Sermon Notes
Love
Has You Covered
Steve W. Reeves
INTRODUCTION:
A. All
of us have had the experience of joining items together with glue.
1. It may have been pieces of paper when
you were in kindergarten or Sunday school.
2. It may have been when you were working
on a model airplane, car or ship.
3. Perhaps you were working on a craft of
some type or even on a construction project.
4. It is important to have an adhesive
strong enough to create an inseparable bond.
B.
What is the glue that holds people together?
1. Is there a bond in your marriage or
family that holds you together in all circumstances?
2. What is the glue that holds a church
together year after year?
3. What is the adhesive that seals your
friendship and fellowship with people important to you?
C. On
this Mother’s Day I want to share a message that will be beneficial for all of
us. The title of the
message is, “Love Has You Covered.”
1. In my home I have a large, tan recliner.
It is not uncommon for me to be reading in that recliner
at night and fall asleep. Occasionally I
will sleep so soundly that I don’t wake up and go to bed.
On those occasions when I wake up in the
morning I have a blanket or quilt covering me. I did
not put it there. My wife spreads it
across me before going to bed. It is a covering of love.
2. All of us benefit from a covering of
love. It is the bond that holds a marriage, a family, a
friendship and a church together.
D. The
book of 1st Peter is brief. It contains only five chapters. Each
chapter has something to say
about love.
1. Chapter 1:8 talks about loving Jesus.
“And though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and
though you do not see Him now, but
believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible
and full of glory,” Later in verse
22 Peter says that we are to “love one another from our
hearts.”
2. Chapter 2:17 – “Honor all people,
love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.”
3. Chapter 3:10 – Peter speaks of loving
life. “The one who desires life, to love and see good
days, must keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from speaking deceit.”
4. Chapter 5:14 – instruction to “greet
one another with a kiss of love.”
E.
There is one particular verse in this book that challenges us to love each
other more deeply than
we ever have. In chapter 4:8 Peter says, “Above
all, keep fervent in your love for one another,
because love covers a multitude of sins”
I. THIS IS A NEEDED COMMAND
A. Peter
was writing to people who were in crisis. In 1:6 he says they had been
distressed by
various trials.
1. They were being confronted with intimidation,
prison and torture.
2. They were struggling with
difficulties and hardships.
3. As he moves towards the conclusion of
this brief letter he has some very practical words. In
4:7 he writes, “The end of all
things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit
for the purpose of prayer.”
4. Then he says, “Above all.” What does
that sound like to you?
a. He is getting ready to stress
something very important.
b. The other items are the crescendo
leading to the climax.
B. “Keep fervent in your love for one
another.”
1. It is no surprise that Peter gives
this instruction. It is the continuation of a theme found
throughout the New Testament.
2. John wrote about the importance of
loving one another.
a. 1 John 3:14 - “We know
that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the
brethren. He who does not love
abides in death.”
b. 1 John 4:7-8 – “Beloved, let us
love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who
loves is born of God and knows
God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, for
God is love.”
c. 1 John 4:20-21 – “If someone
says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the
one who does not love his
brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not
seen. 21 And
this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love
his brother also.”
3. In every letter Paul wrote there was
an admonition for Christians to love one another. Perhaps
the greatest discourse on love is
the one written by Paul in 1 Corinthians 13.
4. The clear mark of discipleship is our
love for one another.
C, Can you think of any relationship where
the adhesive of love is not needed?
1. It is certainly needed in our
families. There has never been a time when the stresses placed
upon families has been as great as
it is today?
a. An online survey by the American
Psychological Association (APA), conducted in August
2010, found that 73 percent of
parents report family responsibilities as a significant source
of stress.
b. Eighty-six percent of teens say
their parents’ stress affects them.
2. If there is any place that needs
loving, supportive relationships it is the church.
3. That’s why I say this is a “needed”
command.
II. THIS IS A CHALLENGING COMMAND
A. It is also a challenging command because
of the type of love Peter is commanding.
Notice the adjective he attaches to the
word, love. It is the word “fervently.”
1. In the Greek language this word meant
“to stretch.”
2. It was a word used to describe a
runner straining every muscle, every bone and every nerve in
their body in an attempt to cross
the finish line a split second ahead of the competition.
3. “Fervently means, “to put forth
effort” “To be diligent.” “To go as far as possible.”
B. Fervent love is the only type of love
that can make a difference in a person’s life.
1. In the movie, “Gifted Hands,” Dr. Ben
Carson’s mother exemplified “fervent love.” Though she
could not read she insisted that her
boys spend hours each day reading. She restricted their
time watching television. She
disciplined them when they needed it. She commanded respect.
In the midst of it all she made sure they knew
she loved them. Through fervent love she
changed the course of life for those
young men.
2. As a boy I would accompany my uncle
to a blacksmith’s shop. I remember watching the hearth
as he turned on the billows to fan
the fire. He took an iron rod that was cold and stiff and thrust
it into the coals. Gradually that
iron rod began to glow a bright red. It still wasn’t ready to be
shaped. He increased the heat. You
might call it fervent heat. The rod became white hot. Then
the black smith placed it on an
anvil and began to bend it and strike it with the hammer to
shape it into the piece of equipment
my uncle needed on his farm.
3.
Families need fervent love. The church needs fervent love. Intense love. Love
that never quits.
4. I recently read this brief parable. “I’ll
master it said the axe. And his blows fell heavily upon the
iron. But every blow made his edge
blunt until he ceased to strike. “Leave it to me,” said the
saw, and his relentless teeth worked
backward and forward til they were all worn down and
broken. And the saw fell aside. “Ha,
ha,” said the hammer, “I knew that you would not
succeed. I’ll show you the way.” But
at the first fierce stroke off flew his head and the iron
remained as before. “Shall I try,”
asked the soft, small flame? They all despised the flame. It
curled gently around the iron and
embraced it and never left it until it melted under his
irresistible influence.
C. There are not many hearts that cannot be
melted and molded when exposed to the influence of
fervent love.
III. IT IS A BENEFICIAL COMMAND
A. No other command will shape and mold
your relationships like this one.
1. Why do I say this?
2. Peter says, “Love covers a multitude
of sins.”
B. What does this mean?
1. Proverbs 10:12 says “hatred stirs up strife
but love covers a multitude of sin.”
2. This passage is presenting a contrast
between two opposite attitudes. You can go through life
with one or the other.
a. A spirit of bitterness, hared and
revenge that is always keeping score, always pointing out
the sins of others, always
blaming others for your difficulties, always lashing out and
pointing out the faults,
failures and sins of others. You will be a miserable person.
b. You can be a person of fervent
love that covers the sins of others.
c. I am thankful my mother and
father had fervent love for me. When I was sixteen my Dad
bought a new truck. He gave me
specific instruction to not drive until he had insurance
coverage. I drove it and put a
big scratch on it. He was not happy but
he did not stop loving
me. About a year later I backed
the same truck into my mother’s Chrysler. They were not
happy and there was a penalty I
had to pay. They didn’t stop loving me. They did not disown
me. Love covers a multitude of
sins.
C. The test of love is how it measures up
during challenges and difficulties.
1. It is not a problem to love someone
who loves you and treats you well. It takes fervent love to
love someone when they are
antagonistic towards you.
2. When the Pilgrims came to the new
world their first winter was brutal. Many of them died. Their
ship, the Mayflower, was anchored in
the harbor, its crew also affected by sickness. During the
voyage the sailors aboard the
Mayflower had been crude and insulting towards the Pilgrims.
They rejected their God and made fun of
their religion. When those sailors became ill who took
care of them? It wasn’t their fellow
sailors. It was the ones they had ridiculed. That is fervent
love.
CONCLUSION:
A. If
you knew your life was going to end within the next five minutes what would you
say to the
people in your life? For thousands of people on September 11, 2001
that was not a hypothetical
question. What were they saying? “I love
you.” None of us knows when we will be
five minutes
from death. What should we be saying to one
another?
B. May
fervent love for God, your family and your brethren rule your heart as we stand
and sing.
