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:
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
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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
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Schimpf and myself are volunteers. So are the people who manage our website,
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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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