sermon 2009/2/29

In this time of Lent, let us learn the lesson of remaining silent, trusting, obeying, and waiting on the Lord. As the Psalmist said, “I was silent; I would not open my mouth, for you are the one who has done this.”(Psalm 39:9) What God has done is love. But love demands a terrible burden.
I. Consider this demand which love makes: “Love bears all things.” Another way of articulating this truth is: “Love can overlook faults.” Still another way of saying this is: “Love is not quick to anger and slow to expose wrongs” The idea suggested here is that love is intelligent. It knows that there is a time to expose and a time to refrain from exposing, a time to speak and a time to refrain from speaking. Love is sensitive. It knows how to be silent in moments of great suffering.
(a) To say that love knows when to remain silent is not to belittle speech. Words are the vehicles for feelings and ideas that link soul to soul. I have the greatest admiration for those who are skilled in the gift of the right use of words. But words are powerful and can be dangerous. There are emotionally charged words that can excite to violence or that can rob another human being of his will to live. And there are great empowering words which, spoken at the right time, can heal and inspire.
(b) Paul tells us that love knows how to overlook faults, to keep silent in those moments when it would be far easier to form words to vent our anger or disappointment. Every parent knows that there are times in relationship to the growing child when the temptation to speak in anger is great. And surely everyone must fail, perhaps many times, to live up to the high standard. But after each failure love will rededicate itself to the high resolve: bear all things; overlook faults, slow to expose. “Ah, the terrible burden of love!”
(c) This dimension of love that calls upon us to bear all things is a hard saying, but then the best things of life are bought with a price. As one psychiatrist says, “It is easier to hate, but healthier to love.” What is needed is a religion that knows how to be firm without being inflexible; that hates the sin but loves the sinner; that is able to forgive and trust and respects the person who is different from us. This is the love that bears all things.
II. There is a further dimension to love that we must consider: “Love hopeth all things” In other words, “Love is always hopeful.” It never gives up. The good father is always hopeful that the prodigal son will come home again. Man cannot live without hope. He must always be able to hope that in any difficulty things will right themselves.
(a) No wonder that the other name we have for God is love. For love is the spirit of hope brooding over the darkness, coaxing light out of the shadows, giving form to that which is without form and void. It is the force that holds the world together, the organizing principle.
(b) Love is the positive force, playing over the darkness, yet never giving up. Even over the grave love never ends. After everything visible has been telescoped into the invisible, three things abide, faith, hope, love, but the greatest is love. It never gives up; it always begins again.
(c) When the wholeness of life is threatened love is the silent cohesive force that is always hopeful. It is the greatest force for good in the world. In the language of John the loving disciple of Christ, it was said, “Love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God.” So we confidently say, “Our hope is in God,” for God is love and love never ends.
Amen
Synopsis
What God has done is love. But love demands a terrible burden.
I. Love bears all things. Love is sensitive. It knows how to be silent in moments of great suffering.
(a) To say that love knows when to remain silent is not to belittle speech.
(b) Paul tells us that love knows how to overlook faults, to keep silent in those moments when it would be far easier to form words to vent our anger or disappointment.
(c) It is easier to hate, but healthier to love.
II. Love is always hopeful. It never gives up.
(a) It is the force that holds the world together, the organizing principle.
(b) Three things abide, faith, hope, love, but the greatest is love.
(c) Love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God.
讲道大纲
上帝为人所作的都是爱。但爱的负担是很沉重的。
I. 爱是凡事包容。它懂得在最痛苦的时候，默然不语。
甲． 默然不语不是贬低言语的能力。
乙． 不计算人的恶，就是不因人的错动怒。
丙． 憎恨叫你发泄，但爱叫你健康。
II. 爱是凡事盼望。它永不放弃。
甲． 它是把整个世界维系和组织的原则。
乙． 如今长存的有信望爱，其中最大的是爱。
丙． 上帝是爱，爱的人都是由上帝而生的并且认识上帝。