Love Matters Most

In one paragraph

This message was the second Sunday of First B Jackson's Forty Days of Love series. Pastor Don walked through three connected claims: that the best use of life is love, that the best expression of love is time, and that the best time to love is now. The morning also included a visit from Ron Miller, who shared stories from his evangelism training work in Eastern Europe before being sent off with...

Read together

1. 1 John 4:8 used to show that love validates faith, whoever does not love does not know God because God is love
2. 1 John 4:20 used to show that claiming to love God while hating others makes one a liar, the badge of authenticity is love
3. Colossians 3:14 used to show that love integrates life, put on love which binds all virtues together in perfect unity
4. 1 Peter 4:8 used to show that love compensates for sin, above all love each other deeply because love covers over a multitude of sins
5. Colossians 2:14 used to illustrate what covering sin means, God wiped out sin by canceling the written code and nailing it to the cross
6. 1 Corinthians 13:13 used to show that love reverberates forever, faith hope and love remain but the greatest is love
7. 1 John 3:18 used to show that the best expression of love is time, love not with words or tongue but with actions and in truth
8. Galatians 5:6 used to show that what counts is not circumcision or uncircumcision but faith expressing itself through love
9. Ephesians 5:2 used to show that sacrifice defines real love, live a life of love just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us

Talk about it

1. Ron Miller described the moment he walked toward that tuberculosis ward arguing with God, not wanting to go in, and how everything changed once he got inside. Have you ever felt that kind of reluctance before doing something you sensed God was calling you to do, and what happened?
2. The sermon described love as the 'badge of authenticity' for a Christian, drawing on 1 John 4:8 and 4:20. What does it look like in everyday life when someone claims to know God but that love is missing from how they treat people?
3. The point was made that love does not rub it in, it rubs it out, connecting to the idea that God cancels and wipes away sin rather than holding it over us. Where do you find it hardest to rub it out rather than rub it in, and what makes that so difficult?
4. The sermon said you can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving, and that if something is not a sacrifice it is not real love. What is one relationship in your life where love has cost you something real, and what did that sacrifice look like?
5. The homework given was fifteen minutes a day of focused, face-to-face time with your spouse and each of your children, asking them how you can show love to them today. What is the biggest thing that crowds out that kind of intentional time in your own life right now?