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Sunday 23 November 2014

'DOING WHAT LOVE DOES'

Rev. Brian Wilkie
By Rev. Brian Wilkie                                                                                    

Pastor of St. Andrew's Christian Community
Rockland, Ontario


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PODCAST LINK to CFRA broadcast - Sunday, November 23rd, 2014:

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Broadcast Notes:

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‘Doing What Love Does
 

Welcome to Good News in the Morning, a program of words and music bringing a Christian message of hope and encouragement to those who are looking for intelligent meaningful and spirited approach to faith and to life.

This program is sponsored by Good News Christian Ministries PO Box 184 Rideau Ferry, Ontario K0G 1W0. I'm your host today, Brian Wilkie of St. Andrew's Christian church in Rockland. As always I want to start by thanking you our listeners. We are so grateful for your encouragement and support. Please remember that you can always visit our website for materials to encourage and support you in your Christian walk.

If you miss an episode of the show you can go to our website and download the podcast or the MP3 of our broadcast. Details can be found on our website.

Doing What Love Does


Today I want to talk to you about “doing what love does.” And one of the scriptures that speaks to me about this topic is from the book of Romans chapter 12:3. This is what Paul writes to the church at Rome.

“For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” (NIV)

In this scripture Paul gives quite a long list of things that he expects the Christians of Rome to be doing. What he encourages them to do and what he proclaims as fitting things for those who have put their trust in Jesus Christ to do. He’s really telling them to do what love does, and we’re going to look more at that topic in a few moments. For a moment, I would like you to listen to a song that speaks about the love of God. It’s a traditional hymn called, New Every Morning is the Love, and it’s from the album, A Celebration of Hymns Reflective Moments. Please listen to this with me.

Now we have just heard a scripture from the apostle Paul. We could have turned to other places where the call to serve God is made explicit. For instance in Joshua 24, it’s near the end of the book of Joshua when much of the conquest of Canaan has taken place and God has given the people the land he promised them long ago. And Joshua address’s the people before his life is over. He calls them to a decision, and he says, behold I have set before life and death. Choose life. Choose whom you will serve. Whether you will serve the gods of Egypt, out of the land out of which you have been delivered. Or whether you will serve the gods of this land who you have just taken over. Or whether you will serve the Lord God who did all this for you. As for me and my house, he says, I will serve the Lord. And then the people of Israel loudly and boldly proclaim. O, we’ll serve the Lord too, and Joshua says, ”Are you sure?”

And he tells them about how difficult it will be to serve the Lord. How they can’t just take this lightly. That they have to be faithful, and if they aren’t, God will do what he said he would do, in terms of training them to do better, punishing them for their sin. He’s saying, “are you sure you want to serve the Lord? – Because he’s taking it quite seriously. He knows that’s the only choice. God is one. And there’s only one God. These other gods are false. So he knows the people really need to choose God, but he wants to make sure they make a real choice: to serve him;  to do what his law commands.

Now, of course Joshua was in the era of Moses. He was one of the people, a recipient of the law which Moses gave and which told the people what they needed to do, and we often think of ourselves and the Christian era as people who lived by faith, not by works. And that’s true. Works can never save us. No matter how much we serve, that doesn’t earn us a place in Heaven, that doesn’t pay off our debt. We are a people of faith. And yet we mustn’t oppose works and faith.

Paul doesn’t oppose works and faith. Faith is what saves us, but works are what flow from faith. And so Paul, the apostle of faith, the one who says it’s by faith that we are saved. It’s grace saving us, through faith in Jesus Christ. He’s the apostle of grace. He says it’s a free gift so that no one may boast. But this Paul, who insists that the believers base their hope of salvation on trusting the finished work of Christ, this is the Paul who gave us a long list of things that we ought to do, and I must say, it’s a list that we find in the teachings of Jesus Christ as well. Paul doesn’t teach anything that Jesus Christ doesn’t teach here. He speaks of humility. He speaks of helping one another. He speaks of using the gifts that God has given us and using them to bless others and to build up the body of Christ. He tells us to love one another. He tells us to cling to what is good. Honor each other, and keep on with our spiritual zeal. To have a great fervor for God. He commands us so many things. Including the very teachings of Christ to bless those who persecute us, to do good to those who have done evil to us. So here we are. The apostle of faith telling us how much we must do.
Is there a whip behind us, driving us on to make us do these things? Are we doing it out of fear of punishment? Are we doing it because we have some kind of hope of reward? No. Paul is really saying right at the beginning of this passage, in view of God’s mercies, give your life as a living sacrifice. He’s really saying that we ought to do what the love in our hearts, which has been given to us by Jesus Christ, compels us to do.

The way love compels us is so different than any other thing, isn’t it? If we feel compelled by a harsh word, if we feel compelled by a dire consequence, we do things grudgingly. We do it not because we want to see it done, but because we have to. But when love compels us, we’re filled with joy to do the things that we’re compelled to do. That’s why Paul is able to say in another point in scripture with a bit of tongue and cheek, he says, it’s like you’re now slaves to righteousness. When you were slaves to sin you did what sin did. Sometimes you didn’t even want to sin, but you sinned anyways because you were compelled by the sin that had taken root in you, and by the habits that you had developed. He says, now, you’ve been set free from slavery of sin, and now, in a sense, we’re slaves to righteousness. But isn’t the compulsion of righteousness different? Isn’t it the love of God working in our hearts which makes us want to turn to him in prayer, which makes us want to reach out with the generous grace that we’ve been given, which causes us to overflow so that our service becomes an extension of what God is doing in our hearts.

Yes. Obeying Christ is doing what love does. It is loving our neighbors with freedom, loving our neighbors with abandon. Isn’t it wonderful that God has made this change in our hearts? Isn’t it wonderful that this is exactly what God has for us? When Jesus said,” behold, my yoke is easy and my burden is light,” is this not what he meant? That having poured his love into our hearts and filling us with his Holy Spirit, he has made doing good the very thing that we want to do.

Did you always want to do good? Did you always want to serve the Lord? God make a change in your life.

Now, we will talk about this a bit more, but I want you to listen to a song written by Carolyn Arends. We’re not quite in the Christmas season yet, but this is from Carolyn Arends’ first Christmas album, The Irrational Season. This song is called, The Lord’s Servant. And it begins by speaking about how Mary accepted the call of God to be God’s servant. But it goes on to speak about all of us receiving that call and the joy that we can have in answering it. So listen, will you, to this song with me.

I suppose if anybody would have asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would have answered that I wanted to be powerful. I wanted to control things. I wanted to have wealth to please myself. I would have wanted to be famous and to have a celebrity status. I don’t think I would have said what I really want to be, is a servant.

That was before I came to Christ. When I came to Christ, God showed how he had served me. How he, high and lifted up, how he, full of glory, who owes nothing to anybody, had come in Jesus Christ, to bless me and help me.

In John chapter 13, there’s a story of Jesus taking off his outer garment and putting a towel around his waist and washing his disciples’ feet. And the disciples are a little bit perplexed. What is the Lord doing washing our feet? That’s the lowest job. Peter even at first refuses to let Jesus wash him, but Jesus says, you don’t understand it right now, but soon you will, and Jesus teaches them, you call me Lord and teacher, and you’re right to do so, for that is what I am. But if I your Lord, wash your feet, then you ought to wash one another feet.

Jesus puts into practice what he told the disciples so many times before, “The greatest among you will be the servant of all.” In God’s eyes pouring out love is the greatest thing.

I know that many think power is great. But nowhere in scripture does it say, “God is power.”

I know that some people think that riches are great. But nowhere in scripture does it say, “God is riches.”

When God describes himself in scriptures, through the words of the apostle John, this is what he says about himself: “God is love.” Love is nice, we might say, but is it the greatest thing in the universe?

Yes it is! God is love.

Now not everything we call love is God. But God who created the universe created it out love. God who placed Adam and Eve into this world and gave humanity life and made us in his image. He did it because he loves us, and when we fell in sin, and as we, through our lives, stumbled around in darkness, he was faithful and patient with us . And he himself came in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ, to lift us up out of our fallenness, to give us a new chance at life. God is love. And those who love God, live in love.

We don’t always to that so well, do we? Let’s be honest. Sometimes people look at us Christians and they see that there’s a lot more than just love going on in our lives. Sometimes there’s pettiness. Sometimes there’s continued sin. But may God continue to work in us, until love is in all and through all in our lives! He does this by teaching us to serve. He sets the example, and he gives us some clear instruction about how to serve.
Do you have a talent, a gift; a natural gift or a spiritual gift?

Do Paul’s words apply to you? If you have a gift of prophesy, that you should use it in proportion to your faith. Not being proud. Not being puffed up about the gift you have but using it in proportion to your faith. Not thinking you know everything, but trusting in God and leaning on him.

What about serving? Do you have the gift of hospitality? Do you have a gift of taking on that job everyone else seems to be avoiding? Do you have a gift of teaching? Do you use teaching to bless others? Do you have a gift of encouragement? A gift of generosity?
God is telling us that he’s put many different things into us. Many different abilities and many different gifts so that we can bless others.

How are you doing on that? Ask the Holy Spirit to show you how you’re doing, because the Holy Spirit is a very good councillor. Sometimes we beat ourselves up for all the things that we’re not doing. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you what you are doing for God, so that you can be encouraged. If you think that you have no talent, ask the Holy Spirit to show you how God can use you. Yes, you! To serve him, we need God to show us how to serve, both by his word and by the time we spend with him. And, you know, there might be someone in your church, or in your bible study group, or your house church. Another Christian that can help you find out how to serve. We call those people mentors, sometimes. People who will take a look at your life with you, encourage you and help you to identify how you can show God’s love in more ways. And you may even have the gift of mentoring another person: the opportunity to lead someone along, and lift them up, and to help them to know God’s call in their lives more fully.

God calls us to this sincere love. God calls us to his service. If you have faith in Jesus Christ, trust him when he says, “If I have served you, you ought to serve others”.

Let’s pray together, that God will help us in this area;

“Almighty God, we can sometimes be very, very down about whether we’ve served you or not, and I pray that you will encourage us to remember how you’ve used us, how you’ve blessed us, and also to lead us into further service. Lord, sometimes we can be proud and think that we’ve done everything we possibly can. Well, teach us how we can serve you better. Lord, we love you, and you have given such great things for us. May you move in us, so that we can show that love to all the world. In Jesus’ name, amen.”

Once again I want to thank you listeners for your encouragement and support. We do thank you because you keep us on the air week by week. We want to encourage you to support our ministry financially. Did you know the good news ministries has only one major cost? The four hosts Brent Russett, George Sinclair, Juliet Schimpf and myself are volunteers. So are the people who manage our website, organize our events and operate our board. Your gift can help us to continue to meet that one vital expense, the cost of broadcasting, which enables us to reach you and over 7000 listeners in the Ottawa River Valley. If you can please make a cheque payable to Good News Christian Ministries and send it to P.O. Box 184 Rideau Ferry, Ontario K0G 1W0 we will be happy to send you a receipt at income tax time. I also want to encourage you to tell others about this program

Be sure to worship in a church where the gospel is soundly proclaimed and lived out with compassion, integrity and resolve. And now I want to conclude this program with a song from Carolyn Arends’ newest Christmas album. It was just released a couple of months ago; this is her rendition of a familiar carol, “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.”

The album is Christmas: the Story of Stories.

I do pray that the Lord will hold your heart and you would know Jesus personally and profoundly. May the Holy Spirit reside deep within your heart, may the heavenly Father surround you with his constant and abiding and accompanying love.
Good News In The Morning is produced in the Studios of News Talk Radio 580 CFRA.

- Rev. Brian Wilkie
St. Andrew's Christian Community, Rockland, Ontario
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To listen to the above broadcast, click on the following link:
http://proxy.autopod.ca/podcasts/chum/6/27061/good_news_132_nov23.mp3

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