There is a Better Way (1 Thessalonians 3:6-13)
Gary McManus, 02/03/2019Part of the God's Love; Beyond Belief series, preached at a Sunday Morning service
1 Thessalonians 3:6-13
A sermon about technology and love.
“When two people love each other very much. . .
These days it doesn’t take two people—
it only takes two cells and the right conditions.
We can ask: where is the love?
Can love solve these problems?
Can love PREVENT these problems?
The short answer is YES.
Love is AN ANSWER
and love is a GOOD answer.
The Apostle Paul said it this way:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Against such things there is no law.
--Galatians 5:22-23
It is never wrong to do the right thing.
People have trouble with love. . .
When our Lord Jesus says love others
as you love yourselves (Leviticus 19:18,
Matthew 19:19, Mark 12:31 plus others)
Love one another. As I have loved you,
so you must love one another. (John 13:34-35)
. . .and Jesus added something. . .
By this everyone will know that you are
my disciples, if you love one another.”
Pastor is not suggesting through the statistics
that the church is responsible rather, notice,
violence is almost always RELATIONAL
—between people who are related.
It IS February, the month of SAINT
VALENTINE’S DAY.
He knew 1 John 4:19:
We love because he first loved us.
Where the Bible talks about technology
. . .two places come to mind. . .
See Genesis chapter 4:22, Numbers 35:16
See Isaiah 31:1 and Psalm 20:7
And there were plenty of instances when God
miraculously rescued his people who were
without large numbers of soldiers and the children
of Israel were civilians at the Red Sea with Egypt’s
Army with chariots bearing down on them,. . .
The technology is NOT making a dent in the statistics.
Love has proven to cover a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8)
The late great R.C. Sproul stated that 1 Peter means MORE than
God’s forgiveness in Christ. . .
instead, in context, it is talking about interpersonal
relationships. [see Ligonier.org]
Love is active, daily, always at work to improve
the relationship and love has to do that.
As sinners we can confess with regard to love
—we are just not very good at it—not yet.
We have the Apostle’s blessing:
1 Thessalonians 3:12
May the Lord make your love increase and
overflow for each other and for everyone else. . .
Amen.
Here’s a look back at the last five years of available
data on child fatalities:
2012: 34
2013: 49
2014: 66
2015: 77
2016: 59
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