REMEMBER LOVE Revelation 2:4-5 Back Pain • One day, two monks were walking through the countryside. They were on their way to another village to help bring in the crops. As they walked, they spied an old woman sitting at the edge of a river. She was upset because there was no bridge, and she could not get across on her own. • The first monk kindly offered, “We will carry you across if you would like.” • “Thank you,” she said gratefully, accepting their help. • So the two men joined hands, lifted her between them and carried her across the river. When they got to the other side, they set her down, and she went on her way. • After they had walked another mile or so, the second monk began to complain. “Look at my clothes,” he said. “They are filthy from carrying that woman across the river. And my back still hurts from lifting her. I can feel it getting stiff.” The first monk just smiled and nodded his head. • A few more miles up the road, the second monk griped again, “My back is hurting me so badly, and it is all because we had to carry that silly woman across the river! I cannot go any farther because of the pain.” • The first monk looked down at his partner, now lying on the ground, moaning. Have you wondered why I am not complaining?” he asked. “Your back hurts because you are still carrying the woman. But I set her down five miles ago.” • That is what many of us are like in dealing with our families. We are that second monk who cannot let go. We hold the pain of the past over our loved ones’ heads like a club, or we remind them every once in a while, when we want to get the upper hand, of the burden we still carry because of something they did years ago. •The story was about forgetting the negative things of the past. However, the focus of our sermon today is not about forgetting, but remembering. • Now talking about how we tend to forget... The Average Adult Loses 9 Items a Day • Most of us regularly lose things: keys, wallets, TV remotes, glasses, and phones. Some of us are more prone to misplacing things than others. It’s not surprising that men are twice as likely to lose their phones than women. One study concluded that the average person misplaces nine things a day and spends an average of fifteen minutes looking for lost items. •Why does this happen? What is the psychology and science behind it? It comes down to a breakdown of attention and memory. When we misplace our belongings, "we fail to activate the part of our brain responsible for encoding what we're doing." •The hippocampus part of our brain is responsible for taking a snapshot and preserving the memory in a set of neurons that can be activated later. We lose things when we do not have a clear reference point of when or where we put down objects like our keys or glasses. What does it say? •That's why in the Bible... Revelation 2:4-5 But I (Jesus)… 2. You have left your first love. 3. Remember from where you have fallen and Repent... 4. Do the deeds you did at first... 1. 1) But I (Jesus)... • Jesus was personally talking to one of the 7 churches: Ephesus. • This shows personal relationship. • Jesus is also personally talking with us: remember Revelation 3:20. • Jesus is our personal friend, Lord, and Saviour, and He wants the best for our welfare. So, He would rather tell us what is wrong than let us be and watch us destroy ourselves. • Proverbs 27:6 2) You have left your first love •In what ways did we forget Christ? (Examine yourself) •Too busy? •Too focused on problems? •Things of this world or pleasures? •Lust of the flesh and eyes? 3. Remember from where you have fallen & Repent •Rev. 2:5 (NIV) •John 16:8 4. Do the deeds you did at first... •Hebrews 10:32 It's like love... Real Love Comes After ‘Being in Love’ • In the novel Captain Corelli’s Mandolin (written in 1994) an older man named Dr. Iannis tells his daughter about his love for his late wife. He says that at first love “erupts like a volcano” but then it subsides. “And when it subsides,” he continues, “you have to make a decision. Do you want real love or just being ‘in love?’” • Then he gives this definition for true marital love: “[Real] love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away …Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossoms had fallen from our branches, we found we were one tree and not two.” Love is a choice •Will you now choose to love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and might because of how He first love us?
