LIFTING THE LOVE LEVEL OF OUR CONGREGATION

Romans 12:9-21
Romans 12:10 “Honor one another above yourselves.”
Introduction
#Most church people would say they love other people.  They probably do.  Why do some churches attract and keep more people?  Surveys* show those churches are exceptional at loving others.
I.	Why should churches prioritize love?
	A.  Loving churches alter lost people into growing disciples.
	B.  Loving churches authenticate Jesus’ message of grace.
	C.  Loving churches add to their worshipers’ joy and zest.
	D.  Loving churches attract more people.
	E.  Loving churches assimilate new people.
	F.  Loving churches admire a loving God.
	G.  Loving churches advance the families, careers, and the influence of their people.
	H.  Loving churches affect the climate of the community.
II.	If loving people is so important, why is there a love shortage?
	A.  We are too busy.
#I love the story of the minister who went to preach in a country town and was lodged at a small hotel.  On Monday morning he was weary and lonely after an exhausting day.  When the hurried waitress asked him what he would have for breakfast he replied, “A boiled egg and a kind word.”  In due course she returned and placed the egg in front of him.  He said, “And what about the kind word?”  She replied, “Don’t eat the egg.”
	B.  People cause inconveniences; ministry is messy.
#A satirical cartoon quotes a pastor, “I’d love ministry if it weren’t for people.”
*Arn, Win, Carroll Nyquist and Charles Arn, Who Cares About Love?, Pasadena:  Church Growth Press,
1986, p. 117.
	C.  People go to church for relationships; people stop going to church because of relationships.
III.	What does the scripture say about loving relationships?
A.  John 13:34, 35, “Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this all men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.”
	B.  John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”
C.  Ephesians 5:1-2, “Be imitators of God as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us…”  
	D.  I Peter 4:8, “	Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”
	E.  I John 3:18, “	Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”
IV.	When the weight of research, biblical admonitions, and reason tell us to love, how can we 	refrain?
	A.  We may not have accepted God’s love for us, so we insist others love us.
	B.  We do not love ourselves sand we treat others the way we treat ourselves.
	C.  We have not prioritized the needs of others above our own (Romans 12:10).
# In a Midwestern university, there was an interesting sociological experiment with the students concerning sharing and giving.  Each student was asked to bring a dollar.  Those conducting the study said, “There are people starving in India.  There is a plague and they really need help.  If you feel that you’d like to give to that, put the dollar in an envelope and write on it, “India”.
That’s pretty far away, India.  There is a family near the campus  who really needs groceries.  If you want to help these people, it will be given to them anonymously.  Put your dollar in an envelope and write “poor family”.
Now, of course, we don’t have a copier in this building and we need to get one for those of you who need to copy papers and manuscripts—to  make it easily accessible.  If you want to help buy a copier, put a dollar in the envelope and put “Copier”.  Eighty percent (80%) of that money went to a photocopy machine!
V.	How do we move from a loving heart to loving habits?
	A.  We make a “love covenant” with God.
	B.  We note those who need our love.
# Several years back, a young man was lounging around in the family room listening to music when his dad came in from shoveling snow.  Here’s how the son records what happened:
He looked at me quizzically and said, “In 24 hours you won’t even remember what you are listening to now.  How about doing something for the next 20 minutes that you’ll remember the next 20 years?  I promise that you’ll enjoy it every time you think of it.”
“What is it?” I asked.
“Well, son, there’s several inches of snow on old Mrs. Brown’s walks,” he said, “Why don’t you see if you can shovel it off and get back home without her knowing?”
I did the walk in 15 minutes.  She never knew who did the job, and dad was right.  It’s been a lot more than 20 years, and I’ve enjoyed the memory every time I’ve thought of it.
	C.  We initiate a loving relationship.
# In Trivandrum, India, Chuck Colson spoke to 1000 prison inmates.  They were outcasts, untouchables.  “I talked about the forgiveness of Christ and the cross and the blood of Christ and what that could mean in their lives,” he wrote.
When I finished speaking, I did something impulsive.  Because nobody ever touches the untouchables, I wanted to shake hands with them.  So I jumped off the platform and shook hands with the men in the first few rows.  Soon a 1000 surrounded me.  All they wanted to do was reach out and touch.  Tears were rolling down many faces.
“And I realized that that is where we all are.  We are standing in the center of needy, hungry people.  They want the touch of God.  We are servants to bring Christ to them.”
	D.  We share something of our life’s story and listen to theirs.
	E.  We feel with people.
# Manuel Garcia feared that when he shaved his head to get rid of the patches of hair left by chemotherapy, “I would feel very self-conscious that everyone would stare at me.”
He didn’t need to worry.
Before Garcia was released from the Milwaukee Medical Complex after treatment, his friend and three relatives came into his room with bald heads.  “I woke up, and just started laughing, “said Garcia.  “Then they told me, ‘We’re here so you won’t be alone.’”
When he arrived home his house and neighborhood were teeming with bald heads—all in the name of love for Manuel Garcia, in his fight against cancer.  “My oldest boy had beautiful hair, “said Garcia of his son who had wanted his head shaved.  “Last night he said, ‘Daddy, I did it because I love you.”
“I cut my hair because I’ve known him for 15 years and I love him like a father,” said Dale Wetzel, 26.  “It helped me to understand how he felt; it made me feel good inside.”
When Garcia had been diagnosed as having cancer, he was extremely depressed.  “But I’m ready for anything now,” he says.  “I feel 100% better.”
	F.  We can look for opportunities to love.
# It was unseasonably warm that day, even for sunny Los Angeles.  Everybody was looking for some kind of relief, so the Ice Cream Store was a natural stop.
A little girl, clutching her money tightly in her hand, came into the store.  But before she could say a word, the very sharp featured clerk told her to go back outside and read the sign, and stay out until she put on some shoes.  She left, and a big man followed her out of the store.
I watched as she stood in front of the store and read the sign:  No Bare Feet.  Then tears started to roll down her cheeks as she turned and started to talk away.  Just then the big man called to her and she stopped.  Sitting down on the curb, he took off his size 12 shoes, and set them in front of the girl saying, “Here, you won’t be able to walk in them, but if you sort of slide along you can get your ice cream cone.”  They he lifted the little girl up, and set her feet into the shoes.  “Take your time,” he said.  “I get tired moving them around, and it’ll feel good to just sit here and rest for a while.”
The shining eyes of the little girl could not be missed as she ordered her ice cream cone.
He was a big man, all right.  Big belly, big feet, but most of all, he had a big heart.
“Trust in the Lord, and do good” (Psalm 37:3).
	G.  We can give gifts.
# A mother tells her story:  I thought my heart would break the day after we took our four-year-old physically and mentally handicapped daughter to an institution.  The morning dragged by.  Every glimpse of a familiar object connected with Helen’s care brought on a fresh siege of weeping.  No one called; no neighbor stopped in.
After lunch, I went out on to the porch to collect the mail.  There on the step lay seven huge pink peonies.  As I straightened up, my arms full of the blooms; I looked across the street at two small peony bushes planted the fall before by my newest neighbor.
They were stripped of their beauty.  Thus, without words, my neighbor had spoken to my sorrow and in that moment of warmth, my healing began.
	H.  We can share ourselves.
# One spring morning I was walking along a path in the woods near my home.  Suddenly a rabbit bound across the path.  This rabbit looked a bit roughed up; its fur was sparse and uneven.  As I stepped closer, the rabbit casually hopped to a grove of small trees a few yards away.
As I resumed my walk, a slight movement in the grass caught my eye.  Stooping down, I saw four tiny creatures in a clump of grass.  They were rabbit kits.  Only two and a half inches long, hairless, and blind, they were totally helpless.
Their nest had been dug down into the earth.  Leaves and grass had been arranged to form a camouflaged home.  But the most striking feature was that the inside of the nest had been completely lined with fur—rabbit fur.
Then it hit me.  That scraggy-furred rabbit I had just seen was the mother of this precious litter.  Not only had she carried her young through pregnancy, endured labor and delivery pains, prepared a nest, and patiently nursed and protected them to this point, she had also given of herself.  Painfully, she had pulled out great clumps of fur to linen the nest, thus providing a soft, warm environment for her fragile kits.
Conclusion:
1.  Love is nothing until we leap into action.
#Larry and Judy work with Angeltree, a ministry directed toward the families of prisoners.  Another prison ministry described the need for warehouses, trucks and items.  Larry concluded, “We needed people power.  Ministry is personnel intensive.”
2.  Love is nothing until we leap into action.