Love's Order For Life's Priorities VIII, Mission Impossible

We're going to read from Ephesians 5, so turn your Bibles to Ephesians 5, and we also use your outline as we do every week, in case you don't have a Bible with you. Don't forget, I did put in your notes next week's Faithfulty Completion Offering Card. It's very important that every one of us who call this our church continue to support the effort that we have to complete our bridge loan, which is just about six weeks away, and we're going to honor God as we pay off that bridge loan and move forward, so I trust you'll all be praying about that this week. Ephesians 5, verses 1 and 2. The imitators of God, therefore, is dearly loved children, and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. I want to read that again, and if you have your notes, pick it up with me when I reach the second verse. Let me read it again, because some of it didn't register yet. The imitators of God, therefore, is dearly loved children, and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Live a life of love, say that with me, live a life of love, say it again, live a life of love. Would that it would be that easy, if we could just say it and do it, not quite. During a recent televised golf tournament, about three weeks ago, the commentator said of the field of players, he said, all of your favorite heroes will be on the links today. It's something about the way he used the word heroes grabbed me. Heroes, I thought, are these people my heroes? People are paid to travel to the most beautiful spots in the world, and only when the weather is agreeable, for four or so hours a day, for four days a week, for about 38 weeks of the year, to hit this little round ball around gorgeously manicured, beautifully maintained grounds, while hordes of people dole over them and cater to their every whim. Does that define hero to you? Not to me. That's not a hero, that's a celebrity, isn't it? What's the difference between a hero and a celebrity? Well it's the difference between Madonna and Mother Teresa. It's the difference between Arnold Schwarzenegger and Norman Schwarzkopf, right? It's the difference between Billy Joel and Billy Graham. It's the difference between Larry King and Martin Luther King. One's a celebrity, one's a hero. It's not talent, it's not intelligence, it's not persistence or hard work that makes them different. What is it then? I mean, both of those groups of people used all of those qualities to be sure to get where they are. It's simply this. A celebrity sacrifices much of themselves to attain something for themselves, and a hero sacrifices much of themselves for someone else. See, celebrities by and large do all that they do to make a name for themselves, a reputation for themselves, fame, fortune, and a following. But a hero does what they do for the best interest of another person or group of persons. And if fame and fortune and all that come along with it, so be it. Many times they don't care, and often they don't even want it. In Hebrews 11, it's often called the Hall of Faith or the Hall of Heroes. It's a listing of the heroes of the faith. We're not going to turn there today, but in it, if you'd like to read it later, dozens of people are named who sacrificed themselves for you and for me, symbolically, as they laid down their lives for others when they lived. They were heroes. They were men and women who gave themselves so that the kingdom of God could continue to advance in the world. Now, three weeks ago, hundreds of you—this is just a portion of the cards that I received—hundreds of you handed in these cards, and you said, I have a concern for someone. I want to make an investment in another life. I want to make a difference with someone that I love. And you talked about your husbands and wives and fathers and sons and loved ones. You talked about people that you work with. And you said, I don't know what to do. Many of you said, I don't know what to do next. How do I proceed in making a difference in their life? And I want to talk about that for just a few minutes today, because you see, in order for that to happen, it's going to take a release of the spirit of sacrifice. And that spirit of sacrifice is called agape love. If you're going to take notes, write that down in the first blank, would you please? For God's purposes to be fulfilled on the earth today, it'll take a release of the spirit of agape love. Chuck, put that up, please. Agape love. If you've been here any length of time, you know that agape is the Greek word for love, the God kind of love. Look at this definition. This isn't love as you think of it. It's a volitional commitment or a commitment of your will to another that motivates us to act on his or her behalf. You see, agape love, the God kind of love, is an act of your will that reaches out to another person to act in their best interest. And oftentimes, dear ones, I have found that when I act in love to someone, they may or may not get it. They may or may not say thank you. They may or may not even have a clue as to what I'm doing when I act in love. And you see, agape love has this one interesting twist to it. Agape love acts in love regardless of the response that it gets. And that's a very difficult thing because sometimes the response that you get is disappointing. Sometimes it's even violent. Sometimes it hurts. Are you ready for a cat update? It's been a month or so. I have to tell you about cats. As I've said before, we have three. We have two that I wish would go on a long vacation, but ironically, these two never leave home. They're always there. They never go out. The one that I think is kind of cool, the one that's going to make it to the cover of my cat's magazine at some point, goes out all the time. But one day this week, I think it was Monday, the cat came back proverbially licking its wounds. They'd gotten into a fight. And any of you who have cats know when they get into a fight, and especially, they usually get bitten in the back, backside. And when that happens, it's bad news. And so we took the cat into the vet, and he confirmed our worst fears. It was a bad bite, poor thing. And I said, well, how bad is the bite, Dr. Veterinarian, sir? And he said, well, it's bad enough that he's going to need shots. He's going to need ointment. He's going to need treatments. He's going to need a hospital stay. He's going to need antibiotics, and he's going to need electroshock therapy, I said. And so the cat was admitted. And all I'll tell you is this. After two and a half days, they picked the cat up, I couldn't believe how much the damage was. Have you ever had a veterinarian say, down the hall is our finance department? I've never had that before. We take home equity loans. So we got the cat back. That's not, I mean, that's enough for most people to say that's the end of this cat. But, you know, it's part of the family, all that stuff, so we're going to try. But now what we have to do, the vet said, well, when these bites happen, they're so deep down in there that they have to heal from the inside out. So that means that several times a day, someone has to help open up that wound and put ointment on it. So two or three times a day, my mission is to grab the front of the cat, lovingly, and hold its claws and body still while my wife does her thing in the back of the cat. It's all shaved and everything, you know? And so when I do that, as soon as Carol touches that wound, the cat just smiles and spits and tries to turn around and rearrange my face somehow. And I'm there lovingly holding that cat, like, man, if you move another inch, I've got about 700, no, whatever it is, I've got a lot of money in you here. And I'm, do you think that cat's ever going to come up to me a month or two down the road and say, you know, just rub up against my leg and say, thank you for taking care of me when I really needed it? No! That cat doesn't have a clue what's going on. It doesn't understand that we literally are acting in love, painful love, expensive love, to help that cat get healed. Now I share that story, not because I just want you to know how much I'm enjoying being a cat parent or whatever I'm called. I'm sharing it because it reminds me how much cats are like people. Have you ever done something for someone in their best interest and all they wanted to do was spit and snarl and claw and they just reacted negatively? Of course you have. Because many people don't understand their condition and when you try to share in love with them, when you try to help them to understand what's going on, all they know to do is just to lash out. And sometimes, best case scenario, they just ignore you. It's sort of thankless. Well, you see, agape love just continues to sacrificially do what's best for another person regardless of the response. And I pray today that as we look into how we might invest in the lives of others, you could find a few ways to express agape love. Let me just mention three reasons why you should real quickly and then we're going to have communion. Number one, we should be motivated to walk out of here and love people. Number one, because Christ loved you. He sacrificed for you in just that way. Friends, make no mistake about it. God never asks you to do anything for someone else that he hasn't already done for you. The Father sent his Son, Jesus Christ, demonstrated agape love to you and to me when he gave his life on the cross, when he suffered. And friends, Jesus Christ suffered a horrible death. And do you know what, interestingly, you and I get offended when we do something nice for someone and they don't notice, let alone if we did something nice and they got mad at us. Imagine being the Father and he sends his Son who lays down his life in a brutal, horrendous way. And many people to this day ignore what Jesus did or worse, openly reject him and say, so what? Who cares? But that's agape love. You see, it loves regardless of the response. Second reason why you should love that way is because you were created for it. I say this often, but you know, God has a purpose and a plan for your life that involves touching others. Look at the scripture on your outline right there. It is God himself who has made us what we are and given us new lives from Christ Jesus. And long ages ago, he planned that we should spend these lives in helping others. I underlined that last phrase, but why don't you circle it? Spend these lives in helping others. That's what God ordained for us. That's the purpose in our being here. Friends, have you ever used a tool or an implement for a purpose other than for which it was designed? For example, have you ever used a knife to tighten a screw or try to unloosen one? Whatever happens when you do that? Yeah, the edge of the knife gets all gnarled up and ruined, doesn't it? Ever try to clean out your ear with a pencil eraser? I'll just get down to where you are, okay? Yeah, of course you have. Well, it's not the right tool. What happens? I mean, you get all frustrated. And if you're a little bit clumsy, you can make a mess of your head. You see, you're supposed to use a specific item, a Q-tip to do that. You're supposed to use a screwdriver to unloosen or loosen a screw. And God said, I've created you, I've fashioned you to help others in agape love. That's why you're here. When you learn to do that, you're going to be fulfilled. And if you don't learn to do that, you're going to be like so many in the world today that are chasing after things, out there trying to find the reason, trying to find what it is that's going to make life make sense to them. And can I say to many of you who've been believers in Christ for a long time, listen carefully. I'm speaking to a lot of you whose eyes I can see right now. You've been a Christian a long time. There's a tendency in all of us to get weary in well-doing. And we tend to back up a little bit and say, you know, I've really kind of done my thing for God. And I'm just going to have a time of it now. I'm just going to let someone else go with it. As much as I believe that there are seasons in our Christian walk when we are really carrying the mail and sometimes when we rest, there are many of us, even here in this service today, who have not really said to the Lord in recent years, God use me. Let me pour my life into someone. Let me make an investment in a life that's going to change them forever. Third reason why you should be willing to sacrifice in the God we love is because God will reward your sacrifice. One of the reasons why we stop loving people the way God wants us to is because we think no one notices. One of the reasons why we stop serving is because we think, who cares? No one ever notices. No one ever appreciates it. No one sees our sacrifices. We just get taken for granted. And in fact, if we're honest, we get kind of frustrated because we see people who don't do anything or maybe we go to work with someone and they're skimming, you know, not getting their job done and doing the very minimum and still getting by. And we're thinking, well, why should I knock myself out and do extra when they don't even do the basic and they just seem to get the same reward I do? Well, friends, listen to this. When you think no one else notices and no one else cares, understand this. God always notices and God always cares. Look at the scripture I put, bottom of the page, Ephesians 6, 10, I put there. God is not unjust. He will not forget your work and the love you have shown him, circle him, as you have helped his people and continue to help them. Do you see the relationship there? This is really, I hadn't seen this before because of this translation, makes it very clear. When you love people, when you serve people, as we're going to talk about in a moment, when you give of yourself to the purposes of God through people, you are loving and serving and honoring God. And you need to understand that no matter what happens, if you pour out your life and no one even says, well, thank you very much, you need to know something. God doesn't miss it. In fact, it says in Mark 9, 41, not even a cup of cold water given in his name will be forgotten. And so I want to say to the scores of you who sacrificed in the first service, put up your hand. How many of you were working in the children's ministry or nursery? Anyone in this service? I want to say God noticed you, even if the parents picked up the kids and didn't even say thanks to you. God noticed. Those of you who'll be meeting with our students tonight and Tuesday and Wednesday and during the week and meeting in small groups with our students, if the parents never say thanks or the kids say, oh, you know, big deal. Remember, God notices your sacrifice and it's pleasing to him. You're loving him when you're serving our students. I want to say to those of you who come in early to set up and stay late to clean up. Those of you who serve Friday night in the power of a dream, God noticed your sacrifice. God notices those of you who lead study groups and community groups around the body. Those of you who serve in tangible ways, God notices. Those of you who clean up here Monday through Friday, those of you who make it happen, God notices and he will reward you. He's also going to say to some of you, you know, you accepted me, but you lived a pretty selfish life. I mean, you checked into church now and then just to let the people know that you were still on board, but you really haven't done anything. To share my love with anyone else. I believe every person comes into the world with a deposit of agape love when you come into the kingdom of God. It's kind of like a monopoly game. You know, when you start the game, how much do you get to start? A couple thousand, fifteen hundred, whatever it is. And we all start with the same. But some of us spend that love that Christ brings into our heart on ourselves and we just get fatter and fatter and fatter and bigger and bigger. And we just love God, but we don't do one thing for another person. God said, learn the principle of investment, because when you start investing in lives, as Dan and Bonnie shared, as you start giving of yourself, God said, I notice it and I'll reward you. And what you sow into lives, you're going to reap from God. That's the beauty of it. And so today, as we come to the communion table, what a beautiful picture it is to see that the Son of God sent by the Father to bring us to a point of relationship with him was an act of agape love. Did you know that? The worship band could come. I want us to come to the communion table right now and stand before the Lord and say, Lord, thank you for the sacrifice that you brought to me. Our servants are going to serve us by preparing the elements and let's all stand before the Lord right now and just prepare for communion together. It says in the book of Romans, let me read this scripture. We aren't saved. Listen, we aren't saved by knowing the commandments of God because we can't and don't keep them. Let me hear an amen to that. We don't. Let's just get real here. We can and don't keep them. But God put into effect a different plan to save us. He sent his own son in a human body like ours and destroyed sin's control over us by giving himself as a sacrifice for our sins. Think of it. It's because of Christ's incredible sacrifice for us that we can sacrifice forever. And I know in a crowd this size, especially at the second service on a Sunday morning, there's some of you who have really never come to terms with that personal God love, that agape that Christ wants to bring into you, into your heart, into your life. I'm not talking about trying to get better or cleaning up your act or being a nicer person or stopping drinking or smoking or, you know, sexual activity. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about a relationship with God that transforms you from the inside. And it starts when you acknowledge that you desire and need that relationship because the wages of a sinful life is death. But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. In just a moment, the servants are going to come and hand you one of the communion elements. And now here at North Way, we say to people, everyone is welcome. But God would say the only folks that should really participate in communion are ones who've opened their hearts to him. You see, that communion is a symbol of Christ's body. You are literally ingesting, in a symbolic way, Christ into your life. It's a symbol of being so united with someone that you're one, that you become one. And it wouldn't make sense for a person who doesn't have faith in Christ to take communion. And so before we pass out the elements, I want to have a word of prayer. And if you're here today and you say, you know, Jay, I've kind of been uncertain about this and I want to make it clear today that I've received Christ into my life, that he's in my heart. You can pray this prayer with me right now and receive. Let's bow our heads, please. The Lord invites you, as the song says, his arms are open wide at this time. I'm going to invite you right now to receive Christ into your life. Pray this prayer with me from your heart, if you desire to receive him. Heavenly Father, say the words to him. Heavenly Father, I need you in my life and Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for the sacrifice that you gave for my sin. I receive you now, come into my life, and make me a brand new person, I pray in your name. And now, if the ushers will come and all who know Christ, receive and hold the elements. And as they're coming, let's just continue to worship the Lord with that new chorus. Let's just tell him how much we love him. Just hold your elements here, all of us.