12th February 2023 Communion Service - Dave Food - Love Builds Forward

It's got all the technology lined up. So as as Nicky said, very

much focusing on love this month not surprising, but it's interesting that Nicky opened

up by looking at not just our earthly love, looking at God's love for

us. And you might expect me to dive into some very obvious places and

some obvious scriptures. I'm probably going to go there, but I wanted to

make two statements right at the beginning of what I want to share this morning,

both of those online, those listening later and those in the room.

It's firstly, love looks forward. Love looks forward? How many times have

you? And I think actually Nicky reflected upon it as she introduced the service,

and she said, you know when people have said things to you,

when things have happened, you know, sometimes we really struggle to love people

because of something that's happened in the past. Well, how much baggage are

you going to allow to to tie you up from the past. Now,

I'm sixty something years old, you know, and and other people are you

know, other ages in the room. I'm not going to pick on anybody's

age there, but we've all got years of experience, We've got years of

stuff and probably in the midst of that are some things that people have said

that they didn't want to or they wish they hadn't said, and maybe things

you and I said that we wish we hadn't said. But it's all in

the past, do you know. And we can live in the past if

we want to. But do you know what, I want to look ahead.

I want to look ahead because tomorrow I can change yesterday I can't.

And so we're gradually building this library of experience, this library of stuff.

But do you know, if love lives in the past, then it's living

in history. And if we're living in history, we're living in a place

where we cannot change anything. It's like playing the film again and again and

again. And you've probably had conversations with people and you think I've had this

conversation before, and I've had this conversation before, and I've had this conversation

before. Now you're wondering whether you're watching the film Groundhog Day? But do

you know what? That's Sometimes how we are. We find ourselves doing the

same thing again and again and again and think why am I doing that?

I need to break out of this cycle. And when we love people,

we want them to break out of maybe stuff they're stuck with. Maybe it's

a self view. Sometimes we don't love ourselves, maybe because of something that's

been repetitively said to us, maybe because of something that's happened to us.

I have the privilege of over the years working with a ministry down in Devon

called Gilead, and it's a farm that also serves and looks after addicts and

people who've been through addictive behaviors. And one of the things you find is

again, they replay and replay and replay things that maybe happened ten, fifteen,

twenty, sometimes fifty years ago, and they're stuck because they're stuck in

history. Now, who can change history, Well, no one can change

history. But God can change our perspective on history. God can change the

way history has a hold on us. And so I believe love builds forward.

Well actually, and there's two pieces in that. One is love builds,

you know, precept upon precept, idea upon idea, activity upon activity.

You sometimes see in films and maybe somebody said this to you, you

never tell me you love me, And then that person feels a little embarrassed

and they go, oh, I love you. And it's not sincere and

it's not real. Do you know what. We don't kind of solve the

problem by saying those three words once. It's what our lives say that testifies.

It's what our lives do, what we do, you know, some

little things. I was I was talking with somebody last night who said that

they got up at three o'clock in the morning to make the sandwiches for their

husband. And I was thinking, you know, wow, but now doing

that as a one off, well, okay, that's special. Doing that

on a daily basis, that's got to be love. And maybe you do

it for your children. You get up early in the morning before work and

you know, before anything else happens, and you're having your quiet time and

then you're preparing stuff for your kids. Yeah, maybe they don't even notice.

But you know what, when we do look back to those good things,

we can say, yeah, evidence of love. So love builds and

love looks forward. So let's start by looking at One Corinthians. As you

might expect me to go there, One Corinthians, chapter sixteen, verse fourteen.

Let all that you do be done in love. I want you to

notice the second word in that scripture. There all that you do, not

just when you feel like it or when I feel like it, not when

it's easy. But let all that we do be done in love. That's

a tough ask. That's a tough ask. You know. Just think about

this. You've got a snotty little baby who's really not well and sick,

and you're trying to love them, and then they push you away, and

you know you have to push through the rubbish and the garbage and the mess

and just love them, and just love them again. One Corinthians thirty that

has often read at weddings. This is from the amplified version. He says

this, if I notice this, if I can speak in the tongues of

men and even of angels, but have not love that reasoning, intentional spiritual

devotion such as is inspired by God's love for and in us, I am

only a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. Why why is this image of

a noisy gong and a clanging symbol used here? Well, do you know

what is a gong for? I don't know whether you've ever been in a

place where they ring a gong for dinner. You know, one or two

of those kind of big bed and breakfast type places, or sometimes some posh

hotels they'll ring a gong for dinner. Maybe you've watched the MGM videos that

start and there's this guy and he's got this great big hammer and he hits

this massive, great big gong. What's the purpose to be? No?

It says, look, look, it's dinner time. Or it's something similar,

just like a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. You know, love.

Love doesn't want to be on stage. True love doesn't want to be

on stage. Love is Love is often hidden. It's done in little things,

in secret, in the secret place. And so God says, do

it in love, do all things in love, and do it as if

you do it unto me. In One Corinthian's the next one, simon,

please I need to enlarge my screen One Corinthians thirteen. As we read on,

And though I bestow all of my goods to the feed the poor,

and though I'd give my body to be burned, but have not love,

it profits me nothing. And sometimes people say, well, life I've given,

I've given you. Love is not just a transaction. Love is a

lifestyle. Love is something that we do. Love is something that we do

out of life. So you know, sometimes people say, well, I've

shown you I loved you because I bought you a present. As that's enough

for the year. You know, there's your gift for your birthday. I've

shown you that I love you. That's it for the year. But you

know what, love is not just one transaction. Love is a lifestyle.

And as we talk about loving others, loving others in our community, you

know, we have a warm space here on a Monday, and that's just

meant to be a way of opening doors and sharing our space and our warmth

and our heat with other people. And so we give, but we give

with love. We offer prayer this last Monday, that's just gone this room.

That so we have food bank here on a Monday. And I was

told that every one of these tables had a family sitting waiting on a table

ready to collect food from food bank. There was a moment to be able

to speak into people's lives and to show them a little long not just give

them some food and go there you go, but to be interested in their

day. Love is not just a transaction. It goes on further. In

one Corinthians thirteen, verse seven, to say this love bears all things,

believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Please notice it's

love with these other things. So when we're doing stuff, love needs to

be part in all things that we do. Do it in love? Do

we believe that something can change? But do you know what sits behind this

second phrase that believes all things is trusting in God. Because sometimes we go,

well, that's not possible. They're not going to change. This is

the way it's got to be for the rest of history. No God can

change it. God can change a person. God can change you and me.

That's a big enough miracle. And here's the interesting thing. Often when

we pray, we're part of the solution. We're part of the answer.

God, draw me near. You know, maybe there's somebody you've fallen out

with, a brother or sister, a parent, a family member. You've

fallen out, things have been said and you're not talking, and you're praying,

God, would you just help them to pick up the phone so that

we can start a conversation again. And God starts working on you saying,

well, why don't you pick up the phone. No, no, it's

not my job, not my job to pick up the phone. I want

the other person to well, is there a bit of pride going on?

There? Isn't there a bit of I'm better than them? And actually,

you know, whenever we point at people, there's that trick that you know,

there's one finger pointing, but there's three fingers pointing back. So whenever

you point, just think about that. I mean, sometimes I like to

point with my flat hand because then I go, it's all your job,

it's all your responsibility. But often when we point with our fingers, you

know, we're kind of still pointing back to ourselves. Love is impressive.

Love makes a difference. Let's click on into further into Corinthians now as we

start to dive into what we should do now, scripture says, where your

treasure is there, your heart is also. And I don't know whether you

watch this kind of program. It's not a program i'd watch, but I'm

aware of it. Looking through the Keyhole. It's a series that was around

years ago, and they used to go and visit people's houses and say whose

house is this? I can't even remember the name of it. Was it

Lloyd Greisman? Was he the host? And they go around the house and

the people weren't in the house, They go around the house and they show

the bookcase and the things, and they say, whose house is this?

Obviously they'd set it up with clues in the house. But I wonder if

somebody went round your house with the camera and took pictures of your house,

what we would take from those pictures is what was important to you? Because

typically the things that we use most regularly we leave out, don't we And

the things that we don't use regularly we put away. So for example,

and typically things that aren't used a lot end up with some dust on them.

So if you opened up a cupboard and the only Bible in the house

was in the cupboard under a pile of other books, and round the edge

of it was a thick layer of dust, you just, okay, it

might be completely wrong. They might use their phone for their bible, but

you know, just walk if somebody walked around your house with the camera,

what could we conclude about your life and your living and the way you live.

It's just an observation because do you know what? We can make so

many things idols in our life, And for me, an idol is something

that we focus on without anything else. It's something we get so focused on,

we almost get fixated. It becomes the center of our life. I

said, I've been involved with Gidead. One of the things that Gidead is.

You think it might just be people with drug and alcohol issues, but

workaholics are just as big of a challenge people who's for them. Work has

become their idol. Work has become the thing that they worship. Everything sits

under the banner of work, and God wants to be worshiped. And so

let me read from one Corinthians, chapter eight, verses one to three.

Now concerning these things sacrificed to idols. We know that we have knowledge.

Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies. If anyone supposed is that he knows

anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know. But if

anyone loves God, he is known by him. How does God know you

and I love him? I talked about the standard of for example, you

know, little things making sandwiches, serving people tea and coffee, those little

things that we take for granted. I wonder whether there's a similar thing in

our relationship with God. I wonder whether there's something very similar where we find

ourselves looking towards God. But he's not caught. We've not caught his attention.

Up do we have to become a clanging gong and go, I'm over

here God? Because God knows, God loves it. But sometimes we kind

of some of the things that God's watching for us are listening air. Have

we given time to listen. I've used this phrase many times because I've experienced

it a number of times, which is silence speaks. Some people would say,

I've asked God something and there's been silence, and so we kind of

assume God's not doing anything. But silence does speak. But also silence makes

room for people to speak. And I am absolutely convinced that if we give

space to God, he will speak to us. He will speak to us,

And as He speaks to us, he speaks to us with words of

the life giving that are hopeful. In One John, in one John four,

it says this, he who does not love does not know God.

For God is love. We get the example from him. I don't know

how like your parents you are. You know. I look at young children

that I know, and as they grow up, they sometimes they look like

Dad, sometimes they look like mum. You know, in certain lights and

certain situations they do things that make them look like their parents, and sometimes

we don't want to know. I think I've told you before now. I

was sitting one day with some friends, I think, including my cousin,

and I rubbed my nose like this, and somebody in the room said,

that's just like your dad used to do it. And do you know what

my response was? My response was, no, it isn't. I'm nothing

like my dad. Do you know what, from a Father God point of

view, if somebody says that's just what Father would have done, then actually

just take that as a maybe a gold star or brownie point, whatever you

want to think of it, but just think of it as, Okay,

I'm reflecting something of God. God. If you've ever found an old mirror

where the gloss has gone off the mirror surface, you kind of try and

a peer into it to see whether the image. That's the way we reflect

God. Sometimes we reflect a little bit of God, we reflect some of

His character, but not all because we get in the way. Because what

we've experienced, what we've done, what we've been involved in, not only

impacts us, but it impacts others in the way that we respond to them.

In one John four verses nine to eleven. It says this, I

think it's the next one or something. Yet in this the love of God

was manifest towards us. That God has sent his only begotten son into the

world that we might live through him. In this is love, not that

we have loved God, but that He has loved us and sent his son

to be the propreciation for our sins. He paid the price, Beloved.

If God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. God's

given us the example. He only had one son, that's Jesus. He

sent him to pay the price for yours and mind wrongdoing, our sinfulness,

our sinful nature. He paid the price, and so He's given us the

example. That's sacrificial love. If you want a better place to look than

anywhere else, I would say, just look to our God and look to

what he does for us and what he continues to do for us. Beloved,

If God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

And so I in building and loving forward, I want to say this,

love makes a difference. Love is a choice. If somebody asks you,

do you love them, whether it's a child, a husband or wife,

a partner, a friend, then if they're having to ask you, then

you're probably not showing. So let's take this bigger now and ask the question,

does running me Christian Fellowship love the area of Egham and running mate?

I'm keeping it personal, but just okay, I wonder what I think there

will be a whole bunch of people in Egham who would say, who's running

me Christian Fellowship. I've just been honest with you. You know, we

don't everybody doesn't know every thing, but we ought to know some people in

stains in Englefield green in Virginia water. You know, as we reach out

to the comman, do your neighbors know you? I'm not necessarily saying you

have to stand up and shout across the fence and saying hello, neighbor.

I'm a Christian because we show it through our actions. We show that we

love people, and He's showing them we love them. We open a door

of opportunity to show them that God loves them. That's why I'm a great

believer in things like you know, Christians against Poverty and the Food Bank and

other ministries, because it serves practically and opens a door for a conversation.

So how would Eggham know that we love Eggham. Well, I guess we

might point to things like the warm space and the food bank and open doors

on a Sunday, and I guess even life streaming a service. I guess

we could point to the whole world could know that we love the whole world.

That's why we invest in doing those kinds of things. Well, what's

the next step? Once we've had a conversation with and once we've had a

first conversation with people, what's the next step? How do we build in

love? How do we build forward? I'm not answering this question this morning.

I'm leaving it as an open question because I think that's part of what

the ministry of church is. How do we build forward? How do I

want to encourage you take an opportunity, When an opportunity happens for you to

show God's love to your neighbor, your colleague at work, grasp it,

grasp it and do something. What do we risk? We risk looking a

little silly, we risk looking a little uncomfortable, maybe, But do you

know what, if God gives us what we need and we give it to

our neighbors, that conversation will be a life changing conversation. And finally,

as I wrap things up and bring things to a close, we go to

one Peter one Peter four, verse nine, four, verse eight. Sorry,

and above all things have fervent love for one another, for love will

cover a multitude of sins. I want to translate this in and say,

because sometimes we read this as a bit like a blanket, it's about hiding

sin. I don't believe that's what it says here. What I believe it

says here is that love enables us to get through the consequence of sin.

And so it's not hiding stuff and going up you know well. And again

to a story, because often people will call this out non Christians, particularly

call yourself a Christian? How is this loving? And just to bring it

make it really tangible. I remember having this conversation with somebody down at Giddiad

whose child was also an addict, and they said, if you love me,

you'd buy the cocaine that I need now. That was the call that

they were saying, Well, if you love me, you provide my needs

even though you know they're going to hurt me. That's what they were saying.

And the parent was looking back and that they were traumatized by this conversation.

If you love me, you'd have done this and for me, love

covering a multitude of Seinece says, we get through that, we get beyond

that kind of statement, and we say, yes, I'd still love you.

I'd love you despite your addiction. I love you because I want to

see you free. I love you because you're my child. I love you

because you're my friend. And I'm going to do all that I can to

make a difference. And making a difference will not be to feed your addiction,

my aunt. What I will do is give you all that I can

from God. And in giving you all that I can from God, you

then the choice. And above all things, have fervent love for one another.

Fervency is not something that kind of goes up and down. Fervency sticks.

Fervency remains. Love continues even when we don't feel like it. Love

will draw the final outzas of energy that you've got. Love will draw from

you the last penny in your penny in your wallet if you had enough.

And you read this now in the current climate where you hear parents who are

feeding their children and they're going without, they're not eating themselves because they're feeding

their children. That's an expression of parental love. They're saying, Okay,

my child is more important, I will go without. And so many times

I think we've become selfish, where we're thinking about me first and for me.

I actually think God wants us to put others first. Obviously, we've

got to keep ourselves healthy, we've got to feed ourselves. But there are

times when we can be truly sacrificial, and in being sacrificial, God will

come and meet our needs as well. For love will cover and multitude of

since God will give us the ability to press in more, and in pressing

in more, to be able to give to others, and to give to

others will change the world. And what happened two thousand years ago continues to

echo into history, and what we do here today echoes in eternity. That

great quote from the film Gladiator, what we do here today echoes in eternity.

That's a long echo. I don't know whether you've ever been a place

where there has been an echo where you shout and you can hear Sometimes you

can hear it three times, sometimes four times. In unusual places, maybe

seven or eight times. But to echo in eternity. Wow, that's something

precious. And so I want to ask some questions as I bring things to

a close. Question number one would be are we loving forward? Are we

investing in tomorrow? Are we loving the next generation? Are we loving our

world and in loving our world? Are we loving it forward? Are we

loving it beyond our capacity? Sometimes? Are we willing to let our petrol

tank run our love petrol tank run down to zero and then we have to

ask God to fill us up again. This is about five or six years

ago. I was really in a hurt. I was teaching up in the

Midlands and I was driving back and honestly I forgot to fill up with petrol.

I thought. As I drove into the university, I thought, okay,

I must remember before I get onto the motorway to fill up with petrol

or diesel. At the time, I think it was driving the diesel car.

So I got onto the motorway and then I looked down at the petrol

gauge or diesel gauge, and I thought, oh, I should have filled

up. And then I kind of pressed the buttons and it said how many

miles to go? And I was pressing the button on my Sat and AB

and it was about one hundred and ten miles that I could get out of

the car, and the trip was seventy eight to go I think it was,

so I thought, okay, there's enough. But then, of course

those numbers don't always match up. And then I got to around Oxford and

it was now going I think thirty five and thirty eight, and I got

onto the M twenty five and I was going to be late, and I

was thinking, no, I don't want to be late, so I started

praying. I got into the M twenty five and I started prying, and

the M twenty five was all jammed up, and he got down to ten

miles to go, then eight miles ago, and then five miles ago,

and I was coming up to the M four junction and it went down to

zero. And I've been told, and I've never tested this, but I've

been told that the car judders before it actually starts to run out of fuel.

I don't know whether that's true or not. I'm not recommending this,

but I was praying because I wanted to get to this meeting on time.

Yeah, And I kept praying, and I kept praying, and I got

to the meeting, got to this is a new road. I got to

the meeting a new road, no problem. And I even got out to

the meeting afterwards and drove to the petrol station and filled up. So there

was enough. But it had been on zero from the M four. Now

that might be the inaccuracies of my car system. I don't know, but

it might just have been gone. Now I could have I could have said,

Okay, well I need to pull off the motorway, find a petrol

station fill up. But then I was going to be late. What I'm

saying is sometimes there are times when we need to get too empty that we

can be filled again. And sometimes that's where faith kicks in. Faith takes

us to a place where the only thing we can rely on is God's love.

God give us the love that I need to show these people, this

family, this situation, this circumstance, my boss, that I loved them

with the kind of love that Nicky talked about at the beginning of the service.

Let me pray, above all things, have fervent love above all things,

no buts, no ifs, no maybes. For God so loved the

world that he gave his one and only son, that whosoever believes in him

should not perish, but have everlasting life. Father, God, I want

to start with us. It's a great place to start. Father. I

pray for those who struggle to love themselves for whatever circumstance, Lord, whether

it be the way they feel, something that's happened in history. Father,

I want to build forward in these moments and say, Lord, would you

show your love to these dear folk. Lord, would you speak into their

lives and let them see a fresh mirror, a fresh mirror, not looking

through history, but looking through now and seeing themselves as you see them,

precious in your sight. And so, Father, I pray that we'd know

how to love ourselves well and wise to look after ourselves, that we can

be an asset to others. Father, I pray that you'd help us to

love those around us, our family, our husbands, our wives, our

children, those who live with us, who see us warts and all good

days and bad days. Father, help us to make godly loving choices we

invest into others and see the fruit of sowing those seeds. And Father,

I pray that you open our eyes to the needs beyond our own walls.

Father, would you tune our ears to things that say and they don't say,

in conversations that work at home, in a coffee shop, and Father,

when the bell rings, when something catches our attention, Father, help

us to listen to you. Would you give us words of wisdom in those

moments of need? Would you give us what Lord, we can serve others

with? And Father, if it means to go the extra mind, if

it means to give some extra minutes, if it means something that's sacrificial,

Father, we want to give it in love. And then beyond that,

Father, we pray for our world. We pray for those in our community.

Father, would you help us to love those that we don't yet know?

And that means that our hearts are ready when an opportunity comes, a

stranger's need is presented to us, and Lord, we're ready to do what's

required us in those moments. And so farther, as we focus this week

on love, Father, I pray there would be a multiplication of all that

you're doing in our lives for your glory. Lord, Amen,