| Preaching: Sermon (Final Manuscript): The Power of Love
Alvin Shaul Preaching, Leclerc Final Manuscript December 12, 2005 THE POWER OF LOVE Pastor Jim had been the pastor at Stonehenge Church of the Nazarene nearly ten years. He had built up a great reputation of friendliness and sincerity that seemed to be embraced by the entire congregation. It was the summer of 2001 when Pastor Jim decided that the church needed to be mission oriented. He decided that the Sunday evening service time could be used as an outreach time to the nearby Hispanic community. The first few times this was tried the attendance held fairly constant with what it had been when they were meeting in the church. However, by the third week attendance was declining rapidly and there were a few weeks where maybe 15-20 people might have shown up�this in a church of 250. Pastor Jim soon had to return to the old way of doing Sunday evening service. Pastor Jim had also tried mixing up the Sunday morning order of worship. He often began with his sermon and concluding with praise and worship. One Sunday morning, Pastor Jim came to the front and spoke a one sentence reflective thought that was a challenge to the congregation. He then prayed and dismissed them. Each of these changes from the tradition of the church began to bother and even enrage some of the long-time high-standing members of the church. These select members decided they wanted to see Pastor Jim removed from his position. They began to rally support through gossip and ridicule. Soon, they had enough support to bring the issue to the church board. The board decided, with the approval of the district superintendent that a vote was necessary to confirm if the pastor should remain at Stonehenge. Not only did those adamantly against the pastor have the support of a good deal of the congregation, but they also spread the word to many �members� who were no longer attending the church. Stonehenge was unfortunately not upholding the Church of the Nazarene�s policy on inactive membership, so these members from years past who had left because of their dislike of the pastor, were able to come back for that one day and vote against him. Pastor Jim knew he would serve somewhere else if he was forced to, but hated to see this happening to him. A few weeks later he was voted out by the church members. I only later found out that there were accusations that the pastor had been having an affair with someone in the community Turn with me if you will to Romans chapter 12, beginning at verse 9. I will be reading from the NIV. 9Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with God�s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.a Do not be conceited. What is this love that Paul is speaking about? For love to be sincere, it must not be hypocritical. We can proclaim a love for Christ and attest to a right relationship with him, but if we are not living such love out, then our integrity is lost and we have not loved. There are two types of love present in this passage. First is ?????. Agape is Christian love. It is the love that God has for us and the love that we have for God. It is love characterized by Christ�s likeness. This is the love Paul is describing in First Corinthians as patient, kind, not proud or boastful, always protecting, trusting, hoping and persevering. This love never fails. What must we say then of ???eo? It is by definition �brotherly love.� It is the love that is shared among believers. We don�t have a list of things that fileo is as we do for agape. We are told to be devoted to each other with this love. If we look at this passage closely it seems that this �brotherly love� is only a component of the larger �Christian love�. As such we must see the rest of the instructions here also as components of Christian love. We are on a Christian campus that is far from entirely Christian. Opportunities abound for us to interact with the world around us. We each need somewhere where we can share the love God has given us. Some might choose to offer assistance at a local shelter or soup kitchen. Others may spend time in nursing homes or hospitals. Still others may devote their entire life to missions and reaching the lost as a career. While practicing such acts is a great response to these instructions, we are also told to foster our own spirituality. Seeking a strong relationship with Christ through faithfulness and prayer is critical in keeping our hearts pure in service. If our hearts are not filled with fervor, we cannot expect our actions to be. Let�s return to our friend. Wasn�t Pastor Jim reaching out to the poor and others in the community? Wasn�t he trying to foster fervor in the hearts of his congregation? Please join me again in Romans 12, continuing at verse 17: 17Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God�s wrath, for it is written: �It is mine to avenge; I will repay,�b says the Lord. 20 On the contrary: �If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.�c 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. What in the world is evil? We might first conclude that evil is indeed in the world. What we have here in Romans may be a Pauline reflection on Jesus� teaching in His Sermon on the Mount. There he issued these decrees: �You have heard that it was said, �Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.�a 39 But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41 If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. 43 �You have heard that it was said, �Love your neighbora and hate your enemy.� 44 But I tell you: Love your enemiesb and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. In this passage we see the words of Paul defined. What does it mean to not return evil with evil? Or to live at peace with everyone? For a long time I wondered what this statement about �heaping burning coals on my enemy�s head� meant. If I give him a glass of water, is God going to throw down burning coal from the heavens to torch the guy? Of course not. Obviously this means that God is going to get his revenge through us right then and there. Or maybe not. In ancient Israel live coals were used start fires. If someone�s fire went out, they often would borrow live coals from a neighbor to restart their fire. Throughout this passage Paul is urging us to love our neighbors and our enemies and to reject evil. It doesn�t make any sense for this verse to be implying that after all that love and compassion we�re told to have. That we would now get vengeance on our enemy by giving his something to eat and drink and thus tossing burning coals on their head. Rather, to give someone those live coals in a pan that they carried on their head was an act of kindness and generosity. It was meant to make friends out of an enemy. It is also possible that such an action might give the enemy a sense of regret or shame toward their actions so that they might repent. What could Pastor Jim have done to avoid the evil that was brought upon him by certain members of his congregation? Wasn�t he loving them and reaching out to them as Paul instructs? Pastor Jim was an individual of strong character and leadership, but there was absolutely nothing he could have done to avoid the evil that entered into his life. He did as Paul instructs and as Jesus instructs. So knowing that he did all he could do, what was it that enabled Pastor Jim to continuously reach out to his congregation and community in the midst of his struggles? First, it was not his own strength or power, nor that of his supporters. It was rather the Holy Spirit. Let us compare Romans chapter 12 with Galatians 5:22-23. Most of you know simply by the reference that this passage describes for us the fruit of the Spirit. As you will see (PowerPoint shown to class), every instruction given in this passage from Romans fits within one of the fruits of the Spirit. Love encompasses sincere love, devotion in love, and hating what is evil. Joy encompasses being joyful in hope and rejoicing with those who rejoice. The fruit of peace includes living at peace with everyone, not taking revenge, not being overcome by evil, and living in harmony. The fruit of patience includes be patient in affliction and leaving room for God�s wrath. Kindness encompasses honoring others above yourself, sharing with God�s people, hospitality, not cursing our persecutors, and associating with people of love position. Goodness covers clinging to what is good, doing what is right, feeding and giving something to drink, and overcoming evil with good. Faithfulness means being faithful in prayer, never lacking in zeal, and keeping spiritual fervor. To be gentle is to bless our persecutors and mourn with those who mourn. And to control one�s self is to not be proud or conceited, not to repay evil for evil, and not take revenge. If all of these instructions are thus linked with the fruit of the Spirit, we must conclude that if we are to follow them we must let the Spirit enable us. The Holy Spirit is the Enabler. He is the One who gives us power to proclaim the Good News. We must grasp His power and let it shine through us. We may not always be able to control the outcomes of our situations in life and ministry, but we can always control how let our ministry be formed. Each of us will inevitably encounter hardship and pain within our leadership roles at one point or another. Know that our Christian character is more important than the outcome of those situations. Our character may sometimes save us from the undesirable outcome, but sometimes it may not. It is only in total surrender of our lives to the Holy Spirit that He can lay his fruit upon us. We cannot reach up and take them for ourselves. When we accept the holiness of the Spirit into our lives, these instructions given by Paul will be naturally carried out. Surrender every part of your life to the holiness of the Spirit. Only then can you fully experience the unfathomable fruit of the Spirit and the perfect love of Christ. |