Why Missions? LOVE!

He Loved us so we love

Love

He 1st loved us

We are transformed by love

While we are not perfect our lives and the live of theirs are better when we follow Him

1 John

Background

50-60 years of the church

gnostics - “special/secret knowing that connects us to God”

Best Lie - there is a difference between body, spirit, and knowing - but it is a coming together

1 John 4:7–16 NLT

7 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. 12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. 13 And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. 14 Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. 16 We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.

V7 - Love

C.S. Lewis

Need-Love - like a kid running to his parent

Gift-Love - a dad leaving money after his death for his kids

Fitters are messed up.

Defense Mechanisms against Love - Practical Application

Denial - Refusing to accept reality or facts

Example - Major Loans

Not Loving others - “am I my brother keeper?”

Incarnation

Repression - Blocking unpleasant thoughts and feelings

Example - grief - Numbing out & addiction

Not Loving others - Distracting ourselves social media / news / Netflix

Jesus weeping at Lazarus’ Tomb

Projection - Attributing one’s own feelings to others

Example - I feel insecure about my work performance SO I tell others my co worker is not trying

Not Loving others - I don’t feel like I am enough SO those people aren’t worth it

John & Judas getting their feet washed

Love is the real thing that transforms.

receive and give

You are not perfect, but getting better

Love is giving out of our whole being

Jesus gives out of his Wholeness all of him