A New Revelation of Love

in
Speaker: 
Andrew Fountain
Date: 
Sun, 2018-11-11

Sermon Outline - A New Revelation of Love

Goal

To change the way we think about our main goals in life.

Outline

  1. A New Commandment
  2. A New Revelation
  3. Working it out in practice

1. A New Commandment: John 13

  1. A new commandment I give to you,
        that you love one another:
    just as I have loved you,
        you also are to love one another.

Relationship to the Old Commandments: Romans 13

  1. Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
  2. For the commandments,
    “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment,
    are summed up in this word:
    You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”
  • You might say “nothing new hear Andrew” “Everyone knows this!” “This is Jesus 101”
    • The problem is that it is abstract
    • I want to make it very concrete this morning

2. A New Revelation

  • I want to talk about of the most extraordinary truths in the Bible, that is not often spoken about
  • When Jesus died on the cross, it was to suffer in our place
    • But that is not all it was
    • It was:

A new revelation of what God is like: Heb 1

  1. Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,
  2. but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son...
  3. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the and the exact representation of his essence...
  • We already knew that he is a
    • God of power yet compassion,   purity but forgiveness,   high above all but utterly faithful as a friend.
    • But Jesus revealed something new,   something shocking,   something almost unbelievable
      • at the very core of the supreme being

The core nature of God

  • is to give himself sacrificially to others, even when the cost is so high.
  • When Jesus died on the cross, it was a declaration to the universe of what God is like.
  • Not just another aspect of God, but the very essence. The part of God that he himself most delights in.
  • Kindness is love in action, so when we are kind, we are God-like

Luke 6

  1. But love your enemies,
    and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return,
    and your reward will be great,
    and you will be sons of the Most High,
    for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.
  2. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
  • This takes it to another level—one thing to be kind to a friend, or even a stranger
  • More than a feeling, it is an action
  • Jesus embodied this sort of kindness
    • Even healed the ear of one of the soldiers arresting him before his death

1 John 3

  1. By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we should lay down our lives for each other.

Dying to self

Dying to self

3. Working it out in practice

  • Anne can tell you that we have received so much love as a family
    • Moving to Canada shower
    • Paired up with a Canadian family
    • Heard I was going to be out of a job and found work for me
    • Invited us to come and live in a home for a couple of months, with our young children when we didn’t have a place to stay.
  • Good Listening is dying to self

Listening

“The essence of good listening is… suspending our preoccupation with ourselves and entering into the experience of the other person.”
The Lost Art of Listening Michael P. Nichols

  • Real listening is dying to yourself

Listening

“Of course suspending your needs in order to listen means more than just allowing the other person time to talk. It doesn’t mean just letting a certain amount of time elapse while that person has his say, only to leap in with your own agenda when he’s finished.”
The Lost Art of Listening Michael P. Nichols

  • What will serve this person best?
  • Am I truly dying to my own desires in this conversation?
  • It is so important that we get than this at the very core of God:

1 John 4

  1. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
  2. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
  3. In this the love of God was revealed among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we may live through him.
  4. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
  5. Beloved, if God so loved us, then we also should love one another.
  • How do we do this?
    • It is the life of God within us
    • The sign that God the Holy Spirit is truly in us
    • He is in you, and loves to love, just ask him “What can I do right now to show your love?”

Conclusion

  • Is the main goal of your life to be a person who loves (that is God’s goal for you)
  • Love and be God-like!
  • If God is in you, he will want to show himself in this way, so let him.
  • “What can I do right now to show your love?”

Updated on 2018-11-11 by Andrew Fountain