Love One Another

Paul’s passion and love for the people of Thessalonica is undeniable.  You have to love someone a lot if they keep you awake in prayer at night and on your heart during the day.  He is praying for what is lacking in their faith.

Anytime we substitute the counterfeit for the real in our lives, the artificial for the authentic, we lack. 

How do we do that? 

First, we substitute so called human knowledge for godly wisdom.  We care more about the opinions of men rather than the revelation of God in Christ.  People are far more likely to get their opinions from talk show hosts than the truth of God’s Word.

Second,  we substitute feelings for truth; we are far more likely to be driven by our feelings even when the truth tell us something different. 

Third we substitute the temporal for the eternal.  This is the most damaging substitution.  We give our lives to the urgent instead of the important. 

What was lacking in their faith?  There wasn’t much lacking in their faith, but Paul just doesn’t want them to settle (period).  Don’t be satisfied with your love tank being half full. He longs for their love to spill over. When love overflows, it doesn’t just meet a need, it goes beyond that, an overflow is an extravagant act of love, it might even get messy because its spilling out all over the place?

In verse 10 Paul prayed “night and day”.  Paul prayed continually and persistently and fervently to be with the people he loved and he prayed for an extravagant love to flow in their lives and in doing so they would be established to live holy lives

Love’s Great Request:  I want to be with you!  v11

Paul prays to both God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  The Father he is praying to is the one that we hold on to the promise that ‘He will never leave us, nor forsake us’ and Jesus who said ,’ when two or three of you are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst’ Matthew 18:20 

He is asking Jesus to make a way, remove the obstacles and allow them to return.  You will recall Satan had placed barriers and obstacles in Paul’s path to return to the church.  Earlier Paul had expressed great gratitude and joy for the good news brought by Timothy; things were hard; things were difficult; but the new believers stood strong in their new found faith in spite of the persecution and the trials (v.9). 

v11 Now may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, clear the way for us to come to you.

When have you just cleared your schedule to be with someone? Or better, when has God cleared the way for you to be with someone.  Nothing replaces presence.  There is nothing that replaces face to face connection with others especially when it comes in the form of genuine Christian community.

We need a generation of followers of Jesus who know that the Church is centered around a person who lives in them and through them.  He didn’t just send us the Word in book form only and a few commentaries and say, alright, now go figure it out.  He sent us the presence of Jesus.

Sometimes we just live like we forget that is God, Jesus that makes the way clear.  We know He made the way back then, but what about today??

I heard a pastor lament about church services in general…he said we talk about all the stories Jesus did like people do at a person’s funeral – what a great life he lived,  but Jesus is not dead, He’s alive and I want to know what He is doing today.

What is Jesus doing today?  We have walking through the book, “You Were Born For This” with our small group.  The challenge has been to see that God wants each and every one of us to be His miracle delivery agents in the lives of others.  Jesus wants us to be ‘in motion’.  Are you praying that God will clear the way for you to bless others?

God had laid it on Sharon’s heart that we were to give $400- to someone towards the end of last summer.  It would be less than a week later that she was in conversation with Julie at a youth event and where she would learn that Nathan and her were considering fertility treatments, but they were $400- to start. So, we knew that the money was for them and we encouraged them that we would help if that was what they wanted to do.  As it turned out, they felt more led to continue to pray and believe God in faith so we made a point of clearing a day to pray and fast together.  It was crazy just getting our schedules to work and finally  on December 15^th we got together as she has battled with infertility for 3 years.  We prayed and God led us to Romans 8:22-25 where it speaks of creation groaning together in the pains of childbirth and then in v25 where we read, “but if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”  After we prayed, Julie’s firm belief was that she was healed.  A couple months passed and they had us over for dinner and we thought well, maybe, they will be asking us about the money….Well, ‘oh ye of little faith’ it was a celebration dinner as they shared with us that Julie was pregnant and today she is 14 weeks along!

The miracle for Kevin came in February as he shared,  “My doctor told me last week if the test is negative I could consider using cured  as to my condition.  I am about to celebrate my second year anniversary of a liver transplant and all is functioning better than should be expected.”

 I want you to know that the tumour has shrunk and some of the spots on her lung and liver has disappeared on Kerry’s after the first CAT scan.  She has told me to be prepared for the people that are going to come to Grace.  She talks to me about people coming to know the Lord and baptisms…she told me 20!!  I love her faith!

We were asking for feedback on the prayer meetings and I love the faith that one person responded with when she said as we were praying for Jack, I just expected that he was going to get up out of his wheelchair.   We want to continue to pray in faith for healing for Jack!

Love’s True Expression:  An Extravagant Love!  v12

1 Thessalonians 3:12 And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you,

Romans 5:5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Paul has prayed that their faith would mature; but now Paul prays that their love will super-abound and over-flow.  Paul knew that a growing and maturing faith ought to result in a growing and maturing love. 

Clearly love is present and now Paul prays that love will both increase and abound.  Even loving churches have room to grow!  Paul’s prayer reminds us there is a link between the Lord we pray to and the unselfish love we lay claim to. . . Where does this love come from?  The Lord.  How does love grow?

The word increase stated here means to abound; in the sense that it  multiplies over and over.

The word abound  means to excel or superabound; overflow in love. 

This is more than just words or mere sentiment.  This is based on knowledge and discernment; so that you will approve the things that are excellent; we begin with love and continue in love.  The danger of course is to read the word love and confuse the Biblical meaning of the word with songs we hear on the radio like, ‘baby, I love you like a love song’!

When we face tragedy, suffering, pain and persecution is when our faith is truly revealed.  In these difficult circumstances, we discover who we really are and what is shaping our inner being. 

The hard truth about love.

If we love others indiscriminately with no thought of our ROI; we will more than likely suffer time and comfort.  If we are true friends to other people, then their needs will be more important than our own needs.  The fact is that our desires may not be fulfilled.   We will experience sacrifice which is a form of suffering.

Often parents suffer a lot.  Why?  They love their children and they put their needs ahead of their own. 

I remember as my mom shared with me about the time that we sold our house in Bramalea.  I was 7 at that time and my dad had taken a promising new job in Alberta and then my oldest brother Adrian ran away from home.  In the span of two weeks my dad made the decision to turn the job down because He could never leave without the whole family.  So he stayed at the same job and we moved to Erin and eventually Acton.

I had the opportunity to visit “The home of the dying” were Mother Theresa took care of lepers and orphans and yet we read in Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light,

She had an extravagant love for the poor and the dying and yet still suffered herself with experiencing God’s love.

Jesus has a very special love for you. As for me, the silence and the emptiness is so great that I look and do not see, listen and do not hear.

— Mother Teresa to the Rev. Michael Van Der Peet, September 1979

When we love as Christ loved, there is a certain inevitability of suffering in our lives no matter where we live.

So  how do we suffer / love well?

John mentioned last week  we can only deal with the distress and persecution as we are rooted in a strong sense of calling that God has us placed us here for a very specific reason.

We are only able to give, when we realize that we have been given everything we need in abundance through Christ. We are even willing give our lives, when we realize that we have new life in Christ. There is a dynamic that takes place when we encounter Christ, when we realize that even when we were so unworthy and so undeserving, He still loved us.

What kind of love is Paul talking about?  Clearly it is a love directed toward one another and to all. . .by all Paul means all men.    It is a love that reaches out and overflows and multiplies. 

This is a supernatural and Holy Spirit empowered love; a love that has its origin in the presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer and then demonstrated to one another in faith because of our affection for the Lord Jesus Christ.  This is God’s agape love.  

 What kind of love reaches out; overflows and multiples to everyone (and to all)?  Does that include the unattractive, the orphan, the sick, the hateful, the enemy, the murderer, the unclean, the homeless, the prisoner, the diseased, the spiteful, the oppressor, the poor, the unclothed, the lonely, the sinner.  How is it possible to love the person who ridicules and abuses; how do we love those who hurt us; or who neglects us; or who ignore us?  Paul is speaking of a love that has its origin and expression in the person of Jesus Christ Himself. 

This kind of selfless love; is a gift given by God Himself; and can only be experienced by the person who knows God personally and has received the love of God into his heart or her heart; this is the kind of love that floods the believers heart and spills over; and over and over.

 Romans 5:5 (NKJV) Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

 Love stays the course--even when tested by sickness; or selfishness or sourness.  Love doesn’t leak or evaporate.  But apparently it can grow and expand in grace when shared. 

When has God shown you extravagant love?

 Love’s Great Result: We Are Established In Holiness v13

  

Paul’s prayer includes; “. . .so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness. . .

Here the word strengthen means to prop; or support; to confirm or fix or to set or make sure.  The important thing about Paul’s prayer is that it is God (the Son--the Lord Jesus Christ) that establishes your heart before the Father God. 

The word blameless or unblameable; means “to be free from fault and blame; not guilty.  “Before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints”.

Jesus alone sets us free from the faults and the charges of sin--that are laid against us.  Who else has the power?  Do you know such a person?  If Jesus does not have the power; if Jesus does not possess the righteousness; to present you faultless, blameless, sinless; if Jesus does not have the power to save you; you will not be saved.  If Jesus did not really rise from the dead; neither will you.

Jesus alone makes us holy too.  The word “in holiness” means to be set apart and separated to God.  It is the Lord Jesus Christ who sets us apart; who separates us to God;

But this holiness brings us more and more closer to people.  Jesus’ problem in the religious’ people’s eyes was that he spent too much time with people and not just any kind of people.  He spent time with the lost, the forgotten, the people with really bad reputations.  So, in loving one another we become established in holiness.

What happens when we embrace this kind of earnest prayer? 

You will begin to experience a life characterized by holiness. 

What happens when we embrace this kind of earnest prayer? 

What happens when we experience super-abounding overflowing self-less love?

The Takeaway

The shortest and most powerful message a pastor gave.

Juan Carlos Ortiz, a pastor in Buenos Aires, Argentina, sat comfortable in his chair while the congregation finished the final stanza of a song. He looked out over the congregation he had been pasturing for many years. He reviewed once again the points of the sermon. He wanted to make sure he did not forget anything. He had labored in pray for many hours on what to say to the congregation. He had spent many hours in his study crafting each point and tailoring each illustration to support the theme of the sermon. The title of his message was rather simple, Love One Another, but he thought that the message was very important given the spiritual life of the congregation.

When the band played the final note of the song, Pastor Ortiz stood up to walk to the pulpit but as he stood, God spoke.

"Juan"

"Yes, Lord"

"How many sermons have your preached on theme of loving one another?"

"I don't know Lord, maybe a dozen or more."

"And how many times have your exhorted the congregation in other sermons to love one another."

"I don't know Lord, maybe a dozen or more also."

Have they done any good?

Juan Carlos stood silent in the pulpit. His congregation waited for him to begin his sermon. Pastor Ortiz began his sermon, "Love one another." He then went and sat down.

People looked at each other thinking that they had missed something. They were accustomed to sermon of nearly an hour not 3 seconds. The congregation did not know what to do. After what seemed like an eternity, Juan Carlos walked back to the pulpit. The people repositioned themselves in their pews assuming that he would now deliver his message. Juan Carlos again said, "Love one another," and then he again sat down. Heads really began to turn. Some began to murmur. No one knew what to do. Pastor Ortiz again waited and then he again walked to the pulpit. He waited for the congregation to become settled and then as before the only words he delivered were three, "Love one another" before he returned to his chair behind the pulpit.

Now a general stirring moved through the congregation. People began talking to one another, everyone asking the other if they knew what their pastor meant. Finally, an elder stood up and spoke. He said, "I think that I understand what Pastor Ortiz means. He wants me to love you." (Pointing to someone in the pew behind him) "But how can I love you, when I do not know you." With that, he introduced himself and began to meet the people behind him. Others got up from their pews and introduced themselves to people they had seen but not met. Phone numbers were exchanged. Dinner invitations extended. Arrangements were made for financial assistance. Before the service ended, someone raised enough money for bus tickets a family could return to their village. Another man arranged employment for a man out of work and someone offered an apartment a homeless family. With just three simple words he delivered his most powerful sermon.

So I end by saying, ‘Love One Another’