Because We Were First Loved

Have you ever made the difficult decision to speak into a loved one’s life?

Growing up in a small town, friends are few and friends are forever. I met my best friend growing up when I was about three years old. From that moment on, we were best of buds. Living on different sides of town, we had to go to different elementary schools, although we still went to church together and hung out most weekends. I had my first overnight sleepover at his house when I was six. If there was trouble to be had, my best friend was in close proximity. I remember broken windows, broken curfews, but, fortunately, no broken bones (although there was a broken tooth during a trampoline incident). Many a carefree summer day was spent with my good friend.

And then came high school. I was in band and he was into basketball. Even though our friend pools were different, we still had contact through church stuff. But, as the sixteens and seventeens hit, we each had our own patches of rebellion and exploration. And then it happened…a girl. I for one did not have a steady girlfriend, whereas my best friend began to spend more and more time with his new found love. As the relationship continued, my friend’s level of intimacy began to advance farther and farther. In a matter of months, a boy and girl who had met through our youth group were becoming sexually active. I was devastated. Not that I was a saint…but he had crossed the line. In time, his grades were dropping, his relationship with his parents was deteriorating, and he began to pull away from me.

Then it happened. One night, they had a scare…you know…that kind of scare. For weeks, he sat on pins and needles as they awaited the results from the pending pregnancy test. It was negative. We all breathed a sigh of relief. And just when I thought he was about to get his life back on track, he renewed his relationship with his girlfriend and the cycle began again.

Seventeen year olds shouldn’t have to make such choices…but I was at a crossroads with the best friend I’d ever known. He was headed down a path of destruction very early in life. We’d all seen those kids who’d blown it, the ones who had kids while they were still in high school. The lost lives, confused parenthood, arrested development – I saw the train wreck coming and I just couldn’t stand by and watch it happen.

To make a long (and otherwise censored!) story short…I did it. I stepped in, cashed in every relationship chip I’d earned over the previous decade and a half, and went for broke. I knew that intervening in his life might cost a great deal – even my best friend. Suffice it to say, my friend listened. He respected what I had to say, and he made a much needed course correction. Even now, years and years later, my friend would be the first to say that what I did for him saved, or at least greatly changed, his life forever.

As we continue in our current preaching series, OurSpace.com: A Place for God, we come to concept called “Add Comment.” Many people are quick to speak into others’ lives to criticize what they’re doing, but they have no relationship with them whatsoever! The truth about an authentic friendship is that it takes a lot of effort and involvement to get the privilege to be able speak into others’ lives. And then, when the time is right, one has to have the courage to practice true tough love.

In your worship this week, think about how difficult it is to build life-long relationships, and what is required of a true friend? Meditate on a time when either you inserted your own comment into the life of a true friend, or had one inserted into yours. Thin about the way Jesus was so masterful to correct and affirm the ones he loved dearly. Imagine for a moment where you’d be if God had not decided to add his own comment (through Jesus) into your life.

Resounding Themes:
Compassionate Savior
Love for One Another
Iron Sharpening Iron

Getting READY to Worship

Ready, Set, READ

1 John 4:7-21

Ready, Set, MEDITATE

- Why does John believe that we have the power to love? Do you believe this to be true? Explain. What test does John offer to prove the validity of one’s love?

- If God is indeed love, in what way did he communicate his love for us? In what ways did God “Add Comment” into the world? What role did Jesus serve?

- How does John assert that love is made complete? Why is this important in the circle that is God’s love? What is the opposite of love? If you said “hate,” you might want to reread 1 John 4: 18. How is fear the adversary and polar opposite of love? Explain from your own circumstance.

- Why do we love in the first place? Why would we make the effort to “Add Comment” into the life of someone we love? Is this something we can do by our own power? What does John suggest in this passage of scripture? What word of love and challenge do you need to speak into someone’s life? Into your own?

Ready, Set, PRAY

God, we love You.

Even as we say the words, they seem so hollow and lacking in worth. Certainly, we do love You, God, but all rational faculties tell us that in doing so, we underestimate the breadth of Your power and the deepness of Your devotion.

God, we love You.

Could the inadequate utterances of Your creation ever even begin to express the gratitude we have in our own hearts And yet, You gave us that burn and desire for You. And when we chose to kindle that passion, You meet us in the burial of baptism, regenerating us into a new life – full of the Spirit! How could we possibly know what love is, unless it had first been modeled by You and the giving of Your Son, Jesus. For by that offering, You spoke into our circumstance and changed us forever! For only by Jesus have we been saved! Give us the courage to be both authentic friends and friends who care enough to speak into each other’s lives. Set our hearts aright and show us our own sin, that we might become better aid our brother and sister in need. And may our love for our friends be a direct reflection of the love You have so graciously extended to us first.

God, we love You.

In Jesus, AMEN.

Ready, Set, WORSHIP!