Sunday Sermon
WHAT DOES "I LOVE YOU MEAN"
Date: June 1, 2008
Speaker: Pastor Gerry Gregoire
Scriptural Reference: 1Cor 13:8
Listen to Audio Sermon

1 CORINTHIANS 13:8
8 Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end]. As for prophecy (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), it will be fulfilled and pass away; as for tongues, they will be destroyed and cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away [it will lose its value and be superseded by truth].
I AM SO TIRED OF THE SICK CHURCH THAT SAYS THAT THEY LOVE GOD, BUT YOU NEVER SEE ANY RECIPRICATING ACTION. THERE IS TOO MUCH HATRED AND BACK BITING IN THE CHURCH TODAY. PEOPLE WHO SAY THAT THEY LOVE GOD CANNOT EVEN LOVE ALL THE PEOPLE THEY FELLOWSHIP WITH EVERY WEEK.
THERE IS SUCH A LACK OF FORGIVENESS TODAY THAT IT IMPEDES THE CHURCH FROM ACCOMPLISHING HER MISSION. WE ARE TO BRING PEOPLE BACK TO THE LORD IN ACCORDANCE WITH 2 COR 5:17-20 18But all things are from God, Who through Jesus Christ reconciled us to Himself [received us into favor, brought us into harmony with Himself] and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation [that by word and deed we might aim to bring others into harmony with Him].
19It was God [personally present] in Christ, reconciling and restoring the world to favor with Himself, not counting up and holding against [men] their trespasses [but cancelling them], and committing to us the message of reconciliation (of the restoration to favor).20So we are Christ's ambassadors, God making His appeal as it were through us. We [as Christ's personal representatives] beg you for His sake to lay hold of the divine favor [now offered you] and be reconciled to God.
HOW CAN WE BRING PEOPLE INTO HARMONY WITH GOD WHEN WE OURSELVES DON’T REFLECT HIS LOVE IN OUR LIVES? LOOK AT JOHN 13:34-35 34 I give you a new commandment: that you should love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you too should love one another.35By this shall all [men] know that you are My disciples, if you love one another [if you keep on showing love among yourselves].
PEOPLE ARE TO COME TO GOD BECAUSE THEY SEE GOD’S LOVE IN YOU AS YOU LOVE EACH OTHER.

THE DEFINITION OF THE WORD LOVE IN WEBSTER’S DICTIONARY IS: TO FEEL DEVOTEDLY ATTACHED TO OR AFFECTIONATE TOWARD, TO FEEL STRONG TENDERNESS AND PASSION FOR. THAT IS NOT THE CASE IN THE CHURCHES OF TODAY.

IF WE SAY WE LOVE GOD AND DON’T LOVE OUR BROTHER, WE ARE LIARS. 1 JOHN 2:4-5 AND 1 JOHN 2:8-11 4Whoever says, I know Him [I perceive, recognize, understand, and am acquainted with Him] but fails to keep and obey His commandments (teachings) is a liar, and the Truth [of the Gospel] is not in him.5But he who keeps (treasures) His Word [who bears in mind His precepts, who observes His message in its entirety], truly in him has the love of and for God been perfected (completed, reached maturity). By this we may perceive (know, recognize, and be sure) that we are in Him:
8Yet I am writing you a new commandment, which is true (is realized) in Him and in you, because the darkness (moral blindness) is clearing away and the true Light (the revelation of God in Christ) is already shining.9Whoever says he is in the Light and [yet] hates his brother [Christian, born-again child of God his Father] is in darkness even until now.
10Whoever loves his brother [believer] abides (lives) in the Light, and in It or in him there is no occasion for stumbling or cause for error or sin.11But he who hates (detests, despises) his brother [in Christ] is in darkness and walking (living) in the dark; he is straying and does not perceive or know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
GOD’S LOVE IS WITHOUT QUALIFICATION AND IS DEFINED IN 1 CORINTHIANS 13:4-8 (COMMENT ON EACH VERSE) 4Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.5It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God's love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].
6It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.7Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening].8Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end]. As for prophecy (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), it will be fulfilled and pass away; as for tongues, they will be destroyed and cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away [it will lose its value and be superseded by truth].
LOVE IS NOT THE GIFTS WE HAVE OR THE KIND ACTS WE PERFORM BUT IT IS LETTING GOD LIVE OUR LIFE IN US.
LOOK AT WHAT JOHN 3:16 SAYS: 16For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.
AS YOU CAN SEE WITH GOD’S LOVE YOU BECOME A GIVER. GOD IS A GIVER AND BECAUSE WE ARE CREATED IN HIS LIKENESS WERE ALSO TO BE GIVERS.
ARE YOU A GIVER? GIVING THAT IS NOT ONLY FINANCIAL BUT GIVING YOURSELF.
GOD DOES GIVE HIS PEOPLE A WARNING IN MATTHEW 24:12-14 12And the love of the great body of people will grow cold because of the multiplied lawlessness and iniquity,13But he who endures to the end will be saved.14And this good news of the kingdom (the Gospel) will be preached throughout the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then will come the end.
BEFORE THE END COMES, THERE WILL BE A FAMINE OF LOVE WHICH WILL BE CAUSED BY PEOPLE OPENING THEMSELVES TO SIN IN EVERY WAY POSSIBLE. LIKE SAME SEX MARRIAGE, ABORTIONS, ADULTERY, PORNOGRAPHY AND THE LIKE.

GOD DOES NOT ONLY HAVE LOVE, HE IS LOVE! YOU CANNOT LOVE ANYONE UNTIL YOU RECEIVE THE LOVE OF GOD. HIS WORD TO US IS AN EXPRESSION OF HIS LOVE AND HOW MUCH HE CARES.

LETS LOOK AT GAL 5:6 6For [if we are] in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith activated and energized and expressed and working through love.

WHAT A POWERFUL SCRIPTURE. YOU CANNOT DO ANYTHING WITH FAITH IF YOU DON’T HAVE GOD’S LOVE. THAT SCRIPTURE SAYS THAT YOUR FAITH IS ACTIVATED, ENERGIZED, AND EXPRESSED AND WORKING IN YOUR LIVES BECAUSE OF LOVE.
THAT MAKES RECEIVING GOD’S LOVE EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. IT AFFECTS YOUR PRAYER LIFE AND YOUR SUCCESS AS A CHRISTIAN BECAUSE IN ORDER TO GET YOUR PRAYERS ANSWERED YOU NEED TO HAVE FAITH WHICH IS ENERGIZED AND ACTIVATED BY LOVE. AND IF YOUR PRAYERS DON’T GET ANSWERED, YOU WILL NOT ENJOY SUCCESS IN YOUR CHRISTIAN LIFE.

HOW ARE WE TO LOVE GOD? LOOK AT MATTHEW 12:30-31 30And you shall love the Lord your God out of and with your whole heart and out of and with all your soul (your life) and out of and with all your mind (with your faculty of thought and your moral understanding) and out of and with all your strength.]This is the first and principal commandment.
31The second is like it and is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.
YOU NEED TO LOVE GOD WITH ALL THAT IS IN YOU!!!! YOUR NEIGHBOR IS ANYONE ELSE IN THIS WORLD. YOUR LIFE NEEDS TO BE CONSUMED WITH YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM. THAT’S THE TIME WHEN THINGS CAN GET DONE.

EPHESIANS 3:17-19 17May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love,
18That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God's devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it];
19[That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]!
TREES THAT GROW PROPERLY ARE ROOTED DEEP IN THE GROUND, AS SO IT IS WITH LOVE IT NEEDS DEEP ROOTS IN GOD. YOUR SECURITY IN GOD IS KNOWING THAT HE LOVES YOU WITH AN UNDYING LOVE.
NOBODY CAN TEACH YOU ABOUT GOD’S LOVE, YOU NEED TO EXPERIENCE IT AND THAT IS THE PROBLEM FOR MOST PEOPLE BECAUSE IT MEANS YOU HAVE TO ABANDON YOURSELF TO HIS CARE BEFORE YOU CAN ACTUALLY EXPERIENCE HIS LOVE FOR REAL.

EPHESIANS 4:14-16 14So then, we may no longer be children, tossed [like ships] to and fro between chance gusts of teaching and wavering with every changing wind of doctrine, [the prey of] the cunning and cleverness of unscrupulous men, [gamblers engaged] in every shifting form of trickery in inventing errors to mislead.
15Rather, let our lives lovingly express truth [in all things, speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly]. Enfolded in love, let us grow up in every way and in all things into Him Who is the Head, [even] Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
16For because of Him the whole body (the church, in all its various parts), closely joined and firmly knit together by the joints and ligaments with which it is supplied, when each part [with power adapted to its need] is working properly [in all its functions], grows to full maturity, building itself up in love.
UNDERSTAND THIS, THERE MAY BE MANY DOCTRINES BROUGHT TO YOU BY PEOPLE WHO REALLY DON’T KNOW MUCH. BUT THIS IS TRUE. WHAT HOLDS THE BODY OF CHRIST TOGETHER IN GOOD AND BAD TIMES IS OUR UNDERSTANDING AND LIVING IN HIS LOVE.

EPHESIANS 5:1-2 1THEREFORE BE imitators of God [copy Him and follow His example], as well-beloved children [imitate their father].2And walk in love, [esteeming and delighting in one another] as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a slain offering and sacrifice to God [for you, so that it became] a sweet fragrance.
WALKING IN LOVE AND BUILDING UP EACH PERSON IN THE CHURCH INSTEAD OF TEARING THEM DOWN IS WHAT GOD IS LOOKING FOR IN US. THAT IS WHAT IS MISSING IN MOST CHURCHES.

PHILIPPIANS 2:2-4 2Fill up and complete my joy by living in harmony and being of the same mind and one in purpose, having the same love, being in full accord and of one harmonious mind and intention.
3Do nothing from factional motives [through contentiousness, strife, selfishness, or for unworthy ends] or prompted by conceit and empty arrogance. Instead, in the true spirit of humility (lowliness of mind) let each regard the others as better than and superior to himself [thinking more highly of one another than you do of yourselves].4Let each of you esteem and look upon and be concerned for not [merely] his own interests, but also each for the interests of others.
THE SAME MIND AND PURPOSE AND HAVING THE SAME LOVE IS WHAT THE EARLY CHURCH OF ACTS 2 WAS ALL ABOUT. BEING ROOTED AND GROUINDED IN CHRIST’S LOVE IS WHAT MADE THEM ENDURE AND GO FROM ONE LEVEL TO THE NEXT IN SPIRITUAL MATURITY.

THE THINGS SPOKEN OF IN VERSE 3 IS WHAT KEEPS A CHURCH FROM GROWING AND SEEING REVIVAL. WE CANNOT CONSIDER OURSELVES BETTER THAN ANYONE ELSE. WE NEED TO BE LOOKING OUT FOR EACH OTHER AND NOT IN CRITICAL WAYS BUT IN THE NURTURE OF GODLY LOVE. WHAT CAN I DO TO MAKE YOUR LIFE BETTER SHOULD BE OUR THOUGHT AND MOTIVATION.

IF TIME PERMITS SPEAK ABOUT THE EARLY GROWTH OF THE CHURCH IN ACTS CHAPTER 2.