Love Grows Here

Intro:

1 Corinthians 13:13 NKJV

13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Today is Grandparent’s Day. Our theme for the day and the title of my message is, [Love Grows Here.]

I am not a grandparent, obviously, but I have watched the grandparents of our church. My parents are now grandparents. I watch the love grandparents give to their grandchildren.

I have a few interesting observations about grandparents. Grandparents are pretty rational people, until it comes to their grandchildren.

I have watched grandchildren get away with things that their parents would still be in trouble for today!

There are even times when grandchildren might clearly be in the wrong, until grandma or grandpa gets involved. They will serve as lawyer, judge, and jury to make sure their grandchild gets acquitted!

As one man explained, if I would have known having grandchildren was this great, I would have had them first.

On Mother’s Day we honor and celebrate mom.

On Father’s Day we honor and celebrate dad.

Today, we honor and celebrate Grandparents.

I think of my grandparents often.

My Grandma Tidmore taught me how to cook and have a lot of fun. Every time I talk to her, she will grab my hand and say, Daniel, we used to have so much fun!

My Grandma Kilgore taught me how to get any store to return an item, regardless of their “so called” return policy.

My Grandpa Kilgore passed when I was eight years old, but I learned how to make sure small things do not bother me. Everything around him could be in total chaos, and Grandpa always brought peace to the situation.

I am sure if we all took time, we could share something we learned from our grandparents. But I am fortunate that I had grandparents who served the Lord.

Grandma and Grandpa Kilgore did not get saved until they were in their fifties. But when they found Jesus, He changed everything in them. They fell in love with their Savior.

And their love for God is something they instilled in me. Grandma and Grandpa Kilgore were at church when the doors were open. They went to prayer meeting. They prayed with others at altars. They loved to worship God and sing.

They knew what life was like without Jesus, and they knew how much better it was with Jesus.

There are many good principles we can pass on grandchildren. Future generations need to know:

how put in a hard day’s work

how to manage their finances

how to cook and host people

how to conduct themselves in public

how to have a strong and long lasting marriage

But all of that is secondary to the most important lesson, and I can summarize it with a song my grandmother sang with us in Sunday School— Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.

Love grows here. How does God’s love grow here (heart)?

How does our love for God grow?

What does it mean to love God? How does it feel to experience the love of God?

Today, I want to focus on the love of God. In our text, we read an oft quoted passage about faith, hope, and love.

Paul penned those words under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He too, understood the love of God. He knew what it was like to move from an enemy to a friend of God.

My prayer is that by the end of this service, we will all leave overwhelmed by the unending love of God. That we will grow in our love for Him and watch as He continues to bestow His love on us!

How does God’s love become a centerpiece in our live? Let’s look at Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 13 and Romans 5 and divide them into three parts, [Finding Faith], [Having Hope], and [Living in Love].

1. Finding Faith

Romans 5:1–2 NKJV

1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Faith is trust between one person to another. In scripture, faith is a person’s trust in God. Faith in the central concept of being a follower of Christ.

Notice, Paul wrote that we have been justified by faith. Where do we place our faith?

We place our faith Jesus, specifically that He has power to forgive us of our sins and accept us as His children. We have to have faith in Christ, for He alone is able to forgive us of our sins.

Romans 3:23 NKJV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Paul established the necessity for faith. Within the hearts and lives of each person is the contaminating force of sin. Only Jesus has the power to forgive that sin and give us power over a sinful life.

So here is Paul’s point, in order for to grow in and experience God’s love, we have to let God justify us and forgive us of sin, which He does through our faith.

What then do we have with our faith?

We have peace with God. When we find faith in Jesus and make Him our personal Savior, we open the door for peace. Peace is not just a good feeling.

No, peace comes by knowing we’ve been reconciled with God. The wages of our sins have been paid by our faith in Jesus. Now, we have peace knowing that we belong to God and God belongs to us.

So with our faith and peace, what else do we have? We have access to God. When I think of access, I think of permission to enter something.

There have been times I have come to a business early, forgetting when the doors open. Since they were stilled closed, I did not have access.

Without faith in God, we do not have access to the blessings of God.

But the moment we find faith. The instant we place our faith in Jesus, He opens the door and we have access to the Father. We have access to all God has prepared and planned for us.

EVERYTHING we need, want, or receive from God, ALL begins with faith. And faith is not thinking, God can or might save me. No faith declares, God will save me when I come to Him.

Faith is not assuming God might hear us. No, faith declares, because of Jesus, I have access to God and I can pray and trust He will listen and answer!

Faith does not think that God will bless others, but not me. No faith declares, I am a child of God because of the sacrifice of Jesus. So I can have peace with God, access to God!

Finding faith begins the process of growing in our love for God and growing in our understanding of God’s love us.

2. Having Hope

Romans 5:2–4 NKJV

2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope.

Once we’ve found faith in Jesus, we rejoice and live in the hope of God’s glory.

Hope is a unique concept, for hope is not wishing something will happen. Children hope to get something for their birthday or Christmas.

But for the child of God, hope means to expect with confidence. To have assurance that God will fulfill His word.

Paul specifically establishes that we have hope in experiencing the glory of God. The glory of God in this instance is two-fold.

The glory of God is the manifest presence. We sense God’s presence, but we see or feel His glory. The glory of God would fall in the Temple in the Old Testament.

But Paul wrote to the New Testament church. He established that we no longer have to go to a physical temple to experience God, for we are temples of the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, we rejoice, knowing that God’s glory can fall in THIS temple. We can experience the atmosphere of heaven in our lives on earth.

So because we know Jesus, who lives within us, we experience the glory of God in our lives. But we also rejoice in hope for a future experience with God’s glory.

Within every child of God is the hope, the expectation, the assured confidence that we will one day see and stand before Christ in all of His glory!

Matthew 16:27 NKJV

27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.

We have hope that one day we will see Jesus, coming in great power and great glory.

But what is our hope in the meantime?

What perspective should we have as we look at all of the trials and tribulations of this world?

Paul says to rejoice, exult, or glory in tribulations. Now, we like to celebrate positive and good experiences. But few of us want to glory in troubles.

I do not think Paul wants us to celebrate when something bad happens. Instead, we need to keep an eternal perspective on what we endure and experience.

For problems and trials help develop endurance and perseverance. When God gets us through one difficulty, we have hope the next time something hard comes our way.

We remember God helped us THEN, so He will help us NOW!

Trials and tribulations build our character, which helps strengthen our hope, our resolve, and our confidence in what God has for us!

Finding faith and having hope begins the process of growing in our love for God and growing in our understanding of God’s love us.

3. Living in Love

Romans 5:5 NKJV

5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Paul is getting somewhere. The point of this passage is the love of God. But to experience God’s love, we need to find faith. Our faith will help us have hope.

Then Paul promised, HOPE DOES NOT DISAPPOINT. We have faith in Christ and His plan for us and then we couple that with hope that God will fulfill His promise in us.

Now Paul gets back to the point of this passage— God’s great love and the work of the Holy Spirit.

The Love of God has been poured out in our hearts.

The Love of God is not fickle, it never changes, and it is not dependent on what we can do for God. I find it amazing how quickly people “fall in love” only to quickly “fall out of love.”

No, the Love of God is undefeatable, it is self-giving, and it is eternal. God’s love never fails and never gives up on us.

Remember, it was God’s love for the fallen humanity that caused Him to send His Son to die on the cross.

It was Jesus’s love who dutifully endured the pain and agony of the cross.

One songwriter explained it this way, “He left the splendor of heaven, knowing His destiny, was the lonely hill of Golgotha, There to lay down His life for me.If that isn't love The ocean is dry There's no stars in the sky And the sparrow can't fly If that isn't love Then Heavens a myth There's no feeling like this If that isn't love

How then do we experience HIs love?

HIS love is POURED OUT in our hearts, BY THE HOLY SPIRIT!

Love is the thread that ties the Bible together. {God loved the world so He sent His Son.} {His Son loved us,} {so He died for our sins.} {Now we experience God’s love through the Holy Spirit!}

What is it like to live in love?

When we live in love, we have hope that all things will work together for our good

When we live in love, we trust that nothing will separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus

When we live in love, we will owe no one anything except to love

When we live in love, we will have patience and will not envy

When we live in love, we will not walk in jealousy or boasting

When we live in love, we will do EVERYTHING in love

No wonder Paul told the church in:

Ephesians 3:17–19 NKJV

17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

The depths of God’s love is too hard to grasp at times. But through a born again relationship with Jesus, one that depends on the work and power of the Holy Spirit, God will POUR OUT HIS LOVE in our hearts!

And when we really begin to live in His love, we will never be the same, we will never think the same, we will never act the same, and we will never love the same.

Close:

Love Grows Here.

It is more than a Grandparent’s Day theme, it is a living reality for those who have found faith in Jesus and who have hope in God.

With the foundation of faith and the constant expectation and hope, God will pour out HIS love in us by the Holy Spirit!

Paul explained it clearly and plainly, we need faith, we need hope, and we need love, and the greatest of these is love.

I find it interesting that love is the last on the list and that he considered it the greatest.

But when we put God’s love in light of salvation it starts to make sense. All the way back at the beginning, God showed His love. He loved His creation so much, He gave them everything they could ever need in a paradise called Eden.

Then Humanity willingly sinned. God could have erased them from history. Instead, He worked with the sinful people throughout the Old Testament, looking for the day when He would send Jesus.

Romans 5:8 NKJV

8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Jesus died for us, but His death was not eternal, for three days after his death He rose from the grave with great power and great glory.

He ascended to heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit, and He stands ready to accept and forgive anyone who will place their faith in Him.

For through faith we will have hope that no matter what we face, if GOD LOVES US than nothing else matters!

Why is love the greatest?

For there will come a day when we will spend eternity with God. In that Holy City, our faith will become sight. Everything we believed will stand in front of us.

When we get spend eternity with Christ, we will not need hope, for our hope fill come to pass. Our expectation of His glory will become a reality.

In eternity we will not need faith or hope, that is to get us through here on earth.

But ion that day, when sin is erased, Satan is bound, and the saved of the earth are with Jesus, we will experience the unfiltered love of God forever, and forever, and forever, and forever!

I mentioned at the beginning of this message that my prayer is by the end of this service, we will all leave overwhelmed by the unending love of God.

That we will grow in our love for Him and watch as He continues to bestow His love on us!

It is truly overwhelming and awe-inspiring that God would love someone like me. But He does.

SO my question is this, who wants love to grow here?

Who wants to advance in God’s great love toward us?

Who wants to love God more?

What wants to feel and experience God’s love deeper?

Then let’s place our faith in Jesus.

Let’s hold onto to the hope that we will experience His glory on earth and we will enjoy His glory for eternity

Let’s pray for the Holy Spirit to pour out the LOVE OF GOD upon us!

For the love of God changes everything, including me.