Walking Together in Christian Love

Robbie Jones

Church by the Book • Sermon • Submitted 6 years ago

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God reveals His love to us and calls us to love one another

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Introduction

review the last 4 weeks

preaching of the word

right administration of the ordinances

godly leadership

covenant membership

Today I want to talk more about a section from the covenant.

we are to walk together in Christian love

God’s love revealed

God is love

1 John 4:8 ESV

Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

1 John 4:16 ESV

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.

&16 we see that God is love. Love lies at the core of God's being, in fact v.7 says that love comes from God. God is the fountain, the source, the spring from which all true love flows.

we see that God is love. Love lies at the core of God's being, in fact v.7 says that love comes from God.

1 John 4:7 ESV

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

God is the fountain, the source, the spring from which all true love flows.

When we think about this we may think about the human kind of love. But God's love is higher, it is greater. God's love is a perfect love and it is a holy love which delights in righteousness and justice

God’s love is revealed through Jesus Christ our Lord

1 John 3:16 ESV

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

1 John 4:9–10 ESV

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 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.

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. ( ESV)

9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.

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. ( ESV)

Discuss the love of God seen in the cross. Christ laid down His life for the likes of us, those of us who were His enemies and rebels against His rule.

Do you see why your love is nothing impressive, it is nothing to boast in.

There is enough sin in our love to send us to an eternal hell.

But the good news, the gospel is

8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ( ESV)

The love of God for His church is a redeeming love. Though we were God's enemies, rebels against His rule God loved us and sent His son to set us free from our sin and our selfish lovelessness.

Jesus commands His Church to love another

Jesus commands His disciples to love one another

1. From the beginning, Jesus commands His disciples to love one another

Love one another...that is the one of the main themes of John's letter. It is woven through the text in several places

Basic ethical message of Christianity

1 John 3:11 ESV

For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

and we see it again at the end

1 John 4:21 ESV

And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. (

ESV)

Brothers and sisters we are to be marked by a love for one another.

the "one another" in these verses refer to Christians

While Christians are called to love everyone there is a special priority and quality of love for other Christians.

Why should we love?

14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. ( ESV)

He is saying that the badge or the proof that we have eternal life is that love for other Christians naturally flows from our hearts. Love for fellow Christians is evidence that life has already come.

He goes on to say that when one does not have this love then there is no eternal life in that person read on to v. 15

14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.

15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

( ESV)

Why should we love?

Our love demonstrates the reality of our faith.

A negative answer for 'why love?'

First of all if we do not love fellow Christians we are not saved- we are not Christians according to the Bible.

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." ( ESV)

John picks up Jesus' teaching in 1 John and applies it to our relationships in the church. Chapters 3 and 4 concentrate on our call to love one another.

1 John 4:20–21 ESV

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.

20 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.

21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. ( ESV)

It is clear that we do not love God if we do not love each other and if we do not love God then we are not Christians.

In fact in we are told that if we do not love then we are nothing and we gain nothing.

The church in Corinth was divided in cliques and factions. Some people thought they were great because they had particualr spiritual gifts. Others were made to feel low and small. In the middle of his discourse on spiritual gifts Paul pens this famous chapter on love.

1 Corinthians 13:1–3 ESV

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 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. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Again look at vv. 1-3

It doesn't matter how spiritually gifted we are, it doesn't even matter how radical our devotional sacrifices are. If we do not have love we are empty, we are nothing.

If we do not have love then we are not Christians-worse than that, we are nothing.

Brothers and sisters love for one another give evidence of the reality of our faith.

Love is the result of genuine belief in the gospel. That is why we are called to pursue love. If we believe the gospel love flows from such faith.

To state it positively, Love is the result of genuine belief in the gospel. That is why we are called to pursue love. If we believe the gospel love flows from such faith.

The best way to live

18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold,

19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you

21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God

22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, ( ESV)

v.18 Peter refers to the Jewish religious practice as futile, as empty. We are reminded that religiosity doesn't win us favor with God.

If God's people, Israel, had a futile way of life because of their dull obedience to the Law, then how much more would that be the case for those of us outside the covenant of Israel.

Peter reminds them that they are not redeemed with silver or gold or an empty religious life, but with the precious blood of Christ.

read vv.19-22 of 1 Peter again

Peter moves directly from the cross and faith in Christ to a purified life to the imperative to love deeply from the heart.

First comes obeying the truth-that's another way of referring to belief in the good news about Jesus Christ which Peter outlines in vv.18-21.

The result of believeing the truth or obeying the gospel is that now you have purified yourselves. By faith in Christ all who turn to Him and believe on Him are cleansed by His blood. Our sins are removed as far as the east is from the west.

Then Peter goes on to say that such a cleansed person has sincere love for their brothers. If you've been born again you ought to love one another deeply from the heart

The truth about love

So we come to know that love is the greatest virtue, the greatest, highest, and the best way to live. Have you ever thought about how the Bible describes love and why a life of love is the 'good life?' We find statements throughout the Bible that teach us this.

love is called the more excellent way,

in ch.13 v. 13 it is called the greatest of the three chief virtues. Love is the only virtue that will continue through eternity. All other virtues will pass away, but even in eternity we will continue to experience pure, perfect love.

Moreover, love holds all the other virtues together in perfect unity.

12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,

Colossians 3:12–14 ESV

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. ( ESV)

It is love that fulfills the law of God and all that God requires

Romans 13:9–10 ESV

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 does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

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."

10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. ( ESV)

What do you suppose we are to be doing when Christ returns, and ends history, brings His judgment, and ushers in eternity? How should we be treating one another?

7 The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.

8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. ( ESV)

If you are here today and you are not a Christian I want to be honest with you. When we read these words in the Bible we are reminded that our love is imperfect, it has holes in it, and that we do not love as we ought to love as Christians.

Oftentimes we can appear to be, and act, quite loveless to others outside the church and to each other.

We want you to know that we are not hypocrites.

We are human and we know our weakness.

We know our failure to love and that is why we are convinced that we need a Savior.

We all fail at doing or showing an excellent thing like love. We cannot produce love in perfect measure or supply. Who would not want to love? Who would not want to be loved and to give love? Everybody does. Our need for love isnt something you have to convince us of. We know that we should love and be loved. Yet we fail. Our failures are many. Those failures confirm for us that even our righteousness is as filthy rags before God. Even our good deeds of love are tainted with sin.

If you are here today and you are not a Christian, but you know Christians, maybe you know Christians in this room. IF you know Christians then I am sure that you see imperfections in their, in our love. One of the greatest things you could do for us is for you to point out the failures that you see in our love.

Hopefully we would be humble and not defensive if you would do this for us as a body of believers and hopefully we would learn from it.

But would you humbly with no defensiveness hear our message of love to you this morning? God demonstrated His love for us in that while we were still sinners God sent His Son Jesus to make atonement for our sins. Atonement means that when Jesus died, His sacrifice in our place covered our sins and satisfied God's justice on our behalf.

Until you turn to God through faith in Jesus Christ-until you love Jesus for who He is and what He has done-the Bible says you do not love God. You are hostile toward God, rebellling against Him.

We tell you this in love. We tell you of your sin because we love you. We are all sinners. The simple truth of the Bible is that there is only one way to know the love of God and that is to turn form your empty way of life and to turn to Jesus Christ, to trust in His redeeming work to rescue from your sin, to rescue you from God's wrath.

The end of a life that is not lived trusting in God's love given to sinners in Jesus Christ is God's judgment, but if you trust in the love of God that He has given us in His Son you can have the hope of eternal life in God's Kingdom.

You are invited to trust in God's love!

Who should we love?

Well, who should we love?

Maybe you are thinking well I could love anyone but ....

Please don't tell me I have to love this person.

Well....

The answer is everybody, but especially fellow Christians in the church.

We know that we are to love everyone because Jesus says that we are to even love our enemies.

However, there is a unique shared loved between Christians

1 Thessalonians 3:11–12 ESV

Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you,

1 Thess. 3.11-12

12 and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, ( ESV)

There are 16 passages in the NT alone where the phrase "love one another" is used. We see this three times in two verses.

John 13:34–35 ESV

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.”

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." ( ESV)

Who are the one anothers?

Are they all professing Christians in general?

In one sense, yes. Jesus loves His bride, the church. We are to love the bride, the entire church.

All the instances of 'love one another' however, are written in concrete situations to particular local churches. 'One another' love becomes visible in a local setting, with real people, in real churches, having real difficulties and real joys.

For the one another commands to make sense and be do able we have to have a defined group of the one anothers.

We have to know whom we are committing to love.

That is one reason that practicing church membership is important. It is when the church has a healthy church membership we know who the one anothers are. The one anothers are the brothers and sisters that we have covenanted with as a body of believers.

So church membership clarifies our mutual commitment to care for one another when we join a body of believers what we are saying is though I will love all of the body of Christ, I am covenanting to specifically fulfill the one another commands with this body of believers.

The goal with meaningful membership is not to create a club or a clique mentality, those things destroy true Christian love. This is about strengthening our love as a family, sharing in the life and love of God through Jesus.

This is why we have worked on cleaning up the membership role so that those who are members of the church are those that want to be members and who intend on being active in this local body. So that we can have a membership role that we can use to say.....

This is my brother and sister whom God calls me to love. I can aim my love at them with more certainity and expect their love in return.

When i say love i don't mean to talk about things that are vague and abstract, but things that are tangible and specific.

How should we love?

Few people would argue with the fact that Christians should love others and should love brothers and sisters in Christ.

But the temptation would be for us to say, 'I love other Christians,' and yet have a vague, misty notion of love. Our 'love' may not take any form. It may be listless and lifeless. So how do you show your love for others?

NT holds forth several qualities that should describe our love for one another.

We are to love one another earnestly, from the heart

22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, ( ESV)

8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. ( ESV)

Our love should not be a shallow, weak thing. This love comes from the depths of who we are.

We are the dearly loved Children of God, we are God's children with God's Spirit in us and now with Christ living in us we are to love deeply like Jesus loved.

Love is not to come from our head or our lips, but from our innermost being. We are to love with our whole selves.

It is to be strong, passionate, pure. It is to be there in good times and in bad times. It is deep, heartfelt, sacrifical, and joyful love.

Do you love your brothers and sisters in Christ deeply, from the heart?

We are to love one another sincerely

9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. ( ESV)

It must be genuine, authentic, pure, sincere, without pretense, without a mask. Insincere love is an oxymoron.

An insincere love is like a married nun. The two terms cannot be meaningfully joined together.

The mark of sincere love is hate for what is evil and clinging to what is good. Evil complicates, distorts, and falsifies. That is why it is incompatible with love and goodness. Sincere love and true goodness simplify, preserve, protect, and promote the truth.

Where we love one another sincerely we have no stomach for seeing evil infect our lives.

So we don't call evil things good or good things evil.

We don't wink at sin while failing to praise holiness.

We abhor the presence and effects of sin and wickedness on fellow saints.

We long to see good done to them and by them.

Sincere love is jealous for those good things to remain and flourish in the lives of ones we love.

That is different from insincere or fake love. Fake love has no place among Christians. When love is insincere it proves that it is truly not love at all.

If we go to church with someone, but try to avoid them in public that is fake love,

if we say yes i will pray for you and then don't that is fake love,

if we see a brother or sister headed into sin and do nothing about it that is fake love,

if we see a brother or sister in need and refuse to give then that is fake love,

if we say we love a brother or sister and yet hold a grudge and refuse to forgive or work it out that is fake love

True love honors others above oneself, 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. ( ESV) Those with true love attempt to outdo one another in showing honor and love.

We are to love continuously as a debt

8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. ( ESV)

Every month we have to pay our electric bill no matter how high the bill may get in July and August, that is we pay it unless we want our lights turned off. It is a continuing debt that we owe.

So it is with Christian love. We owe it to one another as a continuing debt because Christ has purchased both us and our brother in love.

I am in debt to you to pay you love and you are in debt to me to pay me love.

Sometimes the bill of love is shocking and we don't want to pay such a high price to show love to someone else, we may think man that is going to cost me a lot to show them love, but no matter how high the bill we are called to pay the debt of love that we owe.

When love is costly just remember how costly Christ's love for us was, it cost Him His life, He gave all that He have for us. Brothers and sisters sometimes love is costly and we are to pay even when it is costly.

We must be intentional about loving one another

24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, ( ESV)

The idea is that we are to plot together about how to push ourselves to greater and greater love and good deeds.

We are to spur one another on toward love and good deeds (cowboy spurring a horse)

Notice this is one of the reasons that we are to meet together regularly. Again look at

24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,

25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. ( ESV)

Is there anyone in your life that calls you out of yourself and toward greater love?

Do you have any co-conspirators who plot and scheme with you about how to love more and do more good to others?

Because if you don't i can tell you what your default position is. It is to turn inward instead of turning outward in love toward others.

Jason and Lisa Pritchett, Chris and Cynthia Smith, Earl and Leigh Ann Greene, Eric Moore, Anna Strickland, and Frank and Mary Sue Dabbs

We are to love each other equally

We should have equal concern for each member of the body.

but that the members may have the same care for one another. ( ESV)

The Bible says that our love for one member ought to be the same for every other member. We talked about this before, so I want belabor the point, but this is a simple reminder.

Brothers and sisters think of the love that would be put on display if we loved one another in this way. There is nothing small or insignificant about the truth and the power of the gospel that would be put on display if we loved like this.

If we loved like this the world would not be able to explain it. The world would look at us and say,

"The don't have any of the prejudices that we have. The don't form the same cliques and clubs we do. And look, no one over there is lonely or left our. Not one is treated like a second class citizen. No one goes with out having their needs met. How is it that these people with nothing in common love each other that way?"

The simple answer would be: Come let us tell you about Jesus and the love of God, which can be yours by faith.

So brothers and sisters what does this look like?

How will we act when we deeply, sincerely, continuously and intentionally show love equally to every member?

1 Corinthians 13:4–8 ESV

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

Look at vv.4-8

notice the verbs

First, the Bible here defines love, not by adjectives, but with verbs.

Paul uses 15 verbs in five verses to describe love. Love is an action, a present and continuous action.

When the Bible speaks of love, it is not referring primarily to some inner feeling but to a gritty and dynamic movement.

2. love is not about the self, but about the other.

Love thinks more highly of others than it does of itself.

That is the life that we are called to live. A life of showing and receiving love with our egos and selfish concerns crucified in Christ.

Place your name where the word love appears in vv.4-7 (David is patient and kind, Kenny does not envy and boast and so on)

Let me ask you can you place your name in these verses?

Try to do this this afternoon. Pay specific attention to the uncomfortable parts, the parts that you think are impossible. And then pray for God to grow you in those areas and begin striving to grow in those areas.

You know what. The name the fits perfectly in all of these places is who?

It is the name of Jesus. Plug Jesus into all of these places.

That is the Lord that we serve. He calls us to love like He loves. Let's pray for His grace to do so. May He make our fellowship overflow with His love as we share together in His life.

You may not be a believer and wander if any of this has anything to do with you

What does love have to do with non Christians?