Sunday was a very encouraging day at Harrison Hills. After a week of unusually harsh winter weather, we were able to gather for Sunday School and Worship Service. God was very kind, and a number of our men rallied to a short-notice request for help. Some of you were unable to come, and that is very understandable – we missed you. Continuing our series on First John, I preached from 2.7-11. You can listen to the sermon and see the slides on our website: www.harrisonhills.org
The title of the sermon was, “Loving one another: where the old and the new come together”. The central thought was this: True believers will love other true believers. If you are a believer, loving your brother or sister in Christ is not optional – and it is fuel for your assurance. I identified six New Testament applications on how brothers & sisters can love one another. The list follows; it is not meant to claim any particular priority, nor be exhaustive. Like the Bereans in Acts 17.11, I invite you to review the list with your Bible open to the Scripture references:
1. Believers should pray for one another, and give priority to praying for each other’s walk with Christ (1 Tim 2.1 & Jas 5.16)
2. Believers should let their love be consistently sacrificial (Rom 12.9-10) Two general examples:
1) Be glad to give up freedoms in Christ to keep another believer from searing his or her conscience (Rom 14.13)
2) Be okay w/being second; don’t insist on always being right or having the last word (Phil 2.3)
3. Believers should hold one another accountable (Heb 3.12-13)
4. If there is an unresolved relationship issue, believers should take the initiative to heal the relationship (Matt 5.23-24)
5. Believers should be ready to quickly forgive wrongdoing (Col 3.12-13); and they should be ready to do so every time (Matt 18.21-22)
6. More generally, believers should love one another by “doing good” (Gal 6.10) Examples:
1) Invest time getting to know those whom you might not know well – that is, build relationships
2) Use your relationships to serve one another: practical help in times of illness; comfort in times of grief; a listening ear in hurting times (Gal 6.2)
3) Most lovingly, be a faithful disciple of Christ - model godly behavior for others’ imitation
I also mentioned two ways that believers should love their (unsaved) neighbors:
1)Practice the “golden rule” (Matt 7.12)
2)Share the gospel (Matt 28.19-20) (Various resources are always available in the church lobby.)
I want to encourage you to apply one or more of those suggestions before we meet this coming Sunday. I would love to hear what you did and how it went!!
In “My Utmost for His Highest” Oswald Chambers wrote that when it comes to loving other believers “we have no right to be guided by our affinities [those who are like us/those whom we prefer]”. When I read that on Tuesday morning, it reminded me that I need to constantly resist my natural tendency to “be selective” in loving fellow saints. I trust it will be a helpful reminder for you, also.
Let that be one more thing to help us ‘walk like Jesus’.
Pastor Gary