Gift 4: Love
Love is not a feeling. Hate is not the opposite of love…apathy is. Love is helping with the dishes. Love is doing something you hate in order to support the other. Love is a dozen roses. Love is a greeting when you see the other person walk in from work. Love is tending to things when the other is sick. Love is reaffirmation. Love is helping with a need though no favor is asked. Love is surrendering the thing you want the most for someone else.
1 Corinthians 13:4-13 is probably the most famous wedding Scripture in the Bible. I’m not sure if I have ever NOT heard it at a wedding. When asked this past summer to come up with another verse that spoke love as well for a wedding, after all my research, I couldn’t come up with one. It FITS. So, even though this isn’t the scripture I am preaching this morning, let us read it again, to refresh our memories what love really is. I want you to really hear the words Paul speaks here. I am going to read it a little slower than normal so that we can absorb every word.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Did you notice how everything that it describes love as is an action? Love is an active verb. Couples that fall out of love have stopped acting for their spouse. Friends that drift apart have stopped being there for one another. People who fall away from the church have stopped being active in it.
When I first got on the internet back in 1997, one of the first emails I ever got was the SHMILY email. Anyone ever heard or read it? Maybe you got a different version, so let me share.
As the story goes, there was a couple who had played a game the entire time they had known each other. They wanted a different and special way to let each other know how they felt without everyone in the world knowing. So, they came up with S.H.M.I.L.Y. They’d leave the word in an inconspicuous spot where the other would find it. A note on the door walking out…on the roll of toilet paper in the bathroom…on the mirror after a shower. When the one found it, it would be their turn to hide it and let the other find it. This went on for 50 years. They managed to keep it secret all those years until the final SHMILY came around. The wife was dying of cancer and she had requested in her funeral plans for the director to place in her hands their hand-written copy of SHMILY. As they were viewing the body before the funeral, before anyone arrived, her husband found it and started crying. Their family was all there and immediately questioned what SHMILY was. He explained the whole story and then broke down crying when it came to tell what SHMILY stood for. See How Much I Love You…it was an action game that lasted for over 50 years. In her honor, they all started playing the game with their own families to show how much they loved each other.
You see, love is indeed an action. If you will now turn to our Scripture for today, we are going to read John 3:10-21. Go ahead and turn to that page, but before I start reading, let me give a little background on the story here. This is the story where Nicodemus comes to see Jesus at night and is telling him that they know God is with him. Jesus tells him about being born again, and naturally, Nicodemus is confused. He had no idea what that meant. Jesus then tells him what we have the privilege of already knowing, that one must be born of the Spirit. Nicodemus asks how that can be. This, is Jesus’ response. John 3:10-21
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”
Love is not a feeling. It is an action. Affection is the feeling…love is the action. In this instance in John 3:16, it is an active verb…or in English, an action verb. In a sense Jesus is telling Nicodemus that he, meaning Jesus, is not there to tell the world it’s evil, but to help it to salvation instead. Nicodemus probably, though we don’t know for sure, but we can logically assume that if he had trouble understanding the whole bit about born again of the Spirit and water, not flesh, I would say he probably didn’t understand this last bit either…until we see Nicodemus assist in the burial of Jesus after his crucifixion.
In my mind, that is when Nicodemus understood what it meant to love. Love is an action, not a feeling. Nicodemus, against the Pharisean and Sanhedrin council acted on his love for Jesus and helped give him a proper Jewish burial. Nicodemus got it.
Later on in verse 19, Jesus said light has come into the world, but yet, men loved darkness instead of light. This is a reference to the fact that our flesh desires actions for me…I…the self. Think about it this way. Why are children scared of the dark? They aren’t afraid of the dark because something good might happen. They’re scared because darkness holds danger or harm. Kids will run to the light...our flesh however, loves darkness. We can do what we want to please ourselves and we don’t have to have the pleasure of airing our dirty laundry. Kids have it right though, when we find ourselves wanting to go to the darkness, we need to turn and run to the light…to Jesus. Jesus is waiting there to welcome us and forgive us. That is true love. Jesus died for us, and yet he is willing to take on the bad parts of us in order to show God our purity through himself. Love is not a feeling, love is an action.
I want to share a story with you. I do not know where this came from, other than an email that was sent by my dad.
"Pa never had much compassion for the lazy or those who squandered their means and then never had enough for the necessities. But for those who were genuinely in need, his heart was as big as all outdoors. It was from him that I learned the greatest joy in life comes from giving, not from receiving. It was Christmas Eve 1881. I was fifteen years old and feeling like the world had caved in on me because there just hadn't been enough money to buy me the rifle that I'd wanted for Christmas. We did the chores early that night for some reason. I just figured Pa wanted a little extra time so we could read in the Bible. After supper was over I took my boots off and stretched out in front of the fireplace and waited for Pa to get down the old Bible. I was still feeling sorry for myself and, to be honest, I wasn't in much of a mood to read Scriptures. But Pa didn't get the Bible, instead he bundled up again and went outside. I couldn't figure it out because we had already done all the chores. I didn't worry about it long though, I was too busy wallowing in self-pity. Soon Pa came back in. It was a cold clear night out and there was ice in his beard. "Come on, Matt," he said. "Bundle up good, it's cold out tonight." I was really upset then. Not only wasn't I getting the rifle for Christmas, now Pa was dragging me out in the cold, and for no earthly reason that I could see. We'd already done all the chores, and I couldn’t think of anything else that needed doing, especially not on a night like this. But I knew Pa was not very patient at one dragging one's feet when he'd told them to do something, so I got up and put my boots back on and got my cap, coat, and mittens. Ma gave me a mysterious smile as I opened the door to leave the house. Something was up, but I didn't know what. Outside, I became even more dismayed. There in front of the house was the work team, already hitched to the big sled. Whatever it was we were going to do wasn't going to be a short, quick, little job. I could tell. We never hitched up this sled unless we were going to haul a big load. Pa was already up on the seat, reins in hand. I reluctantly climbed up beside him.
The cold was already biting at me. I wasn't happy. When I was on, Pa
pulled the sled around the house and stopped in front of the woodshed. He got off and I followed. "I think we'll put on the high sideboards," he said. "Here, help me." The high sideboards! It had been a bigger job than I wanted to do with just the low sideboards on, but whatever it was we were going to do would be a lot bigger with the high sideboards on. After we had exchanged the sideboards, Pa went into the woodshed and came out with an armload of wood - the wood I'd spent all summer hauling down from the mountain, and then all fall sawing into blocks and splitting. What was he doing? Finally I said something. "Pa," I asked, "what are you doing?" "You been by the Widow Jensen's lately?" he asked. The Widow Jensen lived about two miles down the road. Her husband had died a year or so before and left her with three children, the oldest being eight. Sure, I'd
been by, but so what? “Yeah," I said, "Why?" "I rode by just today," Pa said. "Little Jakey was out digging around in the woodpile trying to find a few chips. They're out of wood, Matt." That was all he said and then he turned and went back into the woodshed for another armload of wood. I followed him. We loaded the sled so high that I began to wonder if the horses would be able to pull it. Finally, Pa called a halt to our loading, then we went to the smoke house and Pa took down a big ham and a side of bacon. He handed them to me and told me to put them in the sled and wait. When he returned he was carrying a sack of flour over his right shoulder and a smaller sack of something in his left hand. "What's in the little sack?" I asked. “Shoes, they're out of shoes. Little Jakey just had gunny sacks wrapped round his feet when he was out in the woodpile this morning. I got the children a little candy too. It just wouldn't be Christmas without a little candy." We rode the two miles to Widow Jensen's pretty much in silence. I tried to think through what Pa was doing. We didn't have much by worldly standards. Of course, we did have a big woodpile, though most of what was left now was still in the form of logs that I would have to saw into blocks and split before we could use it. We also had meat and flour, so we could spare that, but I knew we didn't have any money, so why was Pa buying them shoes and candy? Really, why was he doing any of this? Widow Jensen had closer neighbors than us; it shouldn't have been our concern. We came in from the blind side of the Jensen house and unloaded the wood as quietly as possible, then we took the meat and flour and shoes to the door. We knocked. The door opened a crack and a timid voice said, "Who is it?" "Lucas Miles, Ma'am, and my son, Matt, could we come in for a bit?" Widow Jensen opened the door and let us in. She had a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. The children were wrapped in another and were sitting in front of the fireplace by a very small fire that hardly gave off any heat at all. Widow Jensen fumbled with a match and finally lit the lamp. "We brought you a few things, Ma'am," Pa said and set down the sack of flour. I put the meat on the table. Then Pa handed her the sack that had the shoes in it. She opened it hesitantly and took the shoes out one pair at a time. There was a pair for her and one for each of the children-sturdy shoes, the best, shoes that would last. I watched her carefully. She bit her lower lip to keep it from trembling and then tears filled her eyes and started running down her cheeks. She looked up at Pa like she wanted to say something, but it wouldn't come out. "We brought a load of wood too, Ma'am," Pa said. He turned to me and said, "Matt, go bring in enough to last awhile. Let's get that fire up to size and heat this place up." I wasn't the same person when I went back out to bring in the wood. I had a big lump in my throat and as much as I hate to admit it, there were tears in my eyes too. In my mind I kept seeing those three kids huddled around the fireplace and their mother standing there with tears running down her cheeks with so much gratitude in her heart that she couldn't speak. My heart swelled within me and a joy that I'd never known before, filled my soul. I had given at Christmas many times before, but never when it had made so much difference. I could see we were literally saving the lives of these people. I soon had the fire blazing and everyone's spirits soared. The kids started giggling when Pa handed them each a piece of candy and Widow Jensen looked on with a smile that probably hadn't crossed her face for a long time. She finally turned to us. "God bless you," she said. "I know the Lord has sent you. The children and I have been praying that he would send one of his angels to spare us." In spite of myself, the lump returned to my throat and the tears welled up in my eyes again. I'd never thought of Pa in those exact terms before, but after Widow Jensen mentioned it I could see that it was probably true. I was sure that a better man than Pa had never walked the earth. I started remembering all the times he had gone out of his way for Ma and me, and many others. The list seemed endless as I thought on it. Pa insisted that everyone try on the shoes before we left. I was amazed when they all fit and I wondered how he had known what sizes to get. Then I guessed that if he was on an errand for the Lord that the Lord would make sure he got the right sizes. Tears were running down Widow Jensen's face again when we stood up to leave. Pa took each of the kids in his big arms and gave them a hug. They clung to him and didn't want us to go. I could see that they missed their Pa, and I was glad that I still had mine. At the door Pa turned to Widow Jensen and said, "The Mrs. wanted me to invite you and the children over for Christmas dinner tomorrow. The turkey will be more than the three of us can eat, and a man can get cantankerous if he has to eat turkey for too many meals. We'll be by to get you about eleven. It'll be nice to have some little ones around again. Matt, here, hasn't been little for quite a spell." I was the youngest. My two brothers and two sisters had all married and had moved away. Widow Jensen nodded and said, "Thank you, Brother Miles. I don't have to say, May the Lord bless you, I know for certain that He will." Out on the sled I felt a warmth that came from deep within and I didn't even notice the cold. When we had gone a ways, Pa turned to me and said, "Matt, I want you to know something. Your ma and me have been tucking a little money away here and there all year so we could buy that rifle for you, but we didn't have quite enough. Then yesterday a man who owed me a little money from years back came by to make things square. Your ma and me were real excited, thinking that now we could get you that rifle, and I started into town this morning to do just that, but on the way I saw little Jakey out scratching in the woodpile with his feet wrapped in those gunny sacks and I knew what I had to do. Son, I spent the money for shoes and a little candy for those children. I hope you understand." I understood, and my eyes became wet with tears again. I understood very well, and I was so glad Pa had done it. Now the rifle seemed very low on my list of priorities. Pa had given me a lot more. He had given me the look on Widow Jensen's face and the radiant smiles of her three children. For the rest of my life, whenever I saw any of the Jensens, or split a block of wood, I remembered, and remembering brought back that same joy I felt riding home beside Pa that night. Pa had given me much more than a rifle that night, he had given me the best Christmas of my life."
Love is an action. It is not a feeling…so, are you tired of hearing me say that yet? Have I worn that out? I hope I have, because there is a reason why I have pointed it out. The verse that we are focusing on today, probably the most famous verse in the Bible, John 3:16, probably we hear more than any other one, and yet, what does it mean? We hear it so often, we think we know what it means. That God gave his Son to the World to save it. So, why is love not a feeling? Why is love an action?
Listen closely, because here’s the Big Idea for today…you ready…ok, here we go. You sure you’re ready? Ok…if love was a feeling, God would not have acted to create humanity in the first place. I’ll say it again. If love was a feeling, God would not have acted to create humanity in the first place. In order to show his love, he had to act on it.
Now that he created it, his creation messed it up. How do you think Edison would have felt if the light bulb he invented got up and walked around and broke itself? Imagine God…yikes. So, God had to do something to rescue his creation. So he gave up his only Son, for the thing he LOVED the most. Love my friends is an action. God acted on his love and gave us a baby. That baby grew up and became the Savior of the world so that all who believe will be saved and all those who do not, will perish.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son." Love is not a feeling, it is an action. It puts a whole new spin on the The Great Commandment…to love God, and love others. We are not to feel it for God or our neighbor, but to act on it. If we say we love God or our neighbors, we had better be following that up with some actions. In order for a couple to keep their relationship alive, they have to actively work at it. There are no easy points in a marriage. It is the same way with loving God and our neighbors. We must actively pursue the love for them and continuously work for them. That is hat Jesus meant by the verse in Mark 10:45 when Jesus says, “45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Jesus came to actively serve…serving is loving. They are one and the same. True service acts…true love…acts. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son."
Actively praise God and actively love your neighbors this week…remember that love is an action. May God be with you as you serve others and show them the love of Christ. Love is not a feeling. Love is an action.
1 Corinthians 13:4-13 is probably the most famous wedding Scripture in the Bible. I’m not sure if I have ever NOT heard it at a wedding. When asked this past summer to come up with another verse that spoke love as well for a wedding, after all my research, I couldn’t come up with one. It FITS. So, even though this isn’t the scripture I am preaching this morning, let us read it again, to refresh our memories what love really is. I want you to really hear the words Paul speaks here. I am going to read it a little slower than normal so that we can absorb every word.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Did you notice how everything that it describes love as is an action? Love is an active verb. Couples that fall out of love have stopped acting for their spouse. Friends that drift apart have stopped being there for one another. People who fall away from the church have stopped being active in it.
When I first got on the internet back in 1997, one of the first emails I ever got was the SHMILY email. Anyone ever heard or read it? Maybe you got a different version, so let me share.
As the story goes, there was a couple who had played a game the entire time they had known each other. They wanted a different and special way to let each other know how they felt without everyone in the world knowing. So, they came up with S.H.M.I.L.Y. They’d leave the word in an inconspicuous spot where the other would find it. A note on the door walking out…on the roll of toilet paper in the bathroom…on the mirror after a shower. When the one found it, it would be their turn to hide it and let the other find it. This went on for 50 years. They managed to keep it secret all those years until the final SHMILY came around. The wife was dying of cancer and she had requested in her funeral plans for the director to place in her hands their hand-written copy of SHMILY. As they were viewing the body before the funeral, before anyone arrived, her husband found it and started crying. Their family was all there and immediately questioned what SHMILY was. He explained the whole story and then broke down crying when it came to tell what SHMILY stood for. See How Much I Love You…it was an action game that lasted for over 50 years. In her honor, they all started playing the game with their own families to show how much they loved each other.
You see, love is indeed an action. If you will now turn to our Scripture for today, we are going to read John 3:10-21. Go ahead and turn to that page, but before I start reading, let me give a little background on the story here. This is the story where Nicodemus comes to see Jesus at night and is telling him that they know God is with him. Jesus tells him about being born again, and naturally, Nicodemus is confused. He had no idea what that meant. Jesus then tells him what we have the privilege of already knowing, that one must be born of the Spirit. Nicodemus asks how that can be. This, is Jesus’ response. John 3:10-21
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”
Love is not a feeling. It is an action. Affection is the feeling…love is the action. In this instance in John 3:16, it is an active verb…or in English, an action verb. In a sense Jesus is telling Nicodemus that he, meaning Jesus, is not there to tell the world it’s evil, but to help it to salvation instead. Nicodemus probably, though we don’t know for sure, but we can logically assume that if he had trouble understanding the whole bit about born again of the Spirit and water, not flesh, I would say he probably didn’t understand this last bit either…until we see Nicodemus assist in the burial of Jesus after his crucifixion.
In my mind, that is when Nicodemus understood what it meant to love. Love is an action, not a feeling. Nicodemus, against the Pharisean and Sanhedrin council acted on his love for Jesus and helped give him a proper Jewish burial. Nicodemus got it.
Later on in verse 19, Jesus said light has come into the world, but yet, men loved darkness instead of light. This is a reference to the fact that our flesh desires actions for me…I…the self. Think about it this way. Why are children scared of the dark? They aren’t afraid of the dark because something good might happen. They’re scared because darkness holds danger or harm. Kids will run to the light...our flesh however, loves darkness. We can do what we want to please ourselves and we don’t have to have the pleasure of airing our dirty laundry. Kids have it right though, when we find ourselves wanting to go to the darkness, we need to turn and run to the light…to Jesus. Jesus is waiting there to welcome us and forgive us. That is true love. Jesus died for us, and yet he is willing to take on the bad parts of us in order to show God our purity through himself. Love is not a feeling, love is an action.
I want to share a story with you. I do not know where this came from, other than an email that was sent by my dad.
"Pa never had much compassion for the lazy or those who squandered their means and then never had enough for the necessities. But for those who were genuinely in need, his heart was as big as all outdoors. It was from him that I learned the greatest joy in life comes from giving, not from receiving. It was Christmas Eve 1881. I was fifteen years old and feeling like the world had caved in on me because there just hadn't been enough money to buy me the rifle that I'd wanted for Christmas. We did the chores early that night for some reason. I just figured Pa wanted a little extra time so we could read in the Bible. After supper was over I took my boots off and stretched out in front of the fireplace and waited for Pa to get down the old Bible. I was still feeling sorry for myself and, to be honest, I wasn't in much of a mood to read Scriptures. But Pa didn't get the Bible, instead he bundled up again and went outside. I couldn't figure it out because we had already done all the chores. I didn't worry about it long though, I was too busy wallowing in self-pity. Soon Pa came back in. It was a cold clear night out and there was ice in his beard. "Come on, Matt," he said. "Bundle up good, it's cold out tonight." I was really upset then. Not only wasn't I getting the rifle for Christmas, now Pa was dragging me out in the cold, and for no earthly reason that I could see. We'd already done all the chores, and I couldn’t think of anything else that needed doing, especially not on a night like this. But I knew Pa was not very patient at one dragging one's feet when he'd told them to do something, so I got up and put my boots back on and got my cap, coat, and mittens. Ma gave me a mysterious smile as I opened the door to leave the house. Something was up, but I didn't know what. Outside, I became even more dismayed. There in front of the house was the work team, already hitched to the big sled. Whatever it was we were going to do wasn't going to be a short, quick, little job. I could tell. We never hitched up this sled unless we were going to haul a big load. Pa was already up on the seat, reins in hand. I reluctantly climbed up beside him.
The cold was already biting at me. I wasn't happy. When I was on, Pa
pulled the sled around the house and stopped in front of the woodshed. He got off and I followed. "I think we'll put on the high sideboards," he said. "Here, help me." The high sideboards! It had been a bigger job than I wanted to do with just the low sideboards on, but whatever it was we were going to do would be a lot bigger with the high sideboards on. After we had exchanged the sideboards, Pa went into the woodshed and came out with an armload of wood - the wood I'd spent all summer hauling down from the mountain, and then all fall sawing into blocks and splitting. What was he doing? Finally I said something. "Pa," I asked, "what are you doing?" "You been by the Widow Jensen's lately?" he asked. The Widow Jensen lived about two miles down the road. Her husband had died a year or so before and left her with three children, the oldest being eight. Sure, I'd
been by, but so what? “Yeah," I said, "Why?" "I rode by just today," Pa said. "Little Jakey was out digging around in the woodpile trying to find a few chips. They're out of wood, Matt." That was all he said and then he turned and went back into the woodshed for another armload of wood. I followed him. We loaded the sled so high that I began to wonder if the horses would be able to pull it. Finally, Pa called a halt to our loading, then we went to the smoke house and Pa took down a big ham and a side of bacon. He handed them to me and told me to put them in the sled and wait. When he returned he was carrying a sack of flour over his right shoulder and a smaller sack of something in his left hand. "What's in the little sack?" I asked. “Shoes, they're out of shoes. Little Jakey just had gunny sacks wrapped round his feet when he was out in the woodpile this morning. I got the children a little candy too. It just wouldn't be Christmas without a little candy." We rode the two miles to Widow Jensen's pretty much in silence. I tried to think through what Pa was doing. We didn't have much by worldly standards. Of course, we did have a big woodpile, though most of what was left now was still in the form of logs that I would have to saw into blocks and split before we could use it. We also had meat and flour, so we could spare that, but I knew we didn't have any money, so why was Pa buying them shoes and candy? Really, why was he doing any of this? Widow Jensen had closer neighbors than us; it shouldn't have been our concern. We came in from the blind side of the Jensen house and unloaded the wood as quietly as possible, then we took the meat and flour and shoes to the door. We knocked. The door opened a crack and a timid voice said, "Who is it?" "Lucas Miles, Ma'am, and my son, Matt, could we come in for a bit?" Widow Jensen opened the door and let us in. She had a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. The children were wrapped in another and were sitting in front of the fireplace by a very small fire that hardly gave off any heat at all. Widow Jensen fumbled with a match and finally lit the lamp. "We brought you a few things, Ma'am," Pa said and set down the sack of flour. I put the meat on the table. Then Pa handed her the sack that had the shoes in it. She opened it hesitantly and took the shoes out one pair at a time. There was a pair for her and one for each of the children-sturdy shoes, the best, shoes that would last. I watched her carefully. She bit her lower lip to keep it from trembling and then tears filled her eyes and started running down her cheeks. She looked up at Pa like she wanted to say something, but it wouldn't come out. "We brought a load of wood too, Ma'am," Pa said. He turned to me and said, "Matt, go bring in enough to last awhile. Let's get that fire up to size and heat this place up." I wasn't the same person when I went back out to bring in the wood. I had a big lump in my throat and as much as I hate to admit it, there were tears in my eyes too. In my mind I kept seeing those three kids huddled around the fireplace and their mother standing there with tears running down her cheeks with so much gratitude in her heart that she couldn't speak. My heart swelled within me and a joy that I'd never known before, filled my soul. I had given at Christmas many times before, but never when it had made so much difference. I could see we were literally saving the lives of these people. I soon had the fire blazing and everyone's spirits soared. The kids started giggling when Pa handed them each a piece of candy and Widow Jensen looked on with a smile that probably hadn't crossed her face for a long time. She finally turned to us. "God bless you," she said. "I know the Lord has sent you. The children and I have been praying that he would send one of his angels to spare us." In spite of myself, the lump returned to my throat and the tears welled up in my eyes again. I'd never thought of Pa in those exact terms before, but after Widow Jensen mentioned it I could see that it was probably true. I was sure that a better man than Pa had never walked the earth. I started remembering all the times he had gone out of his way for Ma and me, and many others. The list seemed endless as I thought on it. Pa insisted that everyone try on the shoes before we left. I was amazed when they all fit and I wondered how he had known what sizes to get. Then I guessed that if he was on an errand for the Lord that the Lord would make sure he got the right sizes. Tears were running down Widow Jensen's face again when we stood up to leave. Pa took each of the kids in his big arms and gave them a hug. They clung to him and didn't want us to go. I could see that they missed their Pa, and I was glad that I still had mine. At the door Pa turned to Widow Jensen and said, "The Mrs. wanted me to invite you and the children over for Christmas dinner tomorrow. The turkey will be more than the three of us can eat, and a man can get cantankerous if he has to eat turkey for too many meals. We'll be by to get you about eleven. It'll be nice to have some little ones around again. Matt, here, hasn't been little for quite a spell." I was the youngest. My two brothers and two sisters had all married and had moved away. Widow Jensen nodded and said, "Thank you, Brother Miles. I don't have to say, May the Lord bless you, I know for certain that He will." Out on the sled I felt a warmth that came from deep within and I didn't even notice the cold. When we had gone a ways, Pa turned to me and said, "Matt, I want you to know something. Your ma and me have been tucking a little money away here and there all year so we could buy that rifle for you, but we didn't have quite enough. Then yesterday a man who owed me a little money from years back came by to make things square. Your ma and me were real excited, thinking that now we could get you that rifle, and I started into town this morning to do just that, but on the way I saw little Jakey out scratching in the woodpile with his feet wrapped in those gunny sacks and I knew what I had to do. Son, I spent the money for shoes and a little candy for those children. I hope you understand." I understood, and my eyes became wet with tears again. I understood very well, and I was so glad Pa had done it. Now the rifle seemed very low on my list of priorities. Pa had given me a lot more. He had given me the look on Widow Jensen's face and the radiant smiles of her three children. For the rest of my life, whenever I saw any of the Jensens, or split a block of wood, I remembered, and remembering brought back that same joy I felt riding home beside Pa that night. Pa had given me much more than a rifle that night, he had given me the best Christmas of my life."
Love is an action. It is not a feeling…so, are you tired of hearing me say that yet? Have I worn that out? I hope I have, because there is a reason why I have pointed it out. The verse that we are focusing on today, probably the most famous verse in the Bible, John 3:16, probably we hear more than any other one, and yet, what does it mean? We hear it so often, we think we know what it means. That God gave his Son to the World to save it. So, why is love not a feeling? Why is love an action?
Listen closely, because here’s the Big Idea for today…you ready…ok, here we go. You sure you’re ready? Ok…if love was a feeling, God would not have acted to create humanity in the first place. I’ll say it again. If love was a feeling, God would not have acted to create humanity in the first place. In order to show his love, he had to act on it.
Now that he created it, his creation messed it up. How do you think Edison would have felt if the light bulb he invented got up and walked around and broke itself? Imagine God…yikes. So, God had to do something to rescue his creation. So he gave up his only Son, for the thing he LOVED the most. Love my friends is an action. God acted on his love and gave us a baby. That baby grew up and became the Savior of the world so that all who believe will be saved and all those who do not, will perish.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son." Love is not a feeling, it is an action. It puts a whole new spin on the The Great Commandment…to love God, and love others. We are not to feel it for God or our neighbor, but to act on it. If we say we love God or our neighbors, we had better be following that up with some actions. In order for a couple to keep their relationship alive, they have to actively work at it. There are no easy points in a marriage. It is the same way with loving God and our neighbors. We must actively pursue the love for them and continuously work for them. That is hat Jesus meant by the verse in Mark 10:45 when Jesus says, “45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Jesus came to actively serve…serving is loving. They are one and the same. True service acts…true love…acts. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son."
Actively praise God and actively love your neighbors this week…remember that love is an action. May God be with you as you serve others and show them the love of Christ. Love is not a feeling. Love is an action.
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