Sermons

Gutsy Love!

Posted by Alex on
Sermon on August 18 by Pastor Roland Eskinazi

Scripture:1 Cor 13:7; Matt 27:22-31

Can we know how real our love is without it ever being tested? God calls us to a gutsy love that will not give up.
Love with guts:

1. HANGS ON – HOWEVER HOT IT GETS!

  • Love prefers to protect, not pull down

‘Love protects = Love covers’ (v7a)

Do not cover up sin as love does not delight in evil.
But loving means I will not make an exhibition of the bad in someone’s life.

  • Love endures to the end, not half-way

‘Love perseveres = Love endures under pressure’ (v7c)

If you truly love someone, you will see it through, not drop out half-way. See Moses!

‘I always reminded myself that the Lord had always been faithful. God gave me no cause to doubt Him even in affliction. He taught me how to be more compassionate through caring for my husband; I hope I learned what it is to be an encourager to others and to be there for them.
(Margaret Field in the experience of caring for her husband Rodney)

2. TAKES THE KNOCKS – HOWEVER HARD THEY MAY BE!
Jesus is the model and sets the pace for gutsy love. (Matthew 27)

  • When love is bullied, it will not bully
    Jesus could have pulled out of His mission at any time… Jesus was bullied for who He is but did not hit back.
    When you linger over the details of how much Jesus endured, you won’t be as ready to give up loving.
  • When love is shamed, it will not shame
    God the Father Himself heaped all out sins on the only innocent man so that even in your darkest moment, He will never forsake you.
    An enduring love has learned to thank God, not just for the Cross, but all that Jesus endured before for you.

‘Oh Corrie. I never thanked him’
(Betsy Ten Boom as she stands naked before guards in a concentration camp)

  • When love is rebuffed, it will rejoice
    If you love Christ, you too are called to follow in His steps, especially in His enduring love (1 Peter 2:21)
    We sometimes say that we won’t be tested beyond what we can bear….

Remember! There is so much that is unbearable.
When you are given the unbearable it is to show you how much Jesus can bear. How does love endure?

‘Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God’ (HEB 12:2)

 

Photo credit FreeImages.com/Max Mitenkov