top of page
Writer's pictureMatt Beaney

#623 (15/6/22) LOVE ALWAYS HOPES



‘Love… always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.’ (1 Corinthians 13:7-8a)

‘Hope’ can be translated as ‘expect’. ’Trust’ in God, that we looked at yesterday, leads to living with the expectation of transformation and victories.


If we have true hope in God, we will love people over the long haul. No one is perfect. Everyone, if you get close enough to them, is a sinner and can be annoying. Oftentimes, our annoyance and anger says more about our own fallen nature than theirs! If we are not to despair of ourselves and others, we need God’s hope. What is this hope?


Hope, specifically, is in the promises that God has made about working in us in sanctification through to glorification. God, by the Spirit, is continuing to make us more like Christ until, ultimately, we will be perfected at Jesus’ return. We read of this hope:


‘We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.’ (Romans 8:22-25)

Our hope is about the whole of creation being restored from everything that The Fall has imposed upon it. If we are to persevere in loving God against all of the many trials that we face, we must have the eyes of our hearts filled with that future hope. Do we ‘wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship’? Do you have this hope for yourself and for those in the Church? If we are to love people, we must see that God is working in them. He is making them more like Christ. He will complete the work that He has started in them.


RESPONSE

We need the Holy Spirit to fill us with hope. Perhaps you’d like to use this text to guide you in prayer:

‘May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.’ (Roman 15:13)
 

COMMUNITY GROUP NOTES AND STUDY

1. Notices

It might be good to begin with notices. Please share from this week’s Church News.

 

2. Icebreaker

Do you have any encouragements to share from how God has been speaking to you from His word recently?

 

3. Recap of Sunday's message - please share in your group


On Sunday, we continued with our series 'Becoming Love' from the book of 1 Corinthians, looking at the next aspect of love.


Please read 1 Corinthians 13:4-7


Last week we looked at how 'Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.' This week, we are considering the next attributes of Christian love: ‘Love… always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.’ (1 Corinthians 13:7-8a)


On Sunday, Jem told of an incident when, as they approached the beach, a younger member of his family, overcome with excitement, ran away and toward the sea. Jem - being the hero that he is! - dropped everything and pursued and ‘rescued’ him from potential danger. These final aspects of love are around the theme of protecting those that we love.


THE LOST SHEEP

The Parable of the Lost Sheep is a perfect illustration of what it means to always protect, always trust, always hope, always persevere and never fail in our love.


Please read Matthew 15:1-7


Jesus is the perfect Good Shepherd. He left heaven and sacrificed so much in order to find each of us - we were the 'one'!


Like Jesus, we are to seek to love like him. Our love is to always:

i. Protect - We seek to bring the lost and those who are struggline back to Jesus and truth.


ii. Trusts and hopes and perseveres - We will be enabled to persevere if we trust and hope in God; our faith that God can change the person we are seeking to help will keep us from despairing and giving up on them.


Discussion questions

i) Did you feel that God spoke to you from any particular aspect of Sunday's message?

ii) What does The Parable of the Lost Sheep teach us about God's love for us?

iii) What does The Parable of the Lost Sheep teach us about how we are to love others?

iv) How do 'trust' and 'hope' keep our love from 'failing'?

v) Do you have experence of someone being like a good shepherd to you?

SIV - What effect will having love that 'always protects, trusts, hopes, perseveres and never fails' have on our witness?

SIV - Do you have any encouraging stories of sharing your faith with your friends?

SIV - How do you plan to 'serve, invest and invite' into your friendships?

SIV - Let's pray for the Spirit to lead us in reaching our community.










36 views0 comments

Comments


bottom of page