Itinerary for Andy’s Vision Trip to Ethiopia
Monday, May 14th:
Depart DFW airport on AA to Chicago at 1:00 pm.
Depart Chicago at 6:00 pm on AA to London.
Tuesday, May 15:
Arrive in London at 7:50am and depart at 10:20am on BA to Nairobi.
Arrive in Nairobi at 8:45 pm and check into the Holiday Inn.
Wednesday, May 16
8.00am: Breakfast, Devotion
9am: Visit Nairobi HIV/AIDS baby home
10am: Visit BCC, lunch at BCC, continue visit, leave bcc at 3.30pm, dinner at Holiday Inn
Thursday, May 17
9am: Visit Korogocho slum ministry, lunch at Nandos, visit giraffe centre, dinner at village market
Friday, May 18:
Early AM - (5.30am), 5.45 – breakfast,
6am - Check out of Holiday Inn
Fly to Addis Ababa, 7.40am - Kenya Airways...arriving in country at 9:40am.
Everyone will meet and be checked into the Sheraton Hotel in Addis.
9.40am Arrive at Airport
10.30am Visit President of Ethiopia and Museum in Palace
11.30am Leave for Nazret and Debre Zeit
12.30pm Lunch at Debre Zeit
2.30pm Visit Nazret Community Based Rehabilitation Centre
3.30pm Drive to Debre Zeit
4.00pm Visit Bishoftu Development Workers Training Centre
4.30pm Drive to Addis Ababa
5.30pm Go to hotel
Saturday, May 19:
am Visit children in Foster Kids programme
12.30pm Lunch
1.30pm Visit new orphanage
Visit Shelter – Lem Hotel
3pm Visit Ethnological Museum
SUNDAY 20TH MAY
am Travel to Bantu
Lunch
pm Return to Addis
MONDAY 21ST MAY
am Fly to Gambela to visit refugee camp
Stay overnight in Gambela
TUESDAY 22ND MAY
Visit around Gambela
Return to Addis Ababa
WEDNESDAY 23RD MAY
am Visit National Museum
Lunch
pm Shopping
THURSDAY 24TH MAY
am Rest time or visit any other project or
place of interest
11:20 pm Fly out on Ethiopian Airways to Frankfurt (arrive at 5:45am).
Friday, May 25:
Depart Frankfurt on AA at 10:55am and arrive in Dallas at 2:30pm.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Mothers' Day 2007
Andrew G. Pittman
Sunday Morning (Mothers’ Day)
May 13, 2007
The Story of Hannah: A Faithful Mother.
1 Samuel 1: 1 – 28.
I. Introduction
Every year at Mothers’ Day I am reminded of the mother who had raised three rambunctious teenagers. The children had a reputation throughout their small town and were constantly in some kind of trouble. One day, in a conversation with a friend, the mother was asked, “If you could start over, knowing what you know now, would you have children again?” The mother responded, “Yes. But not the same ones.”
(Read 1 Samuel 1: 1 – 28.)
Hannah had a problem. She was unable to bear children. This is not an unusual problem. It is a problem that many women have faced both past and present. It is a problem that carries with it a certain social stigma, embarrassment, or even worse an overwhelming sense of shame and guilt.
In the Ancient Near Eastern world, Hannah’s problem carried even larger social consequences. In that world and at that time, women had no inherent value of their own. No, a woman’s only value was tied to her closest, living male relative. Women were only identified by their men. In fact, there was really no such thing as a woman. There were only daughters, wives, mothers and widows. And that was the progression of their lives.
A woman started her life as a daughter, who was totally dependent on her father for all her needs until she married and became a wife. A wife was totally dependent on her husband until her husband died—or worse, divorced her. A widow was totally dependent on her oldest, living son. Unless, of course, she had no son…Then she was simply discarded—thrown away—as if she were a non-person, someone without either identity or means for providing for her own needs.
So, Hannah had a problem. This was completely a woman’s problem. It was not her husband’s problem. The Law provided a way out for the man. Elkanah was Hannah’s husband. He was a good Jewish man…extremely religious and a careful observer of the religious Law and the Jewish customs. Elkanah also wanted a son to carry on his family name and to provide for him in his old age. But, Elkanah had a problem that could be solved. Hannah’s problem could not be solved.
Israel was one of very few countries in the ANE where it just wasn’t very common for a man to have multiple wives. However, it was allowed in certain cases. One of those cases is what we see with Elkanah and Hannah. If a man married a woman and later discovered that she could not have children, the Law allowed that man to take a second wife so that his family name could live on. And for that very reason, Elkanah took Peninnah to be his second wife.
Hannah was his first wife…the woman he desired…the wife whom he loved. Peninnah was his second wife…the woman he needed in order to have a son…the mother of his children.
Every time Elkanah traveled to the religious festivals at Shiloh, he took both wives: the woman he loved and the mother of his children. Over time, this developed into a competition between the two women. It was obvious to Hannah where she ranked in social standing—she could not provide her husband with a son. It was obvious to Peninnah where she ranked in Elkanah’s heart—each time they sat down to eat the religious feast, Elkanah gave Hannah the largest, most favored portion of meat. Because Hannah was his first love.
Peninnah began to insult Hannah and ridicule her. This seems ironic to me, because Hannah was the woman Elkanah loved and certainly had more to brag about. Yet, Hannah was doomed to a life of poverty and homelessness as a widow with no one to take care of her needs.
So, Hannah had a problem. There was only one place for Hannah to turn. There is only one Person who can do the impossible. There is only one Person who can bring forth life from death. There is only one Person who can satisfy Hannah’s legitimate desire for a son. So, Hannah went into the Sanctuary at Shiloh to pray earnestly for God to provide her with a son.
Now I have to admit, this is part of the Hannah story that has always bothered me. All my life I have heard this story taught in Sunday School or preached on days like Mothers’ Day as a story of a woman who could not have children but who “made a deal with God” that if God would give her a child she would give that child back to God. Then God honored Hannah’s faith by blessing her with a child who became the first prophet in Israel. And Hannah kept her part of the bargain.
It makes a great story. But it just doesn’t seem to fit with my experience. And it definitely doesn’t fit with my understanding of God. What about the millions of women past and present who have prayed for children yet were never able to conceive?
Shauna and I have great friends in Waco, who are faithful, committed Christians, yet they were married for fourteen years without children. They eventually adopted a precious little girl from Hong Kong and named her Hannah—which, by the way, is the Hebrew word for Grace, a Gift from God…
I also know women who are wonderfully committed Christian women, yet they have chosen to remain single and therefore without children. Lottie Moon was at the same time a single woman and deeply committed Christian minister. We could name dozens, if not hundreds, of Christian women who are single and without children as a result of tragic circumstances such as death or divorce.
Therefore, we make a mistake—even on days like Mothers’ Day—when we say that being a mother is a sign of faithfulness. Or that God ALWAYS blesses faithful women with children. That is simply not the case.
So, why this story about Hannah? What is the Bible trying to teach us by telling this story? I believe that we miss the point every time we look at Hannah’s prayer for a son as an example of faithfulness. The point is not about Hannah’s prayer for a son. The point is that God used this woman to bring forth Samuel…And God used Samuel to anoint the first two kings of the united Kingdom of Israel: Saul and David…And God used David to become the ancestor of Jesus of Nazareth.
When we look at Hannah, we are supposed to see Samuel, David and Jesus. The fact that Hannah could not have children simply underscores God’s role in the birth of Samuel. Hannah is just like Sarah, Rachel, Mary…Women who could not have children until God stepped in and performed a miracle…
When all seemed hopeless…that it was impossible for Hannah ever to have a son…God stepped in and performed a miracle. There are some people who might not recognize God’s hand at work in situations like this. But not Hannah…In verse 27 Hannah said, “I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him.”
Hannah demonstrates two important aspects of being a godly parent—or today, being a godly mother…
II. Children Are a Gift FROM God.
This is an important lesson for many parents today…Parents who find their busy lives interrupted or their plans canceled because of children…Believe it or not, there are some parents who view children as a curse rather than a blessing…
We find a similar theme in Psalm 127… “Sons are a gift from the LORD, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in ones youth. Blessed is the one whose quiver is full of them…”
Since each of us was at one point in time a child…We ought to consider ourselves Gifts from God…Our very existence is possible only as a Gift…
III. Children Are a Gift TO God.
Hannah reminds me of Abraham…They both thought it was impossible to have a child by natural means…But God provided each with a son…Both recognized that their child was a gift from God…And both were willing to give their “gift” back to God…Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac on the altar…Hannah was willing to give Samuel to Eli the priest as a “living sacrifice”…
There is just one difference…Remember what I said about the Law providing a way out for the man…When Sarah could not have a son, Abraham had a son with another “wife,” Hagar…If Isaac had died on the altar that day, he could always depend on Ishmael to take care of him in his old age…But Hannah had nothing…When she gave Samuel to Eli the priest, she gave away her very SELF…She gave Samuel’s life as well as her own life…There was no one left to care for her in her old age…
Hannah demonstrates an important lesson for all women and men of faith…Hannah demonstrated STEWARDSHIP OF LIFE…
IV. Conclusion
Stewardship of life is a concept that Jesus taught his disciples…Of course Jesus never used those exact words…Instead, he told a parable of a master who had three slaves…When the master went away on business, he entrusted his financial assets to these three slaves…When the master returned, he rewarded the two slaves who had done the most with what had been on loan to them…Then they returned the talents to the master…
Jesus teaches us that we are not held accountable for acquiring more—because it all comes from the master anyway…We are accountable for how we use the things we have been given…
Hannah is an example of One Faithful Mother…But she is also an example of Good Steward of Life…
If we can recognize our children as gifts from God, then we can give them back to God…If we can recognize our very lives as gifts from God, then we can give God our very lives…
Sunday Morning (Mothers’ Day)
May 13, 2007
The Story of Hannah: A Faithful Mother.
1 Samuel 1: 1 – 28.
I. Introduction
Every year at Mothers’ Day I am reminded of the mother who had raised three rambunctious teenagers. The children had a reputation throughout their small town and were constantly in some kind of trouble. One day, in a conversation with a friend, the mother was asked, “If you could start over, knowing what you know now, would you have children again?” The mother responded, “Yes. But not the same ones.”
(Read 1 Samuel 1: 1 – 28.)
Hannah had a problem. She was unable to bear children. This is not an unusual problem. It is a problem that many women have faced both past and present. It is a problem that carries with it a certain social stigma, embarrassment, or even worse an overwhelming sense of shame and guilt.
In the Ancient Near Eastern world, Hannah’s problem carried even larger social consequences. In that world and at that time, women had no inherent value of their own. No, a woman’s only value was tied to her closest, living male relative. Women were only identified by their men. In fact, there was really no such thing as a woman. There were only daughters, wives, mothers and widows. And that was the progression of their lives.
A woman started her life as a daughter, who was totally dependent on her father for all her needs until she married and became a wife. A wife was totally dependent on her husband until her husband died—or worse, divorced her. A widow was totally dependent on her oldest, living son. Unless, of course, she had no son…Then she was simply discarded—thrown away—as if she were a non-person, someone without either identity or means for providing for her own needs.
So, Hannah had a problem. This was completely a woman’s problem. It was not her husband’s problem. The Law provided a way out for the man. Elkanah was Hannah’s husband. He was a good Jewish man…extremely religious and a careful observer of the religious Law and the Jewish customs. Elkanah also wanted a son to carry on his family name and to provide for him in his old age. But, Elkanah had a problem that could be solved. Hannah’s problem could not be solved.
Israel was one of very few countries in the ANE where it just wasn’t very common for a man to have multiple wives. However, it was allowed in certain cases. One of those cases is what we see with Elkanah and Hannah. If a man married a woman and later discovered that she could not have children, the Law allowed that man to take a second wife so that his family name could live on. And for that very reason, Elkanah took Peninnah to be his second wife.
Hannah was his first wife…the woman he desired…the wife whom he loved. Peninnah was his second wife…the woman he needed in order to have a son…the mother of his children.
Every time Elkanah traveled to the religious festivals at Shiloh, he took both wives: the woman he loved and the mother of his children. Over time, this developed into a competition between the two women. It was obvious to Hannah where she ranked in social standing—she could not provide her husband with a son. It was obvious to Peninnah where she ranked in Elkanah’s heart—each time they sat down to eat the religious feast, Elkanah gave Hannah the largest, most favored portion of meat. Because Hannah was his first love.
Peninnah began to insult Hannah and ridicule her. This seems ironic to me, because Hannah was the woman Elkanah loved and certainly had more to brag about. Yet, Hannah was doomed to a life of poverty and homelessness as a widow with no one to take care of her needs.
So, Hannah had a problem. There was only one place for Hannah to turn. There is only one Person who can do the impossible. There is only one Person who can bring forth life from death. There is only one Person who can satisfy Hannah’s legitimate desire for a son. So, Hannah went into the Sanctuary at Shiloh to pray earnestly for God to provide her with a son.
Now I have to admit, this is part of the Hannah story that has always bothered me. All my life I have heard this story taught in Sunday School or preached on days like Mothers’ Day as a story of a woman who could not have children but who “made a deal with God” that if God would give her a child she would give that child back to God. Then God honored Hannah’s faith by blessing her with a child who became the first prophet in Israel. And Hannah kept her part of the bargain.
It makes a great story. But it just doesn’t seem to fit with my experience. And it definitely doesn’t fit with my understanding of God. What about the millions of women past and present who have prayed for children yet were never able to conceive?
Shauna and I have great friends in Waco, who are faithful, committed Christians, yet they were married for fourteen years without children. They eventually adopted a precious little girl from Hong Kong and named her Hannah—which, by the way, is the Hebrew word for Grace, a Gift from God…
I also know women who are wonderfully committed Christian women, yet they have chosen to remain single and therefore without children. Lottie Moon was at the same time a single woman and deeply committed Christian minister. We could name dozens, if not hundreds, of Christian women who are single and without children as a result of tragic circumstances such as death or divorce.
Therefore, we make a mistake—even on days like Mothers’ Day—when we say that being a mother is a sign of faithfulness. Or that God ALWAYS blesses faithful women with children. That is simply not the case.
So, why this story about Hannah? What is the Bible trying to teach us by telling this story? I believe that we miss the point every time we look at Hannah’s prayer for a son as an example of faithfulness. The point is not about Hannah’s prayer for a son. The point is that God used this woman to bring forth Samuel…And God used Samuel to anoint the first two kings of the united Kingdom of Israel: Saul and David…And God used David to become the ancestor of Jesus of Nazareth.
When we look at Hannah, we are supposed to see Samuel, David and Jesus. The fact that Hannah could not have children simply underscores God’s role in the birth of Samuel. Hannah is just like Sarah, Rachel, Mary…Women who could not have children until God stepped in and performed a miracle…
When all seemed hopeless…that it was impossible for Hannah ever to have a son…God stepped in and performed a miracle. There are some people who might not recognize God’s hand at work in situations like this. But not Hannah…In verse 27 Hannah said, “I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him.”
Hannah demonstrates two important aspects of being a godly parent—or today, being a godly mother…
II. Children Are a Gift FROM God.
This is an important lesson for many parents today…Parents who find their busy lives interrupted or their plans canceled because of children…Believe it or not, there are some parents who view children as a curse rather than a blessing…
We find a similar theme in Psalm 127… “Sons are a gift from the LORD, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in ones youth. Blessed is the one whose quiver is full of them…”
Since each of us was at one point in time a child…We ought to consider ourselves Gifts from God…Our very existence is possible only as a Gift…
III. Children Are a Gift TO God.
Hannah reminds me of Abraham…They both thought it was impossible to have a child by natural means…But God provided each with a son…Both recognized that their child was a gift from God…And both were willing to give their “gift” back to God…Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac on the altar…Hannah was willing to give Samuel to Eli the priest as a “living sacrifice”…
There is just one difference…Remember what I said about the Law providing a way out for the man…When Sarah could not have a son, Abraham had a son with another “wife,” Hagar…If Isaac had died on the altar that day, he could always depend on Ishmael to take care of him in his old age…But Hannah had nothing…When she gave Samuel to Eli the priest, she gave away her very SELF…She gave Samuel’s life as well as her own life…There was no one left to care for her in her old age…
Hannah demonstrates an important lesson for all women and men of faith…Hannah demonstrated STEWARDSHIP OF LIFE…
IV. Conclusion
Stewardship of life is a concept that Jesus taught his disciples…Of course Jesus never used those exact words…Instead, he told a parable of a master who had three slaves…When the master went away on business, he entrusted his financial assets to these three slaves…When the master returned, he rewarded the two slaves who had done the most with what had been on loan to them…Then they returned the talents to the master…
Jesus teaches us that we are not held accountable for acquiring more—because it all comes from the master anyway…We are accountable for how we use the things we have been given…
Hannah is an example of One Faithful Mother…But she is also an example of Good Steward of Life…
If we can recognize our children as gifts from God, then we can give them back to God…If we can recognize our very lives as gifts from God, then we can give God our very lives…
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Andrew G. Pittman
Sunday Morning
May 6, 2007
How to Share Your Faith…Like Jesus Did
John 4: 1 – 26.
I. Introduction.
One of my pastor friends tells me that all churches say they want to grow… even though most churches don’t want to grow. It is easy to get comfortable and not want any new people around.
For what purpose does our church exist? As we dream about the future of Lufkin’s First Baptist Church, this is one question we need to ask and answer. Perhaps you are able to think of many answers to this question. However, I can only imagine two answers. These two answers are complete opposites which cannot peacefully coexist in our church.
The first answer is to say that First Baptist Church is a club which offers membership services to those who choose to join our club. In other words, church is for church people. If someone wants to join our church, then he or she may receive the full benefits of membership. These benefits include: fellowship with likeminded people; Sunday morning celebrations of our traditionalism; and programs to pass on our traditions to our children.
The second answer is the answer found in the Bible. In Genesis 12, God called Abraham to go into a new land so that Abraham’s descendents could live as God’s chosen people. However, God did not choose Abraham for the purpose of establishing a club. God called Abraham so that “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you (Genesis 12: 3).” In Matthew 28, Jesus gathered his disciples on the top of a mountain to commission them before he ascended into heaven. Jesus did not commission the disciples to establish a club. Jesus commissioned them to “make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28: 19).”
The purpose for Lufkin’s First Baptist Church must be consistent with the teachings of Scripture: to be a blessing to all people and to make disciples. Our purpose is to fulfill Jesus’ mission in Lufkin, in Texas, in North America and around the world. One of the many differences between a club and a church is vision. A club has a vision only for itself and its own members. A church is supposed to have a vision for the non-Christian people outside.
I am excited to be a part of this church which has demonstrated a vision for people outside our membership. On Monday, April 30, our church helped our mission church—Cross Timbers Cowboy Church—receive the necessary funding to build a new church facility on Highway 69 North. On Tuesday, May 1, our church entered into a covenant relationship with a local pastor to establish the first African American BGCT church in Angelina County. This church—New Beginnings Baptist Church—will hold her first worship service in September. In October 2006, our church voted to develop a partnership with the First Baptist Church of Grandprairie, Alberta, Canada to support them financially and to do mission work in their community.
Next week, I will travel to Africa with a group of people from Buckner International. Buckner already operates an orphanage in the African nation of Kenya. We will visit this orphanage to witness the work that is taking place. Then, we will travel to Ethiopia to dream and make plans for building the same type of ministry there.
Buckner has invited our church to be one of five churches from East Texas to establish and operate a new orphanage in Ethiopia. In addition, we will have opportunities to do evangelism and church planting in the same areas in which we work with orphans, foster parents and adoption.
The trip I will take this month is a “vision trip” for the new work. Buckner has scheduled the very first mission trip to Ethiopia to take place July 9 – 19. I cannot travel in July because we have our Bible School scheduled for that same time. However, Buckner wants our church represented on this first mission trip. I have information from Buckner for anyone who feels like God might be calling you to this ministry in July. Consider this an open invitation for those who feel called.
My prayer is that we would adopt this on-going mission to Ethiopia as one way to share God’s vision for non-Christians outside our church. Adopting this mission would give our members three opportunities to participate in mission: local (New Beginnings Baptist Church); North American (First Baptist Grandprairie, Alberta, Canada); and global (Ethiopia).
I believe that if we will share God’s vision for people outside our church and participate in that mission, then God will begin to grow our church in exciting ways. Will you join me in fulfilling this purpose? We cannot allow our church to become a club.
That leads to what should be an obvious question…How can a church grow? You have probably heard me quote Rick Warren several times. Rick Warren says that there are three ways a church can grow…Grow through Birth—more and more babies being born…Grow through Transfer—people moving to town looking for a church, or a church split across town…Grow through Conversion—witnessing to the lost and baptizing new converts into the church…
Read John 4: 1 – 26.
II. Jesus Was Alert to Every Opportunity.
The story begins as Jesus and his disciples learn that the Pharisees are interested in Jesus’ ministry. They are not interested in becoming disciples, but in running Jesus out of town or killing him…So, Jesus and his disciples have to travel in a hurry from Judea to Galilee.
The quickest route from Judea (in the South) to Galilee (in the North) is to travel directly through the central region of Palestine, known as Samaria. This was not the normal route for Jewish people—including Jesus and the disciples. They normally went miles and miles out of their way to avoid Samaria so they would not have any contact with any Samaritans.
On this particular occasion, Jesus and the disciples traveled on a straight line directly through Samaria…And it just so happened that they were passing through Samaria during dinner time. Therefore, Jesus sent the disciples into the nearest town to buy some food.
While the disciples were gone, Jesus waited at the local well to rest. There at the well…in the middle of the day…at the hottest point of the day…Jesus had an encounter with a Samaritan woman.
The way John tells this story, it seems that Jesus just “happened to be there at the same time” as the Samaritan woman. But Jesus did not think of this encounter as a chance or a random event. Jesus saw this as a God-given encounter…And used it for God’s purposes…
This has a theological significance for us today…God is at work in EVERY circumstance of our lives…God moves us and directs us into the places he wants us to go…God moves the right people into our lives at just the right times…
Think of your family members…Friends…Co-Workers…Classmates… God has placed these people in your life for a specific reason…
III. Jesus Was Willing to Cross Boundaries.
After meeting the woman for the very first time at the well, Jesus began to speak to the woman. It is important to note that Jesus took the initiative in the conversation. He asked her for a drink…If Jesus had not initiated the conversation, they would not have spoken. Given the circumstances of the woman’s life…I am almost certain that she would NEVER have spoken to Jesus first.
Just initiating the conversation was a big step for Jesus to take. And Jewish men and women of that day would have seen this as a really big deal. In fact, I usually like to imagine the disciples as they walked back up and saw Jesus speaking to this Samaritan woman at the well in the middle of broad daylight, out where everyone could see him…I’m sure they thought, “What has Jesus gotten us into this time?”
The disciples would have been shocked to see Jesus speaking to this woman, because none of them would have spoken to her…Jesus didn’t have to speak to this woman…The disciples would NOT have spoken to her…And no one would have questioned why the disciples were silent…
When Jesus spoke to the Woman at the Well, he overcame at least three boundaries.
1. She was a Samaritan…Jews did not speak with Samaritans…They were considered an unclean race…You will remember from Old Testament history that the Northern Kingdom of Israel was completely destroyed by the Assyrians, but the Southern Kingdom of Judah was taken captive (or Exiled) by the Babylonians…When the Babylonians invaded Judah, they captured the strongest, the bravest and the best looking people and took them to Babylon as slaves…But they left the weak, the ugly and the disabled behind…These people who were “left behind” intermarried among the foreign peoples who lived in that region and established their own nation… When the Israelites finally returned to their land, they found it was already populated by these interracial people…These were the Samaritans…And the Jews wanted nothing to do the Samaritans…Even in Jesus’ day
2. She was a Woman…In Ancient Jewish culture, women were devalued as nothing more than just property belonging to a man…Daughters were property of Fathers…And Wives were property of Husbands…A woman had no identity of her own…Her purpose was to serve the needs of her man—either husband or father—there was no self-respecting man who would endeavor to have a relationship with a woman…
3. She was a Sinful Woman…We read that this woman had a very bad reputation in her town…She was known as a very promiscuous woman…She had been married five times and was now living with a man who was not her husband…Jesus could get a bad reputation just by associating with this woman…
This has theological significance for us today…God’s redemptive plan is intended for all the world and all people… For God so loved the WORLD, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life…It is never for us to decide who can and who cannot be saved…
IV. Jesus Was Sensitive to Genuine Human Needs.
Notice that Jesus did not begin the conversation by forcing the woman to listen to the Four Spiritual Laws or the Roman Road to Salvation. The first thing Jesus did was to LISTEN. He listened to her as she expressed what she was worried about and as she expressed her deepest felt needs.
Jesus listened to her needs, because Jesus came to meet her needs…He spoke the Gospel Message—the Good News—to her specific needs and concerns. He did not try to take a cookie-cutter approach to presenting the Good News, as if every person were exactly the same person.
Jesus knew this woman was different and took the time to get to know her and build a relationship with her. Then he was able to touch her life at the point of her greatest need…By listening, Jesus got to know two things about this woman…
1. She was involved in a Sinful Lifestyle…As I mentioned earlier, she was a promiscuous person…She had been married to five different men and was now living with a man who was not her husband…I can remember a time when we referred to this as “Living in Sin”…Now couples may choose this as a way to save money or to see if they have what it takes to get married…Did you know that recent research and census data indicate that the divorce rate is actually significantly higher for couples who marry after first living together?
Jesus was very aware of this woman’s sinful lifestyle, yet notice how he addressed her…Jesus did not condemn her or make her feel guilty even though we know that he did not approve…He addressed her problem as a search for satisfaction… Read vv. 13 – 14…Nothing else in this world can satisfy the cravings and desires of life like Jesus…Only Jesus can satisfy…
2. She was involved in a False Religion…Samaritans and Jews shared the same history and roots…Therefore, they held similar beliefs…However, the Samaritans rejected the Jewish understanding of God’s revelation—They had a different Scripture with different books…The Samaritans rejected the Jewish worship—They worshipped in a different Temple on a different site…
Again, this is a search for satisfaction in the wrong direction…Jesus looked beyond these issues and realized that her search for satisfaction could only be fulfilled in a Right Relationship with God.
This has a theological significance for us today…God’s redemptive plan meets all human needs. Ultimately, the greatest human need is to be in a Right Relationship with God. This relationship is only possible through Jesus Christ as Lord
V. Conclusion.
We have looked at one biblical story about an evangelistic encounter between Jesus and the Woman at the Well. The story shows us how Jesus witnessed to a woman who was no different from you and me—she was a sinner searching for satisfaction in all the wrong places.
Our community is filled with hundreds and thousands of men and women just like that—sinners who are searching for something that will satisfy.
Are you willing to share your faith like Jesus did?
Are you willing to look for God’s hand leading you to witnessing opportunities? Are you willing to listen to the aches and pains and hurts of your friends and family members? Are you willing to tell others that the only thing that can truly satisfy every longing of the human heart is a Right Relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord?
Maybe you are here this morning searching…Maybe you would like to take a sip of the Living Water that will quench your thirst and satisfy all your needs…
Sunday Morning
May 6, 2007
How to Share Your Faith…Like Jesus Did
John 4: 1 – 26.
I. Introduction.
One of my pastor friends tells me that all churches say they want to grow… even though most churches don’t want to grow. It is easy to get comfortable and not want any new people around.
For what purpose does our church exist? As we dream about the future of Lufkin’s First Baptist Church, this is one question we need to ask and answer. Perhaps you are able to think of many answers to this question. However, I can only imagine two answers. These two answers are complete opposites which cannot peacefully coexist in our church.
The first answer is to say that First Baptist Church is a club which offers membership services to those who choose to join our club. In other words, church is for church people. If someone wants to join our church, then he or she may receive the full benefits of membership. These benefits include: fellowship with likeminded people; Sunday morning celebrations of our traditionalism; and programs to pass on our traditions to our children.
The second answer is the answer found in the Bible. In Genesis 12, God called Abraham to go into a new land so that Abraham’s descendents could live as God’s chosen people. However, God did not choose Abraham for the purpose of establishing a club. God called Abraham so that “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you (Genesis 12: 3).” In Matthew 28, Jesus gathered his disciples on the top of a mountain to commission them before he ascended into heaven. Jesus did not commission the disciples to establish a club. Jesus commissioned them to “make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28: 19).”
The purpose for Lufkin’s First Baptist Church must be consistent with the teachings of Scripture: to be a blessing to all people and to make disciples. Our purpose is to fulfill Jesus’ mission in Lufkin, in Texas, in North America and around the world. One of the many differences between a club and a church is vision. A club has a vision only for itself and its own members. A church is supposed to have a vision for the non-Christian people outside.
I am excited to be a part of this church which has demonstrated a vision for people outside our membership. On Monday, April 30, our church helped our mission church—Cross Timbers Cowboy Church—receive the necessary funding to build a new church facility on Highway 69 North. On Tuesday, May 1, our church entered into a covenant relationship with a local pastor to establish the first African American BGCT church in Angelina County. This church—New Beginnings Baptist Church—will hold her first worship service in September. In October 2006, our church voted to develop a partnership with the First Baptist Church of Grandprairie, Alberta, Canada to support them financially and to do mission work in their community.
Next week, I will travel to Africa with a group of people from Buckner International. Buckner already operates an orphanage in the African nation of Kenya. We will visit this orphanage to witness the work that is taking place. Then, we will travel to Ethiopia to dream and make plans for building the same type of ministry there.
Buckner has invited our church to be one of five churches from East Texas to establish and operate a new orphanage in Ethiopia. In addition, we will have opportunities to do evangelism and church planting in the same areas in which we work with orphans, foster parents and adoption.
The trip I will take this month is a “vision trip” for the new work. Buckner has scheduled the very first mission trip to Ethiopia to take place July 9 – 19. I cannot travel in July because we have our Bible School scheduled for that same time. However, Buckner wants our church represented on this first mission trip. I have information from Buckner for anyone who feels like God might be calling you to this ministry in July. Consider this an open invitation for those who feel called.
My prayer is that we would adopt this on-going mission to Ethiopia as one way to share God’s vision for non-Christians outside our church. Adopting this mission would give our members three opportunities to participate in mission: local (New Beginnings Baptist Church); North American (First Baptist Grandprairie, Alberta, Canada); and global (Ethiopia).
I believe that if we will share God’s vision for people outside our church and participate in that mission, then God will begin to grow our church in exciting ways. Will you join me in fulfilling this purpose? We cannot allow our church to become a club.
That leads to what should be an obvious question…How can a church grow? You have probably heard me quote Rick Warren several times. Rick Warren says that there are three ways a church can grow…Grow through Birth—more and more babies being born…Grow through Transfer—people moving to town looking for a church, or a church split across town…Grow through Conversion—witnessing to the lost and baptizing new converts into the church…
Read John 4: 1 – 26.
II. Jesus Was Alert to Every Opportunity.
The story begins as Jesus and his disciples learn that the Pharisees are interested in Jesus’ ministry. They are not interested in becoming disciples, but in running Jesus out of town or killing him…So, Jesus and his disciples have to travel in a hurry from Judea to Galilee.
The quickest route from Judea (in the South) to Galilee (in the North) is to travel directly through the central region of Palestine, known as Samaria. This was not the normal route for Jewish people—including Jesus and the disciples. They normally went miles and miles out of their way to avoid Samaria so they would not have any contact with any Samaritans.
On this particular occasion, Jesus and the disciples traveled on a straight line directly through Samaria…And it just so happened that they were passing through Samaria during dinner time. Therefore, Jesus sent the disciples into the nearest town to buy some food.
While the disciples were gone, Jesus waited at the local well to rest. There at the well…in the middle of the day…at the hottest point of the day…Jesus had an encounter with a Samaritan woman.
The way John tells this story, it seems that Jesus just “happened to be there at the same time” as the Samaritan woman. But Jesus did not think of this encounter as a chance or a random event. Jesus saw this as a God-given encounter…And used it for God’s purposes…
This has a theological significance for us today…God is at work in EVERY circumstance of our lives…God moves us and directs us into the places he wants us to go…God moves the right people into our lives at just the right times…
Think of your family members…Friends…Co-Workers…Classmates… God has placed these people in your life for a specific reason…
III. Jesus Was Willing to Cross Boundaries.
After meeting the woman for the very first time at the well, Jesus began to speak to the woman. It is important to note that Jesus took the initiative in the conversation. He asked her for a drink…If Jesus had not initiated the conversation, they would not have spoken. Given the circumstances of the woman’s life…I am almost certain that she would NEVER have spoken to Jesus first.
Just initiating the conversation was a big step for Jesus to take. And Jewish men and women of that day would have seen this as a really big deal. In fact, I usually like to imagine the disciples as they walked back up and saw Jesus speaking to this Samaritan woman at the well in the middle of broad daylight, out where everyone could see him…I’m sure they thought, “What has Jesus gotten us into this time?”
The disciples would have been shocked to see Jesus speaking to this woman, because none of them would have spoken to her…Jesus didn’t have to speak to this woman…The disciples would NOT have spoken to her…And no one would have questioned why the disciples were silent…
When Jesus spoke to the Woman at the Well, he overcame at least three boundaries.
1. She was a Samaritan…Jews did not speak with Samaritans…They were considered an unclean race…You will remember from Old Testament history that the Northern Kingdom of Israel was completely destroyed by the Assyrians, but the Southern Kingdom of Judah was taken captive (or Exiled) by the Babylonians…When the Babylonians invaded Judah, they captured the strongest, the bravest and the best looking people and took them to Babylon as slaves…But they left the weak, the ugly and the disabled behind…These people who were “left behind” intermarried among the foreign peoples who lived in that region and established their own nation… When the Israelites finally returned to their land, they found it was already populated by these interracial people…These were the Samaritans…And the Jews wanted nothing to do the Samaritans…Even in Jesus’ day
2. She was a Woman…In Ancient Jewish culture, women were devalued as nothing more than just property belonging to a man…Daughters were property of Fathers…And Wives were property of Husbands…A woman had no identity of her own…Her purpose was to serve the needs of her man—either husband or father—there was no self-respecting man who would endeavor to have a relationship with a woman…
3. She was a Sinful Woman…We read that this woman had a very bad reputation in her town…She was known as a very promiscuous woman…She had been married five times and was now living with a man who was not her husband…Jesus could get a bad reputation just by associating with this woman…
This has theological significance for us today…God’s redemptive plan is intended for all the world and all people… For God so loved the WORLD, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life…It is never for us to decide who can and who cannot be saved…
IV. Jesus Was Sensitive to Genuine Human Needs.
Notice that Jesus did not begin the conversation by forcing the woman to listen to the Four Spiritual Laws or the Roman Road to Salvation. The first thing Jesus did was to LISTEN. He listened to her as she expressed what she was worried about and as she expressed her deepest felt needs.
Jesus listened to her needs, because Jesus came to meet her needs…He spoke the Gospel Message—the Good News—to her specific needs and concerns. He did not try to take a cookie-cutter approach to presenting the Good News, as if every person were exactly the same person.
Jesus knew this woman was different and took the time to get to know her and build a relationship with her. Then he was able to touch her life at the point of her greatest need…By listening, Jesus got to know two things about this woman…
1. She was involved in a Sinful Lifestyle…As I mentioned earlier, she was a promiscuous person…She had been married to five different men and was now living with a man who was not her husband…I can remember a time when we referred to this as “Living in Sin”…Now couples may choose this as a way to save money or to see if they have what it takes to get married…Did you know that recent research and census data indicate that the divorce rate is actually significantly higher for couples who marry after first living together?
Jesus was very aware of this woman’s sinful lifestyle, yet notice how he addressed her…Jesus did not condemn her or make her feel guilty even though we know that he did not approve…He addressed her problem as a search for satisfaction… Read vv. 13 – 14…Nothing else in this world can satisfy the cravings and desires of life like Jesus…Only Jesus can satisfy…
2. She was involved in a False Religion…Samaritans and Jews shared the same history and roots…Therefore, they held similar beliefs…However, the Samaritans rejected the Jewish understanding of God’s revelation—They had a different Scripture with different books…The Samaritans rejected the Jewish worship—They worshipped in a different Temple on a different site…
Again, this is a search for satisfaction in the wrong direction…Jesus looked beyond these issues and realized that her search for satisfaction could only be fulfilled in a Right Relationship with God.
This has a theological significance for us today…God’s redemptive plan meets all human needs. Ultimately, the greatest human need is to be in a Right Relationship with God. This relationship is only possible through Jesus Christ as Lord
V. Conclusion.
We have looked at one biblical story about an evangelistic encounter between Jesus and the Woman at the Well. The story shows us how Jesus witnessed to a woman who was no different from you and me—she was a sinner searching for satisfaction in all the wrong places.
Our community is filled with hundreds and thousands of men and women just like that—sinners who are searching for something that will satisfy.
Are you willing to share your faith like Jesus did?
Are you willing to look for God’s hand leading you to witnessing opportunities? Are you willing to listen to the aches and pains and hurts of your friends and family members? Are you willing to tell others that the only thing that can truly satisfy every longing of the human heart is a Right Relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord?
Maybe you are here this morning searching…Maybe you would like to take a sip of the Living Water that will quench your thirst and satisfy all your needs…
Sunday, April 30, 2007
Andrew G. Pittman
Sunday Morning
April 29, 2007
This Is Love
1 John 4: 7-12.
I. Introduction.
One of the worst feelings that a person could experience is the feeling one has after discovering that they have been robbed. The feeling of knowing that their personal property or their place of security has been violated. I have only experienced this feeling a few times.
The time that I will never forget was the time that my car was stolen in Jackson, MS while I was refereeing a high school soccer game. (I shared some of this story with you a few weeks ago.) I was supposed to referee two soccer games that night, but one of the teams had to forfeit the second game. Shauna had come by to see me and was there to see me try to find my car.
She asked me, “Where is your car?” I answered, “It’s over there on the other side of that bus.” We walked over to it together and it was gone. I stood in the parking place looking all around the dark parking lot wondering if I had parked somewhere else. Then I started pointing at the ground saying, “I parked it right here. I parked it right here. I don’t understand. It should be right here.”
When we finally got the car back, it had been ransacked. All of my belongings had been removed, including the clothes that I had worn and changed out of the day I had been refereeing. In their place, the thief left his clothes.
Someone had taken what belonged to me and used it for wrong purposes, as if it had been his own. He took a part of my life that was significant, that actually meant something to me and changed it to the point that I could no longer use it, or even recognize it. And to top it off, the car was no longer driveable to me. We were faced with a situation of having to spend a lot of time and money just to reclaim what had once been my car.
Did you know that the same thing has happened in the church? We have been robbed of something that was once very significant to us.
Now, I’m not talking about TV’s, VCR’s, or any other kind of church property. I’m not even talking about money.
Every church in America has been robbed of its distinctively Christian language. The one word that I have in mind this morning is the word “LOVE.”
Our culture has so distorted and altered the meaning of the word “LOVE” that we can no longer use it, or even recognize it as being our word. The world has taken something that was at one time very significant to the church and used it for their purposes. It’s like getting into your own car and finding someone else’s clothes in it. You can’t even recognize it as your own car. But it is now time that we spend the time and the effort to recapture our word “LOVE.”
Read 1 John 4: 7 – 12.
II. Love Comes from God.
In defining love as a distinctively Christian word, we must begin in the Bible. This passage is one of the 2 most frequently used passages in the New Testament on love. It helps us to define what love is.
John began this pass by telling us that love must come from God. This is significant because it describes love as coming from the divine sphere. LOVE is not from the worldly sphere, rather it comes from God. Perfect love comes from above, not from below…Therefore, any love that comes from below must be imperfect, corrupt…Or, it must be based on the Love that comes from above.
Then, in the next verse, John tells us that God himself is love…God doesn’t only give love…God is love…Therefore, God has demonstrated Love to us by giving us nothing short of himself. This is significant for at least 2 reasons:
1) It describes God as being personal…Since we understand Love as a personal act, then God must be a person & must be concerned with relationships as priority.
2) It places the foundation for Christian ethics in the very nature of God himself…Christians are called to act & live according to God’s nature.
However, we still don’t have a working definition of LOVE. Until we define what Love is, we will not be able to understand John’s point. So what is LOVE?
My favorite def of Love is from a book on personal evangelism by Oscar Thompson Concentric Circles of Concern. Oscar Thompson defines love as “meeting needs.” In other words, if we love someone, it will be expressed by actively meeting their needs. But, does this definition fit with our Scripture?
Read v. 10
Here we see John’s definition of Love. Notice that v. 10 does not say “this is God’s love.” Instead, this verse is a description of true love or perfect love. Any love that originates within us as humans, cannot be perfect love. Perfect love always originates with God. Perfect love can be described by 3 ideas taken directly from v. 10:
1) Perfect love is always action, not feeling.
This is one place where the world has corrupted our understanding of Love. We can use Love in such a cavalier way that we can say things like, “I love hamburgers.” But perfect Love is always expressed in action Jesus did not say, “Greater love has no one than this that one have great affection for a friend.” Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this that one lay down his or her very life for their friends.”
2) Perfect love is always self-sacrificial.
Again, the world has corrupted us in this area. We are taught that love is a feeling that is based on the way someone makes us feel about ourselves. The world’s love is about receiving something enjoyable and / or fulfilling from the object of our love. But, perfect love has been revealed to us in the life and the death and the resurrection of Jesus. When God took the initiative to act on our behalf, he did so by making a personal sacrifice. Perfect love was not and is not based on how the lover feels.
3) Perfect love benefits other people.
It was not enough that Jesus died. In order for his self-sacrificial action to reveal perfect love, it had to benefit other people. And it did! We read in the Bible that Jesus’ death on the cross was God’s way of providing the means to reconcile humanity to God. Because of God’s perfect love, our sins were atoned for when Jesus died on the cross.
Therefore, perfect love is Action, not feelings; it is self-sacrificial, not self-serving; and it is for the benefit of others, not ourselves.
Perfect love then calls us to express 2 different kinds of love: to love Christians and to love the world
III. Love Calls Us to Love Christians.
I just finished reading a book entitled Breakout Churches: Discovering How Your Church Can Make the Leap. The book identifies 13 churches across the United States that were able to move from being good churches to becoming great churches. Thirteen churches were studied, and each church was compared to 3 other churches that did not make the leap. There were a total of 52 churches involved. In these 52 churches, the research team identified 172 conflicts that were taking place. Out of these 172 conflicts, the source of 171 was Christians not getting along with Christians. Only one conflict out of 172 was caused by non-Christians…
Read v. 11.
In this verse, John told his church & us today that our response to the divine love is to love one another. This refers to Christians loving Christians. The Greek employs a type of conditional sentence that affirms the reality of the condition mentioned. In other words, we could translate the word “if” as “since.” “Since God loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
We can “Love one another” only because God has revealed what perfect love is. However, we are faced with a problem. Our motives are so corrupt that even our best efforts at loving others can be self-serving. Therefore, we are forced to rely on a power and strength beyond us to enable us to love perfectly as God has first loved us.
Here is where faith enters in. If we separate loving actions toward others from faith in God through Christ, then we practice nothing more than concern for humanity…humanism…Salvation by Works… BUT…If we connect loving actions with our faith in God through Christ, then God gives us the Holy Spirit., who is the power of love to practice God’s kind of love toward each other. We can say this because we know that Perfect Love can only originate from God.
IV. Love Calls Us to Love the World.
Read v. 12
For a long time, I found v. 12 to be strange…It didn’t seem to fit the pass. I couldn’t figure out why John would introduce a new theme at the end of his paragraph. Why would he write about the invisibility of God? And why here?
I think John is trying to emphasize the Christian’s individual responsibility in the world. If God is perfect love revealed in the act of self-sacrifice on the cross on our behalf, and if we are only capable of truly loving as a result of the power of God within us, then loving the world is the way we as Christians can show the world who God is.
Love is the actualization of God in the world. In other words, when we love the world, we make God real. When we do not love, God remains abstract and invisible. And God was neither abstract nor invisible to John. In his theology, God is love: active, self-sacrificing and benefiting others.
V. Conclusion.
I know this will be a very silly story, but I think you can get the point. Imagine that you are sitting on the end of a pier fishing. It’s a beautiful day, and the fish are biting. You are having one of your best days of fishing you have ever had in your life.
Then, all of a sudden, someone else shows up. You don’t really want to share your fishing spot, but it looks like you don’t have a choice. But, this man doesn’t want to fish. He just wants to tell you that he loves you.
The man walks out to the end of the pier and gets your attention. He says, “I love you so much that I will jump off this pier, into the water and drown myself.” Is that what Love is? No. Love is active, self-sacrificial and benefits others. This man was active and self-sacrificing, but no one was benefited by what he did.
Now, imagine the story another way. What if you were actually in the water struggling to swim. You don’t think you will be able to make it back to the pier. Then, another person jumps into the water to save you. In the course of saving your life, this man drowns. Is that what Love is? Yes. Love is active, self-sacrificial and benefits someone else.
It is time that we reclaim our language from the thieves of this world. It is time to stop allowing non-believers to define for us what love is supposed to be.
Sunday Morning
April 29, 2007
This Is Love
1 John 4: 7-12.
I. Introduction.
One of the worst feelings that a person could experience is the feeling one has after discovering that they have been robbed. The feeling of knowing that their personal property or their place of security has been violated. I have only experienced this feeling a few times.
The time that I will never forget was the time that my car was stolen in Jackson, MS while I was refereeing a high school soccer game. (I shared some of this story with you a few weeks ago.) I was supposed to referee two soccer games that night, but one of the teams had to forfeit the second game. Shauna had come by to see me and was there to see me try to find my car.
She asked me, “Where is your car?” I answered, “It’s over there on the other side of that bus.” We walked over to it together and it was gone. I stood in the parking place looking all around the dark parking lot wondering if I had parked somewhere else. Then I started pointing at the ground saying, “I parked it right here. I parked it right here. I don’t understand. It should be right here.”
When we finally got the car back, it had been ransacked. All of my belongings had been removed, including the clothes that I had worn and changed out of the day I had been refereeing. In their place, the thief left his clothes.
Someone had taken what belonged to me and used it for wrong purposes, as if it had been his own. He took a part of my life that was significant, that actually meant something to me and changed it to the point that I could no longer use it, or even recognize it. And to top it off, the car was no longer driveable to me. We were faced with a situation of having to spend a lot of time and money just to reclaim what had once been my car.
Did you know that the same thing has happened in the church? We have been robbed of something that was once very significant to us.
Now, I’m not talking about TV’s, VCR’s, or any other kind of church property. I’m not even talking about money.
Every church in America has been robbed of its distinctively Christian language. The one word that I have in mind this morning is the word “LOVE.”
Our culture has so distorted and altered the meaning of the word “LOVE” that we can no longer use it, or even recognize it as being our word. The world has taken something that was at one time very significant to the church and used it for their purposes. It’s like getting into your own car and finding someone else’s clothes in it. You can’t even recognize it as your own car. But it is now time that we spend the time and the effort to recapture our word “LOVE.”
Read 1 John 4: 7 – 12.
II. Love Comes from God.
In defining love as a distinctively Christian word, we must begin in the Bible. This passage is one of the 2 most frequently used passages in the New Testament on love. It helps us to define what love is.
John began this pass by telling us that love must come from God. This is significant because it describes love as coming from the divine sphere. LOVE is not from the worldly sphere, rather it comes from God. Perfect love comes from above, not from below…Therefore, any love that comes from below must be imperfect, corrupt…Or, it must be based on the Love that comes from above.
Then, in the next verse, John tells us that God himself is love…God doesn’t only give love…God is love…Therefore, God has demonstrated Love to us by giving us nothing short of himself. This is significant for at least 2 reasons:
1) It describes God as being personal…Since we understand Love as a personal act, then God must be a person & must be concerned with relationships as priority.
2) It places the foundation for Christian ethics in the very nature of God himself…Christians are called to act & live according to God’s nature.
However, we still don’t have a working definition of LOVE. Until we define what Love is, we will not be able to understand John’s point. So what is LOVE?
My favorite def of Love is from a book on personal evangelism by Oscar Thompson Concentric Circles of Concern. Oscar Thompson defines love as “meeting needs.” In other words, if we love someone, it will be expressed by actively meeting their needs. But, does this definition fit with our Scripture?
Read v. 10
Here we see John’s definition of Love. Notice that v. 10 does not say “this is God’s love.” Instead, this verse is a description of true love or perfect love. Any love that originates within us as humans, cannot be perfect love. Perfect love always originates with God. Perfect love can be described by 3 ideas taken directly from v. 10:
1) Perfect love is always action, not feeling.
This is one place where the world has corrupted our understanding of Love. We can use Love in such a cavalier way that we can say things like, “I love hamburgers.” But perfect Love is always expressed in action Jesus did not say, “Greater love has no one than this that one have great affection for a friend.” Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this that one lay down his or her very life for their friends.”
2) Perfect love is always self-sacrificial.
Again, the world has corrupted us in this area. We are taught that love is a feeling that is based on the way someone makes us feel about ourselves. The world’s love is about receiving something enjoyable and / or fulfilling from the object of our love. But, perfect love has been revealed to us in the life and the death and the resurrection of Jesus. When God took the initiative to act on our behalf, he did so by making a personal sacrifice. Perfect love was not and is not based on how the lover feels.
3) Perfect love benefits other people.
It was not enough that Jesus died. In order for his self-sacrificial action to reveal perfect love, it had to benefit other people. And it did! We read in the Bible that Jesus’ death on the cross was God’s way of providing the means to reconcile humanity to God. Because of God’s perfect love, our sins were atoned for when Jesus died on the cross.
Therefore, perfect love is Action, not feelings; it is self-sacrificial, not self-serving; and it is for the benefit of others, not ourselves.
Perfect love then calls us to express 2 different kinds of love: to love Christians and to love the world
III. Love Calls Us to Love Christians.
I just finished reading a book entitled Breakout Churches: Discovering How Your Church Can Make the Leap. The book identifies 13 churches across the United States that were able to move from being good churches to becoming great churches. Thirteen churches were studied, and each church was compared to 3 other churches that did not make the leap. There were a total of 52 churches involved. In these 52 churches, the research team identified 172 conflicts that were taking place. Out of these 172 conflicts, the source of 171 was Christians not getting along with Christians. Only one conflict out of 172 was caused by non-Christians…
Read v. 11.
In this verse, John told his church & us today that our response to the divine love is to love one another. This refers to Christians loving Christians. The Greek employs a type of conditional sentence that affirms the reality of the condition mentioned. In other words, we could translate the word “if” as “since.” “Since God loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
We can “Love one another” only because God has revealed what perfect love is. However, we are faced with a problem. Our motives are so corrupt that even our best efforts at loving others can be self-serving. Therefore, we are forced to rely on a power and strength beyond us to enable us to love perfectly as God has first loved us.
Here is where faith enters in. If we separate loving actions toward others from faith in God through Christ, then we practice nothing more than concern for humanity…humanism…Salvation by Works… BUT…If we connect loving actions with our faith in God through Christ, then God gives us the Holy Spirit., who is the power of love to practice God’s kind of love toward each other. We can say this because we know that Perfect Love can only originate from God.
IV. Love Calls Us to Love the World.
Read v. 12
For a long time, I found v. 12 to be strange…It didn’t seem to fit the pass. I couldn’t figure out why John would introduce a new theme at the end of his paragraph. Why would he write about the invisibility of God? And why here?
I think John is trying to emphasize the Christian’s individual responsibility in the world. If God is perfect love revealed in the act of self-sacrifice on the cross on our behalf, and if we are only capable of truly loving as a result of the power of God within us, then loving the world is the way we as Christians can show the world who God is.
Love is the actualization of God in the world. In other words, when we love the world, we make God real. When we do not love, God remains abstract and invisible. And God was neither abstract nor invisible to John. In his theology, God is love: active, self-sacrificing and benefiting others.
V. Conclusion.
I know this will be a very silly story, but I think you can get the point. Imagine that you are sitting on the end of a pier fishing. It’s a beautiful day, and the fish are biting. You are having one of your best days of fishing you have ever had in your life.
Then, all of a sudden, someone else shows up. You don’t really want to share your fishing spot, but it looks like you don’t have a choice. But, this man doesn’t want to fish. He just wants to tell you that he loves you.
The man walks out to the end of the pier and gets your attention. He says, “I love you so much that I will jump off this pier, into the water and drown myself.” Is that what Love is? No. Love is active, self-sacrificial and benefits others. This man was active and self-sacrificing, but no one was benefited by what he did.
Now, imagine the story another way. What if you were actually in the water struggling to swim. You don’t think you will be able to make it back to the pier. Then, another person jumps into the water to save you. In the course of saving your life, this man drowns. Is that what Love is? Yes. Love is active, self-sacrificial and benefits someone else.
It is time that we reclaim our language from the thieves of this world. It is time to stop allowing non-believers to define for us what love is supposed to be.
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