What's Love Got To Do With It

Galatians 5:13–15 NIV

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

· We have been called to liberty (freedom)

· Our freedom comes through our relationship with Christ Jesus

· Galatians were hung up on the law of the circumcision; Paul reminds them that since Christ has come that circumcision will profit them nothing.

· Circumcision was a requirement under the LAW but the law had one purpose and that was to show us that we are incapable of fulfilling without a savior.

· Paul admonishes the Galatians that if we only had the law as a means for salvation we would all be lost (v. 11).

· We now have a new commandment-LOVE.

John 13:34–35 NIV

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

John 13:34-35

A. How will our families, co-workers, church family, children, widows, homeless, drug addicts etc. know that we are followers of Christ?

Select one:

· By the car we drive

· By our clothing

· By our LOVE

· Because I am a minister

· Because I have an important position in the church

It’s funny that none of this other stuff or things matter in relation to LOVE which is the supreme commandment!

· Galatians 5:14-15

o Love your neighbor as yourself

o Biting and devouring will cause us to consume one another!!! (Dangerous)

I John 4:20-21

"If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother." In other words, John tells us that the true measure of whether we love God or not is shown in how well we love our brother.

o I Corinthians 13:1-3

file:///C:/Users/charl/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image002.jpgIf I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. (1 Cor. 13:1-3)

o How do we love like that; how is it possible:

§ There is a war going on between the Flesh & the Spirit

§ The Flesh works the Spirit GROWS and produces

Galatians 5:16-18

§ We must walk in the Spirit so we do not fulfill the lust of the ____________________.

There is HOPE

If we are led by the Spirit we are not under the LAW! The law kills but the spirit brings LIFE and that more abundantly.

Galatians 5-19-26

The “WORKS” of the Flesh “The Fruits of the Spirit”

Works of the Flesh:

• Adultery - one person married but having sex with someone else.

• Fornication - having sex and not being married to each other

• Uncleanness - morally impure, evil, vile, unlikable.

• Lasciviousness - indicating sexual interest or expressive of lust or lewdness

• Idolatry - the worship of idols, excessive or blind adoration, reverence or devotion to anything other than God

• Witchcraft - practicing magic using demonic powers

• Hatred - intense dislike or hostility

• Variance - conflict, arguing, fighting

• Emulations - resentment against a rival

• Wrath - vengeance or punishment as the consequence of great anger

• Strife - struggling in opposition

• Seditions - rebellious disorder

• Heresies - divisions in religious communities

• Envyings - close to jealousy, a feeling of discontent or covetousness with regard to another's advantages, success, possession

• Murders- the intentional killing of another human being

• Drunkenness - intoxication, in this case alcohol but can include any mind-altering drug

• Revellings - partying hard, indulging in loud boisterous festivities for no apparent reason

Fruit of the Spirit:

· Love To serve a person for their good and intrinsic value, not for what the person brings you

· Joy Delight in God and his salvation for sheer beauty and worth of who he is.

· Peace - Confidence and rest in the wisdom and sovereignty of God more than your own

· Patience - Ability to take trouble (from others or life) without blowing. To suffer joyfully.

· Kindness - Practical kindness with vulnerability out of deep inner security.

· Goodness. (integrity) - Honesty, transparency. Being the same in one situation as another

· Faithfulness- Loyalty. Courage. To be principle-driven, committed, utterly reliable. True to one’s word

· Gentleness. (humility) - Self-forgetfulness

· Self-control - Ability to choose the important thing over the urgent.

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Saints, we must examine ourselves against the WORD of God. Will my actions stand or do I need to make some modifications to LOVE with the same fervor exhibited by Jesus Christ...That is the question!