Jamesville
Community Church...embracing all Christians who wish to share the
love of Christ!
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Sermons are written in conversational style and include notes and directions to the preacher. Sermons are always better when heard rather than when read. But if you missed last week's, here it is below:Love Song 1 Corinthians 12:27-13:13 4th Epiphany - January 28, 2007
Children : Show wedding picture. What is this? Why do people get Married? LOVE. I love Pie… Should I marry Pie? I love to Fish… Maybe I should marry a Trout! There are many different kinds of Love. And ALL of them are good. I love my Family. I love You. And I love God. The Bible tells us that God IS Love. And that LOVE is the BEST thing we can do. It is good to love pie… Good to love fishing. It is better to love People… And it is Best of all… to Love God.
This is what a group of CHILDREN say that LOVE is:
"Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs."
"Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK."
"Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday."
And Finally:
When my grandma got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toe nails anymore. So my grandpa does it for her now all the time, even when His hands got arthritis too. That's love.
(pause)
The Apostle Paul says... Love is Kind... and Faithful... and Eternal. Love is NOT... Rude... or Irritable... or Evil...
(pause)
If one were to watch movies and soap operas... One might think that LOVE is something that we just Magically FALL into...
Love is a SPELL.... over which we have No CONTROL.
(pause)
That is a MYTH...
God's Word gives us a Different picture of Love.
(pause)
Consider the Wedding Ceremony.. Have you ever noticed... that in the Service of Christian Marriage... the pastor does NOT ask the Couple:
"John... DO you love Susan... but rather: "John... WILL you love Susan."
"Will you Love her... will you comfort her... will you honor and keep her in sickness and in health... and be faithful to her as long as you both shall live?"
Christian Love ... is not a FEELING... over which we have no Control...
Christian Love... Agape... as it's called in the New Testament ... is an act of WILL...
Love is Something that we DECIDE to do... Something that we PROMISE to do...
And something that is at the CENTER of our Faith.
(pause)
Admittedly… Love IS… hard to Define…. It is a Difficult thing to put one's Finger on Love...
But the Apostle Paul gave it a Try... in his letter to the Corinthians, And I believe he did a pretty good job.
(pause)
FIRST of all... Paul listed some places where we SHOULD FIND Love...
Where there is Generosity... (he said)... there should be Love... Where there is Faith... we should Find Love There... Where there is Sacrifice...Martyrdom... there should be Love...
Where there is Knowledge... & Prophetic powers... & even Speaking in Tongues... there SHOULD be Love...
And if Love is MISSING from any of these places... Then Something is Seriously Wrong
(pause)
But of course... Love is MORE... than all of these things...
So NEXT... Paul Described some of Love's QUALITIES...
Love is Patient and Kind... Love Rejoices in the Right... Love Endures... Love Hopes... Love Never Ends.
(pause)
Finally... Paul told us what Love is NOT:
Love is NOT Jealous or Boastful... Love is NOT Rude... Love is NOT Resentful... Love does NOT rejoice at Wrong.
(pause)
But in the end... Paul KNEW that he could not understand Love Perfectly...
In THIS respect... the Soap Operas are RIGHT...
There IS a certain amount of MYSTERY to Love...
"What we see Now"... said Paul... "Is like a dim image in a mirror." "a dim image in a mirror." ... Kind of Blurry and Fuzzy and Incomplete.
Love... is Mysterious.
(pause)
So why even TRY?
What point is there in spending so much time and effort talking about LOVE ... this Mysterious... Elusive subject?... LOVE.
(pause)
Well PAUL spoke at such length about Love... because the Church people at CORINTH... were NOT a Loving People.
At least SOME of them were not.
Can you BELIEVE it ? ... A CHURCH... where people don't act Loving ?
Oh... many of them were doing the Things they were SUPPOSED to do... Going to Church... to Committee meetings... Helping with the Dinners...
But it was NOT out of a Spirit of LOVE...
They were doing some good Things... but SOME of them were MEAN - SPIRITED.
(pause)
It seems that the Christians in Corinth… Were having a little CONTEST…
A Contest to decide… who the BEST Christians were:
Was it the Sunday School Teachers? Was it the Preachers?
Or Was it the people who could speak in Tongues? … Or had the gift of Healing?
(pause)
They had pretty much decided… that those with the SUPERNATURAL kind of Gifts… were the Best…
The ones who could speak in tongues… or Interpret tongues… Or Heal.
Not everyone AGREED, of course… And so the Debate was Raging…
“What IS it… that makes a Christian truly GREAT ?”
(pause)
To THIS… Paul responded: "I may have the gift of inspired preaching, or speaking in tongues...
"I may have Knowledge... or all the Faith needed to move mountains... I may give Away everything I have, and even give up my body to be Burned...
"But if I have no LOVE... I am NOTHING... "All of this does me no good."
(pause)
LOVE… is what makes a Christian... Great.
(pause)
Paul makes SENSE to me.
I have met some SMART people in my day… Doctors, Lawyers, College Professors… people with Post-Doctorate Degrees… even Scientists…
And I have concluded that KNOWLEDGE… is a WONDERFUL gift.
I really Admire SMART people.
I've met ATHLETIC people as well… People who run Marathons… STRONG people… FAST people…
And I WISH I could be more like Them.
I know people who Teach… people who Heal… And people who Entertain.
And I ADMIRE them ALL.
(pause)
But the GREATEST people I have met… Have been the most LOVING people.
Paul was Right… It is our LOVE… that makes us GREAT.
(pause)
God has blessed us Each… with DIFFERENT gifts.
We can't ALL be Strong, or Prophetic… or even SMART…
But we CAN… every one of us… CAN…. Be LOVING.
(pause)
What IS Love ?
I did a Google-search…
Here are some of the Results:
“If you want to see unselfish love in action… Watch a small boy and his new puppy.
Henny Youngman said that.
“You can't BUY love… but you can pay heavily for it.”
Henny Youngman said THAT Also.
“Love is a Fruit in season at all times.. And within reach of every hand.”
Mother Theresa said that.
A preacher to his Congregation: “So until next Sunday… Remember… God loves you… I Love you… And Brother All over there… is Working on it!”
And finally… a Mother… when asked if she loved all of her children EQUALLY… said This:
“I loved them ALL, each one of them… But NOT Equally.
I loved the one the most that was DOWN until he was UP. I loved the one the most that was WEAK until she was Strong. I loved the one the most that was HURT until he was Healed. And I loved the one the most that was LOST until she was Found. (Donald Shelby)
(pause)
I still think, though… that PAUL said it the Best:
“Love is Patient and kind... Love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; Love does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.
Now I know only in part... but there will be a day when I understand GOD'S love completely...
Meanwhile... these three things abide: Faith... Hope... and Love...
And the Greatest of these... is Love. (Amen.)
Hymn #453 “More Love to Thee, O Christ”
Prayer : We THANK you Lord, for LOVE. Thank you for loving Families... and Loving Friends... Thank you most of all for the Love you have given us in Christ, Jesus. We are sorry, Lord... for all of those times when we have not been... a Loving people. When we IGNORE strangers... when we Fight with those closest to us... When we fail to follow your will. Help us, we pray Lord... to be more Loving... To be CHRISTIAN... in our Hearts. In Christ's name. Amen.
Bonus Material :
HOW TO MAKE LOVE ENDURE "Don't forget your wife's name...That will mess up the love." (Roger, 8) "Be a good kisser. It might make your wife forget that you never take out the garbage." (Randy, 8)
And the winner was a 4 year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly man who had just lost his wife. When the child saw the man cry, the little boy went over into the man's yard and climbed on top of the man's lap and just sat there. When the boy's mother asked him what he'd said to the neighbor, the little boy said, "Nothing, I just helped him cry."
If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, it was and always will be yours. If it never returns, it was never yours to begin with. If it just sits in your living room and messes up your stuff, eats your food, uses your telephone, takes your money and never behaves as if you actually set it free in the first place -- you either married it or gave birth to it!
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Copyright © 2001 Jamesville Community Church Last modified: February 2, 2007 |
