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weekly sermon 2-15-09 The Day Of Love
As we all know, this week is Valentine's Day weekend. Since this weekend is the holiday of love, I wanted to do take this message in that direction. Let us look at a few things that show us how we are to love and the ultimate in true love. Showing love to our spouse is an easy thing to do, but is it the true love?
We have all had love in our lives at one time or another and most of us still do. We know what love means, but do we truly understand how we are to love?
Most of us know we are to love the Lord, just as it says in Luke 10:27, "And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself." No person really hates themselves. I know there are folks in pain and do not particularly like the life they are in and tend to be very down on themselves, but no man truly hates himself. We are to love others as we love ourselves just as it states here in Luke.
What others are we to love? One of the first lessons Christ gave us, concerning love, was who we are suppose to love while here. Yes we love our parents, we love our families, we love our spouses, we love our children, our friends, and even our pets, but who does Christ say we are to love? Let us look in the word to find the answer to that question.
Turn with me to Luke 6:35, "But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and [to] the evil." It is easy for us to love those who love us, such as our spouses, as I stated earlier, but how easy is it for us to love those that hate us or do not even know us? Matthew 5:46, "For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?" This passage shows us that if we love those that love us, what reward do we truly have? Yes we will have the love in return from those we are loving, but this is not a true reward. As it states, the publicans even love as we love and they do not have the reward. Yes they more than likely have the love in return just as we do, but they do not have the true reward. The reward I am speaking of is the reward that God promises He will give us when we are gathered togather with Him.
I have a message in the archives about this particular subject, that we studied in the past, but I felt it something that we should explore deeper, especially this time of year being the time that is all about love. As we can see from the scripture above, we are to love our enemies. We are not only to love our enemies, but we are to do good for them, help them, and never ask for anything in return. It states that if we can love our enemies, without hoping for anything in return, then our reward will be great with God.
Christ stated that we were to love the Lord with all of our hearts and then we were to love our neighbors just as much. Mark 12:31, "And the second [is] like, [namely] this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these." Just as Jesus said to love the Lord, we are also to love our neighbors just the same, that there was no other greater commandment than that. This does not mean to love the one living next door to you that you have known most of your life and has become a good friend, but to love all of our neighbors no matter if they hate us, love us, or even know us. This means neighbors next to us or neighboring countries.
Now that we know who we are to love and how we are to act, let us discuss what the ultimate true love really means. There is a story from long ago that talks about a man that went out into the woods and leaned against a tree to talk to God. The man told God that he had so much hate in his heart and that he could not forgive those that were against him. God asked the man why he could not forgive. The man then said that he could not forgive them because they had done terrible things against him that he had never asked for or caused to happen. Just at this moment, as the man was trying to explain that he could not forgive because the wrongs done against him were not his fault, he felt something hit his shoulder. Jesus started telling the man all the things that had been done against him and how wrong they were. The more Jesus talked the harder the man began to weep. Again the man felt something hit his shoulder. The man looked at his shoulder and saw a drop of blood. He then looked up at Christ and saw that the blood was coming from Him. Christ looked down at the man and said, 'these wrongs were done to me and I never asked for them. Hate was against Me and I still loved and forgave'.
This is the ultimate true love that I am talking about. We are to love like Christ. Ephesians 5:2, "And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour." Christ loved us, even though it was us that arrested Him, accused Him of things He did not do, beating and spitting on Him, marched Him down the street mocking Him, forcing Him to carry His own cross, shoved nails through His hands, nailing Him to a tree, stabbing His side, and watching Him die. Through all of this Christ forgave us and loved us. Luke 23:34, "Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots." He loved us enough to come and die for us.
Why is the Valentine's Day colors red and white? My opinion is, the red is the blood of Christ, representing His love for us. The white represents, to me, that Christ forgave us and wiped our sins as white as snow. There may be no truth to my opinion, but the red blood loved me so much that it died for me and washed my sins away.
Have you ever felt so much love? Have you, yourself, loved so much? We have a great teacher that can show us how to love. If you have never met the teacher, that gave up His life for you, loved you, and forgave sin, but you would like to, all you have to do is say a simple prayer with me. Say this simple prayer with me, Dear Lord, I want you to be the Lord over my life, forgive me of my sins, and give me the gift of everlasting life. Amen.
If you have said this simple prayer, then we believe that you have received salvation. We would love to rejoice with you, so please drop us a note, in our link, to let us know and confess Jesus before man, so that we may send you a few things that we hope will help you in your new Christian walk.
With Love in Christ, Pastor Stone
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