My Sermon Recap "Love's Greatest Hits" week one
Beginning this week we have started a brand new message series entitled, "Love's Greatest Hits". Each week we'll be looking at a different challenge of love by using a popular love song as our launching point. This past week our MSBC band rocked the monster love ballad, "I want to know what love is" by Foreigner to kick off the sermon. In case you have forgotten the song, check it out here before moving on to my sermon notes.
“I want to know what love is”
It’s Feb. 13th so we’re told by advertisers everywhere that love is in the air. Big red hearts are everywhere we turn and we’re told over and over that everyone must have someone to love on the 14th or else….
But if you're human then you know the desire to love and the need to be loved doesn’t begin and end on Valentines day. All of us, no matter of age, sex, religious beliefs, background, education - everyone has deep seeded desire to be loved.
Ex. We are born with the need for love - Hard scientific evidence shows that love, attention, and affection in the first years of life have a direct and measurable impact on a child's physical, mental, and emotional growth. Love and touch actually cause your child's brain to grow.
That continues through elementary, middle, and high school, collge, etc. Everywhere we turn are books about love, movies about love, advertisements about love, and music about love. We eat, sleep, drink, and breathe love.
Over the next several weeks we going to dig way deep into what the bible says about love. And we’re going to use our desire for love and our enjoyment of music as our launching pad each week.
115 #1 song with love in the title. Why so many love songs?
Nothing is more complex and essential then relationships and connecting with each other. And nothing is desired more then to love and be loved. Could it be that love defines our life?
I can’t think of a better song to kick off our newest sermon series then foreigner’s #1 hit song from 1984 that simply states, “I want know what love is”. What resonates so deeply within us about this song and the reason it was a #1 hit was it asked the two biggest questions we could have about love: What is it and what does it look like?
So what is love? Everyone seems to have very different definitions of it. In one conversation we say we love pizza, our kids, and God. With our use of the word love all over the place, shouldn’t we have a concrete starting block. That’s why for our foundation for love we’re going to turn to what God defined loved as. So what does the Bible say love is?
1 John 4:7-8
"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."
1) In 3 words the bible tells us what love is: God is Love
God’s character is Love. We desire and need love because we were made in His image.
We desire the things that make God God
But John goes a step further and makes it clear that if you don’t know God, meaning if you aren’t born of God, or follow Him, then it’s impossible for you really know love This makes a lot of sense if you step back and look at it. We as humans have this incredible desire for love and to be loved. Without that relationship with God in place what do we turn to to fill that desire? Relationships, sex, stuff, jobs, popularity, fortune, acceptability. When our desire for love is quenched by God, all those other things become a lot less satisfying
2) John goes on to describe not just what love is but where it comes from.
1 John 4:9-10
"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. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."
Basically you can’t out love God. He loved us so much he was willing to demonstrate this by giving us Jesus as the perfect sacrifice for our sins so we could continue our love relationship with Him for all eternity
3) John then not only tells us what love is and where it comes from but then tells us how it should look
1 John 4:11-12
"Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us."
This is where it gets tricky. What one person calls an act of love another might call annoying
Paul lays out 15 key examples of love and each is based on the way God has demonstrated His love to us.
1 Cor. 13:4
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."
Now take the word "love" out and replace it with God...
is patient, kind, does not envy, does not boast, is not proud, is not self seeking, does not dishonor, is not easily angered, keeps no record of wrongs, does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth, it always protects, trust, hopes, perseveres, never fails. Each of those examples of love were lived out in the life of Christ.
Now replace love with your name. How does your love measure up?
John knew this so when he states that we should love one another since God loved us he’s simply saying live your life of love following the examples Jesus set.
That leaves no room for individual interpretation. Kind is kind, hope is hope, trust is trust, envy is envy. It’s all universal.
But reaching this kind of love is impossible apart from God
You want to know what love is? It’s God. You want Him to show you? He did in the life of Jesus.
“I want to know what love is”
It’s Feb. 13th so we’re told by advertisers everywhere that love is in the air. Big red hearts are everywhere we turn and we’re told over and over that everyone must have someone to love on the 14th or else….
But if you're human then you know the desire to love and the need to be loved doesn’t begin and end on Valentines day. All of us, no matter of age, sex, religious beliefs, background, education - everyone has deep seeded desire to be loved.
Ex. We are born with the need for love - Hard scientific evidence shows that love, attention, and affection in the first years of life have a direct and measurable impact on a child's physical, mental, and emotional growth. Love and touch actually cause your child's brain to grow.
That continues through elementary, middle, and high school, collge, etc. Everywhere we turn are books about love, movies about love, advertisements about love, and music about love. We eat, sleep, drink, and breathe love.
Over the next several weeks we going to dig way deep into what the bible says about love. And we’re going to use our desire for love and our enjoyment of music as our launching pad each week.
115 #1 song with love in the title. Why so many love songs?
Nothing is more complex and essential then relationships and connecting with each other. And nothing is desired more then to love and be loved. Could it be that love defines our life?
I can’t think of a better song to kick off our newest sermon series then foreigner’s #1 hit song from 1984 that simply states, “I want know what love is”. What resonates so deeply within us about this song and the reason it was a #1 hit was it asked the two biggest questions we could have about love: What is it and what does it look like?
So what is love? Everyone seems to have very different definitions of it. In one conversation we say we love pizza, our kids, and God. With our use of the word love all over the place, shouldn’t we have a concrete starting block. That’s why for our foundation for love we’re going to turn to what God defined loved as. So what does the Bible say love is?
1 John 4:7-8
"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."
1) In 3 words the bible tells us what love is: God is Love
God’s character is Love. We desire and need love because we were made in His image.
We desire the things that make God God
But John goes a step further and makes it clear that if you don’t know God, meaning if you aren’t born of God, or follow Him, then it’s impossible for you really know love This makes a lot of sense if you step back and look at it. We as humans have this incredible desire for love and to be loved. Without that relationship with God in place what do we turn to to fill that desire? Relationships, sex, stuff, jobs, popularity, fortune, acceptability. When our desire for love is quenched by God, all those other things become a lot less satisfying
2) John goes on to describe not just what love is but where it comes from.
1 John 4:9-10
"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. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."
Basically you can’t out love God. He loved us so much he was willing to demonstrate this by giving us Jesus as the perfect sacrifice for our sins so we could continue our love relationship with Him for all eternity
3) John then not only tells us what love is and where it comes from but then tells us how it should look
1 John 4:11-12
"Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us."
This is where it gets tricky. What one person calls an act of love another might call annoying
Paul lays out 15 key examples of love and each is based on the way God has demonstrated His love to us.
1 Cor. 13:4
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."
Now take the word "love" out and replace it with God...
is patient, kind, does not envy, does not boast, is not proud, is not self seeking, does not dishonor, is not easily angered, keeps no record of wrongs, does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth, it always protects, trust, hopes, perseveres, never fails. Each of those examples of love were lived out in the life of Christ.
Now replace love with your name. How does your love measure up?
John knew this so when he states that we should love one another since God loved us he’s simply saying live your life of love following the examples Jesus set.
That leaves no room for individual interpretation. Kind is kind, hope is hope, trust is trust, envy is envy. It’s all universal.
But reaching this kind of love is impossible apart from God
You want to know what love is? It’s God. You want Him to show you? He did in the life of Jesus.
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