I “Heart” you!

I “Heart” you!

Kennard Friends Church

February 19, 2012

Key verse: John 15:9-17

John 15:9-17 The Message (MSG)
9-10"I've loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. If you keep my commands, you'll remain intimately at home in my love. That's what I've done—kept my Father's commands and made myself at home in his love.
11-15"I've told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature. This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends. You are my friends when you do the things I command you. I'm no longer calling you servants because servants don't understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I've named you friends because I've let you in on everything I've heard from the Father.
16"You didn't choose me, remember; I chose you, … [I “heart” you!]
17"But remember the root command: Love one another.

We’ve all seen those t-shirts, bumper stickers, etc. with phrases that say I “heart” dogs, or I “heart” Myrtle Beach, or just about anything you can imagine. The symbol of the heart is used as a stand-in for the word “love”.

The symbol of the secular celebration called Valentine’s Day is always a heart. Our little granddaughter Vivie is learning her shapes (square, circle, triangle). A couple weeks ago we were in a store and while Jan shopped, Vivie and I wandered up and down the aisles. I pointed out all the boxes of candy shaped in a heart. There were packages of heart-shaped marshmallows. We saw stickers and decorations with hearts. It didn’t take her long to begin pointing out hearts to me!
Obviously, the symbol for Valentine’s Day is a heart. Let’s revisit the history of Valentine’s Day.

I wonder how many of you remember the story behind the origins of Valentine’s Day. You know, it is called Saint Valentine’s Day for a reason.

Approximately 250 years after Jesus was born in Bethlehem, there was a priest named Valentine. He lived in Rome during the reign of Emperor Claudius, who was committed to rebuilding the once-great Roman army. However, he believed it was important for men to volunteer for armed service, rather than drafting men into service against their will. But, given a choice, most young men in the Roman Empire refused to serve. They’d rather stay at home with their wives and children than go off into battle.

Claudius came to believe that only single men would volunteer for service, so he issued a royal edict that banned all further marriages. He actually outlawed weddings in the Roman Empire, earning himself the nick-name Claudius the Cruel.

Valentine thought it was ridiculous! One of his favorite duties as a priest was to marry people. So after Emperor Claudius passed his law, Valentine secretly continued performing marriage ceremonies. He would whisper the words of the ceremony, while listening for soldiers on the steps outside.

One night, Valentine did hear footsteps at his door. The couple he was marrying escaped, but he was caught. He was thrown in jail and sentenced to death. Valentine tried to stay cheerful. Many of the young couples he had married came to visit him in jail. They threw flowers and notes up to his window. They wanted him to know that they, too, believed in love.

One day, he received a visit from the daughter of one of the prison guards. Her father allowed her to visit him in his cell and they often sat and talked for hours. She believed he did the right thing by ignoring the Emperor and performing weddings. On the day Valentine was to die, he left her a note thanking her for her friendship and loyalty. He signed it, “Love from your Valentine.” That note started the custom of exchanging love notes on Valentine’s Day. It was written on the day he died, February 14, 269 A.D.—a day that was set aside in honor of a man who gave his life for God and for love. Now, every year on this day, people remember Saint Valentine, but most importantly, they think about love.

Everyone loves love! We want to be loved and we want to give love. The problem is—our love is sometimes lacking just like we are. It’s often conditional upon our own mood or our loved one’s actions, appearance, or attitude. When it comes to love, all of us fall a little short, don’t we? Some of us are as confused about love as the little five-year-old girl who told her teacher, “Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.”

My question for you today is—how do we develop and nurture a love worth giving on Valentine’s Day and every day? The answer, I believe, is found in God’s Word—John 15:9-17 to be precise. Let’s read what Jesus has to say in this passage, shall we?

I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command… This is my command: Love each other. (John 15:9-17 NLT)

1. I have loved you even as the Father has loved me.
a. Jesus’ example of how to love came from the Father
b. Being able to love starts with being loved
c. God’s love is a perfect love; unconditional

2. Remain in my love.
a. Stay; don’t leave; don’t walk away from it; don’t forget it

3. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.
a. This is the key on how to “remain in my love”
b. Obedience

4. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy [to overflowing]. Yes, your joy will overflow!
a. The benefit, or blessing, is to be filled to overflowing with

Jesus’ joy in your life
5. This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.
a. So what is the “Father’s commandment that will bring that overflowing joy… it is that we “love each other the way Jesus loves us”

6. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
a. Sometimes laying down life means to physically die, like Christ did for us. We have heard countless stories of firemen, policeman, those in the military, etc. and even complete strangers who have given their lives to save another.
b. But the key to “laying down one’s life” is the word sacrifice. You can sacrifice your will, your desire, your wants for that of another persons. Have you loved anyone like that lately?

7. You are my friends if you do what I command…
a. “What a Friend We Have in Jesus; all our sins and griefs to bear; what a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!”

8. This is my command: Love each other.

I want this church, more than anything else, to be a community of love. I want to be able to come here, and I want you to be able to come here, and feel totally and completely loved. I want people from the outside to come here and feel warmed by our love, as if we were a roaring fire on a cold night.

Nothing, according to Jesus, is more important than loving God and loving people. Let’s make that our mantra—not just in our minds, but in our hearts every moment of every day. If we love each other as God has loved us, then we will become a church of love that will act like a magnet, drawing people who are starving for love into the presence of Jesus and the salvation that he offers.

Now picture that for another moment. Would hungry people without money for groceries stand in line for free food? I know they would.
• I have seen food pantries in New Castle where a person was dropped off by a bus at the door of a church so she could be first in line for the food distribution. It was cold and rainy and there was no place to get out of the weather. Had it not been for a worker at the church seeing her and inviting her in, she would have been soaked. She was hungry, with no money to pay, and the food was free.
• I have been part of a church preparing and serving a meal to the community. I watched as people made their way to the table to patiently wait for a meal. There was no hostess to seat them in a fancy restaurant. No menu with a month’s worth of choices. No toys came with the meal for their children. No music in the background for ambiance. But they patiently waited for people they did not know to fix them food they did not choose. They were hungry, with no money to pay, and the food was free.

There are many food banks, food pantries, and free meals offered in Henry County. Some are very efficient at providing for this basic need in our community. Not every church can provide such a service with earthly-food. But each can certainly provide a spiritual food bank, a spiritual food pantry and serve spiritual food to all who hunger and thirst for righteousness!

There is a world of people that is starving for love. Genuine love. Pure love. Wouldn’t it be great if people in Kennard saw our church as a place where that was being served? Do you think they would stand in the rain for it? Do you think they would wait patiently for it? Do you think we can be THAT church?

Today, I am giving us all the opportunity to immediately apply this message:
What to expect at our luncheon…
• Each person a sack with their name on it
• At the tables will be cutouts of hearts and squares for you to write a word or phrase of what you love or appreciate about your Christian brother or sister who is here at our luncheon
• Before and during the meal complete doing this for everyone in the room
• For our guests, or those new folks that have just started coming have the option to participate or just observe
In closing, there was a preacher who once said, “Everything I ever needed to know about theology, I learned from just one song: ‘Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.’” Do you know the origin of that song? It first appeared in the form of a poem in a children’s novel written by Anna Warner in 1859. One of the characters in the story comforts a dying child with the words, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” A couple of years later William Bradbury stumbled across it, wrote his own tune and added a chorus. Within months the melody spread across North America like wildfire. A simple poem from an obscure novel became the most well-known hymn in the world. It’s been translated into more languages than any other song. It’s often used by missionaries as a teaching aid, because of its simple and easy-to-learn chorus.

Why has this simple song become so universally known and loved? Because it expresses the single most significant and profound truth known to humanity in three simple words—Jesus love me!
Let’s stand and close by singing this song. If you’re here this morning and you’re not a Christian, we extend to you the opportunity to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. We invite you to come and receive the love of God, but know that if you do, it’s not yours to keep—you have to share it with everyone you know.