Love one another!!

1 Peter 1:22 You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart.

1 Peter 1:23 For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God.

INTRODUCTION

Good Morning Southpointe!! Last Sunday I talked to you about Caring for one another, and today I want to talk to you about love one another.

Look at

1 Peter 1:8 You love Him even though you have never seen Him. Though you do not see Him now, you trust Him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.

You love God but you have never seen Him, and you trust God and you rejoice with this unbelievable joy.

But we find in my text it tells us to we must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters, and we are to love each other deeply with all our heart.

1 John 4:20 If someone says, "I love God," but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don't love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?

Love is not an easy thing. we are inclined to read things like this and go our way saying, oh yes, this is all we need to do.

We must love everyone, and especially those who belong to the household of faith, our brothers and sisters.

Gal 6:10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

Love, what is love? To give things, to indulge every wish and whim of a person, to make things easy and pleasant all around, to wear a smile.

These are too often what we think carry the sign of love.

We think being pleasant, and caring, and generous then we are loving on people.

But does this fulfill the call of the New Testament that we should love one another, as Christ has loved us?

John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

What is this love that Jesus and His disciples are speaking about?

Again is it just the kind feeling or generous impulses? Is it just that fond feelings, that goose bump, sweaty palms wild feeling when you are around that person.

You see, I believe that Jesus is talking about and describing love in way that we don’t understand to be.

I know that love does dealing with some of those things but it is so much deeper than that, I think it deals with service, ministry, self-denial and self giving.

Love is putting another’s well being before our own, not because it is pleasant to do it but because it is right.

To gives oneself to death a hundred times a day as a act of self-denial.

To hold back words, unkind speech, damaging criticism. To lead a little child home that lost. To comfort an elder person, to respect and honor people.

I believe that we should check ourselves and see if the fruit of the Holy Spirit is operating in our lives.

Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

Gal 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Let’s look at the Marks of this kind of love.

Unfeigned

1 Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: KJV

Unfeigned--not counterfeit; not hypocritical; real; sincere; genuine; not pretended; sincerely felt or expressed; "genuine emotion

We are tempted to profess more than we feel, to kiss those who we are betraying, to cover with soft words.

How often we are one thing to their face and another to their back.

Our smiles a there for a purpose, our words are smoother than butter, while our hearts are drawn swords.

To love like Jesus is talking about it can’t be counterfeit, He is telling us to love real, sincere, genuine not pretending, but be sincere.

Love deeply!!

Love until it hurt and than love more.

2 Cor 6:4 But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,

2 Cor 6:5 In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings;

2 Cor 6:6 By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned,

In all things approving ourselves:

Another Mark of that kind of love.

2. Pure

1 Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

Love with a pure heart,

Matt. 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

The heart is the seat of affection. So Peter saying that we must have pure motives to love one another. It can’t be like the world’s love.

Matt 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Now this is what I want you to see in this verse there is a progression in this verse, what I mean is there is the mention of:

1 Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

“Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, then we see the progression here, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.”

A unfeigned love of the brethren, or the Revise Standard version read like this , A sincere love of the brethren means love that is genuine not simply an outward appearance or profession of love.

This love that is being talk about here is the Philadelphia love or what many call phileo love which is brotherly love, friendship love.

But we see there is a progression here ‘see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.”

This love here is Agape love, undying love. So switches from phileo love to agape love but Peter added more, he with a pure heart and he make it more powerful because he added fervently.

The pure heart deals with the inward purification of love, our motives, purpose etc. And fervently is a term used indicating strong, deeply felt emotions or desires.

So the sense of the verse is this “Once you have begun to grow in holiness so that you have a genuine affection for one another, make your love for each other earnest, deep and strong.”

So many of you might be saying this:

But how do we get to the point of love for one another. I mean I like a lot people but I don’t know if I really love them like that. I might have that phileo love, you know the friendship thing, but that genuine affection, that deep and strong love, that undying love, I don’t know.

Well, Peter does not leave us hanging.

3. We must know the truth.

Many will tell you that your love for others will come by meeting for social enjoyment, by knowing each other better, by constant working in the ministry.

The more we talk the more we can love each other.

But that is not God’s way, the true lens by which hearts are made to glow is the truth.

We must know the truth. The Word of God.

If I have two mirrors and one candle here, I can put them facing each other far away or close up and there is no light glowing, but I put a candle in between them, the light can be seen in and thru both of them.

So the mere contact of Christian with Christian will not necessarily produce burning heart, unless there be between them the truth of God’s Word.

Luke 24:28 By this time they were nearing Emmaus and the end of their journey. Jesus acted as if He were going on,

Luke 24:29 but they begged Him, "Stay the night with us, since it is getting late." So He went home with them.

Luke 24:30 As they sat down to eat, He took the bread and blessed it. Then He broke it and gave it to them.

Luke 24:31 Suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him. And at that moment He disappeared!

Luke 24:32 They said to each other, "Didn't our hearts burn within us as He talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?"

These two men had been spend time with Jesus, they had walked for miles and it was when They sat down to eat, that Jesus turn their hearts and eyes to see Him.

These men said Didn’t our hearts burn within us as He talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us.

They spiritually received the Word and they recognized who He was.

But there’s more than just receiving the Word to be able to love one another.

4. We must obey the truth.

John 14:21 Those who accept My commandments and obey them are the ones who love Me. And because they love Me, My Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal Myself to each of them."

One of the worst thing, that can happen in our lives is when we started reasoning and not receiving and obeying the truth.

Reason is a good gift and is to be used wisely, but it can turn bad quickly.

Proverbs 26:12 There is more hope for fools than for people who think they are wise.

When human reason takes itself for its own standard in deciding who God is or ought to be and how one comes to know God, it is foolish.

The danger is to assume that reason is sufficient to give us the whole story about God. You see, our reason, our rational perception of things is prove to mislead us.

Human reason can get some things about God right, But look at Romans

Rom 1:19 They know the truth about God because He has made it obvious to them.

Rom 1:20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see His invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.

So it was thru their reasoning that recognize God and they had no excuse for not knowing God. But look how far reasoning got them.

Rom 1:21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn't worship Him as God or even give Him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused.

Rom 1:22 Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.

Rom 1:23 And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.

Rom 1:24 So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other's bodies.

Rom 1:25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator Himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.

So human reasoning get you here,

You see, instead of worshipping the living God, the people of the world turned to idols. And it was thru their human reasoning and not just do what God said, they enter into idolatry.

In their logic of idolatry it was so they could make God visible, controllable, and available to their own agenda. They want to bend reality to their own will.

Idolatry occurs when we want to make God our instrument, the means by which we can achieve our own ends.

It is not about renounce God, It wanting to use God to give us what we thing we really need and the way we think is right.

We must remember God is God and sometimes we don’t understand but we are not in charge we are just here to fulfill His plan.

John 14:21 Those who accept My commandments and obey them are the ones who love Me. And because they love Me, My Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal Myself to each of them."

5. Obey the truth, and we will be purified by it.

Psa 119:9 How can a young person stay pure? By obeying Your word.

We should work hard at obeying God’s Word!

Obeying the Word of God purify the heart so that we can love like God.

1 Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: