FELLOWSHIP: Common Unselfishness (Part 2 of 4)

Common Unselfishness (It is a Spirit of Give, not get)

            So much of world is about getting more and more, and sadly that attitude gets into the church. People will spiritualize this too by saying something like this, "I just wasn't getting my needs met or I wasn't getting feed spiritually." These kind of people tend to see what is wrong with everything going on in a particular church but do not provide the answer that the church needs, which is themselves. They could be the solution if they would see themselves as a possible solution. Each of us can be the solution if we be willing to lay down our lives for the highest good of God and His Kingdom. That is not easy, but it is possible. Just like Jesus, there were big problems with the world when He walked on this earth. There was evil, selfishness, cruelty, and sin. He could have been critical and looked at the situation and pointed out everything that was wrong with the world and left it in its predicament, but He didn't. He laid down His life, so that the world could have life. That's what true unselfishness does, it gives life in the most difficult circumstances. The cross was a difficult situation; it even looks like defeat.  That's what the Lord can do in the midst of it, He can make it the most sublime victory!
            Love is simply a Choice: Unselfishly choosing for the highest good for God & His Kingdom and one another in relation to the Kingdom of God. Basically what does it mean to love someone?  Honor them. Treating somebody with dignity because of the nobility that God has placed on every individual in world by placing His Image upon them. Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” (Gen. 1: 26) "When we honor the image of God in somebody we honor the image of God in ourselves" -Rob Bell. (Honoring one another) Well, how do you honor somebody?, you might ask.  By listening to their story, by finding out their dreams or passions, by caring about what they care about, and by trying to learn from them.

            For example, I had a guy in my life who was a musician and I knew nothing about music. So what I did was, I put myself in a position of humility and allowed him to teach my everything he knew about music. I would go to music stores with him and spend hours with him because I really cared about him. I wanted him to know that I cared about him as person, and it changed his life. Now, this guy is a worship leader and a missionary to University students in Colorado. Something powerful happens when you lay down your life for somebody. The Holy Spirit can really come down into person's life and do the impossible, which what we all want.  However, there is a cost, it is our lives. We have to lay down our life so that someone else can have life.  Spiritual Love does not seek its own desires, but rather it serves; it loves an enemy as a brother.
(1 John 3: 16-20) ¹⁶This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. ¹⁷If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? ¹⁸Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. ¹⁹This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence ²⁰whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
            Love Finds a Need and Meets it: We are Stewards. We don’t own anything. A dear friend of mine got approved to be a missionary to university students, but he needed a new car for all the traveling he would be doing in raising the necessary funds so that he can be on the university to give students a chance to know the Lord Jesus. So, the college ministry that was sending him out decided to try to raise 8,000 dollars (134,000 Kc) in 3 weeks to help him buy him a new car. So three weeks later, they had their normal weekly meeting where students could bringing their offering to help this missionary, and he had no idea what was going on.  Buckets were set up in the front of the sanctuary and by the way it was just students, about 400 of them, bringing their offering. When it was time to give, the students didn't walk up, but ran up to the front and the total raised was $13,000 (217,894Kc). Kids were selling their DVDs, TVs, DVD players, stereos, & etc to help a brother in Christ to do what God has called him to do. "The world will know that you are my disciples by your love for one another." (Jesus)

            Needs are around every corner of our lives, but the question we have to ask to our self is: Are my eyes opened to see? Do we ask ourselves when we walk into our school: What are the needs, Lord? How can I meet the needs? Give me eyes to see the broken, lonely, desperate, hungry, and suffering. Then, ask for the grace of God to help meet those needs. So much of the time we are focused on ourselves, that we lose sight of God's broken heart for the world, for every individual that is made in His image and after His likeness. When we have God's heart, that's when we become willing to lay down our lives for the cause of Christ - which is redemption and reconciliation. The grace of God can be defined as, God gives us the will to do His will. His will is that none shall perish, Jesus came not to just give life but give life abundantly.

            A community of unselfish people laying their lives down for the cause of Christ and each other is a powerful thing before a watching world. The world needs to see Christians laying down their lives again, just like in times past. Love finds a need and meets it, it is always looking as to how can I serve, how can I help, and how can I show that I care. Love cares not about itself but of its object! If we love God, then we love what God loves and hate what God hates because He should be the object of our love. When He is the object of our love, then He enables us to lay down our lives for someone else or to see the needs around us.  So, the question we need to ask ourselves is:  He the object of our love?

We only know by how well we love the people that God has placed in each of our lives.

1 John 4:19-21

¹⁹ We love because he first loved us. ²⁰ Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. ²¹ And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

Lord, helps us to love you better by loving the people that you have placed in each of our lives.  Amen