A Legacy of Love

Week of June 3, 2012

Outline of the Passage1. Love Compelled - 2 Cor. 5:14-152. Love Communicated - Acts 17:1-43. Love Continued - 1 Thess. 1:2-10

We will study Paul’s motivation for ministry—namely, the love of Christ

and how Paul showed that love to the church in Thessalonica.

Our study will help you identify ways you can communicate the

love of God to others.

Love Compelled2 Corinthians 5:14-15

14 For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

Love CompelledA. Paul was highly motivated by Christ’s love,

even to the point of risking his life in the effort to tell other people about Jesus.

B. Paul was able to let go of the strain to earn salvation by being good enough. Salvation was already available to him

through God’s love and grace. This became a life changing event for Paul.

C. God’s love can become our driving force in life. i. God’s love is not merely to be received and

enjoyed; it must be shared and multiplied among all people.

ii. The love of God for us is intensely personal, but it must never be kept private.

D. Paul had another insight: He came to understand that “One [Jesus] died for all.”

E. All people need the life Christ offers through His loving death.

F. For Paul, a former Pharisee, to discover that Christ’s love was for ALL was nothing short of life changing.

G. The same love that drove Christ to the cross, drove Paul into Gentile lands to share this good news.

H. The main point: This love of Christ for us, compels us to share His love with others.

I. The love of Christ is not simply an invitation to enter His grace, but the motivation for living to honor God.

J. We no longer live for ourselves, but for the One who died for us. H. Salvation is not just us getting into heaven; I. It is a way of life, that motivates us to share

Christ’s love with all people because we want them in heaven too.

No Longer Living for Oneself

God’s love that we receive through grace changes us from the inside out. We live for Him daily as our expression of gratitude, obedience, and above all, as our expression of love for Him. Thus, Christ’s love compels us both to live in that love and to share that love with others.

No Longer Living for Oneself

What difference has Jesus’ love for you made in your life? Remember, you cannot share effectively what you have not embraced fully.

Love CommunicatedActs 17:1-4

1 When they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2 As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3

explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead.

Love Communicated"This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ," he said. 4 Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women.

Love CommunicatedA. On Paul’s second missionary journey with

Silas and Timothy, he had traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, two cities in Macedonia. Neither city had a synagogue, and so Paul likely did not spend much time preaching the gospel there.

B. He came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue.

C. Paul began sharing the rather stunning revelation that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. First-century Jewish expectation of the Messiah did not include any idea of suffering, certainly not death on a cross.

Thessalonica Today

D. Paul’s insistence on sharing the entirety of the gospel, including the cross, caused violent responses from his fellow Jews.

E. Even this did not stop Paul, because the love of Christ compelled him to share the gospel even with a reluctant audience.

F. Paul’s faithful teaching resulted in: some Jews becoming followers of Christ; a great number of God-fearing Greeks; and a number of the leading women from the

community.

G. What we know from Paul’s letters to the Christians at Thessalonica is that he formed lasting relationships with the people during his time there.

Delivery of Christ’s Love Travels the Road of Relationships

You have heard it said, “People don’t care how much we know, until they know how much we care.” Sharing the love of Jesus happens best as we take the time to relate with and form relationships with other people.

Delivery of Christ’s Love Travels the Road of Relationships

Taking time to get to know people, really caring for them as people, opens the doorway to share the Love of Jesus Christ with them. To communicate love most effectively we must show love to the people we are trying to reach.

Love Continued1 Thessalonians 1:2-10

2 We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. 3 We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4

For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words, ….

Love Continuedbut also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. 6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 The Lord's message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia--

Love Continuedyour faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, 9 for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead--Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

Love ContinuedA. 1 Thessalonians has some of the warmest,

most affirming words in all of Paul’s letters. B. Paul opens his letter with prayer for the

church. Our love for others should be undergirded by our consistent prayer for them.

C. Paul acknowledges their work of faith and labor of love.

D. The legacy of love begins with God Himself, passed along by Paul, received and transmitted to the Thessalonian believers. This is the legacy of love passed along from one generation to the next.

E. We need to give thanks for all the previous generations who made it their mission to transmit God’s love to us, providing a legacy of love, that can extend all the way back to Paul, himself.

F. Paul’s effectiveness was not in word only, but also in power by the Holy Spirit. i. He relied on resources of the Spirit which

were way beyond his own strength. ii. The success of the early church, indeed its

resilience through the centuries, testifies not to human efforts but to the empowering presence of God.

G. Paul also acknowledged the impact of his personal example. He did this without blushing, confident that the Thessalonians would imitate Paul and the Lord. i. Paul is not boasting here! To become an apt

role model requires extreme humility. ii. Paul’s ultimate reward was his joyful

observation that the Thessalonians themselves had became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.

What Is the Goal of a Christian?

Is it just Apples? Or is it another

Apple Tree?

What Is the Goal of an Apple Tree?

Is it just to get to heaven when we die?

Or is it to make other Christians?

Which would be the Legacy of Love that you would want?