LABOR PROMPTED BY LOVE
Rev. Bernt P. Tweit
Old Testament Lesson; Isaiah 45:1-7
Gospel Lesson; Matthew 22:15-21
Sermon Text; 1
Thessalonians 1:1-5
In our text for today, one of the things that the apostle Paul thanked God for was the church in Thessalonica and the Thessalonians for their "labor prompted by love". The Thessalonians loved God and each other and that love helped them labor through the tough times. But the love that sprouted forth in that church didn't originate with them. It came from God. The love that God shared with the Thessalonians allowed them and prompted them to labor for God and to labor for others.
The love Paul is talking about is not a romantic, touchy-feeling kind of love. It is not an emotional love. The love Paul saw in the Thessalonians’ church was a sacrificial love. It was the kind of love that focuses, not on what the object of the love can do for you, but rather on what you can give of yourself, for the one you love. Even though that church in Thessalonica was going through struggles and trials, (as a matter of a fact, Paul had been rejected by that community because they didn’t want to believe the message that he was preaching) those few Christians in Thessalonica went forth and labored in love, for God and for others.
Paul saw the Thessalonians express their love to God and others. They did not let the emotional and physical costs of their ministry discourage them from doing what God called them to do. (Paul had earlier been driven out of town, because the people rejected God's Word.) But because of the sacrificial love in their hearts, those few Christian Thessalonians were willing to labor for Jesus.
The Bible has a lot to tell us about love. The Bible tells about God’s love for us. It talks about the love we have for God and it talks about the love that we have for others. It is the kind of love that was perfectly expressed at the cross. No greater, loving sacrifice could ever be given, than what Jesus did on the cross.
Why does the Bible speak about love so often? Because God's love for us is so great and wonderful that He wants us to hear about it again, and again. And, because our love is often so weak, God has to keep reminding us how we should love Him and one another.
God's Love for Us
I don't want this sermon to go any farther, without looking at God's love for us, because it is the building block on which we build our love. The Bible says,
"This is how God showed His love among us:
He sent His one and only Son into the world
that we might live through Him.
This is love,
not that we loved God,
but that He loved us
and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins."
I John 4:9-11
God’s love for us is seen most clearly at the cross. God’s love for us is seen clearly when He sent His Son, to keep the law for us, and do what we couldn’t do. God loves us so much that He took our place.
And, now that God’s love has come to us, it should prompt us to love God for eternity and to labor for Him and others.
Along those same lines, the Bible also says,
"This is how we know what love is:
Jesus Christ laid down His life
for us."
I John 3:16
God loved us, first. He showed His greatest love for us by sending His Son into the world to keep the Law, which we could not keep, and to suffer and die for our sins. Without God first loving us, there would be no love for us to give to God and to others.
Our Labor for God
Prompted by
His Love
for Us!
God's love for us prompts us to love Him and labor for Him. Since Jesus kept the Ten Commandments for us, we desire to follow them and obey them. The Ten Commandments do not just tell us what we are not to do, but the Ten Commandments also tell us what we are to do. The first three commandments tell us how we are to love God:
The First Commandment tells us:
"We should fear, love and trust in God above all things."
God's love for us should prompt us to obey His commands and to "Trust in 'Him' with all our heart and lean not on our own understanding." Proverbs 3:5
The Second Commandment tells us:
"Call upon God in every trouble,
pray, praise and give thanks."
God's love for us should prompt us to use His name in prayer, in praise and in thanksgiving.
The Third Commandment tells us:
"Hold God's Word sacred and gladly hear and learn it."
God's love for us should prompt us to read and hear His Word regularly. "Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it." Luke 11:28
The first three commandments remind us of the love we should have for God.
Our Labor for Others
Prompted by
God's Love
for Us!
God's love for us not only prompts us to love Him and labor for Him, but God's love for us also prompts us to love others and labor for them. The last seven commandments tell us how we are to love others. Here are a few:
The Fourth Commandment tells us how we are supposed to love our parents:
"Honor your father and your mother."
God’s love for us prompts us to honor, serve, obey, love and esteem (have high regard for) our parents.
The Fifth Commandment tells us how we are to love our neighbors:
"Help and be a friend to our neighbor in every need."
God’s love for us prompts us to help the needy and show kindness to all.
The Eighth Commandment also tells us how we are to love our neighbors.
"Put the best construction on everything."
God’s love for us prompts us to speak the truth in love.
The last seven commandments remind us of the love we should have for others.
There is another writer in the Bible who probably speaks more about love than even Paul does. That is the apostle John. There is a legend about the apostle John that says during his final years he was too old and feeble to address a congregation, but he was called upon to say a few words at the end of each service. He would stand up and speak the same sentence, "Dear Children, love one another."
How true this is! If we could love perfectly, then we wouldn’t have any problems, but since we can’t love God or others perfectly, we need that constant reminder.
John was one who had stood at the foot of the cross and saw Jesus’ love for us. John knew that you and I would have to go back to that same cross again, and again, because of our imperfect love, and empty our hearts of our sin and fill it with God’s love for us.
Our love for God and others should be a labor of love. Some of us might be tired this morning, from our labors. However, we must remember that it is not the labor that produces the love. It is love that produces labor.
This last Thursday I saw that love, first hand. It was labor, prompted by love. Our elders and church council wrestled with some weighty questions such as: How can we increase church attendance, among our members? And, how can we increase our giving?
The wrong way to answer those questions is through the motivation of The Law. You must come more often. You have to give more.
But the right way to answer those questions is through The Gospel. Christ’s love compels us.
"Christ’s love compels us,
because we are convinced that
one died for all, and therefore all died.
And He died for all,
that those who live should no longer live for themselves
but for him who died for them and was raised again."
II Corinthians 5:14 – 15
We are prompted by God’s love for us, in Christ, to hear God’s Word regularly. We are also prompted by God’s love for us, in Christ, to bring our offerings to God cheerfully.
One of the professors at our seminary, (before I was there) was Professor M.H. Otto. In his classes, he would have his students ponder the simple truth
"To love means to give."
One may give, without loving,
but he cannot love, without giving.
M.H. Otto
If we do not have the sacrificial love that Paul saw in the Thessalonians, we would be unable and eventually unwilling to labor on behalf of God, or others. But with Christ as our ultimate example, we love God and others, and are willing to sacrifice ourselves, for them. God doesn’t look at our sin anymore. God looks at Jesus’ life instead. So thanks be to God that His love for us, sent His Son to the cross. And may the love that God has given to us, compel us to labor for Him and for others. Because He loved us first, we can labor for Him and others in love!
Gracious Savior,
We cannot understand how You could love us enough to die for us, but we believe it and are glad. We praise you for your love, and in Heaven we will praise you. We will try to show that we are your children by loving you and one another. But, please, help us to do so, for we are weak and sinful.
In Your name we ask it.
Amen.
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