of course, we’ve had troubles, we’ve had challenges,
just like you. Maybe
not just like you, but just like
you. 1
Corinthians 10:13 There
hath no temptation taken you but such as is
common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be
tempted above
that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to
escape, that
ye may be able to bear it.
Here,
suffer means to allow. Sometimes
we’re
tempted to give up. Let’s
just spend a
moment right there: Sometimes
we’re
tempted to give up. Sometimes
we’re
tempted to throw in the towel. Sometimes
we’re tempted to say, “You know what? this is so unfair, I’ve got a
good excuse
to quit.” Hello? Some of you have felt that
way; I can see it
on your faces. But,
what do you want
your outcome to be? How
do you want your
story to end? How
do you want it to
end? I mean, how do
you want your story
to be written, and what do you want your win to look like? The only thing that will
get us there is
love. I’m
talking to
you about love, today, and in Galatians 6:1-2, I think we just read
there that
love is a verb. Love
is action. It’s
seeing our brother or our sister
overtaken in a fault, and restoring them in a spirit of meekness,
considering
ourselves, lest we’re in the same place.
Years ago—and I think I’m going to choose just not
to say names on
this--there was a high-profile TV evangelist that was caught in a moral
failing. Another
high-profile TV evangelist
was just really going after him on his TV show, because of that moral
failing,
then a month later he got caught in the same moral failing. I thought of this verse,
because I thought,
“I wonder if maybe if he had handled it differently, maybe he wouldn’t
have had
to fall so publicly.” You
see, when a
leader falls, it doesn’t just hurt the leader, and it doesn’t just hurt
his
family; it hurts everyone that they serve with leadership. I thought, “How sad,”
because he probably
hurt thousands of people because he didn’t let God lead him with love. It got quiet in here,
didn’t it? Could
somebody just say, amen? I
know I’ve preached more evangelistically,
more enthusiastically, maybe even more funny, but this is the message
that God
laid on my heart today. Just
like the
two Ed’s deliver the mail, you know, sometimes you deliver letters that
people
want, and sometimes you deliver letters they don’t want. You’ve got to deliver it,
because it’s
addressed to them, and I’ve got to deliver this today.
For some you, it’s just what you want, and
for some of you, it’s just what you don’t want.
Here I am, doing my best to deliver the message. John
8:1-11 Jesus
went unto the mount of Olives. And
early in the morning he came again into
the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and
taught
them. And the
scribes and Pharisees
brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her
in the
midst, They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in
the very
act. Now Moses in
the law commanded us,
that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?
This they said, tempting him, that they might
have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote
on the
ground, as though he heard them not.
So
when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto
them, He that is without sin
among you, let him first cast a stone
at her. And
again he stooped
down, and wrote on the ground. And
they
which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one
by one,
beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone,
and the
woman standing in the midst. When
Jesus
had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers?
hath no man condemned
thee? She
said, No man, Lord. And
Jesus said unto her, Neither do
I condemn thee: go, and
sin no more.
Some
would like to take that verse and say, “See? When someone is wrong, we
should
just always look the other way,” but I don’t think that’s what Jesus is
teaching us here; I think He’s teaching us to have nothing but love. To have love and to look
and to say, “How would
God handle this?” Now,
He knew the
hearts of those who brought her, and some of you probably want to talk
to me
after service and tell me about the real motives of the Pharisees and
the
Sadducees and that it really had nothing to do with her committing
adultery, it
had to do with them wanting to accuse Christ, and I know that. There’s also a message
here is about how He
deals with people when they haven’t found the right way to deal with
life. Should we
have a strictness about us?
yes. Should we do
our best to live
right? absolutely. Should
we say to a
brother or sister, if they’ve slipped and fallen, and they’re wrong,
“Hey, we
need to work through this together.”?
There’s Scriptural references for how to do that. Here’s my question today,
“Is it driven by
love?” Is it driven
by love? Is it
driven by love? I
sometimes think that some of the mistakes
that I’ve made in my life since I’ve been a Christian are the best
classrooms,
because I’ve thought, when I’ve seen others in that same place, “Hey, I
know
what that feels like.” I
know what it
feels like to lose my temper. I
know
what it feels like to answer quickly, and not think it through. I know what it feels like
to be so
discouraged with someone else that I haven’t made them feel loved. I know what it feels like
to hurt somebody
because they’ve hurt me. Yep,
I said it
out loud, didn’t I? Maybe
you’ve done
those things, too, and that’s how you’ve learned to love better, to
live
better, to do better.
Those
of you that I didn’t get in the first half of the message, now I’m
coming to
you. Parrish, I
don’t know if you’ve
ever heard me preach this quietly.
In
Matthew 22, Jesus is asked a question.
A
lawyer’s asking it. I
think the
Scripture is telling us that it’s a lawyer because it’s someone who’s
going to
want to cross T’s and dot I’s. I
don’t
mean that as criticism, I just mean that this is someone who’s going to
say,
“We’re going to go by the letter of the law, here.”
Matthew
22:36-38
Master,
which is the great commandment in the
law? Jesus said
unto him, Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with
all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
This is the first and great commandment.
That’s
the great commandment for you, and that’s the great commandment for me: To love the Lord your God
with all your
heart, with all your mind, and with all your soul.
Matthew
22:39
And
the second is like unto it, Thou shalt
love thy neighbour as thyself.
Some
of us are better at loving
our neighbor than we are at loving ourselves.
I want to talk to you today if that’s you. Stop letting the devil
tell you that you’re
worthless. Stop
letting the devil tell
you that you’re worthless. You
are so
worth it that Jesus went to
I’m
going to take a moment and just talk about—I’m not going to turn to it,
I’m
just going to talk about it—the prodigal son.
I know it’s a parable, and I know why it was
written, and those of you
who are students of the Scripture know that the purpose of this
parable—and let
me back up just a minute just in case:
A
parable is a story that is not based in history or in fact, it is just
a story
that is told to make a teaching point and Jesus used parables a
lot—this is a
parable in Luke chapter 15, that we often refer to as the parable of
the
prodigal son. It’s
about a father who
had two sons. The
younger of the two sons
said, “Father, give me my inheritance.
Give me the portion—I’m paraphrasing—give me the
portion of goods that
is mine. Give me my
inheritance, and I’m
going to leave; I’m going to go, because I don’t want to be here under
your
roof, under your rule, under your charge.
I want to go live on my own, and I know that you’ve
got great wealth,
and I want my portion of it, because I’m out of here.”
Here’s what’s interesting to me:
in this parable, the father said,
“Okay.” If my son
came to me, and said,
“Hey, dad, I want my inheritance now, because I’m leaving.” I would
have said,
“Well, my heart’s still beating.”
You
get the point. I
don’t think I would
have given him the inheritance, but, even if I had, I don’t think I
would have
done what the father did next, and that is that he waited for his son’s
return. He stood
there, and he was looking
for his son to return. We
know that,
because, after the son came to himself, and he was headed back, the Scripture tells us that
when he was still
a great way off, the father saw him.
The
father didn’t put his hands on his hips and say, “Ha, ha, ha! I knew it!
He’s going to have to eat some humble pie now!” The father, the Scripture
tells us, ran to
him. He kissed him,
and then he called
those servants,, and said, “Get a robe for his back, a ring for his
finger,
sandals for his feet… Kill
the fatted
calf; we’re going to have a party.
He’s
home. He’s home.” If you’re the one today
that needs to hear
that you’re worth it, know that your Father is looking for your return. He’s looking for you to
come back and say,
“Not because I deserve it, but because I’m Your child.
Not because I deserve it, but because You’re
my Father. Not
because I deserve it, but
because You said You had nothing but love for me.
I’m ready to come home.
I’m ready to be in Your house.
I’m ready to act like Your child.
I’m ready to live by Your guidelines. I’m ready to let You love
me up close and personal,
and be with You again.” Some
of you have
gotten so far away from God that You’ve forgotten what it feels like to
be in
His presence. Oh, I
don’t mean the
presence of the church, you’re here today; you know what it’s like to
sit next
to somebody and say amen, but you don’t know what it’s like to feel God
say, “I
love you!” It’s
time to feel it again. It’s
time to know it again. It’s
time to embrace it again. It’s
time to take that gift He’s got for you;
He’s holding it an open hand. All
you
have to do is accept it. It’s
bought;
it’s paid for; it’s yours. You
don’t have
to earn it. Some of
you…
I’m
going to tell a story, because I think it will help illustrate this. I told you earlier, for
those of you that
don’t know my story, My mother got sick when I was ten years old. It was in December, it was
shortly before
Christmas. For
whatever reason, just the
emotion of the whole thing, we didn’t do Christmas morning; there were
presents
already under the tree. My
father, and
my brothers, and sister, and I just really couldn’t bring ourselves to
do that. Part of it
was, I think, hope that somehow
mom would get well and come home, and part of it was we just didn’t
feel like
celebrating. It was
just a tough
time. She was still
in a coma, and it
was day by day, and none of those days felt like Christmas to us. I remember that we got to
mid-January, and my
dad said, “Well, what are we going to do?
Are we going to open gifts, or are we going to put
them away until next year? What
are we going to do?” I
remember we were sitting at the big round
table in the kitchen and we were talking about it, and my dad said,
“You know,
I know what a lot of those gifts are, and some of them are clothes, and
if we
wait until next year, we’ll be giving them away, so, let’s open them up. After all, they’ve got
your names on them.” We
went in the family room, and we opened
gifts. It didn’t
feel the same, because
mom wasn’t there, but here’s what I want you to know:
Those gifts had our names on them.
You’ve got a gift that has your name on it. Its not just a generic
gift that you’re going
to go through a line, and, “Next person, next gift.”
You’ve got a gift with your name on it! God wants you to have it. Maybe it’s forgiveness;
maybe it’s feeling
loved; maybe it’s the gift of forgiving someone else and setting
yourself free;
maybe it’s the gift of finally feeling like you’re worth it for the
very first
time. God’s got
something for you. We’re
talking about love today, and some of
you haven’t received all the love that God has for you.
You know, I’ve stood in the altar, and I’ve
said, “God, I want everything that You have for me.”
For those of you that might think that sounds
selfish, let me tell you: It’s
the right
way to stand in the altar. Say,
“God, if
You’ve got it for me; if its got my name on it, I want what You have
for
me!” Don’t try to
be modest! Don’t
try to be humble, and say, “God, I
don’t know if I want everything You’ve got for me.”
Say, “Yes, Lord!
Yes, Lord!
I want all You’ve got for me; I want all the
blessings You’ve got for
me! I want all the
love You’ve got for
me! I want all the
comfort You’ve got
for me! I want all
the understanding
You’ve got for me! I
want all the mercy
You’ve got for me! I
need it all,
God! I can’t live
like this any
longer!” Some of
you are living outside
of God’s privilege. It’s
time to come
home. It’s time to
come in. It’s time
to let go of the past; stop beating
yourself up for yesterday’s mistakes.
God knows what you’ve done; God knows where you’ve
been, and He’s still
waiting for you to say, “I’m ready, God.
I’m ready.”
We’ve
got to move forward. First
Corinthians
chapter 13—I’m going to move through this quickly, but if you’re the
type of
person that makes notes and then goes and studies, spend a lot of time
right
here. I would
encourage you to read this
whole chapter. Spend
a lot of time in
this chapter—it’s sometimes called the love chapter.
This study today, I’m not going to break down
the different types of love, but, for the purposes of this study today,
I’m
just going to say that charity is love.
The Apostle Paul starts by writing to the church,
and he said: 1
Corinthians 13:1
Though
I speak with the tongues of men and of
angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a
tinkling
cymbal.
You
can have all your church trappings.
You
can have your best suit, your best you’re your best whatever. You could look like Mr.
and Mrs. Church all
day long, but if you don’t have it inside, it’ all window-dressing,
it’s all
fluff. It’s all
empty. By the way,
you like this tie? Adam
gave it to me for Christmas. I’m
blessed.
I get a lot of ties as gifts; so, a lot of times,
when somebody compliments
me on a tie, I give it to them, because I’m blessed, I get a lot of
ties. I want you to
know, I’m not giving this one
away. Actually,
this morning, I got
dressed, and I took a picture—I think they call it a ‘selfie’—and I
sent a text
to our son Adam and I said, “How do you like this tie?”
He sent back something fun, like, “IT looks
good on you,” or something. 1
Corinthians 13:1
Though
I speak with the tongues of men and of
angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a
tinkling
cymbal.
If
you don’t have love, it’s all for naught.
Come down, and see some qualities of love: 1
Corinthians 13:4
Charity
suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth
not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
“Vaunteth
not itself,” means it doesn’t push forward, it doesn’t cut line, it
doesn’t
take someone else’s place. It
lets God
be God and decide how it all flows.
So,
when I said I had come to the Altar, and I said, “I want all that You
have for
me, God,” I don’t men that I’ve stepped in front of someone else and
said, “I
want their blessing.” So,
for those of
you that might have heard it that way, let me take this moment to
clarify
that: I’m talking
about wanting what
God’s got for me.
Amen?
I’m not talking about getting someone else’s
blessing; I’m talking about
wanting what God’s got for you. Amen?
Some of you are so humble that you would take
someone else’s pain, you
would take someone else’s suffering.
That’s an enormous amount of humility, and I respect
that, I admire that. So,
when I talk about coming to the altar and
wanting all that God’s got for you, don’t mishear it; I’m not taking
about
getting something that belongs to someone else.
I’m talking about don’t leave a wrapped gift at the
altar that has your
name on it. Take it
and open it, and use
it, and receive it because God’s got it for
you. 1
Corinthians 13:5-6 Doth
not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her
own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in
iniquity, but
rejoiceth in the truth;
“…Not
easily provoked…” let
me spend some
time… If you’ve got
a temper/// Debbie
has finally convinced me that other
drivers don’t hear me when I talk to them.
Now, I’m fifty-nine ears old, and I told you that so
that I could tell
you that—really, I am—I’m over it.
I
don’t remember—and I’m not saying this to be humorous—I don’t remember
the last
time a bad driver—and, by the way, everybody’s a bad driver but me;
anybody
else feel that way? Three of us. That
was an attempt at humor—but the reality is, I can’t remember the last
time
another driver has upset me to the point where I banged the steering
wheel or yelled
at them or called them a heathen, or some other appropriate
non-Christian
title. I don’t
remember the last time
that happened, but when I was younger, up until I was fifty-(pauses as
if to
remember the exact age)—You know, when I throw a little humor at you,
then I’m
about to get you; you know that, right? so get ready—I would let people
upset
me. I would love to
tell you that it was
only other driers that I would never meet.
Sometimes it was people that I worshipped with. Sometimes it was—I know
there are books on
leadership that say a leader should never get up in front of people
that he
leads and admit that he’s made a mistake, or have a weakness or a
problem—but,
yeah, I’ve et people upset me. I’ve
lost
my temper. I wish
that wasn’t true. I’m
getting better, and if the Lord let’s me
live a long time, I cant wait until you present me to the congregation,
Parrish, and you say, “Here’s our perfect pastor, Pastor Pete…” Until then, I’ll just be
one of you, who’s
taken all the love that God has for me.
Can you hear me taking some pokes at myself so that
the message comes
through? 1
Corinthians 13:5-8 Doth
not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her
own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in
iniquity, but
rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things,
hopeth all
things, endureth all things. Charity
never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail;
whether there
be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall
vanish away.
There’s
going to be some things that will fail.
There’s going to be some things that won’t always be
there. There’s
going to be some things that you
can’t count on a hundred percent of the time. 1
Corinthians 13:8-11
Charity
never faileth: but whether there be
prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall
cease;
whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
For we know in part, and we prophesy in
part. But when that
which is perfect is
come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I
understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I
put
away childish things.
That’s
what I’ve been trying to share in these last few minutes: It’s time for some of us
to quit acting like
children and start acting like adults.
Love
is a way of life. Love
is the greatest
gift of all, so choose love. Brother
Parrish, I’m getting ready to close, so I’m going to turn it over to
you in a
few moments. I
wrote some things down as
I was praying this last week, what God would have me to tell you: Love’s not lazy, so, if
you’re lazy—if that’s
where you go to when you’re not on you’re a-game—let love replace
laziness. Love goes
where it’s sent; if you find
yourself resisting going where the Lord would have you to go, doing
what the
Lord would have you to do, sometimes the best blessings I’ve ever had
in my
life have been going somewhere that I really felt, “God, can’t You send
someone
else to do that?” Some
of you know what
I’m talking about. And
they were the
best blessings I’ve gotten in my life.
Love grows where it’s valued; if you value love,
you’ll have more of
it. Love doesn’t
prosper where it’s not
appreciated. Love
is never fully spent;
don’t worry. You
ever run out of money?
I have. I ran out
of money on the toll
road, and I’m looking in the cracks of my seats—maybe none of you have
ever
done that—I’m looking for one more coin, you know, to pay my toll, but
love is
never fully spent. You
can spend all the
love you have and God will give you more.
As a matter of fact, the more you use, the more you
give, hello? When
love is invited, it always comes.
Love’s never met an enemy it couldn’t
conquer.
I’ll
close with this: Some
of you have lost
your sweet spot in ministry. There
was a
time in your life when you were very effective.
You know, I stand before you today, and you don’t
have to tell me that
I’m overweight. I’ll
come out from
behind the podium so that I’m not hiding anything.
I’m a full fifty ponds overweight as I stand before
you today; that’s embarrassing for me to say, but it’s no secret. Stevie Wonder could look
at me and say, “That
man’s fat.” I’m
just saying, you know,
but I can tell you there was a time when I swam five miles a day. That two-a-day thing I was
talking about
earlier? I was on
the team and we were
doing good. I was a
distance swimmer, so
two miles before school and two miles after school, five days a week,
when we
were in that part of our training.
I
wasn’t fat then. I
could spend the rest
of my life telling you, “I used to have a forty-two inch chest and a
twenty-eight inch waist,” or, I could realize, “I’ve got to get back in
my
sweet spot. Now, I
used my physical size
as an example so that some of you could use your spiritual fatness,
hello? If you’re
overweight, I wasn’t picking on
you, I was picking on me. Some
of us
have become spiritually fat, and we haven’t worked out, spiritually, in
a long
time. We can
remember when; we can show
you the trophy, we can show you the blue ribbon, or whatever it is, our
letterman’s
jacket, right? we can show you the picture of us being on the team, or
whatever, but how about now? Are
you in
your sweet spot of ministry? I
came to
tell somebody today that the way you get in your sweet spot of ministry
is to
let love have it’s way. Let
love have
it’s way. For some
of us, it’s receiving
forgiveness. For
some of us, it’s giving
forgiveness. For
some of us, it’s stepping
up to the pate and stop being lazy.
For
some of us, it’s getting back in communication with our leadership and
saying,
“Where do you need to send me? Where
do
you need me to go?” For
some of us, it’s
to stop feeling sorry for ourselves.
I
know it’s quiet in here, and I know that this is a hard message, if
you’re the
one that needed to hear it. Please
believe me when I tell you that I’m trying to deliver it in love, so
that you can
receive it and say, “Tag, I’m it.
It’s
time for me to do better.” If
you think
I came here to chew you out and say, you’re wrong, but I’m going to
tell you
how to get right. I
suppose in a sense,
I did. I suppose in
a sense, I did. Isn’t
that what Scripture is for (2 Timothy
3:16)? Isn’t that
what preaching is for,
to show us where we can do better?
I
suspect that if you’re here today, it’s because you want to do better. I suspect that if you’re
here today and you
haven’t done better in a ling time, it’s because you need to know where
the
path is. Maybe, for
someone today, the
path is pointed out. Maybe,
for someone
today—I’m almost done—Maybe, for someone today, you saw how to get back
in your
sweet spot of ministry. Maybe,
for
someone today, it’s for the very first time, “Yes, Lord, I’m going to
let love
have it’s way, so that I can be what you’d have me to be, and do what
you’ have
me to do, live how you’d have me to live, and love how you’d have me to
love,
and love can have it’s way.”
Let’s
pray. God Almighty,
I thank you for the
privilege to be here with my brothers and sisters today. I pray that what comes
from this message is
each of us—starting with me, as the messenger, because I know this
message was
for me as much as anyone—will hear how we can do better, how we can
live closer
to you, and those who see us will know that we are disciples, because
we have
love, one for another. Amen. Sermon notes by Pete Shepherd |
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