“The Love of Jesus”
Lent Series: Winning the War Within
March 1, 2009; Galatians 5:22-23, John 13:12-20, 34-35

Introduction: (Fruit of the Spirit Intro Video)
Scene 1- The fictional comic book character, The Incredible Hulk was created by Stan Lee in 1962. The Hulk is the alter ego of mild mannered physicist Dr. Bruce Banner who was accidentally made radioactive by gamma rays. Whenever he gets angry, he turns into the Hulk, a creature consisting of pure rage which is incredibly strong. The angrier the Hulk gets, the stronger and bigger he becomes.
Scene 2- Many of us are aware of the beast within us. And of the thin veneer of civility that makes us respectable citizens. Occasionally someone will snap and the beast breaks out. Then we are all horrified at the violence done to persons and properties. Sometimes it is not a person but a mob or a nation. And in the aftermath amidst the carnage, we are again reminded of the evil that lurks within the heart of human beings. While some of us are aware of it, others are not. Many try to repress their daily anger. Doing so they become impatient, irritable and aggressive. Repressing anger does not make it go away. Like energy, emotions can be converted into other forms. Repressed anger is converted into hatred, bitterness and anxiety.
Scene 3- Today people are angry about a lot of things. Look at the economy. Why were loans given out, thereby triggering a worldwide recession. Or you get angry you might lose your home. You get angry and then you feel guilty. I remember what Paul wrote to the Ephesians: "In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold (Eph.4:26-27). What are you supposed to do?
Scene 4- There’s this old Cherokee story named “The Two Wolves”: An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. "A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy. "It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego." He continued, "The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too." The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?" The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed.”
Scene 5 - Jesus experienced the war within. While he never sinned the scriptures tell us that he was tempted in every way just like us. He too faced discouragement, fear, and anger. But early in his life, in the desert, in his Lenten experience, he learned to say “no” to the voice of evil and “yes” to the power of the Holy Spirit, a strength that sustained him through life’s challenges . . . all the way to the cross.
The Apostle Paul knew about the war within. You can feed the flesh, he said, by which he meant the evil passions, or you can feed the spirit. (hold up orange). So as Christ followers we want to learn to feed our spiritual hunger in a healthy way.
Over the coming 9 weeks of Lent join us as we flee from sin and dine on God’s good fruit.

I. The Fruit of Love- (1 Cor. 13:4-8; John 13:12-20, 34-35; Phil. 2:6-7;
Nehemiah 9:17; Psalm 63:3; Titus 3:4; Ephesians 2:7-8; 1 John 3:16, 4:7-8)
We are told in Galatians 5:22 that one of the fruit of the Spirit is “love”. Now I first want to note that the word “fruit” here is singular; it is not fruits, plural. This is because as we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we have all of the fruit; it is all encompassing. And the first fruit mentioned here is love.
As we wonder what this love is that we have, the good news is that we have the perfect example of love in Jesus Christ. In fact, this whole Lenten series on the Fruit of the Spirit is an opportunity for us to learn from Jesus; to see how Jesus lived out these fruit. By seeing this, hopefully we will be able to begin to model this same behavior and see the fruit shown through our lives!
Now in respect to Jesus, and the love He shows for us, I could speak for hours on this. My challenge this last week in writing this sermon was how to limit it. But let’s look first at a few of the aspects of God’s love shown to us through Jesus:
1. Unselfish- The first aspect of Jesus’ love is that He was unselfish. In the
book of 1 Corinthians 13:5, the apostle Paul tells us that, “Love…is not self seeking.” This was a truth that Jesus lived out. Christ was not selfish, but took His eyes off Himself so that He might give Himself for you and me. We see this in our John 13 text, where Jesus took on the role of a servant and washed His disciples feet. This experience freaked Peter out. But Jesus explained to them that love causes us to give ourselves over to others without regard of what it might look like to others. This is the unselfish love Jesus showed us.
2. Has no status- On top of that, love has no status. Going back to 1
Corinthians 13, verse 4, we read: “Love does not boast, it is not proud.” We see that Jesus was willing to disregard His place as Philippians 2:6-7 tells us: “(Jesus), Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” Out of love for us, and what this love would do to us, Jesus chose to humble Himself for our good. Jesus flip-flopped the pecking order. For love to be shown, we have to not try and build ourselves up, but seek to care more about what others are going through.
3. Kindness- When we think about Jesus, we are quick to think of His
power, His passion, and His devotion. But those near to Him knew and know God comes cloaked in kindness: Kind enough to care about a blunder of hospitality (at the wedding where He turned the water to wine); kind enough to have lunch with a crook (Zaccheus the tax collector); kind enough to bless a suffering sister (the woman who was bleeding). Why? Because as Paul writes: “Love is kind.” And the scriptures thoroughly support this.
Nehemiah tells us in Nehemiah 9:17, “You are God, ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abundant in kindness.”
David agrees, as we are told in Psalm 63:3- “Your lovingkindness is better than life.” Here we see David putting loving and kindness together.
The apostle Paul reflects this thought in other writings of his as well. In Titus 3:4 Paul speaks of “the kindness and love of God our Savior.” In Ephesians 2:7-8 he writes: “Now God has us where he wants us with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all His idea, and all His work. All we do is trust Him enough to let Him do it.”
4. Trust- Love also breeds trust. Example: Several years ago I went on a little
retreat to Forest Home Conference Center. They have this deal that Pastor’s can come and stay for free in this little cabin that they have. So I went on a little personal retreat of study. The first night I was there however I heard the little sound of a mouse. I knew that this would be a long retreat if I couldn’t get rid of the mouse, since for the most part, a mouse really only makes noise at night when you’re sleeping. How come a mouse can’t make noise during the day when you’re out studying? NOOOOO! It has to make noise at night. So I get up to try and see if I can catch it. Well, it was humorous, my attempts, but I was able to catch the mouse in the trash can.
Now have you ever tried to convince a mouse not to worry? If you have succeeded, then you are wiser than I am. Because I was trying to calm him down, but to no avail. You could tell the little guy was scared. So abandoning my attempts to calm him, I proceeded to take him outside, far away from my cabin, all the while explaining to him that I was going to release him. He never did calm down, probably still hasn’t to this day! He never trusted me. How else could I have gotten him to trust me. Learn mousese? Turn myself into a mouse?
You think it would be absurd to turn yourself into a mouse to calm a mouse, but that is exactly what God did!!! God became flesh so that we could understand Him and listen to Him. Why? Because He wants us to trust Him. And just as Christ did this so that we might trust Him, so we too should seek to put ourselves in the place of others so that they might trust us.

II. Living out Love- (John 13:34-35)
Example- The Power of Being A Friend- There is a story of a freshman in high school named Jim who one day while walking home from school saw a kid from his class walking home. His name turned out to be Kyle. It looked like he was carrying all of his books. Jim thought to myself, 'Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday? He must really be a nerd.' As he was walking, he saw a bunch of kids running toward Kyle. They ran at him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so he landed in the dirt. His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about ten feet from him... He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes
Jim’s heart went out to Kyle. So, Jim jogged over to him as he crawled around looking for his glasses, and he saw a tear in his eye. As Jim handed him his glasses, he said, 'Those guys are jerks. They really should get lives. ' Kyle looked at Jim and said, 'Hey thanks!' There was a big smile on his face. It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude. Jim helped him pick up his books, and asked him where he lived.
As it turned out, he lived near Jim. They talked all the way home, and Jim even carried some of his books. Jim asked him if he wanted to play a little football with my friends; Kyle said yes.
They hung out all weekend and the more Jim got to know Kyle, the more he liked him, and Jim’s friends thought the same of him. Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again.
Over the next four years, Kyle and Jim became best friends.. Kyle was valedictorian of our class so he had to prepare a speech for graduation. He was one of those guys that really found himself during high school.
Jim could see that he was nervous about his speech. As he started his speech, he cleared his throat, and began 'Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through these tough years. Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a coach...but mostly your friends.... I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them.’ Kyle went on to tell the story of the first day that he and Jim met and how Kyle was so depressed by how he was viewed and how he was treated that he was going to go home and kill himself. He talked of how he had cleaned out his locker so his Mom wouldn't have to do it later and was carrying his stuff home. 'Thankfully, I was saved,’ he said as he looked at Jim. Not until that moment did Jim realize the depth of friendship.
Never underestimate the power of your actions of love.
Jesus says to us in John 13:34-35- “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Conclusion: We started out by talking about the character of the hulk and what happens to him when he gets angry. We talked about how repressed anger can turn into bitterness, hatred, and anxiety. We talked about how this is part of the war that is within us. As Jesus experienced this war within, He was able to say “no” to this voice of evil.
Today, I hope you realize that love can indeed conquer all. But we need to feed this spiritual hunger of love with the love that Jesus taught us; with the love that Jesus gives us. And by doing this, not only will we win the war within, but we will be able to make an amazing impact in the lives of those around us.
I am excited that over the next few weeks we will learn how to live out the fruit of the spirit; the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. Let us learn to do this together. Amen.