The Power of Love Questions
Intro:
Scene from Contact: Did you love your Father?
Today meditation is “low” on some of the usual aspects of an HBC sermon (language study/historical context, etc.)
It also may take us two weeks to work though the exercise I have planned.
13 But encourage one another every day, as long as it is still called “today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
What is the connection between encouragement and a non-hardening heart?
(Does anyone want to save us a half hour and answer that for us right quick?)
To answer this question, we should start with another question:
What are some of the characteristics of a calloused heart?
(In Touch Ministries/Matthew Taylor)
Let’s come up with examples:
Insensitivity to what God says
Resistance to His authority
Disobedience to what the Lord is instructing you to do
Justification of sinful conduct
Rejection of reproof by others
Preoccupation with worldly things
Little interest in spiritual matters
Absence of private devotion (Bible reading and prayer)
Avoidance of gathering to worship with other believers
Others?
How MIGHT encouragement from another believer combat these issues?
I believe great questions, asked in love, are the best encouragement.
Demonstration:
Insensitivity to what God says
“Are any of His commands optional?”
Proof: Luke 6:46
“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?
Resistance to His authority
“In the past, when you have resisted His authority, how has that worked out for you?”
Proof: Hebrews 3:7-11
7 Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says,
“Today if you hear His voice,
8 Do not harden your hearts as [d]when they provoked Me,
As on the day of trial in the wilderness,
9 Where your fathers put Me to the test,
And saw My works for forty years.
10 Therefore I was angry with this generation,
And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,
And they did not know My ways’;
11 As I swore in My anger,
‘They certainly shall not enter My rest.’”
Disobedience to what the Lord is instructing you to do
“Have you ever been disobedient and not eventually repented?”
Proof: James 5:19-20
My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
Justification of sinful conduct
“Is Grace cheap?”
Proof: Romans 6:15-16
15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under the Law but under grace? Far from it!
16 Do you not know that the one to whom you present yourselves as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of that same one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?
Rejection of reproof by others
“I am rebuking you because I love you, can you tell me how my rebuke is not Biblically accurate? Is it possible God is using me to correct you?”
Proof: Proverbs 3:11
My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD Or loathe His rebuke…
Preoccupation with worldly things
“If love is time spent, what does your daily/weekly routine suggest about what you worship?”
Asked another way:
“If aliens secretly landed and observed your life, would they conclude you love Jesus, or your phone?”
“Jesus or your career?”
“Jesus or your team?” (Go Browns! Go Cavs! Go Bucks!)
“Jesus or your bank account?”
“Jesus or your hobbies?”
Proof: 1 John 2:15
Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
Little interest in spiritual matters
“I could be wrong, but you don’t seem to be very enthusiastic about the very things that you claim are the most important things.”
Proof: Matthew 22:37
And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
Absence of private devotion (Bible reading and prayer)
“In what ways are you cultivating your relationship with Christ?”
Proof: Colossians 4:2
Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;
Avoidance of gathering to worship with other believers
“We haven’t seen you in a minute…is everything ok?”
(Side note on PB’s advice to visitors to HBC…this may not be the place for you, but let’s find the place that is.)
Proof Hebrews 10:24-25
24 and let’s consider how to encourage one another in love and good deeds, 25 not abandoning our own meeting together, as is the habit of some people, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
Close/Prayer/QA