SIGNS OF THE END
TIMES…PART II
“THE DECREASE OF LOVE” Matthew 24:1-13
A young English duo Peter and
Gordon may have imagined a world without love and dreaded to live in it. In
February 1964 they recorded a song written by Paul McCartney “A World Without
Love". [1]
“Please lock me away; And don't allow the day; Here inside where I hide With my
loneliness; I don't care what they say I won't stay; In a world without love;
Birds sing out of tune; and rain clouds hide the moon; I'm OK, here I'll stay; With
my loneliness; I don't care what they say I won't stay; In a world without love”
Already
in the 1960’s in the midst of the sexual revolution, and free love a sense of
despair and purposelessness was setting in. Not only Peter and Gordon; no one
would like to live in a world without love. It is hard to imagine a world
without love. No matter who you are we all have an inherent need to be loved
and to love. We all recognize we need love, but we don’t know how to give love
and receive love. However, did you know, the essential commodity called love
that is necessary for our well-being is gradually but surely decreasing?
Jesus
gave a number of signs for his disciples, concerning the end of the world. Last
week we looked at one of the signs of the End Times, “The great deception.” Today
we will look at another sign “The decrease of love.” What causes the decrease
of love? What are the consequences of the lack of love? How can we increase in
love? Matthew 24:12-13.
I. THE DECREASE OF
LOVE: (Matthew 24: 12-13)
Vs
12-13, “Because of the increase of wickedness (Lawlessness) the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.”
The dictionary definition for love: “an intense feeling of deep affection.”
Other words for love are, fondness, tenderness, warmth, intimacy, attachment
and endearment. When we look at a baby we are filled with intense feelings of
love, why? Because they are beautiful, innocent and pure. Where there is beauty, innocence and purity
there love thrives, in the absence of these things love suffers to an extent it
decreases.
Keeping
that in mind let’s read Vs 12-13, “Because of the increase of sin the love of
most will grow cold, but he who stand firm to the end will be saved.” This is one of the end time signs Jesus gave a
long time ago. The Scripture calls lawlessness is Sin, more specifically, Idolatry,
Adultery, Violence, Lust, Greed, Disrespect, Homosexuality, Theft, Lying,
Aggression, and Selfishness. Is this Biblical sign being fulfilled in our day?
Absolutely!
Just go back 50 years and you would not see half the sin and wickedness that we
see in people today. Look at what is portrayed on our TV screens and in the
movies and video games! Violence, lust and all manner of evil. Jesus, said it
in the last days due to the increase of lawlessness most people’s love will
grow cold. Let me talk about the kind of
love Jesus was referring to here. We know the Greeks have used four words to
describe what we call “love” The love that Jesus was referring to in Vs 12, was,
“storge” it is the love and
affection that naturally occurs between parents and children, between siblings,
between husbands and wives in a good marriage.” It is simply the kind of love that exists
between people.
In
Matt 24: 10, “At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray
and hate each other.” Lack of love for each other results in betrayal and
hatred of each other. Jesus explicitly showed how this love deficit plays out
at a home level. “For from now on, there will be five people divided against
each other in one house, three against two, and two against three. It is going
to be father against son, and son against father, and mother against daughter,
and daughter against mother; mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and
daughter-in-law against mother-in-law!” (Luke 12: 51:53). Is that not we have been observing these days
in most homes, families and marriages and even churches? It will only increase
as the end of the world draws near. What
are the consequences of lack of love?
II THE
CONSEQUENCES OF LACK OF LOVE:
Can you imagine a world where there is love
deficit? How can we describe such a world? It is a world in which everything
goes and everyone does whatever he or she feels. Basically it is a world where
God seems to be removed. Let me explain the consequences of lack of love. Where
there is no love, according to I Corinthians 13 we will find people becoming: Impatient,
unkind, envious, boastful, proud, rude, self-seeking and short tempered. When
people do not operate in love, they keep a score of wrong doings, they delight
in evil by rejecting the truth, and instead of protecting one another they
attack and devour one another.
They
become distrustful of others, and they cannot be trusted. When there is no love
there is no fear of God; hence there will be no hope. Paul writing to Timothy
warns how people will behave in the end times. “But you must realize that in
the last days the times will be full of danger. Men will become utterly
self-centered, greedy for money, full of big words.
They
will be proud and contemptuous, without any regard for what their parents
taught them. They will be utterly lacking in gratitude, purity and normal human
affections. They will be men of unscrupulous speech and have no control of
themselves. They will be passionate and unprincipled, treacherous, self-willed
and conceited, loving all the time what gives them pleasure instead of loving
God. They will maintain a facade of “religion”, but their conduct will deny its
validity. You must keep clear of people like this.” (II Timothy 3:1-5)
This
is the current state of our world. But how did we get ourselves to this place?
Remember Jesus said it, due to the increase of lawlessness, most people love will
grow cold. It is not a sudden realization but a gradual decrease of human love.
This gradual decrease has been going on since the early part of the first
century reaching its climax in the 19th century, where many philosophers
declared that God was dead or at best no longer needed to verify Humanism’s
truth or fill the gaps remaining in scientific understanding.”
What
is humanism? It is an “outlook or system of thought attaching prime importance
to human rather than divine or supernatural matters. Humanist beliefs stress
the potential value and goodness of human beings, emphasize common human needs,
and seek solely rational ways of solving human problems.” What was the outcome
of humanism? The twentieth century dawned fair, bright and British. With it
came two world wars, the great depression, communism, the Jewish holocaust and
the atomic bomb. A ticket arrived, in
the form of drugs, rock and roll and eastern mysticism and the new age
movement.”[2]
In
recent years humanism made a great impact in the way we think, relate and
operate with one another. Everyone born into the Western world, either
Christian or not somehow inherits this humanistic world view. Please do not get me wrong, I value humanity
and the incredible potential and the immense capacity that humans have. Who
gave us those exceptional qualities to create, produce and solve problems? It
was God. What I am against is the system that manipulates us to think that we
can do without God. Can we really do without God? History tells us very well
what happens to a society or nation that ignores God in all matters of life?
The
scripture tells us in Psalm 14:1-3, “The fool says in his heart, “There is no
God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.
The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who
understand, any who seek God. All have turned away, all have become corrupt;
there is no one who does good, not even one.”
In
the USA more and more people are claiming to be Atheists. If we ignore God in
our country no wonder why we are feeling the love deficit, because God is love.
Because of the increase of lawlessness most people love is growing cold. What
can we do to reverse this decreasing trend? The only way we can reverse this
trend is by us growing in our love for God, for ourselves and for others. In
the Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Pete Scazero notes, “Loving well is the
goal of the Christian life. This is easier in our dreams than in practice. It
requires that we grow into emotional adulthood in Christ, the rewards of which
are rich beyond measure.” When we become emotionally and spiritually healthy we
become a blessing to our immediate family members, our church and to the rest
of the world around us. How can we grow in love?
III. HOW CAN WE
GROW IN LOVE?
If we care to admit we all recognize
that we have a great need to grow in our love for God, for ourselves and
others, right? I John is a very practical book which helps believers to grow in
love. It is written by John the beloved apostle.
John
wrote it encourage believers to keep their faith in Christ strong and continue
loving one another. He says we can know we are God’s children if we love one
another and if we obey God’s commands.
Loving
one another is not an option but a command from Jesus to his followers. “Now I
am giving you a new command—love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you
must love one another. This is how all men will know that you are my disciples,
because you have such love for one another” John 13:34-35. Remember, love is a
verb, therefore it must be demonstrated more than spoken. How can we practically demonstrate our love?
Here
are a few practical ways to grow in our love. Reading God’s word, praying, and
attending church regularly. Respecting others without having the need to change
them. Treating people with dignity as they are made in God’s image.
Appreciating people for who they are the good, bad, and ugly not for what they
give back. Resolving conflicts maturely. Forgiving those who hurt us. Not
keeping a record of the wrong doings of others.
Doing
acts of love and mercy for example, removing the trash, cleaning up the cat
litter, cleaning the dirty dishes in the sink or cooking a nice meal at home
and other million ways we can show our love for others. Let’s be creative and
proactive when it comes to expressing our love for one another. So as you leave
today, would you ask the Lord how creatively you can grow in your love for God,
for yourselves and for others? Amen
