Extravagant Love

One day, a stranger was in church and he caught the eye of the minister, who knew that he was a visitor – well I say visitor but what I mean is that he was seldom at church. So when the service was over the minister went down to the door at the appropriate time as usual. When the man came to shake hands the preacher grabbed him by the hand and pulled him aside.He said to him, "You need to join the Army of the Lord!" The guy replied, "I'm already in the Army of the Lord, Pastor." This made him curious so he further questioned him, "How come I don't see you except at Christmas and Easter?" He whispered back, "I'm in the secret service. In Jesus’ time there were people who were secret followers. Nicodemus might have been one of them. At times of great persecution and distress there have been secret followers of Jesus But in our day and time there is no need to be secret followers- we are not in the secret service- while the reformers taught that there was no NEED to go to church to be saved, and in that they have been very successful, the Bible does teach that it is important for us to wear our relationship with Christ on our sleeves. When John the Baptist was asked about Jesus, by his own disciples, he told them that this man was totally unique- he was “head and shoulders above the other messengers” [The Message] In v35 he says “The father loves the son and has placed everything in his hands” John was deliriously happy that Messiah had come- this was the fulfillment of his life and calling. He saw himself as the best man at the wedding of the Bride and Groom. Behind this is the idea that God loves the son extravagantly. John could very easily have been threatened by Jesus- the new kid on the block as his disciples were and that’s why they had come to quiz John about Jesus. Very often we ministers feel threatened by the ministry of another minister or congregation when it seems that they are doing so well and that is because we can feel that people are measuring us and our lack of apparent success against this other person who seems to be doing so very well. John had come to do a job – to introduce Jesus as Messiah and now it was time to hand over to him. For John the arrival of Jesus meant to end of his own work and he was pleased to have a part in this new work. It’s like he is the best man at the wedding- how could he be jealous, as his disciples were, when he knows that the wedding is finished and the marriage is off to a good start? John says that his cup is running over- this was the very time when Jesus was to take the driving seat and he could slip off centre into the sidelines. Now here is the challenge for us- If God loves the son extravagantly, and He does and the father loves you and me extravagantly, and he does then the only valid response is for us to love God extravagantly- not in secret, we are no secret army, but openly for all to see. The question is HOW?? There are three ways: Give him YOURSELF Give him YOUR MONEY Give your love to those He loves TIME This is a very precious commodity and you can’t buy it second hand either- once you have used it, it is gone. It is a common experience today that nobody has spare time- indeed we are rushing around like we need a few extra hours in each day. we rush in the morning to work we rush back home in the evening we have little time to spend with the people we love little time to spend doing the things we love we break the speed limit because we need to get there quickly we live in the age of instant burgers and instant coffee The only time we are not rushing is when we go to bed and sometimes we have difficulty sleeping because we have been on the go all day and it takes, yet more time winding down! And yet, for those who are at home all day, the time goes very slowly. Sometimes the way we spend our time gives us cause for regret, usually, when it is too late: we regret not spending enough time with our family so that while the office has gained our family relationships have suffered and now its too late the we regret not working harder at school we regret not taking those opportunities whenever they arose The Christian life is all about relationships- with God and with other people. There is only one way to make our relationships better and that is to invest time in them. If I love God EXTRAVAGANTLY I WILL SPEND TIME WITH HIM, I WILL GIVE MYSELF TO HIM. - I WILL PRAY TO HIM, BRINGING HIM MY THANKS AND PRAISE ALONG WITH MY REQUESTS AND QUESTIONS - I WILL LISTEN TO HIM- I WILL MEDITATE UPON HIS WORD - I WILL JUST ENJOY HIS COMPANY AS I ENJOY THE COMPANY OF MY WIFE AND CHILDREN Jesus told the disciples- “I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come back and take you to be with me…” And where is that place? That place is where God is. Eternity in heaven will mean “knowing God personally”. If I love God EXTRAVAGANTLY I will love him today and I will also LOVE THOSE HE LOVES When Adam sinned he destroyed both his relationship with God and ours- from this point on there was that something between them- that edge, that uneasiness which was so absent before. He now realized that he also destroyed the relationship with the love of his life, his soul mate Eve- now there was that same kind of friction- it was now cursed- now there was a barrier between him and God and between him and his wife. John say that you can’t just love God and forget about your neighbour. We will never be happy being insular and self-centred because we were made to have fellowship with God and with other people- we need to love as well as be loved. While there is a wall dividing this community- either real or metaphorical, we cannot be happy and fulfilled because we are at odds with our creation. It has been scientifically proven that something happens in our brains when we do something for other people- that is why the world responded so generously to the Tsunami disaster on Boxing day 2004. Most people long for the big picture in their lives- they want more than what they can see and touch, they want something to outlast their lives Most people Want to give If I really do love God EXTRAVAGANTLY I WILL GIVE MY MONEY If you really love another person you want to give to them- to buy them presents and to make sure they are provided for in every way. In the OT every Jew was expected to give 10% of his income but that did not include a whole array of free will offerings- this was the rule but in the NT there is no such RULE. In 2Corinthians Paul speaks about this in chapters 8 & 9 –here the emphasis is not upon rules- :8:8 says “I am not COMMANDING you” but “”I want to TEST your sincerity”- that is a much greater matter. He points to the generosity of the Macedonian Christians who gave – not out of their wealth but out of their poverty- they were just like the window who gave her mite and greatly pleased Jesus- never did he say to this poor woman- keep your money, you have so little- no he commended her. Here he affirms and commends the action of this very generous church. Are we a generous church? Is the PCI a generous denomination? Well we are when our emotional strings are tugged- as with the outpouring of giving after Tsunami Yes we are when it comes to raising money for a new church or church hall- now I know that these premises are used for God’s work in this place but are we generous when it comes to the ongoing work of ministry? Have you, personally, increased your giving this year? If we are to get away from our debt we will have to give more. I have been told that the annual practice in the Presbyterian Church in Jamaica the leadership sit down at the start of the year and work out what money they are going to need to do all the things they want to do and then they BUDGET for it- then at the AGM they tell the congregation just how much they need and if that means they have to increase their giving by 10% so be it- its all a matter of priorities. What I want to suggest is that each of us, if we have not already done so, sits down and works out what we should be giving and then sets out a plan of how we are going to get there- if you are earning £100 a week then we should be giving £10 a week to God’s work and I would suggest that the vast bulk of that has to be for the local congregation- if you are earning £200 a week then your giving should start at £20 and so it goes- We are talking about being agents for change in this district- if we are to play our part-and if we don’t God will use someone else and we will miss out- if we are to play our part we will need more money, and we will have to prioritize our time- why because we love God-even if you are unemployed or on the state pension you can still give your mite and that will be just as valuable as the millionaire. Do you love god EXTRAVAGANTLY?