May 31, 2015
Stetson Memorial United
Methodist Church
Sermon
Last in Sermon Series
“Five
Marks of a Christian”
Adapted
from: “Five Marks of a Methodist”
By
Steve Harper
1
Corinthians 13:4-8a NIV
Matthew
5:44-46 NIV
John
15:12-17 NIV
Romans
13:8-10 NIV
Ephesians
4:1-3, 29-32 NIV
Love, Love Me Do!
Prayer for God’s word
to be heard through me or in spite of me…
Have you ever said anything
that you were sorry for? I know I have. After the words get out you sort of go darn it…I did not mean for that to come out…that
was supposed to stay in my head. And of course the other person is now mad
at us. And try as we might, we may never have the same relationship with that
person.
How about when others say
something that upsets you? Sometimes on purpose and most times they too have
that “should have stayed in my head” experience. It can be hard sometimes to
rebuild that relationship that has now been broken… It took God thousands of years and the cost of his Son to rebuild the
relationship that was broken in the Garden of Eden… We may not want to ever
have anything to do with person ever again. I mean there are even times when
someone is mad at you and you don’t have a clue why…How could they treat me like that? Who do they think they are? Well I
am done with them and I am going to just ignore them whenever they are around
me. That will fix them…
We have come to the end of
our journey of looking at the five things…five ways…that we can see that we are
“being changed by the story” of Easter. I have adapted this Sermon Series from
a book written by Steve Harper that is titled “Five Marks of a Methodist: The Fruit of a Living Faith.” But this
book is not just for “Methodist”, it is for all who follow Christ. It gives
five distinct ways to tell…to visually see…that you are being “changed by the
story”, not just reading it.
The five ways are as
follows:
A “Christian” not just Methodist:
1.
Loves God
2.
Rejoices in God
3.
Gives Thanks
4.
Prays Constantly
5.
Loves Others
We have talked about the
fact that “we love God” and that it is not just a fleeting love but a love that
encompasses all that we have, all that we are, and all that we will be. It is
what drives us in our relationship with Him. The more we are in love with Him
the more we want to know Him. And the more we know Him the more we want of Him
in our lives.
We have discovered that not
only do we love God but we rejoice in Him. Not just simply rejoice in Him but
rejoice in Him from the bottom of our feet to the tops of our heads. How can we not…look at all that He has given
us in our lives…look at all that He has done in our lives and the lives of
others. Now that’s reason to truly rejoice.
Giving thanks to God is
another way to tell we are living the Easter life. Giving thanks is so
important because as we do, we don’t forget that it is God who gives us all
that we have. It is God who grows us. It is God who has given us our talents so
that we can use them to further His kingdom here on earth.
We have talked about how a
Christian prays continually. There are many ways to pray. We pray by words. We
pray by actions. We pray by dance. Some pray with beads while others may walk
around their community praying. I don’t think it matters how you pray. The
important thing is to pray…
We have now come to the last
of the five ways of knowing you are being changed by the story. Now this one is
a hard one at times. The last is a Christian loves others. Now there are those
time when we really don’t feel so loving towards certain people but we are
called to love others…What Pastor
Ruth…you mean I have to love others even if they don’t love me…Yup!
In
the bible, especially in the New Testament, there are many pieces of scripture
that tells us that we are relational people and we are to love others. Ok…to
prove my point, I want us to look at some of them this morning. I invite you to
take out you bibles and take a tour with me through some of these scriptures so
that you can read them for yourself and know where they are. Sometimes seeing is believing…
Let’s begin with John 15:12-17.
“12
My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no
one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends
if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant
does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for
everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did
not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear
fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father
will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.”
We are commanded to love one another not as
ourselves but as Jesus loved and still loves us. Jesus loved humanity so much
that He came from heaven and died so that we could have life. We were chosen
from the foundation of the earth by God. We are friends of God and Jesus as we
love one another…even with our flaws…even with our mistakes…even with our
addictions…even with…you fill in the
blank.
Next, let’s go to Matthew 5:44-46 to see what
else Jesus said about loving others.
“44
But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that
you may be children 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. 46 If
you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax
collectors doing that?”
It is so easy to love others when they love
us. The difficult part is loving others when they don’t love us…when they may
have done something that has upset us… God is love and He loves even those who
are “unlovable” around us. The One thing
we need to remember is that we too were unlovable until through Jesus we were
made righteous before God…
Our next stop on the tour is one of our
favorite places, 1 Corinthians 13. We will be looking at verses 4 through 8a. Let’s see what Paul had to say about
what love is and is not.
1
Corinthians 13:4-8a New International Version (NIV)
“4
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not
proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily
angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but
rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes,
always perseveres.8 Love never fails.”
In this scripture we see true love…not just a
superficial love but a deep down in your soul love of others. As we love others
with this type of love, how can we not want to pray for them…how could we not
want to reach out to them…how could we not be the love of God to and for them. See…I wasn’t kidding about that whole love
others no matter what thing.
The next piece is found in a letter to the
Romans. Romans 13 verses 8 through 10.
“Love
Fulfills the Law
8
Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another,
for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall
not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall
not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one
command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor.
Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”
As we love others we will not do anything
against them. As we love others we fulfill all the commandments. It is kind of hard to covet or steal from
someone that we love with all that we are…all that we have…all that we can
give…
And the final place on our tour is the letter
to the Ephesians. Ephesians 4 verses 1 through 3 and 29 through 32. This has to do with the body of Christ the
church and how we are to act towards each other…
“Unity
and Maturity in the Body of Christ
4
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the
calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient,
bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the
Spirit through the bond of peace.
29
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is
helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit
those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you
were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and
anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and
compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God
forgave you.”
This may be one of the hardest things to
do…to love no matter what. There are so many churches that just don’t get this
right. They have become a social club for the elite instead of a hospital for
sinners. There are some Christians who are awesome on Sunday with all their
Churchliness and on Monday they are gossiping about this one and that one. Can you believe what Betty was wearing at
church yesterday? I can’t believe that Janet was sitting next to that homeless
guy…how could she stand the smell…? There
are some who cause strife in the church to just watch the fireworks. We really do need to get this one right. The
state of the church is relying on it. How will someone come to know the saving
grace of God unless they are allowed to come…unless they see it in the
ambassadors of Christ?
Loving others is not easy. We are all human
and we hurt other and others hurt us. It is what we do with that hurt that
matters. We all want to belong but it can be hard sometimes to want to include
those who we may not know or who are different than who we are. But… we are
called to… (Everyone…)
OK this is how I look at it:
1. If we love God we have the love of God in us…remember it’s relational…
2. As we love God we rejoice in Him…we see Him everywhere
and in everything. It is truly an amazing
thing when we see God in and through everything!
3. As we rejoice in God we will give thanks to God for all
He has done and is doing.
4. As we give thanks to God and we have a relationship with
Him we will be in constant conversation with Him through prayer…however that may look for us.
5. As we are in constant conversation through prayer we will
have that relationship with God and we begin to open our hearts with the love
of God to others as that relationship grows…
It really is that simple…
Amen!
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