Jan 13, 2019
LOVE LIKE JESUS . . .
What makes it possible for us to love like Jesus is because He first loved us.
“We love because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19
We are undeserving recipients of His unconditional and unending love.
WHY LOVE? . . .
Because God has loved us, we should love one another the way He loves us.
“ . . . just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” John 13:34
We are to love differently than the world.
“If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.” Luke 6:32
We are to love people who are hard to love.
“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.” Luke 6:27-31
We are to love people selflessly.
“It (love) does not insist on its on way.” 1 Corinthians 13:5
We are to love people sacrificially.
“When we love others, we are being the hands and feet of Jesus. Jesus loved the marginalized, rejected, and forgotten. And at the end of His life, His hands and feet were nailed to a cross. Real love demands something of us, and it will lead us into suffering.” Francis Chan, Letters to the Church
To love in a way that you’re willing to sacrifice your time.
To love in a way that you’re willing to sacrifice your position and pride.
“ . . . who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” Philippians 2:6-7
To love in a way that you’re willing to sacrifice your possessions.
“But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” 1 John 3:17-18
To love in a way that you’re willing to sacrifice your life.
“This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:12-13
To love in a way that you expect nothing in return.
“And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.” Luke 6:34-35
We are to love people sincerely.
“If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother or sister, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother or sister who he has seen cannot love God who he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother and sister.” 1 John 4:20-21
Because what makes the people of God attractive to the world is how well we love one another.
“By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:35
“No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us.” 1 John 4:12