SHIFT WEEK III FRIDAY

FRIDAY
John 13:34, Romans 13:8

The story is told of a congregation who had just called a new minister. Everyone was excited about meeting their new pastor and hearing him preach. Come Sunday morning, the sanctuary was packed. The people sat on the edge of their pews in anticipation of his first sermon. He selected as his text, 1 John 4:11, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” As the sermon ended, heads nodded, and the Pastor Nominating Committee breathed a huge sigh of relief. He was a keeper. But the next Sunday, as the new minister read the text for the day, a few of the old saints raised their eyebrows, for it was the same text as the Sunday before – 1 John 4:11, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

They’d never heard two consecutive sermons on the same text before, but, to give the new preacher the benefit of the doubt, they listened carefully and tried to be open-minded. But as the preacher began his sermon, it was the exact same sermon they’d heard the week before, word for word.

They didn’t know what to make of it. “Was this some sort of joke?” they wondered. “Were they supposed to get some deeper meaning the second time around?” “Was he even aware that he was repeating himself?” Out of courtesy, they didn’t say anything. They just listened politely and, when the service was over, shook hands at the door and said something like, “That was a interesting sermon you had for us today.”

The next Sunday, everyone was on pins and needles. The tension was thick as the service began. One could sense that a storm was brewing. When the new minister began reading the text, the congregation began squirming in their seats, for, once again, he read from 1 John 4:11, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” And, to their dismay, he began the sermon with the same exact words as the two Sundays before. But before he could get past the introduction, one of the elders jumped up and said, “Preacher, we’ve heard this sermon twice now. What gives?” The minister looked at the elder and said, “Why, nothing, really. Do this, and I’ll give you another sermon next week!”

Love is a verb, and I have never known people that haven’t had trouble with verbs.
Nouns have always come easily: God, Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, fellowship, cross, baptism, Lord's Supper, Bible, book, hope. We have battled long and hard over many of these nouns, but they have come easily for most of us.

The adjectives have come even more easily: wonderful, great, spectacular, lovely, best, Spirit-filled, Bible-believing, verbally inspired, holy, sacred.

But the verbs have always given us the most difficulty. Verbs connote action. They make things happen in a sentence. My freshman English teacher would say, "That's not a sentence - it doesn't have a verb."

So Paul took up his pen and began to write. You don't need any more nouns or adjectives. What you need are some action words to build a bridge across the chasms that divide you from one another. Paul believed that this single verb, love, had the power to reshape the broken, splintered body in Corinth.

Paul ends with the incredible verbs: Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. These verbs are comprehensive. Over and over Paul writes in large letters: All things.

Love is not something we feel; it is something we do.

God’s love is anything but abstract. It’s concrete and specific, and this is the way we’re called to love one another, not with gushy feelings, but with deeds of loving kindness.

PRAYER
Jesus, I want to love the way you loved. I want to share your love with others in very practical ways. Would you lead me by your Holy Spirit to meet the needs of other with compassion and mercy? Help me be a person who is known by their love of others.