The Outpost Church
Love 101
  • I Will Not Forget You
  • Graves Into Gardens
  • All The Way My Savior Leads Me

      • 1 Corinthians 13NASB95

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    Big Idea: Community is the soil in which disciples are grown. The way we grow as disciples is as we come to know Jesus, love Jesus, and submit to Jesus. That whole process must happen in that order. People come to know Jesus as they see Jesus displayed in the lives of His followers. That is why the great commandment is to love God first and then to love your neighbor second. Both are contingent on the other and both lead to loving God. With hearts transformed by the Gospel we are to move into deeper community practicing the ‘one another’s’ of Scripture to bring Gods Kingdom visibly into view as we become the hands and feet of Jesus.
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    Brief intro into the Expedition 1 Series - why i can ask for 2 hours out of your schedule - feed the monster you create.
    Thank Ashton for reading...
    I honestly can’t explain how brilliantly profound that passage is about love. I don’t care if you are a Christian or not that is magnificent. That is why people, regardless of their faith, choose to read that passage at weddings. There is perhaps no greater writing about love in the entire Bible than that right there.
    Here is the problem though…love is an incredibly unhelpful word - Do sushi, marvel movies, and my wife bit...
    And so I want to clear up some language around this concept of love this morning. It is for love that we are moving towards these expedition groups. We are supposed to be a people defined by our love for one another and yet that is somewhat of a murky concept in our culture. And so, I want us to begin today by looking at the Bible and allowing it to define a very key aspect of this concept of love for us.
    Look at what Galatians 2:20 says though:
    Galatians 2:20 (NASB95)
    “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
    is it simply a strong emotion? No!
    How about this one:
    Ephesians 5:1–2 (NASB95)
    Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children;
    and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
    Love is not a feeling or what something does to you although it does involve our feelings. Primarily love refers to action. Love is something that you do. In fact, according to the Bible:
    True love is a comprehensive lifestyle of actionable service given to others and with others as its focal point.
    Love based on feelings is hopelessly unreliable as feelings change.
    Do every time I say love you say action bit.
    True love is a settled commitment to act for the good of others regardless of circumstances. Even when you don’t feel like it or feel the other person deserves your love, you still do it anyways.
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    Here is the big question though…is that type of love what defines our society? How about most churches? I’m not afraid to ask the question…how about The Outpost? Does that definition of love describe what you’ve experienced here? While everything in me wants to be super naive and say yes…I realize that’s probably not the case. Even though there are probably some stories about this kind of love, is the love you have experienced here and the ways in which you have been called up to love how you would define this church?
    If not, then we have room to grow… So how do we fix it?
    I’m just going to lay it all out in front of you this morning and tell you this is the question we are trying to answer today:
    How do we come to be a people defined by our action oriented and outward focused love and how do expedition groups lead us closer towards that?
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    I think before we can answer the how do we fix it we have to have a clear assessment of how and why we constantly miss the mark…not just as a church but as individuals. To do that, we have to talk about black holes for a second (give credit for this illustration)
    Black hole bit…all matter exerts a gravitational pull…singularity/event horizon… a black hole literally unmakes everything it pulls into its gravity and can never be satisfied.
    When we live without love and the elevation of self becomes our main motivator, we become a black hole.
    Let me show you how that works - Do need of success bit…do need for validation bit (social media)… it works with pleasure, or ego, or finances, or really anything that we need or feel we need.
    Love is not a black hole, love is more like a cell.
    A cell’s main purpose is exactly the opposite of a black hole. A cell’s main purpose, its marching orders, is to give itself away to reproduce itself. A cell doesn’t die when it does this. It doesn’t lose something. Now there are two cells that can go through the process again and the end result isn’t destruction, the end result is that life is generated.
    The paradox of love is that the more of it that I give, the more of myself that I give away in love, the more truly alive and human I actually am.
    This idea of self-giving love is actually central to what it means to be a human being. On one occasion, Jesus was asked what does God want from me?
    Actually, here is how the question happened:
    Matthew 22:35–36 NASB95
    One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
    The idea is that in God’s kingdom we experience the fullest life as we follow God’s commands. Remember, Gods kingdom isn’t defined by borders, it is defined by the rule of the king. So this guy is asking what the most important rule of the king is so that He can have life in the kingdom.
    The book of Luke records the same encounter but sets up the question a little differently. Here is how Luke records this encounter:
    Luke 10:25 NASB95
    And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
    To which Jesus responds:
    Luke 10:26 NASB95
    And He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?”
    And in both Gospel accounts, we get the same exact words (though said by different people). In Matthew’s account, Jesus answers the question for the guy but In Luke’s account, we just read about how Jesus turned the question back on the guy. Here is the answer:
    Luke 10:27 NASB95
    And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”
    Ask how many people have heard that verse read.
    So its all good? Can we just dismiss now and you guys go on and do that? NO!!!
    There were people in the audience that heard those words of Jesus that day that went on to lead the early church and they still failed to live that out. Let that sink in for just a moment. People who literally heard this exchange went on to lead churches that failed to live this out.
    In fact, after the book of Acts, every single book after that is either correcting churches who have failed to live out this type of love for God and Neighbor or training churches so that they don’t make the mistakes as those churches who messed it up.
    Do you know why we get that amazing chapter on love that Ashton read at the beginning of service? I know we read it at weddings but Paul definitely did not write it for weddings. The Corinthian church was a train wreck man. The believers at Corinth were suing the literal pants off of one another. There was a man sleeping with his mother-in-law. Their worship services were off the rails with people getting drunk over communion and disruptive during the time of worship. They were slandering one another and even claiming allegiance to particular leaders over their allegiance to Jesus. Division just doesn’t even quite do it justice when describing the climate of the Corinthian church. And out of this Paul writes this extensive letter correcting the church and reminding them of how to live out the great commandment.
    In fact, this pattern of leaders helping the early believers to love one another well becomes such a repeated theme, we actually have a name for all of the passages that direct our attention back to living out the great commandment well.
    We call them the ‘One Another’s’ of Scripture. Have you heard of these?
    There are over 100 different ‘One Another’ commands in the New Testament found in 94 different verses.
    Roughly half of those commands are directed at the Church and how we live out the great commandment within the community of faith. The other half are about how we live out the great commandment outwardly to those who are not followers of Jesus.
    1/3rd of the One Another’s are about how we should love one another.
    Here are just a couple of practical examples from scripture.
    Galatians 5:13 (NASB95)
    For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
    Ephesians 4:2 (NASB95)
    with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love,
    1/3rd of the One Another’s are about how our love should produce unity.
    Galatians 5:26 (NASB95)
    Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.
    1 Thessalonians 5:15 (NASB95)
    See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people.
    Roughly 15% of the One Another’s are about our humility and deference for others.
    Philippians 2:3 (NASB95)
    Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;
    The remaining One Another’s cover any other issues that are not immediately solved by love, unity, and humility.
    Galatians 6:2 NASB95
    Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.
    1 Peter 4:9 NASB95
    Be hospitable to one another without complaint.
    Hebrews 10:24 NASB95
    and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,
    So I’ve given you a total of 8 one another passages. That means there are 92 more out there. That is 92 practical ways the New Testament authors give us for how to live out the great commandment. In total that is 100 ways in which we give love hands and feet of action.
    Although each of those one another’s could be their own sermon, here is what I take from this. Get ready to have your mind blown because this may be the most profound thing you’ve ever heard:
    The fact that these are called “One Another” statements means that it is ALL OF OUR RESPONSIBILITY to put them into practice.
    Here is the deal…I wasn’t actually kidding about that being a profound statement. Here is how it typically works in churches:
    We have a rather large group of people who gather here regularly. In this group there are all sorts of needs. There are people who have immediate financial, housing, and job related needs. There are people struggling in their marriages or with their children and need encouragement and counsel. There are people experiencing loss who need us to mourn with them. There are people who have been blessed beyond measure recently and we need to rejoice with them. There are several who are expecting new life that need us to celebrate with them and support them in this upcoming season. There are people who are facing some incredibly difficult decisions and need support in prayer and wise counsel and for someone to just walk with them through that.
    What typically happens with those circumstances is that the really serious things will sometimes find their way into my office, if people are comfortable discussing them, but all of the rest just gets lost in the mix. There are people who walk in and out of this room every week silently with unmet needs praying that God would intervene in their story. And if it is just up to the pastoral staff or church leadership, there is no way we can know everyone’s story and needs well enough to meet them. There is no way that a small group of people can carry out all of the One Another’s of scripture to love our people well.
    And so, people sometimes become disillusioned with their faith because it seems like God isn’t listening or perhaps doesn’t care. People who desperately need the love of God lived out in tangible ways are left in want or feeling overlooked.
    Please don’t miss this. God is absolutely capable of meeting needs and displaying His love for people without us. But…
    God’s grand plan is that people would experience His love and the reality of His presence through the outward focused, others oriented, sacrificial love of His followers.
    It is when each and every one of us take responsibility for living out the One Another’s of the Great Commandment that we give the clearest picture of the Gospel. Like a cell, we are most alive and most human as we are constantly giving ourselves away in love and with humility.
    What would our community look like if we were all trying to outdo one another in love and with genuine humility? Would there be any unmet needs? Would there be anyone lonely or feeling overwhelmed by the prospect of facing their difficult situations by themselves? What if there were no black holes among us but instead everyone was concerned with how they could give more of themselves for the sake of others?
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    Here is where this gets really practical and this is how we answer that question that we started with:
    - Sunday gathering isn’t the full expression of community
    - Expedition groups allow us to get to know each other that we simply can’t in the Gathering
    - You are going to know things about one another that I will never be able to know even if I used every hour of every week simply meeting with people and building relationships. Remember Jesus had purpose in gathering with the masses that were different than the purposes he had for gathering with the twelve. While it’s impossible to cultivate the type of relationships in the Sunday Gathering that this type of love can be displayed in, you can definitely manage that in smaller groups of 8-12 over a meal.
    - One of the major functions of our Expedition groups is going to be pastoral care… explain.
    Here is the whole question we started with:
    How do we come to be a people defined by our action oriented and outward focused love and how do expedition groups lead us closer towards that?
    Now, we just answered the “how our expedition groups lead us closer towards that” part. But we’ve still got to answer the first part of the question. How do we become people defined by our love?
    The short answer is that we just have to actually love people well. That’s easier said than done though isn’t it? You guys good with just doing that? Just love people…alright let’s dismiss… ya’ll go make that happen… NO!!!!
    It is incredibly difficult to live out the type of love that we are talking about here. Love God and love your neighbor sounds simple enough but people are often very hard to love.
    Ya’ll I’ve tried…I can’t do it. I simply cannot muster the strength to love the way the Bible calls me to. So where does this type of love come from?
    I am so glad you asked. I am going to let the Apostle John answer that question for us in his own words. Check this out:
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    1 John 4:7–21 (NLT)
    Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.
    But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
    God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.
    This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
    Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.
    No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.
    And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us.
    Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
    All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God.
    We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.
    And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.
    Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.
    We love each other because he loved us first.
    If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?
    And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.
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    Let me just simplify this down:
    Only a heart transformed by God’s own outward focused and action based love displayed through the cross of Jesus in the Gospel has the ability to truly love others in the same way.
    This is God’s plan:
    To use people who have been transformed by the love of Jesus through the Gospel to display that same love to others as the hands and feet of Jesus. We give the Gospel flesh and blood through our outward focused action oriented love.
    This is why Jesus made the statement He did about the greatest commandment. If you look at the big 10…the ten commandments…the first four are about our love and relationship with God and the last six are about how we love and relate to other people. Of the 613 commands given to Israel in the law, roughly one third are about how we relate and love God, one third are laws concerning how we love our neighbor, and the remaining is miscellaneous laws. Look at Jesus’ beatitudes, the first half are about our relationship with God and out of that flows our relationship towards other people.
    The bottom line:
    It is the love of God towards us and our love for Him that overflows into our relationships allowing us to truly love others.
    And so, I think that leaves us with a couple of good action steps as we close:
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    Follow Jesus through the gospel
    Get involved in community where you can display this love by connecting with an expedition group leader after services today.
    $5 Sunday
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      • Matthew 22:35–36NASB95

      • Luke 10:25NASB95

      • Luke 10:26NASB95

      • Luke 10:27NASB95

      • Galatians 6:2NASB95

      • 1 Peter 4:9NASB95

      • Hebrews 10:24NASB95

The Outpost Church
(360) 567-6759
http://theoutpostchurch.org
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