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 Be
The Love Of God
By
Rev.
Michael Packard
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Click
Here to listen to mp3 of message |
The
Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed
me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from
darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor
and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and
provide for those who grieve in Zion-- to bestow on them a crown of
beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and
a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be
called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display
of his splendor. - Isaiah 61:1-3 (NIV)
Starting
today I'm going to challenge you to make a paradigm shift, to change
your outlook on life, death, eternity, your family, friends, and the
people around you. I'm going to tell you something that you may not
have ever heard, but is the essence of Christianity. I'm going to
give you the straight truth about important issues that will decide
whether or not you are an effective witness for Christ. I'm going to
tell about the biggest threat the Church has, and it's not from the
outside. Starting today I'm going to challenge you to enter into a
new relationship with God, to actively, and seriously pursue His
kingdom, and His Righteousness. Today I'm going to challenge you to:
Be the love
of God |
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Be
The Love Of God |
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Heavenly
Father, we come before you in eager expectation of the message you
have to give us today. Lord, calm our souls, and settle our hearts,
and clear out all distractions that might get in the way of us
receiving Your word today. We give You authority over every thought
or idea that is contrary to the giving and receiving of Your word and
ask you Lord to speak to our innermost being, transform our hearts
and renew our minds by your Holy Spirit. We give you this time. Speak
to us Lord. In Jesus' name. Amen! |
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Our
world is broken. |
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Lives are
broken. People are abused and afflicted, deceived and destroyed. They
are hungry and hurting , wasted and wanting. Some choose destructive
lifestyles as an escape from the pain, or to get attention or to feel
accepted. They seek love and if they can't get that they settle for
physical gratification. The pursuit of relief for each one leaves
behind it it's own trail of broken lives.
Alcohol,
drugs, gangs, crime, murder, rape, child abuse, molestation,
pornography, adultery, incest, homosexuality, abortion, and the list
goes on and on. One person's path of destruction will impact, or
challenge, or even destroy many people. How many times have you heard
on the news of a drunk driver killing someone, or of an innocent
bystander being killed in a drive-by shooting? My mother saw a man
kill himself on live TV, and she was visibly shaken for three days,
who knows how many more people were affected by that!
Did you
know that the average child molester molests 70 children in his lifetime? |
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That's
a lot of broken lives. |
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Sometimes
the brokenness makes people think that they don't belong. Maybe they
feel like they are bad, or have something wrong with them that caused
that sick person to do what they did to them. They are vulnerable and
in need and are easy targets for other predators, or the cults, or
gangs, or hate groups, or worse. Because of the nature of abuse and
the person who abused them, some turn to homosexuality in their
search for acceptance, and get trapped in it's destructive lifestyle.
Some people turn to the Mormons or the Jehovah's Witnesses because
they think they need to work their way back into God's favor. Some
people spend their life running, scared, empty, hurting, going back
and forth searching for hope and meaning.
Not
everything that breaks people is the result of sin or bad judgment in
people's lives. Bad things happen sometimes. People get sick. People
die. Sometimes it's quick, like a heart attack. Sometimes it's a slow
lingering thing, like cancer. We live in a cursed creation, and there
are consequences to the curse. People have accidents that paralyze
them for life. People get lonely. People get depressed. People
sometimes wonder if all they have is all there is. People wonder if
God is really out there, and if He really cares for them at all. |
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And
how does the church respond to all these needs? |
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Sometimes
we do well. Too many times we do not. Churches lash out in legalism
against the people who need the love of God the most. They picket
abortion clinics, threaten doctors, and terrorize women who are
broken and making a drastic decision because we didn't love them
enough to show them a better way. We call them "Murderer"
and "Baby Killer" when we should call them "Beloved of
God and in Need." It's easy to picket, but it's right to help.
Churches
lash out at the homosexuals, and tell them that God hates them and
that they will burn for their sins. In the name of Christ they are
told that "the wages of sin is death!" but they are not
told that "the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ, our
Lord" (Romans 8:38)
We are even
worse to our brothers or sisters in the church. If someone falls into
sin, but repents, and confesses their sin, as the scriptures require,
and they reach out to us for restoration, too often we turn our backs
on them, are offended by them, and are ready to pick up tomatoes, if
not rocks and condemn them. Almost every congregation has this
serious problem: we shoot our own wounded. |
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It
gets worse. |
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The church
has a reputation of hiding issues we don't want to deal with.
"That couldn't be happening in THIS CHURCH! "Not Pastor
Joe, he couldn't be doing that to his children, he preaches the word
of God!"
A friend of
mine counsels adult survivors of abuse. She told me recently of a
47-year old woman she has been counseling for 3 years. When this
woman was 10, her father, who was a deacon, and highly respected in
his church, began to sexually molest her on a regular basis. After
each time he made her get on her knees and ask God for forgiveness
for the sin she committed. When she got enough strength to report to
her pastor the abuse that had been going on for some time, his
response was to call her father, tell him what she said, and have him
come pick up the girl and take her home. The abuse continued for
years afterwards. People knew, people suspected, and nothing was done
to protect her, stop the abuse, or heal her brokenness. At 47 the
woman still cannot go near a church without becoming violently ill.
She has a different perspective on God and His church.
I've heard
Christian people say that "Loneliness is a sin. It's idolatry!
Quit worshiping yourself and turn back to God!" What kind of
talk is that? When they should be reaching out to someone and
reminding them that they are loved and important to God and that He
wants to be a part of their life, they smack them in the face and
call them "Sinner!" A precious life reached out their hand
to be helped up and we bit it!
I've heard
preachers on TV say that if someone is sick or in pain, it's because
they don't have enough faith and God can't use them. How many lives
are turned away from Jesus by people like that? |
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By
our actions, and our inaction, we have shut the kingdom of heaven in
men's faces. |
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Instead
of sharing His love with those who need Him the most, we
misrepresent God and drive them away from His healing. Telling a
homosexual that he's going to burn for his sins and that God hates
him won't lead him to seek God's forgiveness! Instead he will become
defiant and become more entangled in the lifestyle. He may never
again turn to God, because of our witness. Telling a pregnant
teenager that she's a murderer will not lead her to seek a personal
relationship with God. She may never again seek forgiveness because
of our condemnation. When we fail to restore the fallen, or to
protect the innocent we give them reasons to walk away from the God
who loves them.
Surely
enough, abortion and homosexuality are sins, as well as sexual
immorality, drunkenness, adultery, idolatry and the rest, but are
they any more sin than denying salvation to someone who needs it?
Surely they are destructive choices, with consequences that last for
a lifetime, but are they more destructive than eternal separation
from God? |
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Who
commits the greater sin, the lost, or the blind guides who direct
them to the path of destruction? |
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In Matt
18:6-7 Jesus said,
But
if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin,
it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his
neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. "Woe to the
world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things
must come, but woe to the man through whom they come! -
Matthew 18:6-7 (NIV)
God,
through the prophet Malachi said
"For
the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, and from his mouth
men should seek instruction-- because he is the messenger of the LORD
Almighty. But you have turned from the way and by your teaching have
caused many to stumble; you have violated the covenant with
Levi," says the LORD Almighty. "So I have caused you to be
despised and humiliated before all the people, because you have not
followed my ways but have shown partiality in matters of the
law." - Malachi 2:7-9 (NIV) |
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Have
you seen and heard how Christians are protrayed by the media? |
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The
same sin that brought about the condemnation of the priests of the
old covenant, the Levites, has had a similar effect on the
"priests" of the new covenant, the Church. By the words and
actions of the few we all stand condemned. In the words of the
Apostle Paul in Romans 2:24,
As it is
written: "God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of
you." - Romans 2:24 (NIV)
The problem
is the same one Jesus told the Sadducees in Matthew 22:29. We are in
error, because we do not know the scriptures or the power of God. God
does not hate sinners, Jesus died for them! God hates the sin that
keeps them in bondage, that's the reason Jesus came to die on the cross.
In Isaiah
53:5 is says that:
He was
pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds
we are healed. - Isaiah 53:5 (NIV)
We can
reach the hurting and broken people, we can help free those who are
in bondage, we can give sight to those who are in darkness, but to do
it we need to know our God, and understand His motivations, and to do
what He has commanded us. |
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The
church needs a paradigm shift. |
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We need to
shift our focus toward loving the sinner back to life. We need to
remember that God hates Sin, but He loves every Sinner. Too many
times we get that backwards, and beat up on the sinner because he has
fallen into sin and needs our help to get out. Helping people get out
of sin and into the Kingdom of God is the purpose of the Church!
God hates
adultery, sexual immorality, homosexuality, abortion, and idolatry,
but God loves the adulterer, the immoral, the homosexual, the
abortionist, and the idolater, enough that He sent His only Son,
Jesus to die on the Cross for their sins. God desires to comfort the
hurting, to restore the fallen, and to bring the sinner to repentance.
Jesus
said, "It is not the healthy who need a
doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire
mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
- Matt 9:12-13 (NIV)
And again,
in Luke 15:7
I
tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven
over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons
who do not need to repent. - Luke 15:7 (NIV) |
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To be
effective ministers of God's Love we need to BE HIS LOVE. |
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We need to:
Know His love
Imitate His love
Seek those
who need His love
Share His
love with everybody we meet.
You can
know His love and understand His motivation by reading the Bible. The
Bible is filled with expressions and explanations of His love. Search
them out and hold them in your heart. Here's a couple of my favorite
passages about His love.
In Exodus
34:5-6 it says:
Then the
LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed
his name, the LORD. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming,
"The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to
anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to
thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin." -
Exodus 34:5-6 - (NIV)
And in
Psalm 103:8-13:
The LORD
is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He
will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does
not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our
iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great
is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the
west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father
has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those
who fear him; Psalm 103:8-13(NIV)
And again
in Psalm 107:1-15
Give
thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. Let the
redeemed of the LORD say this-- those he redeemed from the hand of
the foe, those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from
north and south. Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way
to a city where they could settle. They were hungry and thirsty, and
their lives ebbed away. Then they cried out to the LORD in their
trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He led them by a
straight way to a city where they could settle. Let them give thanks
to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men,
for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.
Some sat in darkness and the deepest gloom, prisoners suffering in
iron chains, for they had rebelled against the words of God and
despised the counsel of the Most High. So he subjected them to bitter
labor; they stumbled, and there was no one to help. Then they cried
to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.
He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away
their chains. Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for men, - Psalm 107:1-15 (NIV) |
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God
is love, and God is Faithful. |
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No matter
how far we stray from the Lord, no matter what sins we have
committed, no matter how far we've fallen, when we turn to Him,
repent, and ask for His forgiveness, He is always there, ready to
take us into the fold, to wipe the tears from our eyes, and to lead
us to our eternal destiny.
In Exodus
15:13, it says
"In
your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In
your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling. - Exodus 15:13(NIV)
And in
Zephaniah 3:17
The LORD
your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great
delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over
you with singing." - Zephaniah 3:17 (NIV)
There is no
sin that God will not forgive is we ask, no sinner too vile for His
cleansing. Christ died for you, for me, for the prostitutes, for
everybody. His love has no boundaries. Christ died for all the broken
people. Christ wants to heal all the broken people, and if you are
willing, He wants to heal them through you.
In John
chapter 8, Jesus gave us the example of His heart toward the sinner.
The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught
in the act of adultery. They made her stand before the group and said
to Jesus,
"Teacher,
this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses
commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?"
They caught
the woman in the act, which would imply that she was with a man at
the time. The Law they referred to was stated in Leviticus 20:10:
"'If
a man commits adultery with another man's wife-- with the wife of
his neighbor-- both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to
death. - Leviticus 20:10 (NIV)
Both
partners in the adultery were commanded to be put to death. Where was
the man?
They
were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for
accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground
with his finger.
Nobody
knows what Jesus wrote in the dirt, maybe He wrote Leviticus 20:10,
or maybe He wrote the name of the man involved.
When
they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If
any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone
at her." Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
Maybe this
time He wrote the names of everyone in the crowd who had committed
that same sin. We'll have to ask Him when we get to heaven.
At this,
those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first,
until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus
straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where
are they? Has no one condemned you?" "No one,
sir," she said. "Then neither do I
condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go
now and leave your life of sin." - John 8:3-11 (NIV)
Jesus was
the only person in the entire world who could have condemned her, and
indeed was surrounded by the pile of rocks dropped by the crowd as
they left the scene. Jesus would not condemn the sexually immoral
person standing before Him, instead He offered a chance at repentance
and forgiveness. Should we be any different?
Jesus told
us that all the Law and the prophets hangs on the two greatest
commandments: Love the Lord your God with all
your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself.
(Matthew 22:36-40) |
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If
you love someone , you will not condemn them, you'll do whatever it
takes to restore them. |
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It's easy
to say "love your neighbor as yourself," but it's quite a
bit harder to actually do it. We must get beyond the cliches
and get about being His love to all the broken people of our world.
We need to take our relationship with God more seriously and begin to
do what He said in the scriptures.
It means we
feed the hungry, clothe the needy, comfort the hurting, help the
helpless, restore the fallen, heal the wounded, encourage the weary,
befriend the lonely, love our enemies, pray for our persecutors, seek
& save the lost, rebuke when necessary, exhort when possible,
forgive always, and pray continuously.
In Matthew
5:43-48, Jesus said
"You
have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your
enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who
persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He
causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on
the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you,
what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?
And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than
others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your
heavenly Father is perfect. - Matt 5:43-48 (NIV)
Romans
12:9-21, the Apostle Paul taught that
Love
must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted
to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.
Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the
Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless
those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those
who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one
another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of
low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil.
Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is
possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for
it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says
the Lord. On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you
will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by
evil, but overcome evil with good. - Romans 12:9-21 (NIV) |
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To be
the love of God, we need to use His standard to measure our actions
and motivations toward another person. |
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God has
given us a checklist of the attributes of Godly love. It's found in 1
Corinthians 13:4-8.
Love is
patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not
proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily
angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil
but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts,
always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. -1 Corinthians
13:4-8a (NIV)
I encourage
you to commit this passage to memory, so that when you need to be His
love, you know what to do and not to do. All that our Lord has taught
us hinges on this checklist. It hinges on us being willing to be the
love of God. If we can be the love of God, we can be the light of the
world, and we can be the salt of the Earth. If we can love people the
way God loves them, we can give them the light of the Gospel, the
truth that will set them free from their bondage. If we can love
people the way God loves them, broken people will be able to trust us
to help them carry their burdens, and heal their brokenness. |
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Are
you willing to be the love of God? |
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That is
your challenge as you walk with Christ. Let's pray:
Father in
heaven, thank you for your love, and your word, which so clearly
teaches us your heart. Help us, Lord, to know your heart, and make
our hearts like yours. Father teach us to love, and fill us with your
love as we may pour it out to a hurting and lost world. Jesus, today
we commit our lives to being the love of God, as we seek a deeper
relationship with our Lord and Savior. Holy Spirit direct us to those
who need a tangible expression of your love this week, and empower us
to love them as You love them. All that we are is Yours, our Loving
God. Use us this week. In Jesus' name, for Your honor and glory. And
everybody said "Amen! Praise the Lord!" |
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Be
The Love Of God This Week! |
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Rev.Michael
Packard
Copyright
1999 Practically Righteous Ministries - All Rights Reserved |
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