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KEY SCRIPTURE
11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
PRAYER
I praise and thank you, Father, for Your steadfast love towards me. Thank you, Lord, for Your never-failing faithfulness, comfort and grace, which is new every morning and refreshed every day. Thank you that You are a God who cares for each and every one of Your children. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for your wisdom; teach me to share the love of God with those around me. Amen.
SERMON NOTES
For the last month, we have been learning how to
In fact, they are the way that we stay in connection to God.
In all of Scripture, we see character after character struggle to put God first. There’s nothing wrong with the struggle - we are imperfect beings who are in desperate need of a savior. God knew this and took care of it.
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
We need Jesus to save us from sin and death. A favorite summary because it doesn’t exclude the heart behind the ‘why?’
Why did God do all of this?
How do we Love like it matters?
Let’s take a look at the 90s phenomenon TGIF - Thank God it’s Friday. The golden age of television sitcoms.
Shows like Boy Meets World, Full House, Family Matters - they all have a similar formula. They do a good job of showing us how to Love Like it Matters.
They all have a similar premise
• They’re a strange family dynamic
• They welcome outsiders to join them
• There are always hijinks usually followed by a relatable and unideal decision/situation
They mirror real-life situations that have some zany twist, the struggles are relatable. Though the topics might have been solved with rose-colored glasses, they felt real. It was easy to relate and reflect on our own issues or problems.
Another common trope these all share, every episode has a heartfelt lesson. The character is in trouble, gets caught and learns a valuable lesson. But that is where the parallels between the shows and real life end. It’s hard to love the same way these shows depict.
How much easier is it to just ignore the hard and tough moments in life? How often are we just too tired and worn out to put in the effort it requires to truly love others properly?
Ok, sure maybe with our own kids and immediate family, but beyond that.
But how we love really matters. Not only to those around us, but it also shapes us in the process. The more and more we love like God, the more we get to connect and experience Him.
Today’s scripture: 1 John 4:11-12
The premise is simple: Love others because God loves you. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us.
It highlights a major issue that some people have with faith - how can I feel love or express love to God when I haven’t ever seen Him?
You see, experience and connect with God by loving other people.
In the Old Testament, the Jews thought that loving the law meant loving God. But in reality, the law is supposed to show how we are to live out the notion of loving others.
In the 10 Commandments, the last six (honor parents, do not kill, do not lie, do not steal, do not commit adultery, do not covet) if disobeyed will hurt and be unloving to the people around you.
Jesus taught us to fulfill the law by loving God and living one another.
Let’s pick up on more of the scripture from 1 John 4.
Let’s focus on verse 17 quickly. The word ‘complete’ in the original text is ‘teleioo’ (tell-ee-ah-oh) - to make perfect, complete; to carry through completely; to accomplish, finish or bring to an end.
‘Love is made complete among us’. The fullness of what God intended to be love - it is made perfect; it has matured.
When our love is complete, we can be confident on judgment day. If we love God and others completely, we can know that salvation will be available to us.
Loving others is knowing God.
We love because He first loved us.
In the Old Testament, we see major elements that go along with what we’ve been learning in Deuteronomy. Today we are reading from the NLT (New Living Translation) version.
Scripture in full: Deuteronomy 10:12-21
Break it down…
We are required to live in obedience and trust in Him. We are told to fear God. We are to live in a way that pleases Him, to love and serve Him.
These verses give the ‘why’ - because it is good for us and matters.
Why does this sound familiar? [Deuteronomy 6:5] NLT (https://www.bibleref.com/bible/116/deu.6.5) 5 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.
This highlights God’s love for His people
A call to action - loving God affects our soul
When our hearts are changed, it changes how we see others
We don’t love selfishly - our love is to be shared for God’s purpose.
There are five main ideas that are seen:
1. Fear Him
2. Walk in Obedience to Him
3. Love Him (cling to Him)
4. Serve Him wholeheartedly
5. Observe His commandments
God is love
Now if we were in one of the TGIF shows mentioned earlier, we’d find ourselves at the end of the episode, a moral lesson taking place and a dramatic shift in music to let you know the significance of the moment…
Wouldn’t it be cool if life did work that way? That everyone would learn a lesson from their mistakes or hardships? Especially when that wise figure in our life was Jesus - our life outlook would be changed.
But this isn’t a sitcom - we do not take the time to walk with God through our pains and struggles. So where do we go from here?
Do you love God or just say you do?
Love is more than just a statement, it’s not just a passive idea. There is a call to action. We are to love God, our neighbor, the widows and orphans, the foreigner, those in need. We’re to imitate God’s love toward others.
Love is powerful!
If we love like Jesus, it should start to have an effect on our soul, enact a change within us. True spiritual formation starts to take hold.
We love like it matters because it has the power to change everything.
How do we accomplish these ideas? Reflect back on our series (Like it Matters).
• We turn to Him in true, authentic prayer
• We worship God with our whole heart
• We serve God by serving others
This is a reflection of the love that God has for each of us, and we should in turn share that love with the world.
Love is how we experience God. Not just in our love for God but in our ability to love others.
Go and Love like it matters!
RELATED SERMONS
SMALL GROUP QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION
Q: How do we love like it matters? Why is it so important?
Q: When we actually love God instead of just saying we do, how does that shift things?
Q: How are ways you are showing God’s love to others? Are you truly doing that for God, or are there times when it’s more for your own pride?
Discussion: Throughout this series, we talked about how to pray, worship and serve like it matters. All of these tie into a lovely bow of how we love like it matters. Why is that? How are we showing God’s love through praying, worshiping and serving? How easy does that shift from God to us?
Challenge: In your small group, or with a group of friends and famiy, find a way you can love like it matters in our community.