May The Lord Answer You

Psalms 20:1-9

May the LORD answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you. 2 May He send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support from Zion. 3 May He remember all your sacrifices and accept your burnt offerings. Selah 4 May He give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. 5 We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the LORD grant all your requests. 6 Now I know that the LORD saves His anointed; He answers him from His holy heaven with the saving power of His right hand. 7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. 8 They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm. 9 O LORD, save the king! Answer us when we call!

This psalm is a prayer for God to save the king. (v:9) It is the prayer of one who prays for all that is good, and all the best to be poured into another person’s life. It reveals the heart of one who wishes to bless someone else. It stands as an example of the kinds of blessings available from the Lord. It is a sample prayer for those who wish to bless others. It is the sort of prayer we should pray for one another. This is praying for, not against, our brothers. this is a biblical form of blessing.
Look at the kinds of things anticipated here: answered prayer, sheltered protection, spiritual help and godly support, remembered sacrifices, given hearts’ desires, plans to succeed, and all requests granted. That’s quite a list.
Now, let me give you one application early - when you pray, don’t forget the Bible is a reference and resource. Many of the psalms are prayers. I don’t recommend that you always follow a prescribed form of prayer, but at times it is good to pray the Psalms. And this is a good place to start.

Answered Prayer
May the LORD answer you . . . may the name of the God of Jacob protect you. May He send you help . . . and grant you support . . . May He give you the desire of your heart . . . May the LORD grant all your requests.
Talk about your blessing! That every prayer be answered. More than that, that they all be answered with a resounding "Yes!" Wow. What a way to pray for someone.
And as if he knows we will think maybe we’ve read something into it that isn’t here, he rephrases it for us in several ways; always with the same intent. "May He give you what you ask for."
The unsaved used to have a saying, "When the gods wish to punish us, they grant our requests." But that’s the heathen. They reached that conclusion because they realized that we are sometimes shortsighted and ask for things we shouldn’t have, things that are bad for us. God inspires His writer to pray that all our prayers are answered. Because He knows our hearts desire is to please God rather than ourselves. He believes we will ask only for good things, things which will glorify the Lord. This is a wonderful expression of God’s confidence in the sort of things we will pray for. He isn’t afraid to give us a blank check for two reasons. Number one: we could never write it for enough to make it bounce. And number two: He is confident that He can trust us, not only with a single check, but with the whole account. That doesn’t mean we should ask infrequently and cautiously; it simply means we won’t ask frivolously.
Look again at the things mentioned here.
May the LORD answer you when you are in distress;
may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.
2 May He send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support from Zion.
3 May He remember all your sacrifices and accept your burnt offerings. Selah 4 May He give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.
. . . May the LORD grant all your requests
When you’re in a bind, may the Lord come to your aid. When you are backed into a corner, may you discover the Lord is in your corner.
This is the confident claim of the 23rd Psalm. Only here it is phrased as a request rather than a statement of faith: Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. (v:6) By the way, if you review the shepherd’s psalm again, you will discover afresh that its requests are for good things. Great big, bold, requests for wonderful things to unfold in a person’s life.

Remembered Sacrifices
v:3 May He remember all your sacrifices and accept your burnt offerings. Selah The word sacrifices describes the most common form of worship in the Old Testament. But those sacrifice were also synonymous with offerings and gifts given to the Lord.
David basically prays, "May He never forget." The TV show Rescue 911 used to tell the stories of heroic men and women who risked their lives to save someone else. More often than not the story concluded with the victim telling how they had bonded with their rescuer. They vowed to never forget what the other person had done for them. Every time they thought of that person their hearts were filled with emotions of gratitude and love.
David says he hopes this person’s gifts have a similar effect on the heart of God. He is not suggesting we can buy God’s pleasure. But he prays that whenever God thinks of this person, His heart is stirred towards them with kindness, grace, mercy - and every good emotion. In essence he says, "When God thinks of you may He always think well of you. May He never hold anything bad against you, but only remember the good you’ve done. May He remember you on your knees lost in worship, and not in the midst of some scampish deed."
Another idea included in this petition is that our sacrifices are not in vain. For them to go unrecognized or unacknowledged would be to render them meaningless. Every house-wife knows this: what is the point if no one notices, or cares? In a sense, this is another way of expressing the desire that his prayers be answered. It is the hope that God will notice the good you do.

Successful Plans
v:4 May He give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.
This same general idea can be found again in Psalm 37, Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart. (Ps. 37:4)
I tried to look at this petition with a fresh perspective, and this is what I came up with, "May the Lord give you what you really want way down deep inside." It is as if he has in mind those secret hopes and dreams that we all have but are afraid to admit, let alone ask for, from fear that they will never come to pass. Knowing that we all have these secret dreams we are afraid to dream, David says, I pray that your dreams will come true.
This is the same idea we considered last week as Paul declared, "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us," (Eph. 3:20) Only that was New Testament, this is Old.
The second half of this verse carries on, as if this were not enough, and make all your plans succeed. It is proverbial, "The best laid plans of mice and men..." We have a whole litany of sayings about the possibility of plans failing. "Life is what happens when you’re making other plans." "If all goes as planned..." "Things don’t always go as planned." "Plans change." "What’s ‘Plan B’?"
We even have catchy lines for those occasions when things do go as planned. For example: "I love it when a plan works out."
I don’t suffer from delusion; neither did David. All our plans won’t always succeed. But this is God’s desire, His dream for your life, that God would bless you so much that you would have little cause for surprise when your plans succeed. That instead of calling it luck, you would consider it love - His love intervening in your life.

My prayer for you is that God will answer your prayers;
that He will remember your gifts of service and sacrifice;
that He will give you your hearts desires
and inspire your plans in such a way that they couldn’t possibly fail.

Jesus’ Prayer for Us

John 17:1-26

One of the most encouraging experiences as a Christian is to be prayed for by someone else – and not only prayed for but prayed with. When someone prays for you in your presence, something special happens in your heart: you feel warmed and encouraged. There’s a sense of intimacy, both between you and the other person and between you and God. It’s like you’re knocking on heaven’s doors together. It is one of the best ways to build relationships between Christians and one of the surest ways of ensuring unity in the church. It’s pretty hard for division to exist and take hold when people are praying together. Have you had that experience? While we do have to pray for one another, I believe firmly that we ought to pray with one another more.

It is one thing for us to pray for and with one another – to bring our brothers and sisters in Christ before the Lord in prayer – but it is quite another to realize that in Jesus we have someone interceding on our behalf. Do you know that Jesus prays for you? Do you know that he goes to the Father on your behalf and on our behalf? Listen to these words from Hebrews 7: 25: “Consequently he is able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.” Romans 8: 34 says something very similar: “It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.”

Robert McCheyne once said this: “If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes no difference. He is praying for me.” If you have had the experience of someone praying with you – of having someone right next to you, sitting beside you, bringing your concerns and needs before God, I invite you now to imagine Jesus doing exactly that. I want you to close your eyes and to picture yourself sitting with Jesus. I want to you picture him praying for you. As you picture Jesus praying for you, eyes closed, I’m going to read our Scripture passage. Listen to Jesus, as he prays these words. Read John 17.

In this passage, which is Jesus’ final moments with his disciples before being arrested, Jesus prays for his disciples. Knowing that he will be leaving them, praying for them is the best way to prepare them. Jesus prays for three things on our behalf: protection, sanctification, and oneness.

Jesus’ Prayer for Protection

The early Native Indians had a unique practice of training young men. On the night of a boy’s thirteenth birthday, after learning hunting, scouting, and fishing skills, he was put to one final test. He was placed in a dense forest to spend the entire night alone. Until then, he had never been away from the security of the family and the tribe. But on this night, he was blindfolded and taken several miles away. When he took off the blindfold, he was in the middle of a thick woods and he was terrified! Every time a twig snapped, he visualized a wild animal ready to pounce. After what seemed like an eternity, dawn broke and the first rays of sunlight entered the interior of the forest. Looking around, the boy saw flowers, trees, and the outline of the path. Then, to his utter astonishment, he beheld the figure of a man standing just a few feet away, armed with a bow and arrow. It was his father. He had been there all night long.

Jesus’ first prayer for us is a prayer for protection. Of course, unlike that young boy, we have the benefit of knowing in advance that our Father is there to protect us; although just like the young boy, we don’t always see our Father guarding us. Jesus asks the Father to “protect” us. He prays, “Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.” A little later he prays, “I ask you to protect them from the evil one.” Eugene Peterson translates the word “protect” as “guard,” and this is a helpful way of seeing it, especially when we think of that father watching over his son while the son was in the woods and thought he was alone.

Against what are we being protected? Jesus asks that we receive protection from the evil one, that we would be protected when faced with temptation, opposition, persecution, etc. He takes as inevitable that we will face such things.

But he doesn’t ask that we be removed from these things. As Jesus says, “I do not ask you to take them out of the world.” But while we are in the world, he wants us to be protected and guarded. Now the word that we translate here as “protect” or “guard” is tereo, which can also mean “to preserve.” Jesus wants us to be preserved while we are in the world. Jesus’ prayer for protection is a prayer that the disciples would remain in – and be shaped by – the revelation of God that they have received through Jesus once Jesus is no longer physically present. Jesus says, “Protect them in your name that you have given me.” This is the same as saying “Father, help them to remain true to what they have received from me. No matter what they face in this world, no matter how the evil one attacks them, help them to remain in me. Preserve them, protect them, and guard them.”

The purpose of this request is also to ensure the unity of the faith community, which mirrors the unity of Father and Son. As Jesus also prays, “Protect them in your name . . . so that they may be one, as we are one.” “It is for the preservation of this unity in the face of the cosmic power of evil that Jesus seeks God’s help.” The church’s life is therefore entrusted to God. “What God is committed to do,” someone says, “is to preserve the oneness relationship that exists between the believer and Jesus. Nothing on earth can tear us away from our Lord.”

Jesus’ Prayer for Sanctification

Jesus’ second prayer for us is a prayer for sanctification. Sanctification here means “to be made holy,” and being made holy means being set apart.

Jesus wants us “to be consecrated” for service. It has to do with being set apart for the purposes of God. Jesus is praying that we would be set apart by the truth of who he is for the purpose of being sent into the world. We are in the world, but we do not, as Jesus says, “belong to the world.” Being holy, sanctified, and consecrated means that we belong to God and that He has set us apart for a purpose.

One aspect of the Eucharist is the consecrating of the dishes – the chalice that holds the wine, for example – that are used in Communion. These items have been set apart for a specific purpose; they have been consecrated and sanctified. Jesus is asking his Father to set us apart, to consecrate us for the purpose that He has for us.

This mirrors what Christ has done. “Jesus is asking God to do for the disciples what he has already done for him: set them apart for God’s work in the world.” Just as God set apart His Son for a mission in the world, so Jesus is asking that the Father would set apart his disciples for God’s work in the world. As Jesus says, “As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.”

“Sanctification is not about living a clean or perfect life, but an obedient life. The attraction of the world, the weakness of the flesh, and the onslaught of the devil are daily battles. It involves a purifying of the whole life of that person or thing to the service of God. In the Old Testament it usually conveyed the idea of making something sacred, usually by the burning of the sacrifice. It does not mean to purify as to purify from sin. Jesus purified Himself even though He had no sin by setting Himself apart as the sacrificial offering to God so that we His followers might also be pure and holy.
Sanctification is not about avoiding or escaping the world but yielding and surrendering to God. Being set apart does not mean we are stored away.”

Jesus’ Prayer for Unity

Jesus’ third prayer for us is a prayer for unity. In a Peanuts cartoon Lucy demands that Linus change TV channels, threatening him with her fist if he didn’t. “What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?” asks Linus. “These five fingers,” says Lucy, “Individually they’re nothing but when I curl them together like this into a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold.” “Which channel do you want?” asks Linus. Turning away, he looks at his fingers and says, “Why can’t you guys get organized like that?”

What does it mean to have unity here? It doesn’t mean that we agree on every single point of doctrine. It doesn’t mean that there is only one denomination. But it does mean that we are united in confessing that Jesus is the Son of God. It means that we confess in a united way that the Father and the Son are one and that the Father sent the Son into the world and reveals who the Father is.

The importance of oneness and unity is emphasized over and over again in our passage: “Protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one (v. 11).” “I ask not only on behalf of these but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one (v. 20).” “The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one (v. 22, 23).”

This is not a unity we can achieve by our own efforts. Our unity emerges as a result of our remaining in Jesus – by being focused on him. A.W. Tozer in The Pursuit of God asks “Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers [meeting] together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be, were they to become ‘unity’ conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.”

“So I have sent them into the world”

The purpose of Jesus’ prayer – his prayer for our protection, sanctification, and unity – is so that we would be prepared for being sent into the world. Jesus doesn’t ask the Father to preserve merely to wait until Jesus comes again. “Being set apart does not mean we are stored away.” Jesus says, “As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.” We are preserved and protected, consecrated and made holy, and made one and unified so that we can continue Jesus’ work in the world. For we are in the world even if we are not of the world. And while here there is something for us to do.

Jesus’ work was to reveal the character of the Father, to show his love for the world, and to live out this love for the sake of those who believe. Jesus did this pre-eminently by going to the cross, by giving up his life for others.

Just as Jesus’ sole purpose and mission was to be set apart for God’s work in the world, so the disciples are to be set apart, sanctified, made holy, for God’s work in the world. Jesus was able to do this because the Father loved him and he loved the Father; they are one; and he glorified the Father and the Father glorified him as a result. This is why unity is so key. Our witness and being consecrated for God’s work has as its specific content a love for one another, based in the love Jesus has revealed to us. This love becomes evidence to a godless world that Jesus was sent by the Father. In other words, only by loving one another can we hope to be an effective witness in the world. And that is what we are called to be a witness. Jesus’ prayer for us is not so that we will simply be protected until he returns, but that we also are sent just as he was sent. We have a mission, a share in his mission, and only through the unity of love can we live out this mission. This is Jesus’ prayer, and his request that we be protected, sanctified, and unified are all to the purpose of being a witness to the world. The disciples, us included, continue Jesus’ mission in the world. We have been commissioned.

The reason unity is crucial to witness and mission is that in a world defined by conflict, broken relationships, dysfunctional families, and fractured and nearly non-existent communities, such unity would indeed be a sign that God is at work because no human effort could accomplish it. The love that we are to show the world is to mirror the love the Son shows us; that is to say, that our love for one another has to be a costly love, a sacrificial love, where we are willing to lay down our lives for one another just as Jesus did for all of us. That is also what it means to receive glory. Jesus received glory by proceeding to his hour: his glorification includes his death. In following Jesus along the same path, we too will receive glory.

Jesus’ Prayer for Us

Lastly it is very important that we recognize that this passage is a prayer. Jesus is asking his Father to accomplish all these things. He is asking his Father to protect us. He is asking his Father to sanctify us. He is asking his Father to make us one in heart and mind. These are not things we can accomplish. We cannot preserve ourselves. We cannot sanctify ourselves. And we certainly cannot make ourselves one and create unity amongst ourselves. Jesus entrusts his disciples to God the Father. So should we.

All of what Jesus asks of his Father here can be summed up in what he says at the end of his prayer: “I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” Love is the key.

During World War II, Hitler commanded all religious groups to unite so that he could control them. Among the Brethren assemblies, half complied and half refused. Those who went along with the order had a much easier time. Those who did not, faced harsh persecution. In almost every family of those who resisted, someone died in a concentration camp.When the war was over, feelings of bitterness ran deep between the groups and there was much tension. Finally they decided that the situation had to be healed. Leaders from each group met at a quiet retreat. For several days, each person spent time in prayer, examining his own heart in the light of Christ’s commands. Then they came together. Francis Schaeffer, who told of the incident, asked a friend who was there, "What did you do then?" "We were just one," he replied. As they confessed their hostility and bitterness to God and yielded to His control, the Holy Spirit created a spirit of unity among them. Love filled their hearts and dissolved their hatred. When love prevails among believers, especially in times of strong disagreement, it presents to the world an indisputable mark of a true follower of Jesus Christ. That is what we are called to do.

The Value Of A Life

Exodus 20:13

We live in an age where we can pick up any newspaper, or watch any news broadcast and be guaranteed to hear about another persons untimely death. This commandment in Ex 20:13 is as relevant today as it was when God first gave it to Moses on Mount Sinai.

The taking of human life either deliberately or by accident is condemned in this commandment, yet we live with it each and every day. There are two questions we need to ask in relation to this commandment. First, “Why is murder wrong?” and then, “What exactly is condemned?”

I. WHY IS MURDER WRONG?

a. Because murder touches the image and likeness of God.

Murder is wrong because it is not only a physical issue, but a spiritual one also. You see, to break this commandment is not only a direct act of violence against humanity, but more seriously it is a direct attack against the image and likeness of God in which the human race is created (Gen 1:26-27; 9:6).

That is why it is very important for us to translate this verse carefully. Some older versions of the bible use the phrase, “You shall not kill.” But this is not what is said. The verse very clearly refers to murder - the taking of human life.

Many people operate on the principle that, “this is a living thing (plant or animal) and we must reverence life and therefore we must not destroy it.” The sixth commandment cannot be used to support this belief. It is only concerned with the sacredness of human life and in no way speaks to the issue of the life of plants or animals.

It also is quite obvious from scripture that this commandment does not concern plants and animals. In the O/T we see that God is most certainly not a vegetarian, nor that he intended people to be. And its clear from the N/T that Jesus would sacrifice the lives of hundreds of pigs for the sake of ones mans sanity. So it’s apparent that the lives of plants and animals are not at issue here.

Recently I saw a documentary on the ABC which highlighted the anti-population sentiment of many prominent environmental organizations - Greenpeace is one you are probably familiar with. Their argument is that the world is vastly over-populated by humans to the detriment of other forms of life. They even go as far as to say that we need to take immediate action to cull the level of the human population on the earth. That the current level of human population on earth is not sustainable and that we ought to make every endeavor to reduce it at once. It’s a view which sheds a whole new light on the motivation of such organizations. Why are they so bent on destroying, or at least limiting the only part of creation made in the image and likeness of God?

What kind of society is it that we live in when we have no hesitation in aborting a human fetus as a means of birth control or discussing the euthanasing of the elderly or terminally ill and yet we fight to save one tree! We cannot say that this commandment is not relevant today. It is relevant precisely because it tells us what is on God’s heart and mind concerning the way we value ourselves and ultimately the way we value him.


b. Because murder s an act of finality which cannot be reversed.

Murder is also wrong because it is a final act which cannot be undone. Murder is condemned in the bible because, unlike New Age, Hindu and Buddhist thinking, humankind does not have a second chance at life. Hebrews 9:27 makes this clear:

Humans are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.


c. Because murder is the most far reaching act of human against human.

The third and final reason why the bible says murder is wrong relates to its effect upon a community. Murder is the most far reaching act of human to human. The Israelites knew the extent to which the blame for a death could be carried. In Deut 22:8, when they are given instruction regarding how to build their homes they are told to

….make a parapet around your roof so that you may not bring the guilt of bloodshed on your house if someone falls from the roof.

In other words, if someone fell off your roof and died, the whole family wore the guilt (NB By the way this may look like an accidental death and not murder, but we will explore this a little further in just a moment).

The point here is that murder is wrong because it has repercussions right throughout the whole of society. Not only is the murderer and the victim affected but so too are their family and friends - and the society at large. How has your level of well-being and safety, even in your own home, been effected by the knowledge that there are serial killers waiting to be brought to justice. Murder is wrong because effects the entire community.


II. WHAT IS CONDEMNED?
We mentioned what seemed to be an accidental death just a moment ago. I want to turn now then, to look at what exactly this commandment condemns.

a. Premeditated Killing
Perhaps the most obvious kind of killing this commandment condemns is the premeditated and deliberate taking of human life with evil intent.

I say “with evil intent” because there are times when the premeditated and deliberate taking of human life is morally and biblically justifiable. The basic Christian argument is that it may, in some circumstances, be both justified and a duty to take one life in order to save another. For example in the case of a pregnancy which threatens the life of the mother, or a policeman who shoots a gunman to prevent him killing others, or in the defence of innocent life in warfare. Neither does this commandment include the deliberate taking of human life for the purposes of capital punishment.

GE 9:6 "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.

b. Murder through carelessness
The sixth commandment also condemns murder through carelessness. In Dueteronomy 22:8, God urges his people to live in such a way that they cannot be the cause of the death of another person. When you build a new house, make a parapet around your roof so that you may not bring the guilt of bloodshed on your house if someone falls from the roof.

The way we build our house, drive our car, walk our dog or sell our produce can be the cause of the death of others; that may not be our intention, but it can still be the direct result of our actions. This commandment forces us to consider that possibility. We have fire and safety regulations - Worksafe make sure of that - and we have these regulations because we take seriously the value of human life. And we have them because we acknowledge that we are not to be responsible for the death or injury of someone else as Leviticus 19:16 reminds us,

Do not do anything that endangers your neighbours life.

c. Suicide, abortion and euthanasia.
So the taking of human life either intentionally or through carelessness is condemned. So to is the destruction of our own lives - this is especially so for the Christian.

1 Corinthians 6:19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

While we may have every sympathy for the victim and family of suicide, this commandment condemns it on the grounds that it is the destruction of a human life, created in the image and likeness of God himself. And while we would not like to see suicide become a criminal offence, it is also dangerous to give the impression that to live or die is simply a matter of personal choice. It is not. We live in community and death impacts all of community no matter how insignificant and unimportant we may feel at times. We are all important to God and he has plans for our lives within the family and community in which we live.

Nevertheless, it is not unusual for good people to long for death sometimes, Paul did:

Phil 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.

But there is no record of Godly people taking there own lives anywhere in Scripture.

This is not the place to deal with the issues of abortion and euthanasia in depth, but these are also condemned. This commandment requires a spirit of kindness, long-suffering, and forgiveness with regard to these two issues.

There is no doubt that abortion and euthanasia are emotional issues. But they are issues that we must approach without wanting to voice our opinion, but seeking to discover how God feels about them. It is not what I feel about these issues that matters, it’s not even what others around me feel about these issues. The scriptural approach is to ask, “How does God feel?”

Contrary to contemporary thinking, our life is not our own; we hold it in trust from our Creator who gave it to us - whether we acknowledge that or not. Just as it is a lie that woman should have sole right to determine whether the child she carries should live or die, so it is a deceit of a corrupt society to pretend that everyone has the right to choose the time of their death. That belongs to God alone.


d. Virtual (vicarious) murder
Another type of murder that this commandment condemns is what I want to call virtual murder. “Virtual” because it is simulated or at least “unreal” to us; we are detached from personal involvement in it; we can remain anonymous even though we are witnesses. You know, because we see so much of it we can now watch violence on TV without the horror we once may have felt. Violent attacks on human life makes for good entertainment or headlining news - and it sells. We will even go and pay to watch violence at the cinema or on video and cable TV. Simulated violence and death are considered normal in children’s video games. I think we can also include in this, violent blood sports such as boxing. Surely we can see the offense these things must cause a holy God?

e. Passive aggression
Finally, this command forbids all kinds of passive aggression. By this I mean all types of murderous thoughts that don’t result in physical action. Emotions such as envy, malice, hatred, or anger, and all provoking or insulting language.

This commandment then, is something that applies to almost everyone of us. You may never have to physically kill someone, but I’m going to tell you what Jesus said this commandment meant. He said that there is more than one way to murder someone. You can murder them in feeling, you can murder them in thought and you can murder them in word, and they’re just as serious as murdering in deed.

Jesus said, If you’ve ever been angry at someone without just cause then you are a murderer! To rage in anger to the extent that we wish someone were dead (or that we never had to have anything to do with them ever again) shows that we have all the potential within our heart to murder.

Jesus also said that we can murder someone by our arrogance. Jesus taught that snobbery is murder? To despise someone is to destroy them. To look down on them because you have more financial or more social or more intellectual qualities about you, to do that is murder. To treat others as beneath you is murder. Why is it murder? Because you’ve forgotten that they are made in the image of God.

And the final way he said is by abuse. Have you ever called someone a moron? Have you ever called someone a fool? And meant by that “they are beyond God’s help”? That there is no hope for that person? Then you are guilty of murder. To even think, much less say, of a single person that they are beyond salvation, beyond God’s help, then you have murdered them. Why is that murder? Because you have virtually destroyed the image of God in them. To abuse someone is to take the image of God that there is inside them, an image that needs to be restored and could be, to take it and smash it and not be bother trying to restore it.

Now frankly when Jesus says that, then I stand before you today as a murderer. And so are most of you. And we stand as discovered murderers, not with weapons in our hands but with weapons in our heads and hearts, and even on our tongues. If looks could kill, we’ve killed.

CONCLUSION
And that’s it. We are all murderers. That is why this commandment is so relevant today - because you and I have broken it. But I have good news for you. What Christ has done for us will see us overcome our guilt. Christ died to rescue and forgive murderers. Jesus died on a cross, paying the supreme penalty of the law so that we wouldn’t have to - so that we murderers may go free.

You know, there was one murderer walking free around the streets of Jerusalem the day after Jesus died on the cross, and his name was Barrabbas. The Jews called for his release instead of Jesus when Pilate offered them the choice. And you and I are alive today and enjoying this world because, like Barrabbas, we can point to the cross and say, “Jesus took my place.” Remember that. However murderous your thoughts, intentions or even actions have been there is hope for your future because Jesus is willing to take the wrap for your crime.

What Could I Possibly Give To God?

Luke 14:25-33

Do you know anyone that is hard to buy a gift for? (Use a personal example of someone close to you who is hard to buy a gift for). When it comes to this persons birthday or Christmas it is hard to buy for them because they have everything. Have you ever thought about what you can give to God? What would God possibly want us to give to him? “Oh, great, here goes another preacher talking about money again.” There is a place for that. We shouldn’t be ashamed to talk about that. But before God wants our money he wants our lives. I submit to you tonight that God does not have everything. What are some things we can give God that he doesn’t have?

1). Give him our worship. Revelation 14:7-- “He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”

How much of your life has been about worship? Remember, it’s more than just coming here once a week. Why is God concerned that you worship him and him alone? He knows he is the ultimate. Nothing can satisfy like he. God is most worshipped when we are most satisfied in him. We worship that which gives us the most satisfaction. Read throughout the Bible (especially in the OT since I am reading through it) you will see how God demands exclusive worship. The main reason is because there are no other gods and the second reason is because he is the ultimate. He should be the ultimate object of our affection. Don’t forget though that God can still exist without our worship. His very life doesn’t depend on whether or not we worship him. It should be our privilege and joy. What has been hindering your worship lately?

2). Give to the needs of others. Deut. 15:7-8,11 “If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs…Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.”

When we are giving to others we are actually giving to the Lord. Contrast with Matthew 25:31-46 He gives a picture of man’s final accounting. Those who are allowed in the Kingdom are those who fed the Lord, gave the Lord water, clothed the Lord, visited the Lord in prison, visited the Lord while he was sick. Of course a person will ask, “Lord when did we do this? I didn’t know you were still down here! And the Lord says “whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me! When we give to people in need we are giving to the Lord. Christ made it his mission to reach out to the poor. We should have the same attitude.

ILLUSTRATION: A little boy about 10 years old was standing before a shoe store on the roadway, barefooted, peering through the window, and shivering with cold. A lady approached the boy and said, “My little fellow, why are you looking so earnestly in that window?” “I was asking God to give me a pair of shoes,” was the boys reply. The lady took him by the hand and went into the store and asked the clerk to get half a dozen pairs of socks for the boy. She then asked if he could give her a basin of water and a towel. He quickly brought them to her. She took the little guy to the back part of the store and removing her gloves, knelt down, washed his little feet, and dried them with a towel. By this time the clerk returned with the socks. Placing a pair upon the boy’s feet, she purchased him a pair of shoes. She tied up the remaining pairs of socks and gave them to him. She patted him on the head and said, “No doubt, my little fellow, you feel more comfortable now?” As she turned to go, the astonished lad caught her by the hand, and looking up in her face, with tears in her eyes, answered the question with these words: “Are you God’s wife?”

3). Give him your bodies. Romans 12:1 (NLT) “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will accept. When you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask? Not just with what you put in your physical bodies but your mind. Your body is the place where God dwells. This means also your total person. Your hopes, your dreams, your service to him. His agenda comes before yours. Here I am Lord, send me. Give him your body as a commitment to purity but give him your body as a commitment for service.

4). Give him your best effort. 1 Corinthians 10:31 “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it ALL for the glory of God.” Even when the pay off is not what we expected.

ILLUSTRATION: A little girl named Sarah was born with a muscle missing in her foot and wears a brace all the time. She came home one beautiful spring day to tell her father she had competed in “field day”. Because of her leg support, her father’s mind raced as he tried to think of encouragement for Sarah, things he could say to her about not letting this get her down—but before he could get a word out, she said “Daddy, I won two of the races!” Her father couldn’t believe it. And then Sarah said, “I had an advantage.” Ah, her father thought. She must have been given a head start…some kind of physical advantage. But again, before he could say anything, she said, “Daddy, I didn’t get a head start…My advantage was I had to try harder!

Do your best for his glory. God makes us pursue our best.

5). Give him whatever is keeping you from going all out for him. Luke 14:33 “So no one can become my disciple (follower) without giving up everything for me.” Jesus is talking about the cost of discipleship in this passage. He gives some very direct instruction. Jesus wants his hearers to realize that if to follow him means to follow him wholeheartedly.

If you and I were to go on a hiking trip there would be some things we would absolutely have to pack and there would be some things we can do without. We might even have to leave some seemingly good things behind in order to make the journey a success. The excess will weigh us down and keep us from accomplishing the goal.

We like to give him some stuff but not all of it. As long as we are holding on to one thing that is not pleasing to him it is going to affect our relationship with Him. What is keeping you from going all out for him?

WRAP UP--

These are not things you give him so you can become a Christian. You do these things BECAUSE you are a Christian.

These are things he won’t force from you. There is no doubt that the seas and stars are his. There is no doubt that the rainbow belongs to him. Whether or not he owns you is up to you. In the grand scheme of things God can lay claim to you because he created you. But the father/son/daughter part of the relationship is in your hands. He died so that you can have life with him.

What do you and I need to give God tonight? He is waiting with his arms wide open ready to receive whatever you bring to him tonight. Maybe it is your praise. Maybe it is to commit your body to purity. Maybe its say to him, Lord I want to endure even though things have been tough. Maybe there has been someone on your mind whose needs God has been wanting you to meet but you haven’t. Whatever it may be God wants to take it and make it special.

The Two Roads

Matthew 7:13-14

When Jesus spoke of two roads, two gates, two paths, he was speaking in ways which people understood. Religious teachers then always spoke about there being two ways; one which leads to destruction and one which leads to life. So that part of Jesus’ teaching was not surprising. However, the way Jesus said it was a shock, and it’s recorded in the Bible because it should still shock us today. Like a bucket of cold water being poured on my head when I am tired and sleepy, Jesus’ words should come as something of a surprise!

Jesus says that there are two paths we can follow in life. One is God’s way (verse 14) and it leads to life. The other way is not God’s way. Perhaps nothing too surprising there; but then comes the bucket of cold water. Thankfully today’s baptism water was not cold!

Jesus says that “wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it” (verse 13). In other words, many people are on a path which is popular to follow. It’s popular because most people are on it, and it’s the easiest road to travel on.

Jesus also says, “Small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (verse 14).

That came as a shock, because the people listening to Jesus assumed that being born Jewish automatically meant that such a person had a guaranteed place in heaven for ever and a day. Perhaps for some of us the danger is that we can believe that being ‘Church of England’ makes us all right, or being British means that God is especially pleased with us; or more likely the danger for us is that we think that we’re really quite nice people.

Popular opinion says: It doesn’t matter which religion a person follows, so long as they are sincere and so long as they don’t try to force it on me. Popular opinion says: So long as we try to be good people, if there’s a God everything will be OK.

For the person who wants to know God, and to know the fullness of life that comes from a relationship with God, Jesus warns us against simply going with the flow. Jesus warns us against simply going with popular opinion.

Much of the message of Jesus Christ is unpopular. The message that God is the intelligent designer behind the creation of the world seems to be OK with many people. The message that Jesus came into the world as a tiny helpless baby also seems to be OK with lots of people, especially around Christmas time. However, the message that we – you and me – have sinned is not a popular message at all.

The message that you and I have basically rejected and chosen to ignore God is not a popular message. The suggestion that we need a saviour, the suggestion that we need to ask God to forgive us for the mess we’ve made of the world, and the mess we’ve made our lives and the lives of other people, is not popular.

Popular opinion says ‘Do whatever you want to do, look after number one.’

When Jesus said that “wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it”, Jesus was basically saying beware of popular opinion about religion. Popular opinion might be in the majority, but that doesn’t mean it’s correct.

Earlier in the Sermon Jesus said (Matthew 7: 7), “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you.”

Jesus was referring to our relationship with God and he invites us to go against popular opinion. Jesus invites us to ask, to seek and to knock upon the door of a real and living relationship with God.

Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” Popular opinion doesn’t like this: Jesus claimed to be the one who offers us the teaching and the way to be in relationship with God today and forever.

Jesus said that there is a road and a path which leads to life (verse 14), and I would like to suggest to you that Jesus himself is that road. Jesus is the path, and Jesus is the life. For me, being in a relationship with God has been simply wonderful. The promise of forgiveness for the sins I commit, the promise of God’s help in my daily living, and the promise of a place in heaven is wonderful beyond words. Will you join me in seeking the small gate and the narrow road which leads to life?

A Better Life in Christ

Ephesians 1:1-6

Are you looking for a better life? You are not alone. People everywhere today are looking for a better life. Politicians know this, because in every presidential election, candidates declare how they will lead our country so we can all have a better life. Marketing advisors know this, for it seems that every commercial we see tries to convince us that if we just had this or that product we’d have a better life. Our colleges are filled with people looking for a better life.

However, the way to a better life is not found in politicians, money, success, or any other temporal thing. A better life has nothing to do with the homes in which we live or the cars we drive. The only way to a better life is found in Jesus Christ and in understanding whom we are, what we have in Him, and how to acquire it.

Jesus very clearly said, "I am come that ye might have life, and that ye might have it more abundantly." A man one time tried to convince me that this meant Jesus wants us to have all the stuff we want. Jesus clearly taught that the abundant life is not about things, but rather is about a quality of life found only in Him. It is not enough to know we are Christians. There is so much more. Our lives are a journey, and on our journey to a better life we must understand three basic facts about ourselves.

In Christ you are a saint. (1-3)

What is a saint? The dictionary defines a saint as one who is a very holy person; one who is pure in heart and upright in life. While the world around us freely uses this definition, we need to understand how misleading it is. The Bible writers chose a word that means "holy ones, righteous ones, those who have been separated from the rest."

A saint is any and every born again child of God. The moment you repent of your sin and place your faith in Christ you are clothed in the righteousness of Christ, you are set apart and are holy in the eyes of God. Though we have been born again we still have a sin nature, we still mess up, and we still fail. There are days and times when we don’t feel saved, we don’t feel like saints, but your being a saint has nothing to do with your feelings. It has everything to do with your eternal position in heaven.

You may say, "I don’t feel holy; I don’t feel worthy to be a saint." What you need to question is whether you really are. Are you sure of your salvation? Are you living like a saint? You may have these feelings because you are living in sin and need to do something about it. But you may have these feelings when there is nothing really the matter. None of us is worthy, but God has made us worthy. That’s why Paul wrote of us as being in Christ Jesus. The devil will try to tell you otherwise. "You’re so bad, you’re so unworthy, God can’t love you, and He can’t use you...Don’t believe it! They’re lies from the pits of hell!

God bought you with the precious blood of His only begotten Son; He saved you from the wrath to come. You are not your own, you’ve been bought with a price! When God looks at you now He doesn’t see your inadequacies, but rather He sees the righteousness of Christ that covers you.

Being in Christ is cause for celebration. Paul says in verse 2, "grace and peace be to you." This was a common greeting in those days, but what does it mean? To have grace is to be in favor with God, a favor you received but did not deserve. The peace Paul wrote of is a peace so many are searching for but can’t find. The believer should rejoice because of the peace he has in Christ.

Not only does the saint have grace and peace, but also he has been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. This is not the house, the car, the wife or kids. This is not money, success, popularity or power. It is spiritual blessings that you have in Christ that nothing can ever take away, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt. Where is your heart today? Is it here? If you want a better life then you must be in Christ, and you must set your affections on things above.

You have been chosen by God. (5)

Listen to the strong words of Paul. "He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world." He predestinated us unto the adoption of children. You didn’t choose God, He chose you. John said,

"He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power (authority) to become the children of God, even to them that believe on His name, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

This is one of the greatest paradoxes in the Bible, how that God sovereignly chose you before He ever created the world, already knew who would and would not be saved, and yet He still gives you the freedom to chose. From eternity past God has done all that was necessary to bring you to Him. Now what will you do? Do you realize how special you are to God?

You have been chosen for a reason. (4 & 6)

Why did God choose you? He chose you to be holy - this is the exact same word as saint. It means to be set apart from the world, and set apart to God. Your life is now to be used for God’s service, like clay in the potter’s hands. He also chose you to be blameless, without blemish or sin.

Verse 6 lets us know that when we are living for the purpose God chose us there is praise to the glory of His grace. In other words, not only is He glorified, it brings Him great pleasure. Why did God choose you? He chose you because He loves you. Many times when I am playing with Jessica I’ll ask her, "Does daddy love you?" She says yes. When I ask her why she just looks at me and says, "Because you’re my daddy, you’re supposed to love me."
There is even a greater love that I want to illustrate with a personal example. My mother married the man I call my father when I was just a baby. I do not know my real father, nor have I seen him since I was a baby, though I know where he lives and all that. I am not my father’s natural born son, and he didn’t have to love me, but He chose to. When I was not one of his, he chose me and literally adopted me into his family, and now I belong to him. What an awesome expression of love – not a love of obligation, but rather one of choice.

Do you want a better, abundant life; a quality of life that this world offers but cannot give? It begins with salvation. You must realize that you are lost today and that if you were to die without Christ you would spend eternity in hell forever separated from God. But also realize that you do not have to stay that way. Jesus died for you – died to pay for your sins, and because of His death you can have life. You must repent of your sin, believing that Jesus died for you, and ask Him to save you, trusting Him to do so, and the good news is that He will.

If you are saved, remember that you are a saint, a holy one of God. You are a saint, not because of your goodness, but because of Christ’s goodness. You have been chosen by God, and chosen for a reason. Are you fulfilling your God given purpose? Are you living as He intends for you to live? How will you respond to Christ today?

Living Life From The Overflow

1 John 4:7-10

There was a Christian marriage counselor who was known for bringing restoration to those who were on the verge of divorce. His nick name was “The Love Doctor.” He always had the right scriptures to say and advice to give. What made him so good at his job wasn’t the degree’s he had achieved or the amount of books he read, but simply, his connection with God. Over the years he had cultivated a deep passionate relationship with God. He was always moving towards maturity on his spiritual journey. He knew God’s love and it showed in his ministry towards his family and in his profession.

After a series of events in his life including: having a new baby and not dealing with pressures from his job correctly. He began to lose his passion for God. He put his devotional life on the back burner and it began to show in his family life and ministry. It got to the point where his marriage was on the rocks. So much so that the tables have turned, and now he was in desperate need for marriage counseling or he would be heading for a divorce.
So one day after a huge argument with his wife, he left the house and went for a walk in town. In town, he came across, Mike, a man he helped bring restoration to his marriage a few years back. This man recognized his counselor and walked up to him and struck up a conversation. Before the counselor could say two words, the man confessed his marriage was on the rocks again and asked him for help.
Little did Mike know, but his counselor’s life was also in shambles. The counselor was drained. He did not have anything to give his old patient, because he was living on empty. Since his connection with God was not up to par, he had nothing to offer this man. He could not show love or guidance to any degree. He was not living from the overflow of his relationship with God. This put him in a position that none of us would ever want to be in. Especially, since most of us are pursuing ministerial positions where the depth of our relationship with God will directly reflect the ability we will have to help someone.

Living Life from the Overflow

As Christians, we will either live life from a loving relationship with God that spills over into all our relationships, or we will live on empty and have nothing to offer those around us. In order to live life out of the overflow of our relationship with God, we must love one another habitually, connect with God daily, and reflect on the depths of God’s love regularly. If you would, please turn with me to 1 John 4:7-10. These verses are said to be one of the most beautiful passages in the NT on love. Let’s read together.

1 John 4:7---“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

When John penned these words, he was actually writing to Christians who were spreading heretical teachings about Jesus through his congregation. His congregation was made up of both Ex-Jews and Ex-Pagans. The Ex-Jews found it easy to diminish the humanity of Jesus on the basis of such texts in the gospel of John where Jesus made the statement about the Father being greater then Him. Even though, Jesus in the same breathe states that He and the Father are one. So in this letter, John makes it extremely clear that “Jesus is preexistent, holy, and pure and is going to return to glory at the end.” The other side of the camp emphasized the divinity of Christ. So John pointed them to a passage in his gospel that proved Jesus’ humanity, by showing them that His life and death were the real deal.
Although, John was facing these issues head on, in his letter, he did not solely prove that Jesus was equally God and Man, even though that is of great importance. To combat heresy, John simply encouraged them to love. His church was so concerned with the details of their faith. They overlooked the foundational principle of their faith, to love one another.

That is not an isolated issue. 2000 years later, we are still overlooking that same principle. Yes, we do love, but like John’s church, we tend to be very selective. We tend to love those people who sit next to us in church and in our small groups and even in our classes, but forget about all the other people this command speaks to as well. All the people who do not do the same things you do or like the same things you like, but who are in need of the same love God showed you. And guess what, He chose us, to communicate that love to them.

In this passage, John showed his audience, the source and the depth of God’s love, so that when the time came and they were faced with issues about Jesus’ humanity and divinity. They would walk away unwavered because they learned that to know and show God’s love is the best way to understand the person of Jesus. What better place to live life from, but a complete knowledge of God’s love that spills over into everybody we meet and everything we do.

Living life from the overflow requires us to do three things, the first is . . .

1) To Love One-Another: (v.7a) “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.”

The word, to love, in this verse is a verb (love is a verb) in the subjunctive tense. The word actually means to love one another in such a way that it becomes a habit. Love here is an action and John is urging us to keep on loving others so much so that it becomes a normal practice in our lives.
Johns actually support’s his own challenge, to love one another, in verse eleven of chapter four. He says, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” To love is an obligation. We are under obligation to make a payment, as the result of having previously received something of value. That something is being loved by the God of the universe. Despite knowing the details of our history and our future, God loves us. And because of that we are obligated to show love to all people at all times. These are tall orders, but something we are capable of doing when we realize why we are doing it. The first part of the verse gives us our motivation to love one another. And it is because God loved us. Since God loved us, we owe Him. We are indebted to Him. A clear response to God’s love is to love one another without having a selective mentality. God’s love does not discriminate. He loves all equally.
You might be thinking, your right, but, how do we show this love? I’m glad you asked! In the NT, there are 53 “One-Another’s.” We are commanded to forgive one another, encourage one another, and here, John tells us twice, to love one another. The “53 One-Another’s” found in the NT are some of the greatest practical helps in scripture on the topic of love.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus gives us a clear picture on how to love in the Kingdom of God. He says, "This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you” (John 15:12). Those are also, tall orders. We are commanded to love one another, how Jesus loved us. If I were to make a list of all the ways Jesus loved us, the list would be endless, but for the sake of time I want to focus on one that I believe is the greatest act of all and that was when He stepped down from heaven to be with us on earth.
Paul described this act in Philippians 2:6-7 by saying, “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” Did you see what God did? He did not grip his position as God, but humbled himself to meet us where we are. He put His agenda aside to show us love. The least we can do is put aside our agendas for those people who God has called us to be in contact and show them love.
There is a story in the Bible of a small group of four men, who put aside their agenda for a day to help a man who could not help himself. If it was not for this man’s four friends who responded that day from the overflow of their lives, this paralyzed man would have never made it, not just to the house where Jesus was teaching, but up on top of the house and through the roof so that this man could connect with Jesus and be healed. These four friends understood what it means to love. They sacrificed more then we can ever imagine for their friend. I want to ask you, when was the last time you dug through a roof for a friend? When was the last time it cost you something to show someone you loved them? To make an impact on someone’s life like these four men requires us to be aware of the needs and people around us.
Think of all the people God has positioned in your life. If you really think about it, we are very influential people. We have family, friends, co-workers and people we share common interests around us daily. Out of those 4 areas I just mentioned. I want you to think of one person you could show the kind of love, these four friends showed. Mind you, it did not cost them a dollar to show such a tremendous act of love. People are worth our time and resources. It is up to us, to show them that. Try to go out of your way, once a week for someone and watch the impact you have and the imprint you leave.

Living life from the overflow requires us to love one another and. . . .

2) To Connect with God: (v.7b-8) “Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

Loving others is only possible when we tap into God’s infinitive source of love. Love is the glue that seals our relationship with God or the agent that keeps us from sticking to Him. The word in the Greek that is used in reference to those who are “born” of God means to be in a close relationship like that of a father and son. Our ability to love God places us in direct relation to His ability to love us as His child. When we love, we are on the same page as God but when we don’t; our capacity to know Him is hindered since His very nature is love. When we connect with God, He divinely positions us to be used by Him in ways we would not be normally used, if we had to rely on ourselves.

God is our unlimited source of love. His love tank never runs low. We have the ability to continually connect with him on a deeper and deeper level. This then puts us in a position to connect with people on a deeper and deeper level.

When you look at the Apostle John’s church, problems arose because people were not connecting with God intimately. They got so caught up in the details of doctrine, they ended up spending more time exposing themselves to heresy then growing a relationship with God. Living life from the overflow calls us to be in direct relation with God on a daily basis. When this does not happen and we let other things take precedence over our relationship with God, our spiritual climate falls off the charts. This then affects the way we interact with people because in a sense we do not have anything of value to offer them. We are in a bankrupt state where God’s resources have been cut off.

It must be true then, if something happens when you spend time with God, then something happens when you don’t. The amount of time you spend with God directly correlates with the effectiveness of your ministry. The more time you spend with God, the more God can use you. From the person next door who is hurting to the ministry you do through the week. Your connection with God will play a key part in everything you do or your disconnection with God will hinder everything you do.

I want to illustrate this for you by sharing a story about Jim, the investor. This guy knew how to make money. Whenever an opportunity came his way, he almost always had the money to invest. Since, he had the money to fund these opportunities, frequently; he made substantial amounts of money. His goal was to wait for the big one, the golden opportunity of a lifetime, the one that would set him up forever. At one particular moment, because of a series of risky real estate deals and the decline in the stock market, his funds were low. He was actually almost bankrupt and guess what? The opportunity of a lifetime finally presented itself and this man who at one time had 10 times the money he needed, could not fork up half the money for this investment. He was broke, bankrupt. He had nothing to give. His bank was empty. His resources were depleted. Like this man, the way we handle money is a lot like the way we handle our spirituality.

We all have a spiritual bank that builds equity when we connect with God and declines when we don’t. God gives us what we need so that we can meet the needs of others. But unlike the investor who had nothing to offer when the opportunity of a lifetime came his way. We need to be full of God’s love so that when the person who is hurting comes our way. We are not bankrupt, but have something to offer that could help them through a tough time, a bad day or whatever they are going through.

I want to ask you, what is the balance of your spiritual bank? Are you in the negative or are you in the positive? The formula for success with God is easy, connect with him or don’t. The ball is in your court and people’s lives are on the line.
Connecting with God through prayer is the place where our tank is filled, but like a car’s gasoline supply that needs to be refilled regularly. We need to do the same and let God fill and refill us again and again. Edward M. Bounds said, “Those who know God the best are the richest and most powerful in prayer.” Make room for prayer so that you can make room for love.

You can only give from what you received. Remember the story I started off with. The counselor was at his best when he made time for God. When he connected with God, he lived from the overflow, but when he lost touch with God. He was bankrupt. He could not help himself let alone another person.

In order to live from the overflow, we must first love one another, connect with God and lastly,

3) To reflect on the depths of God’s love: (v.9-10). 9 “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

Taking inventory on what God did for you is the motivation behind points one and two. If only there was a device that could be implanted into our minds that regularly showed clips from the movie “The Passion.” I think we would love people and connect with God more often and deeper, but since that has not come out yet. We have to use what we have at our disposal, our hearts.

I don’t know about you but the act of God sending His Son to the earth is the only reason I live the way I do today. Everything I do is filtered through that act. I serve people because of it. I am in college because of it. I love my wife because of it. The more evident we make the cross in our lives the more we will reflect on God’s love. This will give us the determination to live life from the overflow, not on empty.

The reason why John used this word picture of God, sending His son for us was because the teachings in his gospel on the death of Jesus were being distorted. Those who were spreading this heresy knew that if they can cut Jesus’ death out of the equation, people would not love one another and connect with God. The basis and foundation to love God and people is the imprint the cross left on history. When we allow the cross to leave an imprint on our hearts, we serve not because we want to, because we get to.

At the time when God sent His Son to the earth, humanity was probably at one of its lowest points. God loved the unlovable and we should do the same. Loving the unlovable is not an easy thing to do. The reason I know God operates like this is from my personal testimony. I was that unlovable person before I came to Christ. For three years of my life, I did a lot of things that I am not proud of and a lot of people including close family were hurt in the process. But even at my lowest points, when I was with no place to go and nobody to turn to. God did not reject me, but embraced me and that is why I am here today. Actually, the word unlovable does not even do justice in describing me before Christ, but just as God loved me where I was at. We should do the same for those in our family, who might not have it all together, for our friends who are struggling with their identity in this world, and for anybody who intersects with our lives deserves to be showed the same love God showed and continues to show you.
I have concluded from these verses that “Love is a sacrifice for someone else’s benefit.” To love like God is calling you to love must cost you something. It cost God, His one and only Son. What has it cost you lately? I am not talking about spending money, but sacrificing something to show somebody you love them. That is the least we should do in response to the love God showed us and keeps showing us.

In conclusion, loving others is not possible if you are not connected to God and connecting with God is motivated by the imprint He has left in your heart. You can only love somebody to the degree in which you have experienced God’s love. Jesus Himself understood this, in that He depended on His father to give Him what He needed to fulfill his calling on earth. If Jesus, the Son of God, understood that to be effective in life and live from the overflow depended on the amount of time He spent with His father, how much more important is it for us to spend time with God daily?

Action Points (Apply The Truths):

If you want to live life from the overflow, you must . . . .

1) Love One Another Habitually!
a. Practice the One Another’s: Encourage, forgive, Love, etc. See how many you can do for others in one day without being annoying!
b. The Five Love Languages: Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Acts of Service, Physical Touch, and Receiving Gifts.

2) Connect With God Daily!
a. Devotional Life: If you ever want to increase your capacity to love, increase the time you spend with God.
b. Your Private ministry with God reflects in your public ministry for God, so make time.
c. Find a non-negotiable time to connect with God daily, so that you have the resources of heaven at your disposal.

3) Reflect on God’s Love Regularly!
a. Remember Love is a sacrifice for someone else’s benefit.
b. Be mindful that when you love it must cost you something, so that it has its full God-given effect on people.

I don’t know about you, but when the time comes and someone needs something from me, whether it is an encouraging word, or an act of service. I want my tank to be overflowing so that people are touched in such a way, it is clear God is living and working in my life. Today, I want to encourage you to live life from the overflow of your relationship with God. Because you are going to come in contact with a countless number of people who desperately need to be touched by God’s love. Thanks for listening and God Bless!