Love is Like Space Travel (2 Thessalonians 1:3-7)
Gary McManus, 09/08/2019Part of the God's Love; Beyond Belief series, preached at a Sunday Morning service
September 8, 2019 2 Thessalonians 1:3-7
See 2 John 6: “Walk in love.”
Love is a way of life. Love is a way of life for Christians, followers of Jesus.
Talk about being fruitful. . .
Galatians 5:22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love. . .”
The word fruitful is from Jesus’ own mouth.
The word fruitful is from the Apostle Paul’s own pen.
John 15:2—God works to make us “be even more fruitful.”
Philippians 1:22, Titus 2:2, 1 Timothy 4:12,
1 Thessalonians 3:12, 1 Thessalonians 4:10,
Colossians 2:2, Philippians 1:9, Ephesians 3:17,
Ephesians 3:19, Galatians 5:6, 1 Corinthians 16:14
More?
Should we love as WE want OR
should we love as is wanted?
(“Do unto others as you would have them do to you.”
--Jesus, Luke 6:31)
Actions ARE loving.
Jesus loved people the way they neede
d to be loved and often Jesus loved people
the WAY they wanted to be loved.
(Mark 1:40-41, Luke 8:41 ff., John 11:21-22)
Captain Obvious: fruit almost always appears
on the outside of the plant.
Our love—our fruit, should also SHOW.
Love languages. . .five of them. . .Gary Chapman.
--words of affirmation
--quality time
--gifts
--acts of service
--physical touch
See Titus 3:3-7. . .we too were foolish, . . .
being hated and hating one another. 4 But
when the kindness and love of God our Savior
appeared, 5 he saved us,
The Lord Jesus saved us from hating and
being hated. . .now Jesus’ love makes loving
and being loved possible.
The difficult aspects of love. . .from 1 Corinthians 13. . .
Relationships are like space travel. . .think about it. . .
The effort is often great and the challenge can be daunting. Relationships, we think, should not have to be this hard. Well, that’s true: They shouldn’t be relentlessly difficult
. . .
The bad news is that some degree of effort and agony is inevitable in most relationships.
Some who have known love and known God’s love say it is worth it. . .
1. Love is not natural. . .no one is born a loving person. . . We learn to love.
2. Some degree of effort and agony is inevitable in most relationships. But love is never VIOLENT.
Relationships are like space travel.
What year is it for you? 1961?
1969? 1972?
Paul wrote (1 Corinthians 16:14)
“Do everything in love.” Amen.
The Love Languages of God, Gary Chapman
The Love Dare, Steven and Alex Kendrick
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