There Is Beauty in the Middle of the Chaos

Sermon outline

Life will always bring chaos in the middle of the blessing, so abide in the vine and walk in love, because without love every gift is nothing, and the one who dies to self and treats people well will do well.

1. Abide in the vine and your joy will be full

   A branch cannot bear fruit of itself, and the branch that does not abide withers and is burned. If we keep His commandments and abide in His love, His joy remains in us and our joy is full. That means no more frustration, irritation, depression or agitation, but contentment. His command is that we love one another as He loved us.

   “If we allow God's joy to remain and to abide in us by following his commandments and living in his love, then we will be content.”

   • John 15:5-17

2. Without love I have nothing

   Tongues of men and angels, prophecy, all knowledge, faith to move mountains, giving everything to the poor: without love it is nothing. Prophecies fail, tongues cease and knowledge vanishes, but love never fails. Loving the lovable proves nothing; the test is the unlovable. Love cannot be put on when convenient or to show people what a good person you are, and anyone harbouring unforgiveness against a neighbour has nothing.

   Illustration: The man who cooks for the homeless shelter and makes sure everyone knows what a good man he is, but does not love.

   “We can have every anointing, we can have every gifting, we can have every ability, we can have every degree, we can have every job, we can have all the money in the world, but if we have not love, we have nothing.”

   • 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

3. There is always chaos in the middle of the blessing

   He walks through an ordinary South African family life, calling them everyday stories. At every stage the beauty and the chaos arrive together, and they never clear separately. Not everything you experience is the devil; people will be people. What a Christian has is that God enriches and graces the life and gives power to overcome, because many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers out of them all.

   Illustration: A young man from a broken home meets the woman of his dreams, whose family does not like him. Then come the lobola negotiations with their unreasonable requests, a traditional and a white wedding with three hundred thousand rand of debt, everyone skinnering, a mother who turns against the wife, both families arguing over the baby's name until the couple answer that they have the culture of Christ, two years of nappies and no sleep, a second baby, school fees, teenagers, a colleague after his position, a marriage strained after twenty five years and parents falling ill.

   “No matter where you find yourself, there will always be chaos in the midst of the blessing.”

   • Psalm 34:19

4. If the blessing is not flowing, look at the marriage

   Husband and wife are one flesh, so disunity between them is like hitting yourself. Husbands must not make their wives the victims of their decisions, and must love them as Christ loved the church; as head of the home the husband casts the vision, prays and declares the word over the family. Wives must not make their husbands victims of their mouths. Everything is a word problem, and we must conform to God's cycle, not try to fit God into ours.

   Illustration: After twenty five years the beans curry that was fine all along is suddenly no good. She says you don't give me flowers; he says you don't respect me; and you wonder whether you are living in two different lives.

   “We do not conform God to our lives, but we conform to God's way of doing things.”

   • Ephesians 5:22-25

5. We will give account, so die to self

   We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ and give account for the lives we destroy, the words we speak and the labour of our hands. To die is to die to self: to our weaknesses, our stubbornness and our own culture, and to put on the culture of Christ. When we treat brethren and strangers in a manner worthy of God, we do well, and an open heaven and an anointing come with it.

   Illustration: "I'm a man. What's right is right and what's wrong is wrong. You can't change me." No, he says: die. D-I-E.

   “To have the ability of dying to self, and to do things for others with no expectation of that being done for you.”

   • 2 Corinthians 5:1-11
   • 3 John 2
   • 3 John 5-6

6. Sow love and peace, and let God be God

   We major on the minor things and minor on the majors. If you want the blessing, let God be God, walk in love, sow peace and let your life represent Christ, not where you come from. There will always be a Diotrephes who loves to have the preeminence and the last say; let him be, and God will set everything in order and make you the answer in the room.

   Illustration: When the beans curry is horrible, say thank you, it was beautiful. When the naan is hard enough to be a weapon, eat it and say I love you. When the dog is acting crazy, give it a biscuit; when your mother-in-law is acting crazy, give her a rose and say bless you.

   “You want the blessing? Walk in love. You want the blessing? Sow peace.”

   • 3 John 9

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