Motivated By Love
8/21/05
Gal.
6:7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man
reaps what he sows. 8The one who
sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the
one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper
time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all
people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
The sowing that Paul is speaking of here is clearly
demonstrated in what we do for people!
We can go back up to verse one and listen to the context...
Gal. 6:1 Brothers, if someone
is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch
yourself, or you also may be tempted. 2Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will
fulfill the law of Christ. 3If
anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4Each
one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without
comparing himself to somebody else, 5for
each one should carry his own load.
Ministry
is caring for people--loving people.
For
weeks we have been establishing the fact that each one of us in the body of
Christ have been gifted and called to minister in some way. To simplify it--that means we have all
been called to help people out of love.
Someone
has said, “Serving the Lord would be easy if it wasn’t for dealing with
people!”
Again,
it’s been said, “It’s effortless to love the Lord, people are a different
story!”
But
the Lord Jesus doesn’t see it that way.
1 Jo. 3:10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the
children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child
of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.
1 Jo. 3:16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down
his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in
need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but
with actions and in truth. 19This then is how we know that we belong
to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence 20whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our
hearts, and he knows everything.
1 Jo. 4:7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from
God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is
love. 9This is how God showed his
love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live
through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he
loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love
one another. 12No one has ever seen
God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete
in us.
1 Jo.
4:20 If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his
brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he
has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21And he has given
us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.
There
is more to loosing our first love than what we think!
Rev. 2:1 “To the angel of the
church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of him
who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden
lampstands: 2I know your deeds, your hard work and your
perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested
those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3You
have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
4Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your
first love. 5Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent
and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you
and remove your lampstand from its place. 6But you have this in your
favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
7He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says
to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the
tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
Eph.
1:15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your
faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you
in my prayers.
The
downfall of anyone in ministry is when the love for ministry becomes greater
than the love for people.
Anyone
who has been involved in ministry for more than a few years has been
hurt, disappointed, letdown and discouraged.
When I say “ministry” it’s not limited to professional or
fulltime ministry.
You
have to rise above it!
I
have a pastor friend who loves to speak, loves to preach, but does everything
he can to distance himself from the people.
What a said place to be.
In
seminary young men and women are taught to distance themselves from the people.
When
we have people with the “go to church mentality” and preachers who have the “go
to preach mentality” we are in a said state of affairs!
Do
we need a fresh baptism of love?
1 Cor. 13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have
not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries
and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not
love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and
surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not
envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not
rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of
wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices
with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes,
always perseveres.
Love
Stealers
These
are some things that deeply damage our love for each other.
1. Hurts. Hurts that have not been resolved or healed
steals your love.
You
have heard the saying many times--hurting people, hurt people.
Someone
who has been hurt puts up a guard. The
guard is this--I’ve been hurt and I will not let anyone hurt me again. So up goes the wall. And the wall usually hurts other people.
What
to do: 1) is there anyway you can work to resolve this? If not, get with someone and pour out your
heart and pray together for healing and trust the Lord Jesus with all your
heart for it.
2. Greed. Greed causes you to love things more than
people.
1
Sam. 25 is a good example of Nabal who was a greedy selfish man.
What
to do: Acknowledge
it. Confess it as sin. We need to use things and love people and
not love things and use people!
3. Anger. There’s no way you can be full of anger and
love at the same time.
Are
you angry about the way things go?
Jer. 12:1 You
are always righteous, O LORD,
when I
bring a case before you.
Yet I would
speak with you about your justice:
Why does
the way of the wicked prosper?
Why do all
the faithless live at ease?
2 You have planted them, and they have taken root;
they grow
and bear fruit.
You are
always on their lips
but far
from their hearts.
3 Yet you know me, O LORD;
you see me
and test my thoughts about you.
Drag them
off like sheep to be butchered!
Set them
apart for the day of slaughter!
4 How long will the land lie parched
and the
grass in every field be withered?
Because
those who live in it are wicked,
the
animals and birds have perished.
Moreover,
the people are saying,
“He will
not see what happens to us.”
5 “If you have raced with men on foot
and they
have worn you out,
how can
you compete with horses?
If
you stumble in safe country,
how
will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?
4. Disappointments.
Ÿ
If things don’t turn out
the way we think they should we get disappointed.
Ÿ
People disappoint us.
Ÿ
Disappointments make us
want to back away.
It’s
risky loving people. It’s risky getting
involved in people’s lives. It’s risky
pouring your heart and soul into some one else’s life. But if we love Jesus we do it!