Where is the Love?

Sermon Notes

Galatians 5:7–15 (NKJV)

7 You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?

8 This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you.

9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump.

10 I have confidence in you, in the Lord, that you will have no other mind; but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is.

11 And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased.

12 I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off!

13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

15 But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!

Persuasion = Means of convincing.

Troubles = To cause great mental stress.

Verse 11:

Wuest’s Word Studies in the Greek New Testament 3. The Exegesis of the Letter

That is, if circumcision be preached as one of the prerequisites of salvation, then the Cross of Christ would cease to be an offense. Thus, the offensiveness of the Cross to the Jew lay in the teaching that believers in the Lord Jesus are free from the Mosaic law. That was the very point at issue when the Sanhedrin was trying Stephen.

Sermon Outline

Where Is The Love?

Where there is division; love will not stand.

“Learning to love unselfishly is not an easy task. It runs counter to our self-centered nature.” Rick Warren

“The world does not understand theology or dogma, but it understands love and sympathy.” Dwight L. Moody

God commands us to love.

John 13:34–35 NKJV

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

Proverbs 10:12 (NKJV)

12 Hatred stirs up strife, But love covers all sins.

Matthew 22:36–40 NKJV

36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” 37 Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

We have been given liberty in Christ, but that liberty can be used in one of two ways:

It can be used to divide.

It can be used to unite.

In Christ, we are called to liberty in which our liberty is used to unite not divide.

How to take a united stand as the body of Christ?

Serve one another. (13)

Love one another. (14)