Glynlea Grace United Methodist Chruch

Scripture

1 Corinthians 13:1-7

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³ If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. ⁴ Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; ⁵ it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶ it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. ⁷ Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Matthew 5:43-48

"You have heard that it was said, `You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' ⁴⁴ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. ⁴⁶ For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? ⁴⁷ And if you salute only your brethren, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? ⁴⁸ You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Focus and Function

Focus: Compared to the rest of the world, Jesus calls us to a much higher standard of

love. We are not called to merely love our family, friends and those who treat us

right. That’s nothing more than what everyone else does. Jesus is calling us to

love the way God loves. This means we are to love our enemies. We are to love

those we would not normally associate with. We are to love those who are

annoying. We are to love those who are bothersome, inconsiderate or down

right mean.

When people do things that are bothersome, inconsiderate or down right mean,

we shouldn’t react with righteous condemnation. Instead, we are called to learn

their story and see if they need help. Then we can show them love by doing

what we can to help them. In response, they may begin to love us back. (Then

again, they may not return the love but that doesn’t matter.) With God’s

empowering grace we can love others in this way.

Function: To encourage the congregation to actively seek ways to love others with

God’s type of love.

The Sermon

I. Introduction: Standards

A. Almost every organization that’s worth something requires its members to reach and maintain some form of standard

· Colleges expect students to maintain a minimum GPA in order to graduate

· Army places many standards on its soldiers

1) Physical fitness standards

2) Rifle marksmanship standards

3) Basic combat skills standards

· Boy Scouts of America expects each scout to achieve certain standards in order to advance in rank

B. The church is no different

· As members of the Body of Christ, God expects us to live up to the highest standard of all.

· This standard is so high that we can not achieve it on our own. We must be empowered by the Holy Spirit to achieve this standard.

· What is this standard? It is this: To love others with the same type of love that God has for us. To love others with God’s type of love.

C. Jesus gave us this standard when He summed up the entire Law with the two greatest commandments

· The two greatest commandments:

1) To love God with all our hearts, souls and minds

2) To love our neighbor as ourselves

· Whenever we have an ethical dilemma, we should ask ourselves:

1) What would demonstrate love for God?

2) What would demonstrate love for neighbor?

· The love we are talking about is not the worldly type of love. It’s a different type of love. It is God’s type of love. So, what is God’s type of love? How is God’s love different from worldly love?

II. God’s type of love

A. Matthew 5:43-48: "You have heard that it was said, `You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you salute only your brethren, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

· World’s type of love: Love only those who will love you back. Love your family, friends and those who treat you right.

· God’s type of love: Love all people. Love even those who are disrespectful, obnoxious or down-right mean.

· Note verse 48: To be perfect like God means loving other’s the way God loves others. This is our Christian goal.

B. Let’s remember, Jesus showed His love for us by going to the cross while we were still in sinful rebellion against God.

C. You might be saying, “Whoa!!! Wait a minute!! How can I feel love for someone who mistreats me?” The answer: “God’s type of love is not simply a feeling. It is an attitude that is demonstrated through action.”

III. God’s love is an attitude that is demonstrated through action

A. 1 Corinthians 13: Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

B. All these words used to describe love are attitudes, not feelings

C. As a Juvenile Probation Officer I had to show patience with juveniles that repeatedly broke the law. I would never give up on them. This was an attitude I had. It was not an emotion.

IV. Loving people who are inconsiderate, rude or mean

A. The next time you run across someone who is inconsiderate, rude or mean

· Say a prayer and ask God for help to love this person. We can’t love people without God’s grace enabling us.

· Be willing to learn the person’s story. Often, when we take the time to listen, we’ll learn that there is some problem or tragedy that is behind the inconsiderate, rude or mean behaviors.

· Do what you can to help that person with his/her problem.

B. There’s a country music song that captures this nicely. It’s performed by the country music band “Sawyer Brown”. The song is called, “They don’t understand”. Listen to the song and pray about what you hear.