Some asked me to post my notes from todays message ~ A Defiant Beauty: Love. Have a wonderful week! Matthew 22:34 – 40 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” In our text, we are asked to place upon God our total affections and to love our neighbor. In doing so we fulfill the law, follow the teachings of the prophets, and obey the commandments given to us. This is the Key to Authentic Faith! The Big Idea: When God calls us to himself he calls us to his church, and to a purpose bigger than ourselves. The world needs to see a beauty ~ powered by the Holy Spirit that, in spite of a creation that groans under the heavy weight of sin, our defiant beauty becomes a seductive draw towards the loving embrace of Jesus. A defiant beauty reflects a life of love and calls us to “authentic disciplines” that demonstrate our love for God and the beauty of following Jesus. • Putting others first • Cultivating contentment in God alone • Strength through adversity • Patience through waiting • Choosing forgiveness • Living with another world in mind 1. A life of defiant beauty requires paying attention to the proper spiritual gauge in your life. Matthew 22:34–40 Example: – Fever – use a thermometer as a gauge – Car has gas – check the fuel gauge on your dash – Gaining/losing weight – the scales become your gauge We often check the wrong spiritual gauges: – Busyness in our church activities – Knowledge of doctrine The right spiritual gauge for our life is love – Look at our text Matthew 22:34–40 Isaiah 53:2-5 “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men.” Yet the defiant beauty of Jesus was His unconditional love. In our text we read that Jesus “had silenced the Sadducees.” What that really means is that Jesus had put a muzzle (ephimosen) on them – like you put a muzzle on a dog to make it stop barking. The Apostle Peter wrote: For this is the will of God, that by doing good, you may silence (same word for muzzle) the ignorance of foolish men (I Peter 2:15). These two commands work together: loving God and loving others. They are so interconnected that it is impossible to love God and not love our neighbor. Having a personal love relationship with God through Christ is not all there is to being a Christ follower. James 3:9–10 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. If I do not love my neighbor, I do not love God. So How do we learn to How to Love our Neighbor ~ Abiding in Christ John 15 asks us to abide. “I am the vine and you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit.” When we run from Gods presence we run from His purpose. Here is the spiritual principal God wants us to realize: 2. Without Godly relationship with others we stunt the process of Spiritual Growth. Galatians 5:22–25 Fruit of the Spirit Galatians 5:22–25: This requires a relational framework of reference Without a context of relationship with others, there is no expression for the fruit of the spirit to be worked out in us and through us. ~ Community Groups 1. Love. This word for love doesn’t refer to warm feelings but to a deliberate attitude of good will and devotion to others. Love gives freely without looking at whether the other person deserves it, and it gives without expecting anything back. Question: Am I motivated to do for others as Christ has done for me, or am I giving in order to receive something in return? 2. Joy. Joy is gladness that is completely independent of the good or bad things that happen in the course of the day. In fact, joy denotes a supernatural gladness given by God’s Spirit that actually seems to show up best during hard times. This is a product of fixing your focus on God’s purposes for the events in your life rather than on the circumstances. Question: Am I experiencing a joy of life on a regular basis, or is my happiness dependent on things going smoothly in my day? 3. Peace. It’s not the absence of turmoil, but the presence of tranquility even while in a place of chaos. It is a sense of wholeness and completeness that is content knowing that God controls the events of the day. Question: Do I find myself frazzled by the crashing waves of turmoil in my life, or am I experiencing “the peace that passes all comprehension” (Philippians 4:6-7)? 4. Patience. It is the ability to endure ill treatment from life or at the hands of others without lashing out or paying back. Question: Am I easily set off when things go wrong or people irritate me, or am I able to keep a godly perspective in the face of life’s irritations? 5. Kindness. When kindness is at work in a person’s life, he or she looks for ways to adapt to meet the needs of others. It is moral goodness that overflows. It’s also the absence of malice. Question: Is it my goal to serve others with kindness, or am I too focused on my own needs, desires or problems to let the goodness of God overflow to others? 6. Goodness. Goodness reflects the character of God. Goodness in you desires to see goodness in others. Question: Does my life reflect the holiness of God, and do I desire to see others experience God at a deep level in their own lives? 7. Faithfulness. A faithful person is one with real integrity. He or she is someone others can look to as an example, and someone who is truly devoted to others and to Christ. Spirit-controlled faithfulness is evident in the life of a person who seeks good for others and glory for God. Question: Are there areas of hypocrisy and indifference toward others in my life, or is my life characterized by faith in Christ and faithfulness to those around me? 8. Gentleness. Gentleness is not without power; it just chooses to defer to others. It forgives others, corrects with kindness, and lives in tranquility. Question: Do I come across to others as brash and headstrong, or am I allowing the grace of God to flow through me to others? 9. Self-control. Self-control is literally releasing our grip on the fleshly desires, choosing instead to be controlled by the Holy Spirit. It is power focused in the right place. Question: Are my fleshly desires controlling my life, or am I allowing the Spirit to direct me to the things that please God and serve others? All human relationships were meant to be a sign of God’s love for humanity. Paul tells us to “Carry one another’s burdens: Galatians 6:2 We see a picture of this concept in the visual of the cross. Suffering prevails in the absence of Love Suffering is often the price people pay for our self interests…our greed…and the neglect of others. Jesus taught us in what ever you have done to the least of these you have done it unto me. Even upon the cross we see suffering never deprived Jesus of his spiritual strength… • The theft was given eternal life • His disciple comforted his mother • The executioners were forgiven 3. Authentic Faith rooted in the discipline of Love becomes the proof of Jesus Message. John 17:11, 20–23 If we fail to show love to each other and to pre-believers then the world will have reason to disbelieve the message of Jesus. Jesus prioritized this in his prayer for his followers: John 17:11, 20 – 23 11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. 20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one — I in them and you in me — so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Many of us think of holiness in terms of “what we don’t do” but Jesus teaches what matters is “what we actually do.” The sins of omission are as bad as the sins of commission. Sin of Commission is to know something is wrong...and do it anyway. Sin of Omission is a failure to do something one can and ought to do. James 4:17 “Anyone who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it sins.” Position yourself to receive from God by joining Him in what He is already doing. In the first century, being a Christ follower was a whole life proposition that caused people to re-order their lives to put God’s purposes first. God’s church and God’s people cannot serve materialism, individualism and consumerism, and still bear much resemblance to God. No theology is of any threat or consequence until we try to apply it to our lives. A person who refuses to conform to this world will change it. How do I respond? • Commit to a Community Group • Be a friend • Draft a personal mission statement • Act on your sense of calling • Free up to 2 – 4 hours a week to be involved in acts of defiant beauty
Posted on: Sun, 28 Jul 2013 20:36:36 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015