1 John 4:7-21 What does our world need most? Surely, love would be up there on
anyone’s wish list. But how’s that going to happen? Where’s that going to come from?
The Bible claims that Christianity has the answer.
Sermons on Love
Malachi 1:1-5 When things don’t work out in life as we had hoped – bad news from the doctor, loss of a loved one, disappointment in our personal or working life – we are tempted to doubt God’s love for us. The people in Malachi’s day could relate. And God’s message to them then is what we need to hear today.
1 Thessalonians 2:17-3:13 As believers we are more like plants than machines. A machine needs maintaining to keep going, but a plant is to keep growing. And so as believers we are not just to keep going but growing – especially in love and holiness. That should be our concern for ourselves and for one another.
The Love of God is so much better than anything this world has to offer. Feeling the reality of this helps our longings, and entire lives, to be transformed.
2 John Truth and love can be hard to hold together. As we speak to friends and colleagues and as we speak about gospel truth. Listen is as we see how John holds these two things together.
Luke 6:27-36 We thought about loving one another in the last two evenings – but the logical next step is what does God say about how we relate to those who are not in the “family of believers”? How are we to treat them? And it ties in with what we’ve been learning in Growth Groups about sharing the gospel with people.
1 Corinthians 12:31-14:1 What’s your experience of church life? We’re thinking at the moment in the book of Philippians about being united as a church. At the Women’s Evening we’re going to be thinking in particular about how we can be a united, loving, gracious community, even though none of us is perfect. It’s not always easy, but it is Christlike and a key part of living as a Christian – the apostle Paul says, “So now faith, hope and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love”!
1John 4:10-12We’re facing a time of change at the Barge – planting a church in Greenwich – whether those sending or being sent things will be different. How can we love one another well through this time?
I wonder how would you react if you saw a church leader having lunch with a group of people who were guilty of fraud? Or maybe a Bible study leader hanging out with known drug addicts? Would you be a bit shocked, perhaps even judgmental, that they would even consider associating with such people? This is how Jesus was treated by the religious people of his day. We can distance ourselves from God not only in obvious rejection of him, but also in our religious morality – and this can be the more dangerous if it goes undetected…
A lawyer asks Jesus “what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” This is one of the most fundamental questions that everybody at some point asks, about what will happen when we die – we might phrase this question today something like “How can I be sure I’ll be saved in the end?” If we profess to be God’s people, then this will show in how we live our lives – not only in how we love God, but also in how we love others. Jesus challenges us not to think about who we are to love, but to be loving…