Love One Another

Introduction

Allelon = one another

Finishing my basement, framing walls… If “members of one another” is the foundation for the one anothers, then “love one another” is the frame that supports the rest of the house.

Jesus commanded us to love one another… John 13:34-35; 15:12-13.

What is love?

Two important truths about love from the greatest essay on love ever written, 1 Corinthians 13.

What is Love?

1 John 3:16-18. Notice what’s missing from that description? Butterflies in your tummy. Love is more than a feeling.

Love is giving yourself for the highest good of the other.

Two Important Truths About Love from 1 Corinthians 13

Without love, nothing else matters. If you don’t have love, you don’t have anything.

Explanation: 1 Corinthians 13:1-3… The right target is spiritual fruitfulness—not spiritual giftedness. Spiritual gifts are given for the purpose of producing spiritual fruit. And the only way that happens is through love.

Illustration: My Grandpa Bob died in 2008. What I remember most about him isn’t his spiritual giftedness but his love.

Love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8).

Explanation & Application: 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a (The Message) - Does this list describe you?

1 Corinthians 13:4–8a The Message

4 Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, Doesn’t have a swelled head, 5 Doesn’t force itself on others, Isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, 6 Doesn’t revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, 7 Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end. 8 Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit.

Illustration: Love in action: Erik & Matt’s story (https://newspring.cc/stories/erik-and-matthew)

Conclusion

How can we love one another like that? Only through Jesus.

1 Corinthians 13:7 (ESV)

“When we realize afresh that Jesus loves us in this way—he bears everything we throw at him, he still believes in us and is quietly confident for us, he has endured even the cross for us—then we take heart again and know that only his love can sustain us and make us the people, the local churches, he wants us to become.” (David Prior)