Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13, 1 Peter 4:8-11, Romans 8:28,38-39
Introduction
- If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
- I am afraid that it is all too easy to get caught up in the tongues of men.
- And I will never be accused of having the tongue of an angel with my vocabulary.
- But I do love this church and I especially love seeing that GOD loves this church!!
- I do believe God wants us to tighten up our processes and get better organized.
- Because, I very strongly believe that God wants to take us to a higher level.
- I think we will struggle if we don’t take steps to get better organized.
- Have you ever felt like somebody else’s heart spoke directly to your heart? I did.
- My good friend Lee and I were having a spirited debate at Church Council when he reached me in a way that I wasn’t expecting.
- The message he sent pierced my heart and really made me think.
- The message is this: FOCUS ON GOD’s LOVE; TURN TO THE BIBLE.
- That doesn’t mean that I concede the points we were discussing and I look forward to more healthy debate on the subject.
- BUT, in the midst of all that, I heard God’s still small voice from Lee.
- I don’t know what the ValPak coupon will do; maybe nothing.
- If nothing else, it is a wakeup call to get our ducks in a row and get ready for God’s work.
- The first order of business is to reset our focus on God’s love: His love for us and our love for each other.
- Listen for the following three points about God’s love:
- Love drives everything we do.
- Love for each other is our strength.
- Love for God is our goal.
1. Love drives everything we do.
- Last week I talked about the idea of scaling up our operations to accommodate more.
- Scalability also applies to how we love each other.
- When new people show up, our first inclination should be: how can we show them love?
- I saw a great example of this Wednesday night at our community dinner.
- A man walked in from outside that none of us recognized and immediately Kit and Bill and Donna Fay offered him food and showed him love.
- He told me he was a neighbor of Wayne’s and just came to hear Wayne perform for us.
- Honestly, I believe anybody from any walk of life could have walked in and would have got the same treatment.
- Yes, we have budget issues and logistic issues, and we get overworked sometimes.
- But, when we meet these issues head-on with love first, have you noticed God takes care of the rest?
- I’ve seen it happen here over and over: God always provides.
- We expected maybe 40-60 people for our BBQ dinner and concert and 132 showed up.
- We were very ambitious, starting with 250 book bags and then, my friend, Anita Roy, from the Dover Association handed me 48 more on Tuesday night.
- From Mattthew 14:
As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”
Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
“We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.
“Bring them here to me,” he said. And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.
- This story has been playing out continuously at Biltmore Baptist church for years now.
- We literally run this church on loaves and fishes and yet we are fine.
- We don’t know what is coming, but I believe God will continue to bless us.
- We need to plan and organize and direct our future here at Biltmore, but we must start with what? With LOVE. Love must be our center, our focus.
- Paul gives us 8 good Biblical points about how to focus on love:
- Love is patient – when you have customers that don’t speak English and are frustrated and confused; or maybe they are elderly and need a little extra help – this can be hard.
We need to remember that we represent Jesus and exercise patience.
- Love is kind. – when you have a line backed up 25 people deep with folks checking out their yard sale purchases and someone is being rude or dishonest – this is difficult.
We need to remember that we represent Jesus and exercise kindness
- Love does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. – when we struggle with how we are going to handle things, where is the money coming from.
We need to remember that we represent Jesus and God is the source of everything.
- Love does not dishonor others – we see a wide variety of people from all walks of life and backgrounds. Sometimes it is drug addicts and/or homeless people; often it is people at a low point in their life. We may be tempted to be judgmental or harsh.
We need to remember that we represent Jesus and that which we do for the least of these, we do for HIM.
- Love is not self-seeking – often we volunteer here at great personal sacrifice. If you are volunteering, you are denying self
We need to remember that we represent Jesus who said in Matthew 14:24: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
- Love is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs – when we are overstressed, tired, grumpy, drained, we need to step away and regroup, because anger is poison.
We need to remember that we represent Jesus and if people see our anger, they don’t see Him.
- Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth – Our love shows HIS truth.
- Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
- God’s love should drive everything we do.
2. Love for each other is our strength.
- Love is the source of our strength and our future here at Biltmore.
- God has been growing us a little at a time, but we are growing.
- Our growth has been especially phenomenal considering two things:
- We have lost some people who were strong contributors of their time and resources.
- The trend is that most churches in America are declining.
- I believe that we are a family here and we have a great love for each other.
- Peter gives us a clue in his epistle that we read from earlier how we do what we do:
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins.
- We make a lot of mistakes and we sometimes don’t act right, but we get away with it.
- Why do we get away with those things we do wrong? LOVE has our backs!!
- Like Paul, Peter gives us great guidance about love:
- Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. – ok this is a toughie because we are going to step on each other’s toes – we just need to cover it with love.
- Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms – we just need to use it with love.
- If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God.
- If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.
- God’s love is the source of our strength and our future here at Biltmore.
3. Love for God is our goal.
- Paul’s letter to the Romans was meant to be an all-encompassing operation manual.
- The Roman Christian church just popped up on its own without being planted by one of the apostles or their teams.
- So, Paul needed to provide every possible nuance of the faith that he could.
- Paul gives them the key to success in verse 8:28: “we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him.”
- The people and the churches that have genuine love for God will receive God’s support.
- We demonstrate that love that we have for God by the way we treat others.
- Paul adds in this same verse: “who have been called according to his purpose.”
- Biltmore has been called. I have been called. You have been called to His purpose.
- Our future at Biltmore depends on two things:
- How well we hear the call from God to do His will.
- How well we genuinely show our love for God in the way we treat others.
- If we get these two things right, then God will richly bless our future here at Biltmore.
- Paul tells us in verses 38-39, we have nothing to worry about:
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- God’s love should drive everything we do.
- God’s love is the source of our strength and our future here at Biltmore.
- God loves us so love for God is our goal.