Love is the Currency of the Church

Intro:

We are in the middle of this series that are basically the things that I want to leave you with

Week 1

The church is the most revolutionary family in the world, with the most revolutionary mission in the world

Two Points here:

1. In the shadow of the cross Jesus forged a whole new family. He told John his disciple, “behold your mother” Because in Jesus Christ, those of us who have no blood relation are now brothers and sisters in Christ. The Church is a whole new family that you are invited into

2. Jesus sent this new family on mission, to bring in more family members, to create communities that replicated the love of the trinity. This is the great commandment. Go teach people what it is like to live in God’s love all over the world…

So CHURCH: YOU ARE A REVOLUTION:

God sees you. God knows about this fellowship of believers

Week 2:

The power of the church is remaining in God’s word

Literally God’s spirit wrote the Bible. The Bible is God speaking life to humanity

The book of Ezekiel reminds us that we need to eat the word of God and literally become God’s message…Do you spend the time in God’s word…Do you invest your time and life in God’s word so much so that your life is different?

Week 3:

Love is the currency of the church

I have intentionally said that love is currency. That choice of words is very intentional.

Currency is something that you spend, and that is what God has intended for love. You should spend love on a daily basis…Spend and be spent!

Now for those of you who are familiar with currency…Like all of us…You need to make it, to spend it.

Do you get it?

…You need to receive God’s love in order to display God’s love

There is a concept in the Bible called “The river of God” God decides to use this metaphor of the river to show off what his love is like.

This week we were at Hume lake with the family and the kids and I were digging near the river that feeds the lake and within a 6 inches to a foot we hit a root of a tree. That root was for a tree that had to have been 30 or 40 feet away from the water…

The point is that a river is a constant source of life.

And this is the point of

Ezekiel 47:1-12

47 The man brought me back to the entrance to the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. 2 He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and the water was trickling from the south side.

3 As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. 4 He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. 5 He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in—a river that no one could cross. 6 He asked me, “Son of man, do you see this?”

Then he led me back to the bank of the river. 7 When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. 8 He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, y where it enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh. 9 Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. 10 Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds—like the fish of the Mediterranean Sea. 11 But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. 12 Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.” [1]

Now if you can visualize this great picture…

You would see the temple and the alter…and out of this alter there is a little trickle of water…And this little trickle of water gets deeper and deeper until such a time as when it is literally pushing all the bad water out and everything around it grows…

SO much so that Ezekiel goes out into the wilderness and to the dead sea and the dessert blooms with fruit and life.

He sees the dead sea becoming fresh water again.

There are many other places in the Bible where the river of God concept arises

But this imagery is found first in the Old Testament

It is found in Psalm 1 where David the Psalmist talks about the person who follows God…How that person is like a tree planted near streams of water.

The idea of both Psalm 1 and Ezekiel 47 is that God’s love and his life is like a gushing river of water that when we plant ourselves next to it, we are able to experience his Love.

Jesus talked about this...

But every year on the feast of tabernacles the priest will take water and pour it over the alter…Symbolically showing the river of God concept off

The idea is if you want to live in the power and in the love of God then come to the river!

Come drink from the river of God…

Because he loves you and wants to have a relationship with you

And this is so cool…Jesus stands up during this ceremony…where they are playing out Ezekiel 47

And on the last and greatest day of the festival the priest pour the water over the alter and Jesus says:

John 7:37-38

37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

Ok so let me try and capture what Jesus is saying for you: In the old testament…There is this river of God that flows from the temple...

Everything dead that it touches becomes alive...

Kind of like resurrection...

The river is God’s life…and now Jesus is saying...

Guess what? I am that river…If you drink from me…Everything dead in your life will come alive

If you drink from me, you will experience true love in a way that you have never experienced it before

So the more that we come to Jesus and take a drink…The more he is able to transform what is dead in us. The more he is able to pour his love deeply into our lives.

And the way he brings transformation into your life, is by pouring love into your life.

love is a currency that you don’t have to earn.

Many relationships will make you try to earn love. ]

Like owning a cat. You have to earn that things love!

God’s love is received by grace.

So the apostle Paul…When he thought about this currency of love that we all have this is what he says

Romans 13:8-10

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.

Spend Love

Do you see what Paul is saying here?

Don’t have financial debt…As much as it is possible, don’t owe other people money

See when you are in debt you walk around with this low grade since of worry that you owe someone something..

You walk around with a feeling of obligation

Paul is saying, you ought to walk around with this obligation that I owe you love...

Even if you don’t...

Even if it is the person who cuts you off in traffic

Even if it is that person who did you wrong

Even if it is that family member you are not talking to

Because when you have a God who loves you like Jesus loves you…This is the only rational response!

When someone loves you very well, you’d have to be mentally ill to return that love with hate

It has been my personal philosophy:

In every relationship bless others more than they could ever bless you in return.

I have flaws and I am not the best at this…But for the last probably 10-15 years I have just thought…I am going to love other people and bless them more than they can bless me back

And it is addicting!

I get a little glimpse of how God must feel…When I set my priorities aside and my needs aside and pour into other people

I did a funeral the other day and the person who died had a saying that he told his family all the time and it was

“Always leave people better than you found them."

WHY do we do this?

Because Jesus gave his whole life so that we can have a relationship with him.

Because Jesus wants to make the dead parts of our life, alive again!

Because, God so loved you, that he gave his one and only son

In every relationship bless others more than they could ever bless you in return.

Church: LOVE IS THE CURRENCY OF THE CHURCH!

SPEND AND BE SPENT in the pursuit of proliferating God’s love!

We have a surprise for you all today:

Jay and Kelly

Key Theme of Sermon: In every relationship give more than you could ever receive back from someone

Jay & Kelly

John to play chords

to I can only imagine

Or “How do I live” by Diane Warren

10 Years ago the only people from the church that were at their wedding were Joann & Dennis

Now this is Jay & Kelly’s 10 year anniversary and they wanted to include all of you

Dennis Sanderson to Pray at the beginning

I’d like to invite my wife to read this scripture

Desiree

Desiree 1 Cor 13:1-8

13 If I speak in the tongues n of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, u but do not have love, I gain nothing.

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.

Jay & Kelly:

Marriage is a significant act, it reminds us of God’s love for us

Renewing your vows after 10 years is even more significant. Young kids go into marriage a little blind. They don’t know each other’s hangups and flaws

They don’t know what bugs one another

But when you renew your vows you are coming knowing full and well each other’s flaws

Now I’m going to ask you guys a couple of questions and if you agree you will answer by saying I do…

Jay:

Do you you have Kelly to be your wedded wife, to live together in the holy state of marriage? Will you love her, comfort her honor and keep her in sickness and in health; and forsaking all others keeping yourself only for her, as long as you both shall live?

Jay to answer “I Do”

Kelly:

Do you have Jay to be your wedded Husband, to live together in the holy state of marriage? Will you love him, comfort him honor and keep him in sickness and in health; and forsaking all others keeping yourself only for him, as long as you both shall live?

Kelly to answer “I do”

Jay:

Vows: I, Jay take you Kelly to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part.

Kelly:

Vows: I, Kelly, take you Jay, to be my husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part.

Ask Josh and Marlia to come up and give you a blessing

Secret Ring Ceremony

Kelly: Jay and I have been involved in a little conspiracy:

Jay, do you have a symbol of your love and commitment for Kelly:

Kelly, I give you this ring as a token of my love, and I pledge to you my loyalty and devotion as long as we both shall live.

Pronouncement

Forasmuch as Jay and Kelly have pledged to each other their fidelity and love in the sight of God and this company, I therefore by virtue of the authority vested in me as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, pronounce them to be husband and wife, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Jay, You may kiss your Bride

DAVE STAND OUT OF THE WAY!!!

Jay and Kelly to Kiss then turn and face audience

Introduction/Recessional

Ladies and Gentlemen: It gives me great pleasure to announce for the very Second time, Mr. & Mrs. Jay Perry