Title: Love one another (1 John 4:7-13)
Contents
The year 2006 has been designated by the United Nations as the "Year of Desert and Desertification".
Desertification, which is accelerating due to human reckless cultivation and grazing, and climate change, is already threatening the livelihoods of 1 billion people in more than 100 countries around the world.
That is why the United Nations has designated this year as the “Year of Desert and Desertification” to warn of the dangers of desertification.
UN Secretary-General Kofianan pointed out at the UN General Assembly last year that "desertification is the most urgent environmental disaster facing mankind."
So what specifically is desertification? It refers to "continuous deterioration of the earth's productivity and thinning of the vegetation layer due to environmental degradation". The land becomes dry and rough, and the land becomes unproductive. The land becomes uninhabitable for humans and plants.
When I mention “the year of desertification and desertification” at the beginning of my sermon, I do not intend to talk about the problems of the land, but rather the problems of the heart. It is a scary thing for the land to become a desert and desertification, but it is even more frightening to have the heart become a desert.
Just as we warn of the desertification of the land, we must also warn of the fear of desertification of the heart.
When our heart becomes like a desert, love disappears and only greed remains in our heart, and all kinds of rivalry, selfishness, envy, hatred, and strife that arise from greed are located in our heart. Such a land of the heart is the desert of the heart and desertification of the heart.
So is belief. Our faith must be like the fertile soil. The land of faith must be productive. But faith has become like a desert, and it is very difficult to see a fertile faith. Why? It is because we love the world more than we love God.
As much as you love, life is beautiful and happy. You can only enjoy as much as you love. So we must live with love.
Among the works of 'Hermann Hesse', there is "Augustus". This work explains the essence of love very easily.
A mother gave birth to a child named Augustus. Then an old man came and said to his mother. "Congratulations on the baby's birth. I'll grant you one wish as a congratulatory gift. What's your wish for the child?" the mother said to the old man. "Let this child grow up and be loved by everyone."
Indeed, as Augustus grew up, he was loved by many people. But his life was not happy. He only knew how to be loved, not how to give love. The last years of his life became increasingly lonely and miserable. Then the old man came to visit Augustus again. "What is your wish, I will grant you one more thing."
Old Augustus spoke without hesitation. He said, "Please make me a person who can love everyone in the world."
That's right.
The essence of love is to give, not to receive. Because people are created to feel greater happiness in giving than receiving love.
At the beginning of the new year, there is a word of God I want to tell you all. It means "love one another." Because he said that the greatest of faith, hope, and love is love. The devil knows that love is the best. That's why he's trying to take that love from us first. You have to keep love.
1. Let's love God with our hearts.
I hope that you will not be a person who serves God with your head, but a person who serves God with your heart. God must be a God who loves you passionately in your heart, not a God you know with your head. When we serve with our hearts and love, God works. The Holy Spirit works.
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5). Deuteronomy 6:10-11 says, “The LORD your God will bring you into the land that he swore to give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and you will have great and beautiful cities that you did not build, and the beautiful things that you did not fill. He will give you a house full of it, and a well that you have not dug, and a vineyard and an olive tree that you have not planted, so that you may be satisfied.” “Delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desire of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).
In Exodus 20:6, God says, “He is gracious to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.”
God loved you first. First, God showed love from the heart by giving His only begotten Son for us. Therefore, we too must love God with our hearts.
2. Let's love those around us.
Go far away to love strangers, and even if you cannot save them, you must love them by staying by my side and near my house.
"I cannot save the Gentiles from afar, but there are many sinners who go around my house and save them. I cannot speak like an angel, and Paul cannot speak, but tell me with all my might that Jesus has redeemed me."
When a person receives love, because of that person, love spreads again like this to 2 people, 4 people, 8 people. But when one person is hurt, the injured person hurts others. So wounds beget wounds.
Lou Gehrig, who joined the New York Yankees in 1923, made a mark in American baseball history, making 2,130 consecutive appearances for 14 years without missing a single game.
In 1937, he was taken to the hospital when he heard that a 10-year-old boy with polio was refusing to undergo rehabilitation. The boy who met his hero rejoiced. When he asked the boy to seek treatment, the boy said:
“Uncle, if you hit one home run for me, I’ll teach you how to walk too.”
Lou Gehrig returned to the pitch promising to hit a home run. That day, Gehrig hit two home runs to cheer the boy up.
Two years later, Gehrig fell ill, paralyzing his muscles and dying. On Independence Day, July 4 of that year, 60,000 spectators gathered at Yankee Stadium to pay their respects to Gehrig for a special retirement ceremony. And the boy I had met two years ago threw down his crutches and walked up to him and hugged him. He left the baseball field after holding the boy and saying, "I am the happiest person in the world".
In 1941, Lou Gehrig died at the age of 38, and his number 4 jersey became the first in baseball history to be doubled. The amyotrophic lateral sclerosis that Gehrig suffered from was later called Lou Gehrig's disease after him, and the Lou Gehrig's Disease Society honors the spirit by awarding patients with outstanding achievements with an award named after him. In this way, a hero is someone who does something greater for someone than himself.
3. Let's love what we have been given.
love work Love it even when it's hard. Love even when it hurts.
"How about having fun?"
"Well. This is what a fictional day looks like, isn't it?" that he answered.
A person who works by thinking that he is like this guy on a fictitious day will never succeed.
So Dr. Phil urged the golf course worker to look for something that you could work for while having fun, something you could love and work for.
This man loved making things out of plastic. So after that, he went to find a job he loved and liked. He entered a plastics factory and was promoted to factory manager, leading a satisfactory life.
4. Healthy love is not a one-way love, a one-way love, but "love each other".
Love for each other is orderly, legal, moral and ethical. Improper and unethical love is sick love, indulgence, debauchery, depravity. Even if you love each other, you have to "love each other". What God wants is "love one another."
"Love one another" if you want this year to be beautiful and happy. And if you're at odds with each other, you "love first". There is no other way but this way.
The root cause of all misfortunes and strife in our lives is that we do not "love one another" but hate each other. Where we love one another, peace, liberty, and blessings are sure to come, and when we hate one another, there is sure to be strife, ruin, and curse. Also, love brings God's favor.
"When you love, you become beautiful"
Love changes my spirit, my soul, and my life. Love changes the environment. If you love, victory and success will come. If you love, the desert and desertification will become green pastures, and your life will become like a calm stream.