Where does perfect love come from?
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
1 John 4 :7-8 NKJV
Observations:
- We are loved
- We can’t give that which we don’t possess.
- God is Love – He is the source.
And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in Him.
1 John 4 :16 NKJV
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
John 15 :9-13
Who specifically, do we love? Love distinguishes us from the world.
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
John 13:34-35 NIV
Love inwardly-brothers and sisters in Christ:
Forgive
Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
Colossians 3:13
Protect the unity
1How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! 3For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.
Psalms 133:1,3
Practice Patience
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other
Galatians 5:22-26
Don’t judge
4How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while there is still a beam in your own eye? 5You hypocrite! First take the beam out ofyour own eye, and then you will see clearly to removethe speck from your brother’s eye.
Matthew 7:4-5
Love outwardly – host of people outside of relationship with God.
Be the salt and light
You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its savor, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.
Matthew 5:13
Harvest is ripe workers are few
37Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 38Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
Matthew 9:37-38 NKJV
Go to the lost.
19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
Matthew 28:19-20
Be Jesus and when necessary use words. How do we love? Selflessly
Concern oneself more with the needs and wishes of others than with one’s own. We need to look at Jesus’ example
"Even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
Matthew 20:28 ESV
Jesus Himself exemplified selflessness by His sacrificial service and ultimate act of selflessness on the cross.
Sacrificially
In a way that is offered as a sacrifice
Numbers 28:9
Before any lamb could be offered as a sacrifice, it had to be examined thoroughly and be declared spotless.
Servantly – Of, pertaining to, resembling, or befitting a servant; servile.
12When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. 13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
John 13:12-17
0 Comments