The Last Words (2)

It was a time of ending for me and many others like me this past week.

The school year challenge unlike any other finished 2020-21 ended for me on Thursday. My body is tired. The students are worn out. Everyone was involved in this year and we are all tired: grandparents, parents, aunts/uncles, friends, everyone had to help the children make it through. Once again a big congratulations to CJ and Ariana who graduated from high school this year, Raia promoted this year to high school. All of our children, even our preschoolers did so much just to make it through this year.

As this year ended, I realize I went from knowing no one to developing a very tight bond with 3 ladies who work with me in my class and 2 fellow special ed. teachers.

As we said our good-byes we wanted to tell each other important words of appreciation, gratefulness and value. Those last words when people leave are so important aren’t they? The wait, wait one more thing.

They are worth remembering, cherishing and even doing.

Imagine - your child, your best friend, your loved one, is about to go away. At this exact moment they are actually listening to you. They are going to remember these words you say. You are rarely if ever going to see them again. You want them to take from you the most important thing you can share with them.

What is it?

What is so important to you that you want people to remember it all the time?

Go ahead right it down.

You might be thinking, Jesus is Lord and that is a great thing to tell someone. If there is a right answer that might be it. You might also remind them why you know Jesus or what Jesus has done, or something else but what if you know they know Jesus, what if you know they know exactly what and who Jesus is, they know that Jesus was God in the flesh, He lived perfectly, He died for their sins, and He rose again, and that all who believe and follow Him will never perish but when they die they will live eternally. We should always be able share this, the reason for our hope. But they know all that, what is the next thing you would tell them.

What else would you really someone to know?

There are a few times where a person is speaking or writing some last words in the Bible, and just like you were doing with your thinking just now, these words mean a whole lot. So much so that they can’t go unsaid.

When you are trying to get in the last word, these are things you don’t want to forget, you don’t want others to forget about you. Same thing back at the beginning of the movement of Jesus, when just the scroll, the paper the letter would be written on was so costly. The words are importNT.

Near the end of a very important letter, God writes through the apostle Paul, to followers of Jesus over 2,000 years ago, some incredibly important last words and it still matters to us today, a few last words.

1 Corinthians 16:14 CSB

14 Do everything in love.

It’s not a complex verse is it. You think you can memorize it?

Say it out loud.

Look at someone near you and say it to them.

Type it in your phone or write it down

Do

This is an action word. It requires that a person doesn’t wait, stop, but acts. And it begs the question, What are you supposed to do?

Everything

Sometimes people exaggerate. They say things like “no one says that” but in truth at least one person probably does say that. Or everyone agrees with me, and most of the time that is not true because all that has to be done is find one person that disagrees. These exaggerations are thought of as proof to strengthen a point but in truth they are lies, But God doesn’t lie. When these important last words were written down it really meant, Everything .all aspects of life.

The Bible is also not a book of suggestions. When my friend gives me advice I may do it, I may not. I may even hear a good piece of advice, like the advice but not do it. I may think no big deal. I did my own thing, I didn’t take their advice.

Yet when I am dealing with God, and I come across things that are hard to do, words from Jesus that I know might cause me to change, if I am going to be a follower of Jesus than when I am faced with these tough words, I need to change. I need to hear the words that don’t match my life and the words should lead me to ask of God how I can change my actions, how I obey the words were I need to change.

Jesus changes lives as we seek to live as Jesus calls us to live. It is called repentance. IN AA a part of this concept is called making amends. It means not just recognizing that we are or were wrong, feeling bad, feeling remorse or worse but also recognizing that we need to change, and if possible making things right.

So if what we are told to do you don’t do at all times than the burden for change falls on you.

In these last words of this letter, we are told to Do everything and then thankfully it doesn’t end there but is followed by a preposition,

In

So we are about to be told how we are to do every single action of our lives.

When we talk about “Everything in” most of you will recognize that your about to fail. Because none of us do everything, of anything. We don’t even do everything breathing.

What comes next is aspirational. It is a real goal not meeting this goal is sin. However your never going to meet it on this side of heaven. Why is it important?

in my other job as a teacher we have a main goal. You might be surprised that it isn’t teach. Our first goal every day, every minute of every day is safety. Every student must be kept healthy. Any time this doesn’t happen it is a failure. It is not ok.

If a kid arrives at school with 10 fingers they should go home with 10 fingers. Safety is more important than learning to read, write or math.

However failures do happen. We work so they won’t and we make changes when they do but our goal doesn’t change. Safety is most important. By having this goal we almost all the time achieve this goal.

We, as followers of Jesus, have a goal that is even bigger than the goal of safety. In fact, we would deny safety for our goal.

Our goal is

Do everything in love.

Do your job in love

Do your parenting in love

Do your friendship in love

Do your driving in love

Do your social media in love

Do your vacation in love

Do your retirement in love

Do your napping in love

Do your fighting in love

Do your arguing in love

Do your partying in love

Do your criticism in love

1 Corinthians 16:14 CSB

14 Do everything in love.

If you can’t do it in love than don’t do it.

if you look at your plans for next week or for later today are they “in love”.

Love can mean a lot of things, especially in our culture in June but God defines love. We can look at love as just leaving people alone, being nice to people, or not killing someone but that is not what God means. God actually defines love.

I got to visit with Rochelle this past week and she has a beautiful framed piece of God’s definition of love. It comes from earlier part of this same letter were these last words of “Do everything in love” come from

Here is God’s definition

1 Corinthians 13:4–7 CSB

4 Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant, 5 is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs. 6 Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Imagine being part of a community where this is how everyone treats everyone else. We are commanded to do everything in love.

Where everyone is kind to each other. Where people don’t look out for what benefits themselves and how it works for them, but look out for each other’s interests. Where they don’t laugh when people fail but get excited by good and truth. Where humility is every where celebrating the accomplishments of you and everyone.

Do you desire to be in a community like this?

Do you do everything in love?

I’m so proud of you as you drive with kindness and patience. This is driving in love.

Do you live as one who keeps no record of wrongs? it means you don’t bring up everything a person has done wrong to prove how much worse of a person they are than you.

Even when it might be necessary to deny a person with trust over an area in which they have failed in the past you do this out of love, to protect them and others, not in a way to shame them or be greedy.

I tell you my friends I fail at this all the time. My loving wife of 25 years is a perfect example of a person who I have not loved as God intends me to love all the time. I have failed you. I have failed while driving. I have failed so many times that I cannot name all the times.

Yet, I hope you commit as I re-commit to follow God’s command and

Do everything in love.

Will you make this commitment?

It goes with the commitment you made last week, when you committed to build your love relationship with God by spending time talking with him, what we call praying, and by spending time doing what He is doing by living as one who does the actions of the Holy Spirit what we call the fruit of the spirit

Galatians 5:22–23 CSB

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.

This week will commit to obey God, to wake up and set your goal

Do everything in love

And when you evaluate your day ask the Lord

Did I do everything in love?

When I ask people how are they doing in the Lord, they will often answer with something regarding prayer and this is good. But prayer is talking with God. Love is being with God. Love is joining God in what he is doing.

Recall what we say every week

1 John 3:16 NRSV

16 We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.

I want people to gossip about you, and when they do, to remark how much you love everyone.

Would you like to have that reputation?

Whether you are male or female, old or young, what people recognize about you is how much you love.

1 Corinthians 16:14 CSB

14 Do everything in love.