Because He Lives – Lavish Love might sounds like a good sermon for a wedding, not the 5th Sunday of the Easter season. This message is something that confused Americans need to hear.
Who (or what) do you love?
What I mean when I say I love pizza or the Vikings? Is this the love you have for your favorite shoes – they’re so comfortable? Is this the love you mean when you say I love my job, knowing full well that if a better job came along, you would be out of there? Is what a spouse is talking about when he or she says, I don’t love you anymore because I’m not happy? No matter how we dress it up and make smell good the love that we commonly use is often selfish. That’s not the love that Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians 13.
Remember Mom?
Let me give you an example. Mother’s Day was last Sunday. Have you called her lately? Let’s say that you do the unthinkable and forget you mother – no flowers, no card, no phone call. You realize this the day after and feel awful. But instead of simply calling her and apologizing, you send her double the flowers, a giant 81/2” x 11” card, and a singing telegram. And you tell yourself that you have made up for forgetting Mother’s Day! Making up for the messes we make in life is NOT a demonstration of God’s love. Remember you can’t make up for something wrong that you’ve done. You can be forgiven – Jesus has done that completely. A demonstration of God’s love would be your mother saying I forgive you and I still love you even though you forgot me on Mother’s Day.
Love Divine
A demonstration of God’s love would be still loving pizza after it gave you food poisoning. Still loving the Minnesota Vikings after they lose all their games and move to Iowa. Putting on a pair of shoes that gives you blisters and continuing to wear them in spite of the pain. God’s love means that you would never leave your job no matter the working conditions or how much they cut your pay. God’s love in a marriage means that you could never stop loving your spouse. I know that some of these examples are ridiculous. God doesn’t ask you to eat poisonous food, watch football, wear shoes that don’t fit, or ever stay in an unhealthy work environment. God says that the love in a Christian marriage is an application of his love for you in Jesus.
Want to hear more about God’s love? Watch this week’s message taken from 1 Corinthians 13, Because He Lives – Lavish Love.
Book(s): 1 Corinthians
Series: Because He Lives
Tag(s): Easter, Love
Speaker(s): Fred Guldberg