Love one another

Love one another.

First we'll explore where love comes from,

then the extent to which we've been called to love,

and finally some practical applications of our commitment to each other among church members.

First, where does love come from?

I ask you the question.

Does God love you? How do you know?

Romans 5:8 “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

1 John 4:10 “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

God loves you. No doubt about it. He sent his son to die a brutal death to save us.

That's how we start our passage in

1 John 4:16 “So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”

God is the one who loves.

Our role is simply to remain in him, that is, to be led by him, by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.

When we trust in God's love, love is perfected in us,

so that we marvel at God's boundless love for us,

who was willing even to send his own son to rescue you, his former enemy.

and we end up loving others by trusting in God's love for us.

1 John 4:17–19 “By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us.”

I'm going to tell you a story to illustrate this point.

Once upon a time there was Rui and then there was Filipe. They were classmates. They were each 12 years old and both had excellent parents.

Rui had a habit in the evening of wanting to do his own thing, play video games, etc. and he took it for granted that his father was always there. His father always invited Rui to spend time with him, to play with the ball, but Rui used to prefer what he wanted to do and stay on his cell phone or whatever.

Then, during the day, the pattern continued, he ignored his sisters to play his video games.

Now Filipe used to wait by the door for his father to arrive. He wanted to hear his voice and always shouted "Dad!" as soon as he saw him

During the day, the pattern continued, Filipe worried about his brothers, if they were behaving well, if they were eating enough, if they were feeling well or not, and he always wanted to hear why.

At school, the teacher gave them a project to write about their family.

Rui said that he was afraid of his father, that he got anxious when it was time for him to come home. Filipe spoke of standing by the door, wanting nothing more than to see his father.

Explaining why

Rui said it was because he was afraid of his father's heavy judgment. Filipe, listening to Rui, was perplexed with frowning eyebrows, listening intently. Finally he said to Rui,

"but fear implies punishment, maybe the real problem is that you don’t spend time with your dad, you’ve forgotten his love for you and so then don't love your brothers well and that's why the cycle continues and you don't want your father to spend time with you.

Church , if your life is characterized by an overflowing love from God to loving others, there is no fear.

John Calvin once said of this verse that "When someone fears (that is, has a restless mind),

it's the lack of faith that's to blame.

For when God's love is well known, it calms the mind."

And the apostle Peter said in a letter of his that

he that doesnt love,

is blind and has forgotten the purification of his sins,

In other words, they forgot that God took the first step, that God loved first.

It's not by focusing on love that someone becomes lovable, (bootstraps)

is because he remembers that he is already loved more than enough by the God of perseverance and courage.

When we are in relationship with God, we remember that God loved us first.

The constant factor here is God's love. He already loves us.

he has already done everything to get us back.

he has already shown how committed he is to us

Therefore, whats in question here is not Gods love, but ours.

John , in the next vv. argues from the smallest to the largest

1 John 4:20–21 “If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”

God is simply telling you not to say that you love God if you don't love your neighbor.

This is the importance of being a member of the local church that continues to give meaning to what is meant by being a member.

Being a member means that you have people saying "yes, it's very likely that you really know God because you love the way he loves"

And if you're missing that love, to talk to you about it, from a heart of love, of loving concern, even if it's not comfortable.

In a nutshell

God has already loved us, God loved us first...

Ephesians 2:4–5 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—”

Now let us love one another as we are made in his image,

Whoever loves God, let him also love his brother

To represent him, we have to love each other

Love flows from God, to us and through us to love others

To what extent were we called to love?

From the words of Jesus… John 13:34–35 “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. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.””

To let people know who we are, the children of God, we have been called as Jesus loved us.

and again, how did Jesus love us? He didn't die in our place while protecting himself

People spat in his face, insulted him, his friends abandoned him to protect themselves and he continued to endure the brutal death we deserve

To love as Jesus loved us, even if people spit in your face, insult you, leave you on your own,

continue to love,

even if it means giving your whole life for people who have treated you badly

Now from the Jewish law and repeated throughout the Bible, we have the command...

Romans 13:9 “For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.””

Love your neighbor as yourself.

Many people want to use this as proof that they must love themselves first in order to love others better.

but this is a very bad interpretation, it has nothing to do with the objective God has stated here.

Now , you might think, but Jesus rested too, right? We all need to rest, it's something I've personally had to learn over the last few years and both Portugal and my friends have helped me with that.

But the vision Jesus is seen in the command to love one another as you love yourself will happen in one of two ways.

First Option: let's all rest by seeking our own rest and fighting for our rest and being restless waiting for our rest.

This option has two certainties: you'll rest and you'll get tired looking for your rest.

Second Option: if we want to rest, we look for the other person's rest and everyone ends up resting as long as the others are loving.

This option has less certainty and more risk, but allows for the possibility of a culture of love.

Pr. John Piper once talked about it, I'll summarize what he said:

what does it mean to love yourself?

is the desire to be happy and to do whatever it takes to make your life the way you want it to be.

Do you have that? Do you already want to be happy? Are you doing things to make your life the way you want it to be?

Then you don't need to "learn to love yourself" before you love others.

Jesus doesn't command you to love yourself, but he assumes that you are and commands you to love others

He 's saying that with all the desire you have to eat and drink and avoid injury and get well, use that amount of desire and effort for others, so that they eat and drink and rest enough and get well

make the degree of your personal search the measure of your search for the good of others

This is a radical command.

Christianity is an impossible religion if it weren't for the fact that Jesus saved us,

it is for this reason that Christianity is the only religion in which man does not find his way to God, but in which God has come to man.

It's because our God is too big and too loving for us to ever get there.

We needed him to love us first. We saw on the cross that God loved us first

Love your neighbor as yourself. As if you were sitting there on Saturday morning and then Jesus says

"Do you want a hug? Is there anyone else who wants a hug?" "Are you hungry? Don't forget that I've given you everything you need. See if your neighbors are hungry" "Are you thirsty? I am the fountain of living water. Would your husband like a drink?" "You need a friend to listen to you? don't forget how I listen to you. go and listen to someone else"

Jesus is not saying not to eat and drink, not to have your hug and not to talk to your friends, but he is absolutely saying to seek these things for others, at least as much as you do them for yourself.

Love your neighbor as yourself because he loved you first.

Our commitment as members of the church of light

This is why we made a membership promise to love one another and our promises are based on Romans 12:10-16.

For the conversation over dinner, the subject is to choose one or two of these next topics that you need to focus on in order to love others. Make a note to remember v.

Romans 12:10 “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.”

his commandment immediately goes beyond the level of self-love, telling you to give even more priority to others than to yourself

whatever you feel the need for, give priority to others first

Love others here as if they were literally your brothers and sisters, knowing that the blood of Jesus that binds you to believers will last longer than the blood of your body that binds you to your family on earth.

Romans 12:11 “Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.”

Don't wait around, stand up for your God and take the first step.

Be zealous in love and in evangelism

Be like our Philip who couldn't wait to shout, "Dad, you're home!"

Be zealous in your proclamation of your father's love

Be zealous in seeking the good of others so that others may know the love, care, dedication, attention and affection of God the Father.

Romans 12:12 “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”

Do you rejoice in the fact that you will spend eternity with the God who loves you? who cares for you? who proudly calls you "son"?

Do you pray for your brothers?

Make a habit of praying for your brothers and sisters, it will shape your heart towards them.

-The begues prayed for Courtney and me for a whole year and filled a notebook with prayers for us.

-Do something like this, make a habit of praying for each other

Romans 12:13 “Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.”

-Contribute to the needs of the local church financially so that it has finances that reflect God's love for the community

-your heart is where your wallet is

-v13b Try to be hospitable.

-How many times a month does someone have lunch or dinner at your house? Does that reflect God's affection?

Romans 12:14 “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.”

-when someone says something you don't like, do you respond or do you consider whether what they have to say might be true, at least partially true? what if you even thanked them for warning you?

Romans 12:15 “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.”

-Are you aware of other people's emotions here?

-How much time do you spend listening to other people's hearts and burdens?

-I hope you could identify one or two v's here that you could focus on in order to love others better.

God's new people

-We believe that the people of God's new covenant are already seated with Christ in the heavenly places.

-This universal church is manifested in local churches of which Christ is the only head; thus, each "local church" is, in fact, the church, the house of God, the assembly of the living God and the pillar and ground of the truth.

-The church is the body of Christ, the apple of his eye, it is engraved on his hands and he has committed himself to it forever.

-The church is distinguished by

-your gospel message,

-their sacred ordinances,

-your discipline,

-his great mission and, above all,

-for their love of God and

-by the love of its members for each other and for the world.

-Crucially, this gospel that we love has personal as well as corporate dimensions, neither of which should be ignored.

-Christ Jesus is our peace:

-he not only brought peace with God, but also peace between previously alienated peoples.

-His purpose was to create in himself a new humanity, making peace, and to reconcile both in one body with God, through the cross, destroying enmity by it.

-The church serves as a sign of God's future new world, when its members live in service to each other and their neighbors, instead of living focused on themselves.

-The church is the corporate dwelling place of God's Spirit and God's ongoing witness in the world.