Extending the Love of Christ
We are called to follow in the footsteps of Christ. If we don't participate in the NOW, we WON'T be privileged in the LATER. What does a Follow of Christ look like NOW?
Follower of Christ: Transformed by the Love of God and empowered by Him to reach out to a lost and broken world, testifying to His glory and fulfilling His Vision in THIS world! Jesus didn't save us to give us a golden retirement plan. He saved us and sent us to do His work until He returns.
Goals of this Lesson:
- (1) Learn what it takes to Fall in Love with Jesus Christ
- (2) Learn our PRIMARY GOAL
- (3) Learn that those who are transformed by the indwelling Spirit and by following in the footsteps of our Lord will bear the fruit of LOVE (patience, kindness…), joy, peace (being peacemakers) and hope (seeing the big picture).
______________WE MOVE TOWARDS WHAT WE LOVE___________
Video: Love God with all Your Heart
Excerpts from Transcend (Matt Smay)
“Love isn't an emotion….Love is a set of behaviors driven by a deeply-held belief.” Love comes from knowing the big God you serve can use love to heal a broken-heart, investing in people who may never return the favor, nailing expectations to the foot of cross, mourning with those who weep, serving those who don’t care about you, or not turning a blind eye to all the pain in the world.
Love is tireless. The journey is not for the faint of heart. Love is relational. But then, love is exactly what Christ gave to us and if we follow in His footsteps, we will EXTEND His love in every relationship that we encounter.
“As Christians”, Smay submits, “we have lost the art of exposing people to love. Why? Because exposing people to love takes considerable time and energy…” This is the crux of the issue. As we studied last week, we are too often miserly with our time, too self-absorbed in our busyness when it comes to Kingdom work. We find all kinds of excuses (which do not hold water before the throne of God) as to why we are too busy. Most often, we are NOT TOO BUSY, we are just TOO self-centered.
We want to be able to “defend the faith”, but even so…we can be displeasing to God! How is that possible? Revelation 3 details church who have “kept God’s word” but who have “little power” and are in danger of losing their crowns. Again in Revelation 2, Christ warns Ephesus (a church with a preacher’s school) that they have defended the faith, but they had left their first love. We often refer to this type of behavior as “legalistic” in modern terms. It is usually characterized by people to hold to the text, but not involved in loving relationship with the Spirit of Christ. This church had “fallen” and was in danger of being wiped out of the Book of Life.
John 5:39 –“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me;”
Without a loving relationship with the Spirit of Christ, without being in love with Christ and His mission to the lost, we are lost.
2 Corinthians 3:6 “who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”
Without the Spirit who empowers us to serve with love, peace, joy, and long-suffering in the Vision of God, we are lost. We become a clanging symbol.
Galatians 5:13 “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”
Falling in love with Christ Jesus means that we have established a deep, intimate relationship with Him. We “see” with the eyes of Jesus. The Spirit of God moves us to serve moment by moment in all relationships that we experience. These relationships might include the grocery clerk, the gas station attendant, the babysitter, the soccer coach, and the homeless man at Taco Bell. It certainly includes our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Romans 12:10 “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor;”
Falling in love with Christ means that we fall in love with His mission; that we EXTEND His love to a lost world.
The ONLY thing that COUNTS is faith expressing itself through love (Gal 5:6).
Let’s look at the beginnings of Christ’s Mission on earth and see if we imitate Him as He as commanded (follow me). Refer to Luke 3:21-22
How do we begin this journey with God?
Jesus was perfect and certainly did not need to be baptized, but He did so to fulfill "all righteousness" as an example for us. His entire life on earth was to give us a path to follow. What do we learn about His
example in baptism?
7 events are significant. Please note each:
21 Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus was also baptized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened,
22 and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, "You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased."
(1) Jesus was baptized
(2) Jesus was praying
(3) Heaven Opened and the Holy Spirit Descended
(4) Heaven claimed Him as "Son"
(5) God was well-pleased
(6) Christ began His ministry
(7) Christ demonstrated the love of God to the world
When we go into baptism (immersion in water), we are to call on the name of the Lord (praying) as
While we submit to baptism, we call on God, in faith, to save us and give us His Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38) who will enlighten us (1 Corinthians 2:10-13) and empower us to live Holy unto God (Ephesians 1:13-18). God, then, claims us as his "child". We become "sons" of God (Romans 8:14). God is well when we submit to Him in baptism and faith according to His Gospel (1 Corinthians 1:21; Colossians 1:19-23).
It is in baptism that we contact the blood of Christ which has the power to reconcile us to God, IF we continue firmly in the faith without wavering (Colossians 1:22-23). The exact 7 events take place in transitional baptism as took place in Christ's.
(1) We are buried in water (Romans 6:3-11) as we
(2) We call on God (pray) to do His work in baptism (Acts 22:16).
(3) The Holy Spirit descends on us (Acts 2:38).
(4) We become sons of God (Romans 8:16-17, 1 John 3:1-2) and
(2) We call on God (pray) to do His work in baptism (Acts 22:16).
(3) The Holy Spirit descends on us (Acts 2:38).
(4) We become sons of God (Romans 8:16-17, 1 John 3:1-2) and
(5) When we are raised up as Christ was raised from the dead (Colossians 3:1-3), God sees the blood of Christ covering (hiding) us and is well pleased.
(6) We begin our ministry to share the Light. (2 Cor 5:17-18)
We have a "new self" (Colossians 3:10) and are transferred out of the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of His Beloved Son (Colossians 1:13). We need only to SUBMIT. We submit in baptism to the blood of the Lamb. We submit in our Christian walk to the Lordship of Jesus Christ (1 John 1:7).
God grants us power through His Spirit to strengthen us as we walk in Him (Ephesians 3:16). Salvation is wholly a work of God!
We have a "new self" (Colossians 3:10) and are transferred out of the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of His Beloved Son (Colossians 1:13). We need only to SUBMIT. We submit in baptism to the blood of the Lamb. We submit in our Christian walk to the Lordship of Jesus Christ (1 John 1:7).
God grants us power through His Spirit to strengthen us as we walk in Him (Ephesians 3:16). Salvation is wholly a work of God!
(7) The Holy Spirit, as our guide, transforms us & sanctifies us to the ministry of reconciliation so we can share the love of God to the world.
Resource Recommendation: John Mark Hick’s book “Down to the River to Pray”
LOVE is More than a COMMITMENT- It is Covenant
Perhaps each day we should recite these words to ourselves until they are embedded into our hearts better than other words we have come to memorize through popular songs, movies, poetry, or popular expressions. Here are the words that should come to our lips when we are tempted to show our “natural” side.
1 Cor 13: 4-8 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails;
Can we take a few minutes to unpack this verse and really chew on its contents?
SMALL GROUP: In the chart below give specific modern day examples of characteristics of love in a “Missional Community”. I want you to “think” and “see” like Christ not like the churches in Ephesus or Laodicea.
If we are the Light of the world, how might we EXTEND Christ’s love to others?
| LOVE DOES | LOVE DOES NOT |
VIDEO: Practice what we preach and sing about....
What are the Christian Disciplines which will help us learn to love more? (What did you gleaned from our texts?)
1. Let Him in: Open our hearts to the Spirit of God, Submit to Transformation and Sanctification, without which no one will see the Lord. (Hebrews 12:14)
2. Pray: Pray that God will allow you to love more -- the lost, the brethren, and God Almighty.
3. Praise: Give God glory throughout your day.
4. Practice Presence: Stop the busyness of your day to meditate on and acknowledge the presence of God in your life
5. Read the Psalms: Observe and imitate the closeness and relationship that the psalmists had with God
6. Testify: Find ways to share the Light in your everyday life.
7. Serve: Allow God to work through you to do above and beyond anything you can imagine.
REFLECTION: : Psalms 63:1-5
O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly;
My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You,
In a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2 Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary,
To see Your power and Your glory.
3 Because Your loving kindness is better than life,
My lips will praise You.
4 So I will bless You as long as I live;
I will lift up my hands in Your name.
5 My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness,
And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips.
My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You,
In a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2 Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary,
To see Your power and Your glory.
3 Because Your loving kindness is better than life,
My lips will praise You.
4 So I will bless You as long as I live;
I will lift up my hands in Your name.
5 My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness,
And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips.
List as many ways as you can how the Psalmist demonstrated his love for God. After listing, add a note to describe how demonstration of love for God might look in today’s world.
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Resource:
W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God (Camp Hilll, PA: WingSpread, 2007) – Free download for ebooks.
HOMEWORK:
(1) Practice your Testimony
(2) Chapter 7 Crazy Love & Transcend final chapter
(3) EXTEND God’s love this week and share your stories next week
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