All You Need is Love

ME: ORIENTATION: FIND COMMON GROUND WITH THE AUDIENCE

I remember when I fell in love with my children, first sight, thought.

I remember when I fell in love with my wife.

Love is wonderful. I remember when I fell in love with Jesus.

salvation a response to his love. serving, worship.

WE: IDENTIFICATION (MAKE IT CLEAR THAT YOU STRUGGLE)

Can we take God for granted?

Do we want love on our time table and the way we see it.

When God says that He loves us what exactly does God mean?

What we are called to do? love, which is a verb.

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. (ESV)

③ to move away, w. implication of causing a separation, leave, depart from

ⓐ lit. of pers. or physical things as obj. (PGrenf I, 1, 16; BGU 814, 16; 18) ; ; ; , ; ; . The spirit left the possessed man 9:42 D; abandon (Soph., Phil. 486; Hyperid. 5, 32; X., Hell. 6, 4, 5) ; .—W. impers. obj. (PFay 112, 13; ; ; ): J 10:12; house ; cp. ; (Diod S 17, 41, 7: Apollo appears and explains that he would leave Tyre, which is doomed to destruction); Judaea J 4:3 (Jos., Ant. 2, 335 τ. Αἴγυπτον); the way Hv 3, 7, 1; everything , ; ; ; .

ⓑ fig. of impers. obj. give up, abandon (Aeschyl., Prom. 317 ὀργάς; Arrian, Anab. 1, 10, 6; Jos., Ant. 9, 264 ἀ. τ. ἄρτι βίον) τὴν πρώτην ἀγάπην ;

1 Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., Bauer, W., & Gingrich, F. W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature (3rd ed., p. 156). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Repent: Change ones mind, ② feel remorse, repent, be converted1

1 Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., Bauer, W., & Gingrich, F. W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature (3rd ed., p. 640). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

GOD: ILLUMINATION (THE GOAL IS TO RESOLVE THE TENSION

I. Beloved… let us love one another

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God (ESV)

A. Beloved

verb ἀγαπάω (agapaō, “to love”) and is used to indicate someone who is considered dearly loved or valued

Love ( first used)

ἀγαπάω (agapaō). vb. to love, to esteem, to like. This verb refers to a kind of love that expresses personal will and affection rather than emotions or feelings.

The verb agapaō is one of the main Greek terms for love. It appears over a hundred times throughout the nt with several different meanings.

B. For love is from God

ἀγάπη (agapē). n. fem. love. This term means “love” but can also denote ideas such as benevolence or goodwill.

Tina Turner: “What’s love got to do with it, got to do with what is love but a second hand emotion.”

God’s love has everything to do with everything

Tina in this song looks at it in a very selfish way. God’s love is different

C. Whoever loves has been born of God and Knows God.

ἀγαπάω (agapaō). vb. to love, to esteem, to like. This verb refers to a kind of love that expresses personal will and affection rather than emotions or feelings.1

Whoever loves as God loves knows God

ἀγαπάω (agapaō). vb. to love, to esteem, to like. This verb refers to a kind of love that expresses personal will and affection rather than emotions or feelings.1

know: b. ginṓskein plays a bigger role in John and 1 John. It denotes personal fellowship with God or Christ. The relation between Father and Son is a knowing, and so is that between Jesus and his disciples (, ). Because the Father and the Son have life, to know them is to have eternal life (5:26; 17:3). Knowing God also means being determined by love (). Love governs the relation between both Father and Son ( etc.) and Jesus and his disciples

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 12: Hebrews through Revelation A. Brotherly Love (4:7–12)

His intention is to provide final assurance that the community’s commitment to mutual love is the explicit requirement of the gospel as revealed in God himself. Love for one’s brother comes “from God.” It is evidence of our being “born of God”

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 12: Hebrews through Revelation A. Brotherly Love (4:7–12)

His intention is to provide final assurance that the community’s commitment to mutual love is the explicit requirement of the gospel as revealed in God himself. Love for one’s brother comes “from God.” It is evidence of our being “born of God” that is as important as righteous behavior is (2:29).

This is what it means to love, that we are born of God.

English Standard Version Chapter 4

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

D. If we do not love… we don’t know God

Lexham Theological Wordbook ἀγαπάω

ἀγαπάω (agapaō). vb. to love, to esteem, to like. This verb refers to a kind of love that expresses personal will and affection rather than emotions or feelings.

II. Live trough Him… Him Who?

English Standard Version Chapter 4

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

A. Live through Him

English Standard Version Chapter 4

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

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 12: Hebrews through Revelation A. Brotherly Love (4:7–12)

John adds the supreme statement “God is love” (4:8, 16). Love so conceived is not to be understood as one of God’s many activities but rather that “all His activity is loving activity. If He creates, He creates in love; if He rules, He rules in love; if He judges, He judges in love. All that He does is the expression of His nature, is—to love

I think when we abandon this love we loose our way and need to repent and do what we did at first.

III. God abides in us and his love is perfected in us

God’s love for us

English Standard Version Chapter 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

John 3:16

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

English Standard Version Chapter 4

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.

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 12: Hebrews through Revelation A. Brotherly Love (4:7–12)

at the Father’s side, has made him known” (John 1:18), he turns rather to love: “If we love each other,” we know that God is present with us. As God was once present in his Son, so now he is present through the community of faith. And it is in this community that love has its ultimate fulfillment.

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 12: Hebrews through Revelation A. Brotherly Love (4:7–12)

God’s love for us is perfected only when it is reproduced in us

God’s love for us is perfected when it reproduced in us and expressed to others

YOU: APPLICATION (TELL PEOPLE WHAT TO DO AND WHAT THEY HAVE HEARD)

Conclusion

Is it just that simple: we live, grow and are transformed in Love.

Don’t forget it!

Do the works you did at first.

Reach out today

What to do!

Cards:

2 cards: Write down five people you are praying for that they may come to Christ.

Copy it on the second card and we will place it on the altar.

Pray for them through Easter.

Invite them to the Easter Services.

Invite them to the Easter Service.

Do not throw your cards away.

We stop praying when they come to Christ.

We then begin to pray for spiritual growth.