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Aspects of love Session 3 Icebreaker Its the 3rd day of the Retreat. Ok so far?

Go back to Session 1 and Psalm 139:1-18. Go outside. Find a spot. Read the passage again. You must read it alone. Read it. Pray it. 20 minutes. Come back. Introduction In the 1st session, we said we were made for God and we are to love God passionately. Thats how we are to love God. With all of our heart, soul and strength. He is to be our 1st love. Hot, not lukewarm. If to choose one word, we are to love God passionately. Want to suggest 3 aspects of love to think about when we talk about loving God and loving God passionately. When we want to talk about loving God and loving God passionately, these 3 aspects play a big part before we can truly say we love God. And these 3 aspects are: 1. 2. Centre: We love God when God is the centre of our lives and not just on the sidelines The hard sayings of Jesus: We love God when we not only follow the easy bits of being a Christian but also when we obey the hard sayings of the Lord Jesus. (Borrowed this phrase from the Christian author FF Bruce) Reaching out: We love God when we love one another deeply.

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So lets start with the 1st word: Centre. Revelation 7 The Great Multitude in White Robes After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were 10 wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb. 11 All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. 12 They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen! 13 Then one of the elders asked me, These in white robeswho are they, and where did they come 14 from? I answered, Sir, you know. And he said, These are they who have come out of the great 15 tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the 16 throne will shelter them with his presence. Never again will they hunger; never again will they 17 thirst. The sun will not beat down on them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. 4. v17: For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd. The Lamb is the centre and the Lamb is the Lord Jesus. At the end of time God will be at the centre. But it should not only be at the end. It should also be now. God at the centre. Think about this campsite. Where do you think is the middle? Lets say its about there, next to the benches. And imagine for a moment that your and my life is this campsite. If we put God in the centre of your life and that means we put God right there in the centre of this campsite. Not behind the dormitories, not where the clothesline is, not down the slope, where the stairs begin, not in the upstairs dormitories, and not even here in this Chapel, because this is not where the centre of the campsite is. 5. We love God when God is the centre of our lives. And when God is in the centre, we have to pass that way often. When we go out to town and want to go back to our dorm, we pass the centre of this Campsite; when it is makan time and we are chatting with our friends near the Chapel, we pass the
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centre of the campsite to get to dinner and when we want to go from our dorm to sit outside on the benches, we pass the centre of the campsite. We love God when we allow God to be there, right in the centre. Not behind the dormitories, not where the clothesline is, not down the slope, where the stairs begin, not in the upstairs dormitories, and not even here in this Chapel. 6. God in the centre means we dont want him tucked way in some corner of campsite. God in the middle means we want and will indeed see him often as he is in the centre. God in the middle means we want everything to revolve around him. God in the centre means in all areas of our lives we want him involved. 7. You want to decide what course to take, you decide in consultation with God. You dont say, God, my church life is your domain but my degree or university, let me decide. You want to decide what job to take, you talk to the man in the middle. You dont say, God, spiritual stuff, you call it, but other areas, how to use my time, money, life, how I prioritize things, thats my call la. You have some free time on a Saturday morning and there are a few options how you can spend that few hours on Sat morning, you decide thinking what would be the best option always taking into account God and his perspective of things. You dont say, God, Sundays mornings are reserved for you but the rest of the week, I have a lot of other things I need to do. God is in the centre means we dedicate our life to God and His purposes in all, in everything, we do. 8. There is this word: compartmentalize. You do not compartmentalize your life, this part no God (or little God), Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, God. In fact if God is the centre of our lives, it is going to be difficult to compartmentalize Him because He is right there is the centre. If God is in the centre of our life, all the decisions of our life, big or small, from what course we study to how are we going to spend your few free hours on Saturday morning is in reference to God. He is in the middle of everything. 9. And the better way to look at it is God centre, not so much God first. Otherwise all of us have to be a missionary and be a full time worker. Or Bible study or homework, Bible study would always win. God first mah? No God is centre and I can be an engineer, astronaut, rock star, chef, all acceptable PROVIDED God was central in my decision why I choose to be an engineer, astronaut, rock star or chef and God is central in my decision why I continue to choose to be an engineer, astronaut, rock star or chef. The challenge is to think like that because how many of us really think like that even though we have been going all these years to Sunday School and YF? 10. We usually think, What would make me happy?, What do I want? and we hope that God feels the same way too. And if God feels differently, we go on with our plans anyway. Ive already made my mind, please do not confuse me with the facts 11. The apostle Paul puts it this way, For me to live is Christ, to die is gain (Philippians 1:21). Everything is Christ. Centre is Christ. In the middle is the Lord Jesus. If no Lord Jesus, might as well no need to be here says the apostle Paul. Revelation 7:17: For the Lamb at the centre of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. Notice that when God is the centre, he will lead us to springs of living water. 12. So this is the 1st aspect of loving God and loving God passionately. We love God when God is the centre of our lives. And that is the 1st word for us to think about when we talk about loving God and loving God passionately: Centre. 1. 2nd aspect of love: The hard sayings of Jesus. We love God when we not only follow the easy bits of being a Christian but also when we obey the hard sayings of the Lord Jesus. John 6 Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing 3 4 the sick. Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish 5 Passover Festival was near. When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he 6 said to Philip, Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat? He asked this only to test him, for 7 he already had in mind what he was going to do. Philip answered him, It would take more than half 8 a years wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite! Another of his disciples, Andrew, 9 Simon Peters brother, spoke up, Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but 10 how far will they go among so many? Jesus said, Have the people sit down. There was plenty of 11 grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the 12 same with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, Gather the pieces 13 that are left over. Let nothing be wasted. So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the 14 pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. After the people saw the sign Jesus 15 performed, they began to say, Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world. Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by 16 17 himself. When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum.
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The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone away 23 alone. Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread 24 after the Lord had given thanks. Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were 25 there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus. When they found him on 26 the other side of the lake, they asked him, Rabbi, when did you get here? Jesus answered, Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate 27 the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal 28 life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval. Then they asked him, What must we do to do the works God requires?
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On hearing it, many of his disciples said, This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it? Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, Does this offend you? 66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. 67 You do not want to leave too, do you? Jesus asked the Twelve. 2. For a short while when the Lord Jesus did miracles and the going was good, the crowd was with him. New preacher in town, people healed, magic show, free food, what is there not to like? When Jesus went to the other side of the lake, they followed him there. And Jesus said to them, you only follow me because of superficial reasons; dont. And so the people asked, What does God want? 3. The Lord Jesus answer was not very palatable to the crowd so they said, Wa .. This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it? Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, Does this offend you? So from this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. So Jesus asked the 12 disciples, You do not want to leave too, do you? Take a moment. Picture the scene in your mind. Its a sad scene, ya? 4. Perhaps up to now being a Christian has been good. Welcoming party, Christmas party, caroling, camps, retreats, new friends, so ok can la, not much to complain. But one day we realize, the Lord Jesus also said some tough things about being a Christian and we think, no la, just the parties, caroling, camps, retreats, new friends please and no difficult stuff la. 5. If you think that or when you think that, can I say to you, we love God when we not only follow the easy bits of being a Christian but when we also obey the hard sayings of the Lord Jesus. So now easy to love God, parties and all. But that is not love. If our friend only friend us when we spend him but disappear when you need help, what kind of friend is that? They call that kind of person a fair weathered friend because only when the weather is good, only when the sun is shinning brightly on you, he is around; but when the rain comes into your life, he disappears.

6. So we love God and love God passionately when we not only follow the easy parts of being a Christian but also when we obey the hard sayings of the Lord Jesus. Some examples of the hard sayings of the Lord Jesus? Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. (Take up cross implies some sort of suffering and sacrifice and the Lord Jesus said if want to be his disciple must suffer and make sacrifices. Ya, more than just waking up early on a Sunday morning to go to church) Luke 14:26 If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sistersyes, even their own lifesuch a person cannot be my disciple. (Bible not asking us to hate parents, just when compared to God, is like hate) Luke 14:13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, (Self-explanatory; so next time at your wedding dinner dont forget free table for Shelters kids!) 1. 3rd and final aspect: Reaching out: We love God when we love one another deeply (1 Peter 1:22) 1 John 4:7-8, 11-12, 16(b), 20(b)-21 Gods Love and Ours Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of 8 God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 11 12 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 16(b) God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 20(b) For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom 21 they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister. 4. 1 John 4:7-21 says there is a test to check to see: (i) If we are know God and whether God lives in us 8 Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know 12 God, because God is love. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us 16(b) and his love is made complete in us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. (ii) If we love God For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom 21 they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister. Because God is God, He doesnt really need our help and sometimes also difficult to love someone we cannot see but 1 John 20(b)-21 gives us a way to check whether we love God. 5. You love your friends in church? Thats great! Long may that continue! However dont only love our small circle of friends in church but also those who have no friends, those not in the inner circle; those on the outside i.e. those who are fringe of church, those who come to church and during coffee hour look alone and have no one to talk to, those not running with the popular crowd in YF. They probably need love the most.
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6. If we only love those in our small circle of friends, thats not a big deal. The big deal is when we love more than that. In Matthew 5:46-47, the Lord Jesus said, If you love those who love you, what reward 47 will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 7. Want to read what someone in YF wrote in class recently: I want to be and am trying to be someone anyone can lean on when they're hurt. I want to be someone who won't marginalize anyone regardless of status, race or looks. I want to be there to comfort the downtrodden, the weak and the unhappy. I feel that is what God is really calling me to do. 8. I observe and I see a few of you are also doing that. Im encouraged. The Committee is encouraged. The teachers are encouraged. So you want to know if you know God and God lives in you? The test is, do you love your brothers and sisters in Christ? How much do you love them? And we want to know if we love God? Again the test is the same: Do you love your brothers and sisters in Christ? How much do you love them? Confession: It is so easy just to take care of ourselves and not look out for those who are struggling to fit in. So you notice someone has not been in church for a while, it is so easy just to carry on, after all, we have our friends and things are ok with us. 9. Examples of outsiders? i.e. Who are those on the fringe of church? Who are those who come to church and during coffee hour look alone and have no one to talk to? Who are those who come to church and leave straight away and dont hang around coffee hour because no one talks to them? 3 examples: (a) The disheartened 1 Thessalonians 5:14 And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 10. Disheartened is an old English word, rarely used nowadays, but basically it means, no energy for anything. Why is someone disheartened? Maybe problems at home, problems at work, maybe someone close to him is sick, someone close to him is in hospital. How? 1 Thessalonians 5:14 say we are to encourage them, or basically love them. 11. Basically we are drawn to the inner circle. The disheartened are on the outside. Basically we like hanging around happy, shinny, happenin people. Thats understandable and nothing wrong about that. The problem is when we only hang around happy, shinny people. That is the extent of our love? Only for happy, happenin people? Cannot la. (b) The weak 1 Thessalonians 5:14 And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 12. Similarly generally humans are drawn to strong, confident people. Even the animals are drawn to the strong when choosing their mate, female animals intuition knows better chance of good offspring. But Bible says help the weak. The weak are on the outside. Maybe physically weak like someone in a wheelchair, or someone weak in studies, also can be considered the weak in this context, or someone weak in the faith. Which brings us to another category of outsiders (c) Those who doubt Jude 1:22-23(a) 23 Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire.

13. Or in another version it says, Go after those who take the wrong way. Go after is same as reach out. Go after also means they are not here, they are outside, thats why we go after. A person can have genuine intellectual doubts. That is not a sin. Or a Christian can face a personal tragedy and doubt if God is there or if God cares. That is not a sin. 14. Sometimes those who doubt are labeled as deviants or bad Christians and the church may leave them outside. Dont get me wrong, sometimes there are people who not really looking for answers but just want to be difficult and stir up trouble, not talking about this kind of people. Talking about those who have, for the want of a better word, true doubt. Jude 1:22-23 says be merciful to them, snatch them from the fire. The words used are dramatic. They are falling into the fire; we must snatch them from the fire. 15. Those who doubt are on the outside and the Bible says we are to be merciful to them, to love them. Encourage, help, mercy are all just different ways to say love. 16. For those intending to love not only our friends in church but also the disheartened, the weak, those who doubt, it can sometimes be tiring. Its not easy. Sometimes you may feel there are so many people that you are just overwhelmed. How then? That can be a topic by itself and if you want to know more, talk to A Ah Eng or your teachers or someone you think may have some answers. 17. So that is the 3rd and final aspect of love want to share: Reaching out: We love God and love God passionately when we love one another deeply. When we think about loving one another, dont forget those on the outside. I think when we want to talk about loving God, these 3 aspects play a big part before we can truly say we love God and love God passionately.

Discussion Questions: Aspects of Love 40 minutes (Start off by reading the verses referred in the Session 3 Talk) 1. If the centre of the Campsite is just next to the benches and the campsite symbolizes your life, go out now, stand where you think God is in your life today (If someone stands upstairs in the dormitories or somewhere else far from the centre of the campsite, dont judge ya? At least the person is honest!). Come back talk about it, e.g. Why you stood where you stood; Where you would have stood before; If far from centre, want to move more to centre? 2. Encountered any hard times during your life as a Christian so far? Or has things been all easy and peachy? Either way, share. E.g. What were the tough times? How did you get through? If you are confident or not-so-confident that you will fare well when tough times come, what is the reason for your confidence or non-confidence? Or you just want to offer an expression of hope? (Got this from a recent class essay: I really hope I won't waver in my faith too much if trials really come and beat the crap out of me, even if I have a terminal illness or grave financial problems.) Yay! 3. Are you an insider or an outsider? Do you think love your brothers and sisters in Christ? Insiders, outsiders or both? How much do you love them? Explain.

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