Love of the Church

Everyone wants to be loved

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Churches are known for many things such as, dynamic speakers, awesome music, terrific programs, gorgeous facilities, robust mission efforts and many other things. All of these are great things, but how many churches are known for their love. Christ commands us to love one another. It is by our love that a lost world will know that we are disciples of Jesus Christ. If we don’t have love for one another than we are no different than any other organization.

We are to love each other the way Christ loves us. The way Jesus loves us is giving all He had to give us salvation. Granted we can not give anyone salvation, but we can give them what they need without contemplating the cost. Jesus did not hold anything back, but gave his life for us. When was the last time we loved someone in that way?

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is [a]born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 By this the love of God was manifested [b]in us, that God has sent His [c]only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.

The way we love one another the way Christ loves us is through God. We do not have the ability to love as Christ did on our own. Our human love for one another is mostly conditional. Meaning I will love you as long as you ...... God gives us the ability to love unconditionally. Take for instance our kids. What can they do that would cause us to stop loving them? Why? It is an unconditional love!

A Healthy Church is A Unified Church

20 “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; 21 that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may [a]believe that You sent Me. 22 The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; 23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected [b]in unity, so that the world may [c]know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.

A unified church is one that stands together for a common purpose. They may not agree on the methods or ways of accomplishing the purpose, but they all have the same heart. When a church is unified for a common goal they can work together to accomplish it even with differences in opinion.

22 The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; 23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected [b]in unity, so that the world may [c]know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.

A Healthy Church Stands On the Gospel.

22 The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; 23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected [b]in unity, so that the world may [c]know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.