Extravagant Generosity - 2 - The Art of Love: Relationships are Matters of the Heart

Scripture: John 13:34-35

John 13:34–35 NIV

34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

11/10/2024

Order of Service:

Announcements

Opening Worship

Prayer Requests

Prayer Song

Pastoral Prayer

Kid’s Time

Mission Moment

Offering (Doxology and Offering Prayer)

Scripture Reading

Sermon

Closing Song

Benediction

Special Notes:

Week 2: Mission Moment

Blessing Box

Opening Prayer:

Lord, you are undivided. You are One. As the persons of the Trinity freely share of themselves with one another, you call us to do likewise. You have commanded us to love one another, so that the whole world may see who you truly are and a glimpse of your kingdom here on earth. We place all our trust in the love you showed to us in your son, Jesus Christ, and it is in his name we pray. Amen.

The Art of Love: Relationships are Matters of the Heart

Progress and Foundations

Progress challenges the status quo, with each generation building on the work of its predecessors. This process is rarely smooth. As we begin our efforts, we often uncover foundational issues that require our attention. This is the challenge of building on the contributions of others.

Last Sunday, we took time to remember the lives and work of those who came before us. We concluded the worship service with the hymn “The Church’s One Foundation,” which reminds us that Jesus is the only foundation upon which we can build. Anything built on a different foundation will topple and fall. Throughout history, we have often developed grand ideas and started building great things, only to grow weary, question our efforts, and realize we are not on the right foundation—ultimately having to tear everything down and start again. We frequently find ourselves in this frustrating cycle.

Life under the old covenant was challenging. If people in past generations were like us today, many might feel their lives reflect the story of Job, tormented by the devil without cause. However, the prophets consistently conveyed a different message. They made it clear that their experiences contrasted sharply with Job’s. The Hebrew people started with nothing and received everything from God, who only asked for their love and loyalty in return. Yet, they could not meet this expectation. They lost everything or willingly gave it away through their own choices. Without needing the devil’s assistance they could undermine their own blessings.

This transformation did not happen overnight. Although individual moments may appear as tragedies and injustices, examining the broader picture over centuries reveals how our current choices impact the future. We reap what we sow, as well as what our parents and grandparents have sown. Unfortunately, the weeds often overshadow much of the wheat.

Are you feeling depressed yet? That is the futility of life we have inherited. It is the old covenant of life, which we tend to revert to today. We have a fractured relationship with God and a flawed understanding of life, leading to broken relationships with one another.

This is why God sent Jesus into the world. Many believe that God sent Jesus to offer us forgiveness so we can continue living our broken lives without fear of punishment or judgment. However, Jesus taught us otherwise. His forgiveness fulfilled the old covenant and freed us to enter into a new covenant with God.

Some may view it as a promotion, while others see it as a job change—transitioning from fishermen, farmers, and shepherds to becoming fishers, farmers, and shepherds of men and women. Although many of the old rules and commandments still apply to this new covenant, Jesus also provided new commandments. We now have different ways to measure our faithfulness to God, with relationships at the core of our faith. This is no longer merely a bonus; instead, Jesus taught that our relationships with one another reflect our relationship with God.

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Love One Another

Your relationships with one another prove you know God.

In the ancient world, civilizations were built on foundations of power. This power, expressed through physical force, wealth, or political influence, encouraged others to pledge allegiance for protection, provisions, and sometimes justice against enemies.

Consider the stories of those who left pagan cultures to join the Hebrew people. For example, Rahab of Jericho joined the Hebrews after hearing that their God had defeated His enemies and left them unburied. Similarly, Ruth the Moabite chose to join the Israelites because she believed their God would care for her better than the gods of her own people.

God challenged the culture of power by asking the Israelites to follow unique customs, such as resting from work one day each week and supporting the poor and foreigners in their communities. In ancient times, cross-cultural marriages were often used to consolidate power during conflicts. However, God prohibited such marriages unless the spouses converted and made a covenant with Him. Throughout Israel’s history, significant violations of these commandments mostly came from kings and the ruling class rather than the general population, even among those living near other nations. For instance, King Solomon completely ignored these commandments by having 700 wives, relying on his power instead of trusting in God. The following kings followed his example, prioritizing their power instead of depending on God for strength.

God continually reminds us of the simple foundation of loving one another, yet we often fall into power struggles. This is true whether we are discussing politics, workplace relationships, or family dynamics. We tend to argue in the name of love, often because we do not receive what we expect in return for our affection. We hesitate to accept love as a gift because we feel a lack of control over how it is offered. Instead, we prefer to obtain it on our terms. We want our relationships to work like a give-and-take economy, where we can show that we have ultimately given more than we have received.

There is no glory in love. We do not earn the favor or loyalty of others through our love. Instead, we show our loyalty by loving others, regardless of whether they return that love. The New Testament translates at least four distinct words into the English term “love.” Additionally, we associate at least a dozen other cultural concepts with love. We have overused this word for centuries, making it generic and vague without offering specific guidance. Thus, when the 613 laws in the Old Testament could not define the love God desired from His people, He sent Jesus to be a living example of that love.

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As I Have Loved You

Jesus is the model and the definition of love.

Have you ever skimmed through instructions and started a task without adequate preparation? When encountering difficulties later, you might look back at those instructions and realize that you overlooked important steps. Living faithfully involves many complex and interconnected actions, and missing even one can disrupt everything that follows.

More importantly, living a faithful life cannot be learned from a textbook. The Old Testament instructs us to teach one another how to live faithfully for God, demonstrating this through our words and actions. Its commandments are embedded in our faith system. Even if we had only the Bible, following it closely would still require us to teach and share it lovingly with one another.

Sheep are not particularly intelligent animals, and many types of livestock share this characteristic. However, they often develop a strong bond with their shepherd. Jesus taught that his sheep recognize his voice as the Good Shepherd and follow him. The sheep also recognize the voices of the Good Shepherd’s children because they have spent enough time working alongside him to learn how to love like him. The love of the Good Shepherd is different from that of a hunter, butcher, or drill sergeant, and we can see this difference just as the animals do. When someone has spent time training with Jesus, this becomes clear. Through his life and love for us, Jesus shares his love and helps us extend it to those around us. This fulfills the law in a new way and connects us with Jesus in the relationships God intended for us.

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Disciples of Jesus

Loving like Jesus changes how we give. When we genuinely care about the recipients, our generosity stems from a deeper place. Understanding and caring for those we serve makes a real difference. Our impact grows when we love others simply because Jesus loves them, extending beyond our close, personal relationships.

How much water can a one-gallon bucket hold? This may sound like a silly question. The simple answer is one gallon. Our ability to love and serve is limited by our personal capacity. Some of us have one-gallon hearts, while others may have five-gallon hearts. You might encounter people who seem to have fifty-gallon hearts. Through dedication and prayer, we can sometimes expand our capacity.

But Jesus doesn’t tell us to love only within our capacity — He tells us to love as He does. He encourages us to share the love we receive from Him with everyone around us. He teaches us to drill holes in our one-gallon bucket as He connects it to heaven‘s faucet. This approach creates a generosity that is not based on our limitations or personal feelings toward those who receive from us. It fosters a generosity rooted in our trust in Jesus, and that kind of generosity has no end. That one-gallon bucket, filled with holes and connected to heaven’s faucet, can receive all the water in the world and give it away as quickly as it receives it.

We learn about generosity by following the examples set by our spiritual parents, mentors, teachers, prayer warriors, and friends. This fosters a sense of connection through the extravagant generosity and love of Jesus, which we pass down through our spiritual family tree. We celebrate these branches and express gratitude for those who made room for us to be grafted in and those whom God helped sprout from us.

Family trees often lose their original characteristics over generations, and this issue is evident in the Old Testament. We struggle to pass our faith from one generation to the next. Unlike a tree in your yard with many branches growing out of other branches, our family tree is represented by the cross, where we connect directly to Jesus. Although we have spiritual parents and grandparents who shape and teach us about faith and how to pass on the core teachings of Jesus, we are all brothers and sisters in Christ, grafted into and nourished by the true vine, with one trunk and one source for everything we need.

They will know we belong to Jesus by the way we love. They will recognize that we are His disciples because we love beyond our capacity. The most important part of the new command Jesus gives us is this: He does not instruct us to love the whole world to prove we are His. Instead, He tells us to love one another because He knows the world is watching us. He understands that when we try to offer love to the world without first establishing relationships, it leads to a transactional understanding of love.

They may sing our songs and dance for us as we shower them with gifts, but they will not truly know Jesus. They will see who we are and what we have to offer, but we will always be us, and they will always be them. They will understand we belong to Jesus when they see how we love one another with His love. As we invite them to join us, they will come to know Him too, and in turn, they will know we belong to Jesus.

Who has made a difference in your spiritual life?

Who continues to show you the love of Jesus today?

How is God challenging you to trust him and let go of the blessings he pours into you so you can share them with those around you?

Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, You are our source of life. Among all the treasures in heaven, nothing compares to being in Your presence. You have given everything for us because of Your great love, forgiving and redeeming us and bringing us into one great fellowship and family. Lord, today we pray that You help us see one another as You see us. We ask for the faith to love beyond our capacity and to lean on Yours. Whether or not anyone notices, we want to love like You because we know that is what we were made for. We trust that You can take our mustard seeds of faith and bless our humble offerings. Through what little we have and who we are, You can show the world who You are and that there is always room for them in Your family. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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