Resetting the Factory Default: Responding in Love
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Have any of you ever had computer issues?
Probably so....most of us have
So, you call up tech support, press 1 for English and then try and figure out the issue with someone that is difficult to understand.....
We have all had this issue....
And then they usually ask you if you have turned it off and turned it back on....So you do....sometimes it works…and sometimes it doesn’t....
So, then they tell you that you need to “reset it to:”
Factory Default
This basically means that your computer removes all the things that you have done to it and is reset to the very basics that the computer came out of the factory with....
It is basically back to being like it is brand new once again....
Sometimes, I think in our lives we need to do the same thing...
We need to take the time and factory reset....
When we realized that we are sinners in need of a Savior so we confessed out sins and turned from them, and accepted Christ’s gift of Salvation, this was when we became new.....
It was like buying a new computer or phone and taking it out of the box....
We looked, smelled, worked as if we were brand new....
We were sold out for Christ....
When I was in college at GC, myself and a couple others started a small group called SOLD OUT. It was an acronym for Servants Of the Lord Desiring Only the Uncompromised Truth
As new believers we were excited for God....We told people about Him…We allowed Him to do His work within us...
And then things started to happen and we began to doubt...
Or we became a little tainted....
We “downloaded” new programs...
And, like a computer, over time we began to run a bit slower....
And so we need a factory default...
This week we learned of an incident at an elementary school in Texas....
Something that has almost become expected in our country....
I’m going to refer to it as an incident in case there are children listening...
This one was a difficult for me....
The morning after, I had to drop my 3 kids off at their elementary schools....and it was a bit challenging...
My heart is broken for those who have experienced brokenness this week...
And with this one, it caused me to step back a little this week and evaluate some things...
And one of the questions that kept running through my mind is how do I, as a believer respond to difficult situations like this?
What should my response be?
Now, before I dive in and try to help you as a believer navigate responding to tough things like what happened this week...
I want to preface by saying my goal this morning is not to give you my opinion on a solution, but rather to remind you of our default as a Christian in responding....
There is plenty of opinion out there, and I have my own....but that is NOT my goal this morning....It is not of a solutions, but rather, how to respond as a believer....
And, what I have to say is hopefully not new to you! It should be, and hopefully is, our factory default....the foundation and basics of being a Christian....
So, let’s dive in.....
I got an e-mail from our regional executive minister, Gregg Hemmen, this week and in it he said said that he was praying for us ministers to have the words to say in guiding our response when helping those struggling through events such as these.....
It really got me thinking about how to respond....
As I prayed about it, and this sermon this morning, this thought kept coming back to me....
Love....
For those hoping for a list of tangible things to do it tough situations....I am sorry, but you probably aren’t going to get that out of this message this morning...
To be honest, I don’t have all of the answers....but what I do know that our default as a Christian is to love....
Let’s unpack this idea....
35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
So in our reading, we read about an “expert” in the law…who was trying to test Jesus and asked what the greatest commandment in the law is....
Jesus responding from Deuteronomy 6…as the Jews would recite the shema....the prayer that they believed to be the most important
37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
So, we are to love God with everything…and then to love others as we love ourselves...
And Jesus says that the Law and the Prophets…basically the Old Testament hang on these two commandments....
This really jumped out at me as I just finished reading Leviticus this week.....
Leviticus is crazy....some say boring…and I mostly agree, but also some great things in there....
When I was working church camp years ago, on of the older more experienced counselors told me that if I was struggling getting the kids to go to sleep at night to just start reading Leviticus to them and they will fall asleep...
I never had to do that, but I read it for myself before I went to sleep the last couple weeks, and sure enough....put me right to sleep....
But really, there is some great laws in there that I wish we still followed, and there are some that I am thankful that we don’t follow anymore...
Did you know that standing for elders is in Levitical law? I learned that this week...
What was most interesting to me was all of the sacrifices for the different sins....there are so many different sacrifices.....
In fact, there is a sacrifice for those who fail to make the right sacrifice....
Crazy....
But, what stands out to me is that all of those laws…all 613… plus the teachings and prophecies of the prophets are hung on two laws…Love God with everything…and love others....
This is our default as believers....before everything else, we are to love....
That is our factory default....that is our core and who we are created to be....and what we are created to do...
We are going to jump to 1 John and dissect these two commandments...
1. Love God
1. Love God
1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
So, evil things that happen in the world is because the world does know God!
The world doesn’t understand the love that the God has for us!
It doesn’t understand that we are created in the image of God....the very image of God....and God is love....
We are create in and for love!
The world doesn’t understand that....it is lost and broken...
When we love God....it separates us from the rest of the world...
We should be different than the world...
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
God is light and love…the world is darkness and hopelessness...
So, the first thing to remember in difficult times is that we are different....we love God....and that separates us from the rest of the world!
1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3 In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,
4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. 6 This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.
7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. 9 We accept human testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son.
10 Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. 11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
We, as Christians love God....and because so, we have the Spirit of Him living in us!
And because we have the Spirit of God in us…we can overcome the world....
We can be different....we can be separate…we can love when no one else is....
I will end this section with this verse:
4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
We have the power inside of us to be different…to love with extreme love....
2. Love Others
2. Love Others
11 For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.
Because of the power of God that is in us, we have the capacity and the calling to love others!
And again:
23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.
So, what does this look like?
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.
16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
Because of God’s love for us, we love other people....
We are going to jump backwards and try to wrap this up...
One of the accusations when preaching a message like this is that we aren’t supposed to do anything....we just need to love....
That’s not what I am saying at all....remember, this message is a message on what our default response should be, not the solution....
But listen to these verses:
16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
Love is not a reserve to passivity, but is a call for action!
Because God first loves us....we love Him…And by loving Him, we love other people!
When we see people in need, we step out to help!
Not just with words and speech, but with actions and in truth!
Christians are often the first, and sometimes the only people who respond.
Loving people doesn’t mean doing nothing....it is the opposite! It means doing something...
It means reaching out to people you normally wouldn’t
It means maybe not arguing politics with some stranger on FaceBook that probably won’t change their mind anyways...
It means showing extreme compassion
It means pointing people to the author of love!
It means letting others see Christ in you...
Worship Team
In the wake of the events this week, I encourage you to be reset to love.
Love God...
And love others...
Love your children…hug them...
Love any teachers or school employees that you know…it is difficult for them!
Love our first responders...
Love our hospital staff....
Love our law enforcement officers...
Take the time this week to love those who are struggling!
This is our first…not only…and default response when difficult things happen...