This is a sermon that I wrote while I was serving in a prison ministry this past fall. Just a heads up, I was in a room with about 20 ladies who are pregnant and incarcerated so if it mentions being pregnant, a mother, or something along those lines, that is why.
This sermon has been on my mind a lot lately so I decided to share it with all of you. The topic is love. Here goes: (warning, this is a long post but it is worth the read.)
To start off, I would like to define the word love. If you look on dictionary.com, there are various ways to define the word. The website says things like “a profoundly tender passion for another person” and “a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection”. Love means different things to different people. You can’t love something that does not have the power to love you back. When I say this, I am talking about inanimate objects. I will say things like “I love my new phone” or “I love this tv show”. But it is not in the same meaning as described above. I do not have a profoundly, tender passion for my cell phone or a felling of warm, personal attachment to a television show. THey are things I enjoy, but love is not the word that should be used to describe how I feel.
God defined love in John 13:34
“Love one another as I have loved you.”
And God gave us his example of love in John 3:16
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only son so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
This example is very hard for me to understand at times. I do not have any children yet but many of you do. And I have a niece that I would do absolutely anything for. I can not imagine grabbing Jillian, my niece, and saying to the world, “I am going to sacrifice this child so that everyone can be free from their sin.” That is a kind of love that is unbelievable. And that is the kind of love that God wants us to have for one another and for him, our Lord and Savior. When I am in bed at night, sometimes I lay wide awake, just thinking about love and the sacrifice God gave, just simply because of love. He loves me and he loves you.
Love is not given expecting anything in return. Love is not motivated out of what we need, but out of our genuine concern for the good of others. Love is motivated by the need to serve others. All of us are called to love. True love is the love Christ had for us. Jesus gave us all he had. He died for our sins because HE LOVED US SO MUCH! This is the ultimate act of how to love.
I like to show love by doing mission trips. During spring break of 2011, I had the opportunity of going to New York city for a mission trip. This was very exciting to me because most of the trips I had been on before were in very rural areas and consisted of a lot of construction work, so I was excited to see what I would be doing in a big city. I did not have much information going in to the trip but I had been praying for God to use me and guide me. When I got there, I had the opportunity to work in soup kitchens and food pantries, doing anything from bagging groceries, to cooking meals, to sitting down and talking to many people. One lady stood out from the crowd for me. I was at a soup kitchen called, Bread and Life. As soon as we got off of the subway, the local people knew we were there to serve right away because we looked different than anyone that would normally come to that side of town. They quickly pointed us in the direction of the building and thanked us for coming. We walked in the building and saw that there was another group of college students there to serve lunch with us. We got to pick our job duties, some went to the cooking area, some made plates for people, and some chose to keep an eye on the dining room, cleaning up spills and trash as needed. I did not have a preference as to which job I was going to do, but I hoped I was not asked to cook. (Anyone that knows me knows I can not cook!) I was asked to be in the dining room. I walked around and cleared tables and swept up trash during their busy lunch rush. The crowd slowed down and one of the workers told me to grab some lunch and have a seat before we went back to do dishes and clean up. Many of my friends got their food and sat at a table with the people from the other college group. I got my tray and as I was about to sit down with them, I saw a lady at a table sitting by herself. I walked past my friends and sat with this lady. As soon as I sat down, she looked at me, with tears in her eyes and said “thank you”. I was not sure why she said this, until she started to tell her story. She was 60 years old and she was homeless. Her parents were into drugs and prostitution her whole life. She got into drugs early on too because it was the only life she knew. She told me about how she spent most of her life just trying to survive. She wanted different but didn’t know how to do it. I sat and listened to her story, overwhelmed with this warm fuzzy feeling. This woman had an amazing power and I didn’t know what it was. She continued to talk about her struggles and talked about how Bread and Life as changed her. She said she has been going to this soup kitchen for many years and not one of the daily volunteers sat to talk to her but she would sit back and watch. She loved to watch the “young kids” in her words, serving. She loved watching them interact with one another and she loved the fact that we had “hope”. This is when I stopped her. I said, we are not the only ones with hope. We continued to talk for a long part of the afternoon about hope, love, God’s plan and even a little about anger and sadness. About an hour into our conversation, she brought out her Bible. It was torn and clearly old and falling apart. But without a single thought she said to me, “would you like to hear my favorite verse?” I agreed and before I knew it, she was reading John 3:16.
Growing up in the church, this was a verse that was quickly memorized and said often but I did not really think about those words until she read them to me. “For God so love the world the he gave his ONE AND ONLY son.” We shared a prayer for our futures. Mine and hers. And before I knew it, it was time to go. This woman left an amazing mark on my heart and I will not forget her anytime soon. Some days she pops into my head and I wish I was able to talk to her again but then God comforts me and reminds me that he is in control and he is taking care of her.
Love is an amazing thing. I can tell you that I do not know this woman’s name and most days I am so busy in my daily routine that I don’t stop and add her to my prayers but I can tell you that the feeling I have for her is love. I love her because God showed me how.
God’s love is different than human love. Often times, human love comes with conditions, expectations, or obligations. I can say that I love my family and they love me but is it simply because we are family? What if we were strangers, would I still love them? I am not sure I know how to answer that question. I know that I love my family, my friends, you ladies and God. But God does not choose who he loves. He loves us all. He made us in his image and since he loves us, we therefore are called to love each other.
Love is not always easy. Sometimes people we love, with all our heart, hurt us in ways that we do not understand. When I have this happen to me, I often times think about a quote that is in one of my favorite movies, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. I know it is cheesy. If you haven’t seen this movie, here is a little bit of background to the scene. There is a girl Carmen and a girl Tibby. Carmen’s dad left her and her mom when she was young but during this particular summer, she decided she wanted to go spend the summer with him. When she got to his house, she saw that he had a fiance and 2 teenagers he was living with. She was upset because she did not know anything about his new life. Carmen called Tibby to talk out her feelings and all Tibby could say was “Give them a chance”. Carmen and Tibby got into a huge fight because they could not see each others’ point of view clearly. Carmen comes home, to Tibby’s house, and this is where she says, “WHY IS IT SO EASY FOR ME TO BE MAD AT YOU BUT SO HARD TO BE MAD AT MY DAD?” Tibby the replies, “MAYBE SOMETIMES IT IS EASIER TO BE MAD AT THE PEOPLE YOU TRUST BECAUSE YOU KNOW THEY WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU, NO MATTER WHAT.” This quote always makes me think. Is it really easier being mad at someone you love because you know they will love you back?
I have a friend, Jenan, and I feel like this is how our relationship works sometimes. We have been best friends since we were 16 but we do butt heads from time to time. But no matter how mad I get at her, or how mad she gets at me, we still love each other and are still there for each other. Sometimes we hurt each other. Sometimes we want to go away and never talk to one another again but God always brings us back together one way or another and we have a very strong friendship because of this. A few years back, I was preparing to move from Ohio to California. Jenan and I spent the entire spring and beginning of summer together to try and soak up every minute together before we had to part ways. I even invited her to go with me to church camp that year. At some point during church camp, we had got into an argument and to this day, neither of us remember what it was about. But at the time, it seemed huge. We spent the majority of the week avoiding and ignoring each other. It came time to pack up our car and head home and of course, we rode together. I remember sitting on a bench by myself just angry when Jenan comes over and sits next to me. She simply asked me, “so is this it?” This was so hard for me to answer, I was about to move across the country in 2 days and I had no idea if I would ever see her again. I had no idea if I would be forgotten of if we would never even talk again. I said to her, “Does it even matter, I’m moving and we are probably never going to see each other again”. I then looked into her eyes and she looked into mine and tears came flowing from both of us. We had so much love for each other, that we thought it might be easier to part ways angry than the opposite. The car ride home from camp was spent sharing each others stories from the week and kind of regretting being mad over something so trivial.
This is what I am talking about when I say love hurts. I was hurt by something she said, she was hurt by something I said. We were both hurt because we would soon be 2500 miles apart and not able to see each other everyday, but despite that, we worked it out. We made a plan of action so that we could maintain our friendship and like I said before, we are stronger now than ever before. Yes we get upset or annoyed with each other from time to time but we have promised ourselves and each other that we would not take advantage of each others’ emotions in that way ever again. Love always wins.
1 John 4:7-12 says,
“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”
That was 1 John 4:7-12.
This is powerful, yet seems so simple. Along those same lines, Matthew 22:37-39 says,
“Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ “
That was Matthew 22:37-39.
Both of these verses seem so easy. Love the Lord and Love your neighbor. But you know as well as I do that we always want to make excuses. “That person hurt me or my family”, “that person is a liar, a cheater, a thief, etc.” But God did not say, “love your neighbor when it is convenient for you”, or love your neighbor when you feel they are good enough for you to love”. It simply says right there is Matthew, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love is our most important job. We are literally called to love our God and love other people, here comes the hard part, even our enemies. Ouch. I know that I do not want to love my enemies. I don’t want to look at them, or think of them, or any of that but God called us to love them.
1 John 4:19-21 says,
“We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.”
That was 1 John 4:19-21.
Ouch again. Those words sure do hit a certain spot. “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar?” Wow, but what if they….! In God’s Kingdom, there is no what if. There are probably a few people in this world that could walk up to you and say that they do not want to love me because of something I have done. In fact, I can pretty much tell you there is. People do not always get along, people do not always agree on everything but that is not what God is asking of you. He is asking you to love your brother and sister. You do not have to see them everyday or sit down for family dinner, but you are called to love them and one of the easiest ways to love is through prayer. Instead of spreading a rumor, say a prayer. Instead of using harsh words to someone, walk away and say a prayer. It is hard to love our enemies and God knew it would be. But that is why he sent his Holy Spirit to be with us.
1 Corinthians 13:1-13 is one of my favorite passages to read.
“If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it;but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.
4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
8 Prophecy and speaking in unknown languagesand special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! 9 Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! 10 But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.
11 When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 12 Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.
13 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.”
1 Corinthians 13:1-13.
We do not love when we are jealous or when we lose patience. We are not loving when we remember others for their wrong doings or their faults. We show love when we forgive, when we put our feelings aside, and when we encourage others. God’s love does not exist on any basis. He loves us because of who we are, not what we do and this is the kind of love we are to have towards one another. Like I said before, it is easy to put conditions on love when we are talking about other people but God does not do this to us so we are called not to do that for others. God’s love has been here for us since before we were even in existence and his love will never give up on us, no matter what.
God shows us that he loves us through other people. God’s unconditional love is what makes the world a better place and that is why I hope to surrender everything to show that to everyone. The world race is just the beginning of my journey.
