"No Greater Love" By Chris Ulrich June 15th,
2014
Remain
standing for prayer. God,
we just thank
You for this service, so far, God, and the celebration that today is,
God. we thank You,
God, for blessing us, each and
every one of us, Lord. God,
we ask for
comfort for those that need comfort, and strength for those that need
strength. We ask
for direction for those
of us that need direction, God. We
just
ask that You continue to bless the remainder of this service, God, and
we just
ask these things in Your name, Lord God.
Amen.
You
may be seated.
I
just want to give honor to all of you who are fathers, here today;
hopefully,
you will enjoy this special day. This
is
not the only day that we think about dad, but it’s something that we
focus on. I think
that whoever invented it—I know Andy
alluded to some of the history—I’m sure that they did have a good
relationship
with their father. We
all have own
personal experiences, and I realize that, as Mike alluded to in his
prayer,
some may have been stronger, some may have been non-existent. One thing that’s for sure
is that fathers and
mothers aren’t in competition because God has a place for both of them;
God has
a place for everybody. We
all have a
role in God, if we’ll allow it. Exodus 20:12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy
days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
That’s
a commandment from God That’s
something
that we need to grasp and acknowledge and live in this day and age. A verse like this will
evoke a lot of emotion
if we’ll let it. I
know that many of you
here today have had fathers who have passed on and for that I’d like to
extend
my sincerest condolences. My
father is still
alive; he’s 76 and he’s pretty healthy so I consider myself very
fortunate in
that respect. In my
lifetime I’ve known
my grandfather, on my mother’s side, and my great-grandfather, believe
it or
not. He was up in Leviticus 19:32 Thou shalt rise up
before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy
God: I
am the LORD.
I’ve
got to say that—and I suppose a lot of us see that as well—that there
just
doesn’t seem to be that kind of respect; I mean, there are places where
it sill
exists. It just
seems like people are
quick to dismiss, or write people off, or just not show any respect at
all. That’s just
the mentality that society
has gotten to. I’ve
got to say that that
verse, I used to think about quite a bit, but it seems to be coming
more and
more prominent—it seems to be playing out more and more: “The nation that forgets
God shall surely
perish.” (Psalms 9:17) I
love his
nation, and I know all of us here do, too, so it’s not as though I am
wishing
misfortune upon our great land, but I look at it like, we’ve gotten
away from
it. It’s
unfortunate, and you can see it
happening, slowly, as time marches on, and sometimes it even seems like
it’s
accelerating. But,
I’m not here to talk
about that; I’m here to talk about Father’s Day.
I
had a job about 8 months ago I was in White Plains, NY—Ken, your neck
of the
woods—and the account manager for our company had briefed me about my
contact at
the hospital there, his dad had been ill, and would probably be in and
out during
that week. So, I
was aware of that, and
just seeking God, just hoping that—I mean, here’s a guy that I haven’t
even
met, and I’m getting briefed on something that really transcends work. Well, I got to meet him,
his name is John
DeChico; happened to ne one of the nicest guys you could meet. Very accommodating;
offering coffee and Danishes… Every
morning, he was like, “Can I get you
anything?” I
appreciated that. I
had the opportunity to ask about his dad on
a couple of occasions. John,
I think,
was about 58 and his dad, at the time, was 90.
I got to talking, and I said, “Your dad, he’s
definitely lived a full
life,” and he said, “But, you know what?” he said, “That doesn’t make
it any
easier.” I got to
thinking, “You know
what? That’s
something I needed to
hear.” I can
appreciate that because
we’re all aware that the sun will set on many of those we love at some
point in
this life. It’s not
easy. It’s one of
things that—I’m not talking, it’s
all about emotion, but, a lot of times we think back, and we have those
snapshots in time, and it’s those precious memories that we have—and
again,
maybe they weren’t so precious—but, for those of that do, and we’re
going to
talk about that a little later, too.
Right
now I’d like to talk about our heavenly Father.
We’ll get to paying respect to those who are fathers
right here among
us, but I want to step aside from remembrance of our earthly fathers
and pay our
respects to the One who has made it all possible from the very
beginning. The
title of the message today is “No Greater Love,” and I think it’s aptly
titled
because there is no greater love.
If God
be for us, who can be against us (Romans 8:31), in Him we live and move
and
have our very being (Acts 17:28), and the One who shed His blood at 1 John 4:1-11 Beloved, believe
not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because
many
false prophets are gone out into the world.
Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that
confesseth that
Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus
Christ is come in the
flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye
have
heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. Ye are of God, little
children, and have
overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in
the
world. They are of
the world: therefore
speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.
We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth
us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of
truth,
and the spirit of error. Beloved,
let us
love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born
of God,
and knoweth God. He
that loveth not
knoweth not God; for God is love.
In
this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent
his only
begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that
we loved God, but
that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved
us, we ought also to
love one another.
Not
that we loved God first, but it says that He loved us first. It’s a matter of
reciprocating that, and
understanding that God has an expectation for us and that goes beyond
just
showing up and it does start with love.
There’s another verse in John—I think you mentioned
it earlier, Malcolm,
about “If ye love me, keep my
commandments.” (John
14:15) A big part
of Christian life is
learning what God’s commandments are and putting them into action. But we also need to know
that there are a lot
of benefits to God’s love, because the forecast isn’t only hardship, or
that
we’re missing out, or feeling like, “My windows closed on this, this,
this, and
this.” You keep
going down the list,
“Well, I missed out on the things that I really wanted to do,” but,
when you
look at it fro the standpoint of, “Okay, what has God given me that is
the
alternative to that which I’ve ‘missed out’ on,” I don’t feel like I’ve
been
ripped off at all. I
feel very
fortunate, and, yes, there are things that I’ve come to grips with-and
I think
we all do—where, “I wish You could have gone this way; I wish You could
have
gone that way,” but life, especially life in Christ, is not about
living in regret,
because God will meet us where we’re at.
He’s given us a promise, but He’s also given us
things in this life that
far outweigh the things of the world.
I
know, Parrish, you mentioned a few months ago, the agitators at work
try to get
you to feel, “Oh, I missed out on this,” or, “You should come down and
so this
big party with us,” or whatever the case might be.
I appreciate your stance on that, in just
looking at it like, “You know what? I’ve got my life in Christ, and I
feel very
fortunate.” I’m not
gong to try to
repreach exactly what you said on that, but it’s something that, it’s
inspiring
and it’s a great example. I want to change the order of the service right now and I’ve asked a few men to share with us. Pete Shepherd, if you could come up… The order that I wanted to do this is: Pete’s a Grandfather—and I’ve known Pete for a long time. I remember when I first moved up here, he had to little kids, Jonathan and Scotty. We used to have this military fellowship center down in North Chicago, and, Pete, I know that you taught your boys a lot over the years, and was a great example, but Scott told me, he said, “You know,”—one thing you didn’t teach him, Pete—he said, “Red, you know what you taught me? You taught me to how play Ms. Pacman.” I said, “Thank you. I knew somebody had to.” So, Pete, if you could come, please share with us what’s on your heart.
Pete:
Thank you. Chris
asked me to
share; he actually asked me two weeks ago, after service, so I’ve had a
lot of
time to overthink this, but I’ve also had a lot of time to pray about
it, so
hopefully the prayers will overcome the overthinking.
Yeah, I do remember that the kids used to
play Pacman and Ms. Pacman with Chris a lot.
Anyway, I want to talk a little bit about my father: My father’s still alive;
he’s 91. When I was
really little, I just thought my
dad was the greatest, but, as I grew older, I thought he as just an old
fuddy-duddy, but, to be honest, we never really had a close
relationship when I
was young, until somewhere around thirteen or fourteen, I guess, my mom
started
insisting that the two of us go out once a month and do something
together. She
didn’t care what it was,
just something. I
got to know my dad
better through that, and we did get closer.
Then I grew up and had kids of my own, and started
turning into my
father. It’s funny
how that works. So,
a lot of times my kids and I were not as
close as I would have liked. Two
sons,
they’re both in their thirties now.
Three and a half grandkids now.
Two grandsons, a granddaughter, and a grandson on
the way. We’re
looking at a few months before he gets
here. Grandkids are
great; if you have a
chance to have grandkids, have them first.
And, just for the sake, this month is sound
doctrine, and I do want to
talk a little bit about… First
off,
somebody said, and I’ve heard this all my life, pretty much, there’s no
manual
for raising kids. I
believed hat for a
long time, and, unfortunately, I didn’t figure out until after my kids
were
grown, there is a manual for raising kids (holding up a Bible). Some people have
criticized it. It
says, “Spare the rod and spoil the child,”
and some people have used that as an excuse to just beat their kids
unmercifully; that’s not what that’s talking about.
It‘s talking about a kid that grows up
without any discipline, ends up being a spoiled brat.
Figure on that kid being in and out of
prison. And, after
Chris asked me to
share two weeks ago, I was listeneing to the radio—I was running
errands, I was
in and out of the car, but I was listening to the radio in the car—they
were
doing an interview with David Crowder, who happens to be one of my son
Scott’s
favorite Christian artists. Parrish,,
you had mentioned in service that day about flying back from Baltimore
and he
weather not being so great that day, but getting up above the clouds
and how
much different it looks above the clouds,
David Crowder actually talked about that in this
interview, also. Some
exact thing; he had a little bit
different attitude about it, he said he was mad that no one had ever
told him
it was like that. He
also mentioned—I
guess I missed the build-up to this—but they also asked him about
people that
want to have a relationship with God, but don’t want to go to church. “Just me and God!” David Crowder said that
there was a guy that
had that relationship once—when we had Mother’s Day we talked about how
Ave was
the mother of all living, and if Eve was the mother of all living then
Adam was
the father of all living—but, what did God say about Adam having that
one-on-on
relationship with God? God
said, “It is
not good for man to be alone.”
Right? So
God created a help meet
for Adam, and some would say, “That didn’t work out very well,” and
there is
some truth in that. At
the same time, I
remember Adam Paine, our general pastor’s son, shared several years
ago, that
God’s not going to give all of His gifts to one person, so, if you
don’t come
to church, or you’re not part of a church, not only are you robbing the
church
of whatever gifts God has given you, but you’re robbing yourself of the
other
gifts that God has given to the rest of the church.
So, again, it’s not good for man to be
alone. Anyway,
that’s all I’ve got to
say.
Thank you, Pete.
Malcolm, I know that you had spoken a little
bit earlier, but, I’m going to ask you to come again. I
want to introduce—You had quite the
difficult year last year, and, I’m not going to get into all the
details, but I
will say that you had some hardships, and family tragedies, and our
hearts went
out with you, but, you know, one thing:
we can never get into anybody else and live their
life for them. We
can be supportive—and, you know what? I
think the expression is to root for people, and to hope for the best
for
people, and that’s a lot of what Christianity is all about. I admire your integrity,
and that you kept
your head up. I’m
sure that there were a
lot of tears shed, but I want to ask you to come and share briefly. I know that you shared
earlier, but I want to
ask if you could just kind of recap what you shared earlier.
Malcolm: I already took a
lot of service time earlier; I won’t prolong the service. What I’m trying to say
is—what I will
share: This
morning, on the way to
service, I was sharing with my son, Joseph.
Joseph lost one of his classmates, we went to the
funeral last Tuesday,
and, he and his small little group of friends really did well. They were the pallbearers. To be that age—twelve
years old, thirteen
years old—to bury a friend, it leaves an imprint on your mind; it
leaves an
imprint on your heart. So,
I took some
time to tell the young guys when they were standing in the doorway of
the
church, I said, “You know, to be asked by the family to be a pallbearer
is one
of the greatest honors. You
are carrying
the weight of your fallen warrior, soldier—you are bearing the weight
on your
shoulders. He gave
away his life. So,
you’re carrying his earthly remains, that
burden of the fallen soldier.” I
just
tried to tell them, you know, “Keep your head up, be strong—“ and they
were –“because
everybody’s looking at you for strength.”
Even thought they’re young men, twelve or thirteen,
“Everybody is
looking to you for strength.” They
did
really, really well. I
said that to say
that, we, as fathers, we’re bearing the weight of our families on our
shoulders. Brothers,
we’re bearing the
weight of the ministry on our shoulders.
We are the warriors.
We’re
holding up the pillars of the Gospel, because I guarantee you that
baptism in
Jesus’ name s a pillar that’s worth holding up.
There are ninety-nine percent or so of ministries
that do not baptize in
Jesus’ name. Jesus’
name is the door to
get into the ark of God. That
is
salvation for us—it’s not a physical ark; it’s not made of gopher wood
and
plaster—it’s made of the Spirit of God, and grace, and mercy, and
truth, and
love, and longsuffering, and peace, and patience of God. Amen.
Another
father that I would ask to come; been a father for about 3 weeks or so,
I
believe… Is that
correct, Kirk? Twenty-four
days? Twenty-three
days. Well, I was
pretty close. Anyway,
I’ve known Kirk for a long time, too,
and he’s been a good friend, and a bike-riding buddy as well. He’s been absent this
year, for good
reason. I want to
back up just a
moment: About a
year ago, Kirk’s wife,
Nubia, who isn’t here this morning—she’s taking care of their
newborn—and I
asked Kirk if I could share this, earlier, because it is a sensitive
matter,
and it’s one of those things—Nubia was pregnant for a few months, and I
don’t
know exactly how far along she was, but she miscarried.
When I first heard about that, and I suppose
a lot of heard bout that, it was heartbreaking.
It was. It
was the kind of thing
that you hope for people; you want to see good things happen,
especially in the
faith. The Bible
talks about doing good,
but especially to those of the household of faith (Galatians 6:10). I know that it was a
difficult time, and it
was one of those things… But,
Kirk, I’d
like you to come and to share at this time.
Just share what’s on your heart, and again, we’re
very happy about the
birth of Axel twenty-three days ago. Kirk:
You’d be proud of me; I was getting ready for
this, I wrote everything out, had it nice and neat, ready to go, and,
just hold
that aspiration for me, while I tell you that I left it at home. Chris, I would like to get
back on those bike
rides, but, you know how things go…
I
will tell you that I did buy a wetsuit, yesterday, for white-water
rafting, so
I am gearing up for getting back out there.
When it comes to—Chris said, ‘new’—well, it’s new
for me in one
sense… This was the
first Father’s Day,
so I’m up—I’m usually the first one up, and I’m getting ready and
everything,
and the next thing I know, Nubia, and Jennifer, and the little baby
come in and
they all came running up to me, and they say, “Happy Father’s Day!” and
they
hand me the baby and I get this warm feeling, and it brings everything
back
home, because you think, you know, wow.
I’ve had Father’s Days in the past, where I’ve
gotten a card and so
forth, you know, with Jennifer, but this is the first time where it’s
like
they’re saying this, and I’m holding him, this little child; it changes
things,
the whole perspective of looking at how things are.
As I said, I was a father already, because,
when I said, “I do,” to
I’d like to thank Pete, Malcolm,
and Kirk for sharing your heart. It
means a lot. It is
something that you
get different perspectives of fathers at different junctures at their
life. I want to
share a few last
thoughts that hopefully will help us all.
I know that, again, it has been mentioned about some
of us did have
difficult relationships with our fathers, or maybe it was nonexistent. But, I would say that just
because some of us
did, doesn’t mean that everyone else did not. And
everybody that did not, that doesn’t mean
everyone else did either. There’s
quite
a spectrum.
Some of us have heard the
expression, “Getting into someone’s head.”
Those of us who follow sports, we’ve heard the
expression. It just
means that somebody has an advantage,
that a lot of times is an intangible… Right now, the San Antonio Spurs
definitely are in the head of the Miami Heat, if any of you are
following that—I
don’t need an amen!—but, if you’re not following that, those are the NB
finals. I’m just
mentioning that. Having
said that, I want to add that the goal
is not to try and get into anybody’s head, or to try to impart our
opinions on
these kind of matters, to be persuasive in such a way that it’s
manipulative. It’s
really a matter of, this is what God’s
done for our life. These
are the things
that—we do have quite an array of backgrounds of people, which is great. It’s an education, and
that’s one thing that
God has for us. And,
again, our goal
isn’t to get in your head, but, hopefully, God gets into your head. That’s what it’s really
all about, just
having that daily relationship and that daily walk with our Father, our
heavenly Father. I’ve
said it before, and
I’ll say it one more time: We can’t change the past no matter how hard
we try
for the better or for the worse. But
we
have to be at peace with where God has us today.
I
would like to thank you all for your time.
God bless.
|
|
|
|
