How do you wake up in the morning? Someone once asked my wife if she woke up grumpy in the morning. She replied, "No, I usually just let him sleep." Paul says, "The night is far gone, and the day is near."
That story gets to the heart of what Paul is trying to teach us. Our love is genuine when we learn that those we help are also loved by God. We truly capture the meaning of loving our neighbors when we accept the fact that the people we help are just as worthy and capable of loving others as we are.
Owe no one anything, except to love one another. Promote charity—Christian love—for that is the chief grace of our faith. Here we have what it's all about. If we succeed with this, we have done everything. If we fail with this, then we have done nothing. The charity, this Christian love, does not originate with us. It starts with God.
To love one another in the best sense of the word is not humanly possible; it can only come as a gift of God. First, we must be filled with God's love; and, as we are, God's love will overflow to all those we come in contact with – loved ones, friends, acquaintances, strangers, even our enemies.
While it's true that churches provide a moral compass and teach right from wrong, this is not their sole function or even their most important one. "The Church pursues its mission as it prays and worships, proclaims the Gospel, and promotes justice, peace, and love."
In just nine verses, Paul tells us how to walk Christianly. There’s nothing in Paul’s list that is new for Christians; nothing there that Jesus didn’t already say. And yet we tend to gloss over it because it is too simple, too obvious for us to concern ourselves with. And what’s on Paul’s list? ....
Sermon Funeral Homily for an Accidental Death For an Accidental Death 1 Corinthians 15:50b-58; 1 Timothy; Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 By The Rev. Clare Kelley You may have heard it said that death is the one thing every one has in common While that is true on one level, On several others, death is not [...]
Sermon Romans 12:9-21 Katrina Sermon Check out these helpful resources Biblical Commentary Sermons Childern's Sermons Hymn Lists Romans 12:9-21 Katrina Sermon By The Rev. Justine Guernsey In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. There are moments in our lives that define us…moments of such clarity [...]
Our scripture is the prescription on how to live a holy life. If we were talking about cooking, this would be the recipe. If we were talking about building, this would be the blueprints. But since we're talking about the Great Physician, it's our prescription for Holiness; our prescription for living a life "holy and acceptable to God."
Now this is not a sermon on divorce. I am not saying that people should never divorce. This is a sermon about love, and the subject of love gets all wrapped up with marriage. Now compare Shelley Winter's view of love with that of the Apostle Paul, who said....