Hey Gang,
We begin a new series this week on ways believers are to relate to one another. Now, we all know that we live in a selfish world. Our society promotes individualism and encourages us to always look out for number one. But the Bible teaches something completely different, it says that the Christian life involves community and the fulfillment of certain reciprocal responsibilities toward one another. Many of these responsibilities are found in the "one another" commands of the New Testament - the first is to Love One Another.
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Remember the movie, Love Story? What was the famous line, "love means never having to say you're sorry." What was that suppose to mean? There are some mixed up ideas out there about what love really is.
Jesus summarized the entire Bible in two principles:
Loving God and Loving Others.
The common word here is to LOVE, you see to God, Love Matter Most!
The common word here is to LOVE, you see to God, Love Matter Most!
Is Love all you need? Did the Beatles have it right?
The answer here depends entirely on "What Kind of Love" the Beatles sang about. Many people don't believe they sang about the love of God. Galatians 5:6 says, "If you are a follower of Jesus Christ ... all that matters is your faith that makes you Love Others!" If you read the beginning verses of 1 Corinthians chapter 13, it says that If I don't live a life of love, then nothing I say will matter, nothing I know will matter, nothing I believe will matter, nothing I give will matter, and nothing I accomplish will matter. We are talking here about a kind of love that isn't an emotion or feeling, it's a choice you make, an action you take, a skill you learn, and a habit you practice. It's a kind of love that can only come from God. It's an Agape type of love! The kind of love that Jesus showed you and me.
I. LOVE LIKE JESUS LOVES – JOHN 13:34-35
"I give you a new commandment: love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
Admit it . . . some people are especially hard to love. We all know who they are. They’re the difficult people who drive you crazy by being irresponsible, rude, or socially deficient. They are the demanding ones that are pushy, obsessive, and stubborn. Some people have simply disappointed you, let you down, and proven to be unreliable or even disloyal.
God says we are to love these people too, but how? - As Jesus loved us!
What makes this a new commandment?
1. Accept Others like Jesus Accepts Me (Romans 15:7)
2. Value Others like Jesus Values Me
Try to calculate the value of just one person. We talked about Satan coming to you and offering you anything you wanted - name your price, for the soul of someone you dearly love. Satan promises you all the money you could want, power, prestige, fame and he'll throw in personal happiness - would you do it? Of course you wouldn't, but what if Satan said, okay, lets change the terms. I'll make it easier for you. All I'll ask is for your okay to take the soul of someone you don't even know. I'll still give you the money, power, and fame - would you do it?
Admit it . . . some people are especially hard to love. We all know who they are. They’re the difficult people who drive you crazy by being irresponsible, rude, or socially deficient. They are the demanding ones that are pushy, obsessive, and stubborn. Some people have simply disappointed you, let you down, and proven to be unreliable or even disloyal.
God says we are to love these people too, but how? - As Jesus loved us!
What makes this a new commandment?
1. Accept Others like Jesus Accepts Me (Romans 15:7)
2. Value Others like Jesus Values Me
Try to calculate the value of just one person. We talked about Satan coming to you and offering you anything you wanted - name your price, for the soul of someone you dearly love. Satan promises you all the money you could want, power, prestige, fame and he'll throw in personal happiness - would you do it? Of course you wouldn't, but what if Satan said, okay, lets change the terms. I'll make it easier for you. All I'll ask is for your okay to take the soul of someone you don't even know. I'll still give you the money, power, and fame - would you do it?
Whoever does not do what is right is not of God, especially the one who does not love his brother. For this is the message you have heard from the beginning: we should love one another, unlike Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil, and his brother's were righteous.
This is how we have come to know love: He laid down His life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has this world's goods and sees his brother in need but shuts off his compassion from him—how can God's love reside in him? Little children, we must not love in word or speech, but in deed and truth;
How might Christians make it appear they’re obeying Jesus’ command to love one another without really obeying? How does John not let us get away with that?
- Showing love shows we belong to God. Neglecting to show love shows we belong to someone else. Showing love is the first way to do what is right.
How do we shut off our compassion?
- Inaction can also demonstrate a lack of love. Love requires more than word or speech.
III. SHOW LOVE IN ACTION – 1 JOHN 4:7-13, 19
Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent His One and Only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us and His love is perfected in us. This is how we know that we remain in Him and He in us: He has given to us from His Spirit.
We love because He first loved us.
1. The best use of life is Love
What is the difference between saying, “God loves,” and, “God is love”? Since God is love, is all love of God?
- Any feeling and demonstration of genuine love comes from God. He initiated it, created it, demonstrated it, and implants the desire and power to love within a believers' heart.
How did God comply with His own requirement to love not just in word but in action?
- For God so love the world that He gave...
In what ways do we love that shows our love for God? What are some practical ways to love that can be identified by others as Christ-centered?
- When we reach out to help someone in need.
- A listening ear, sharing God's Word, encouraging someone, supporting, understanding, being a friend, praying for someone, showing grace, mercy, comfort and care.
2. The best expression of love is spelled: T I M E .
- There is no replacement for time when it comes to loving God and others. It requires personal sacrifices, but will have eternal rewards. They are more important than wealth or power. Relationships are everything in life.
3. The best time to love is Now. (Galatians 6:10)
According to church tradition, when the apostle John was so old that he had to be carried into the church to speak, he would often say just one thing, "Little children, love one another." The early believers, wanting to hear new instruction, asked John why he kept teaching them the same thing. The apostle replied, "It is the Lord's command, and you see, "This Kind of Love" if done right - is all you need!
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Think of one or more believers with whom you struggle to have a good relationship. How can you show love to them even if you don’t necessarily feel love?
Think of a family member you adore. How can you show love to them even more intentionally than you have been doing?
Prayer of Commitment
Lord, help me love my brothers and sisters in You. Amen.
I hope everyone has had a blessed week and that you are prayerfully preparing yourselves for this week's lesson. There are some mixed up ideas in our society about love and what it truly is. Jesus gave us the command to "love one another" three times in John's Gospel. In all three cases, Jesus was speaking to His disciples while they were gathered together. By extension, "one another" applies to all who are Jesus' disciples today, especially in the context of local churches where we actually gather as disciples. Although we are to show love to all people, we have a special responsibility to show love to one another within the church.
Have a blessed rest of the week and I'll see you on Sunday!
In His Love,
David & Susan
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