18 May A life of love

People talk, sing, write a book about love. 

Human love is demanding and need selfish fulfilment 

The kind of love that the world speaking about is different with the love that God had given to His beloved children.

Love is the oxygen of the truly Christian life 

Love is the fruit of spirit 

Love is the life of Jesus 

Love is the person of Jesus 

Love is the oxygen of our spiritual life 

Love is the foundation to live beyond amazing 

For God So Loved the World

JOHN 3:16:

[16] “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Jesus said that we are to love one another the way he has loved us. And by this the world will know that we are his disciples. 

The world will knows that we are God’s children is not by how much we know about him; not by what we do for him; not by how many sermons we preached; but by our radical and sacrificial love for one another. And John says that this love is true not only in Christ but also in us who believe in him. 

When we understand and experience how Christ has loved us, the way we love changes. 

1 John 3:16 – By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

That is why John says that it is impossible for love and hate to coexist at the same time. 

We can’t experience the love of Christ and hate our brothers and sisters in church. It is one or the other. But if we love our brothers and sisters in Christ, then we know that we have a relationship with Christ. 

JOHN 15:12:

[12] “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

A loving life is an expression of a life of faith. 

Until we understand that God accepts us fully simply because of what Jesus has done for us, we will not be able to live a loving life. If we still think that we have to earn God’s acceptance, everything we do will be motivated by selfish desire rather than love.

Love in this verse above is Agape.

Agape is God’s love.

People says that they fall in love,

Actually we received love from God and we commanded to share our love 

Love is a decision to love and never change no matter what happens 

I. LOVE IS DECISION AND GOD’S COMMAND

JOHN13:34-35:

[34] A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 

[35] By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Living in Love is commanded by Jesus 

JOHN 15:17:

[17] These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

“Love is not a feeling only but it our decision to makes an active actions according to the word of God and Love is what we do more than what we feel”

1 JOHN 3:23-24:

[23] And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.

[24] Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

In the book Revelation, God command the church of Ephesus to go back to the first love 

REVELATION 2:4-5:

[4] But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 

[5] Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

II. THE CHALLENGE TO LOVE

Before we receive Jesus as our Lord and God We don’t have love, so We cannot give what we don’t have. But afterwards we have to share our given love to others around us. 

We can practice love by:

A. REFLECTING THE LOVE OF GOD ON YOU

1 JOHN 3:16:

[16] By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

Because of His love for us, Jesus willingly had given His life for us

1 JOHN 4:11-12:

[11] Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 

[12] No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

Because God loves us, so we can share that love to one another 

ROMANS 5:8:

[8] but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

We always want to be consumers of love rather than became distributors 

B. PURSUE GENUINE LOVE

JOHN 13:34-35:

[34] A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 

[35] By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

C. PRAYER FOR GREATER LOVE.

When we pray for someone, the power of the Holy Spirit will work in us and growing the God’s kind of love for them.

1 CORINTHIANS 13:1-3:

[1] If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 

[2] And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 

[3] If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Verses 1-2: Speaking about people who have great talent and ability and they have great passion to achieve their goals, so they get their greatest achievement even though they don’t have love. This is all vanity in God’s eyes. 

Verse3: Speaking about people who have great sacrifice, self denying for their purpose and destiny in the future. This kind of attitude we will find in the religious people, they do it out of their obligation to their commitment, but not in love. In front of God’s eyes this is vanity. 

D. DON’T BE AFRAID OF RISK AND BEING HURT

Love is funerable 

1 CORINTHIANS 13:4-7:

[4] Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 

[5] or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 

[6] it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 

[7] Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Verses 4-8: Speaking about a group of people who has personally  encountered with the Love and mercy of Lord Jesus Christ, and the supernatural power of God’s love transformed their life so they can transfer their given love to all of the people around them.

E. PRACTICE LOVE EVERY DAY

Love is an action and not inside our hearts and in our mouth only.

Loving in secret is not the act of love that God wants us to do it 

1 CORINTHIANS 16:13-14:

[13] Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. 

[14] Let all that you do be done in love.

Find out how much God love you, and then Take the love of God to people around you and make ourselves a distributor of God’s love to another’s.

Christ-connection: 

The ultimate example of love is Jesus himself. Jesus loves his brothers and sisters (us) so much that he lays down his life for them. The cross puts everyone on equal ground. Everyone is a sinner in the eyes of God. And everyone who puts their faith in Jesus is equally children of God. 

Understanding this, enables us to live selflessly for the sake of others. We no longer think we are better than others, but we are willing to let go of our rights to love others. 

Our relationship with one another is not rooted in demands but in giving. Just like Jesus gave his life for us, we give our lives for each other. We do not need other people to meet our demands for us to love them. We love them because we have been loved by God’s perfect love in Jesus Christ.