The Christian Life is a Life The Christian Life is a Life of Love!of Love!

“Love isn’t something we are in – it is something that we do…”

Love is active Good Will!Love is active Good Will!“For God so loved the world that

He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

True Love isActive Good Will

• God’s love for man compelled him to act decisively for our salvation (cf. John 3:16)

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

John 3:16

True Love isActive Good Will

• God’s love for man compelled him to act decisively for our salvation (cf. John 3:16)

• The Love which God has shown teaches us how to love each other (1 John 4:10-11)

“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.”

1 John 4:10-11

True Love isActive Good Will

• God’s love for man compelled him to act decisively for our salvation (cf. John 3:16)

• The Love which God has shown teaches us how to love each other (1 John 4:10-11)

• Love is to be expressed as an active force in our day-to-day dealing with others (1 John 3:16-18)

“By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17 But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? 18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.”

1 John 3:16-18

Who Should We Love?(Matthew 22)

“Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, 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.’”

Who Should We Love?(Matthew 22)

• God: The Supreme Object of My Love– Lk. 14:26; Matt. 6:33; Psa. 119:97; 1 Jn. 5:2-3

“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.”

Even the fondest of earthly loves becomes hatred by comparison

Luke 14:26

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

We demonstrate our love for God by placing the things of God supreme in our priorities. It’s something that we do!

Matthew 6:33

“Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.”

When we study, meditate and learn from the Scriptures, and seek opportunities to teach it to others, and defend it against its foes, then I am evidencing my deep, supreme love for God.

Psalm 119:97

“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.”

If I truly love God, I will seek to learn his will and obey that will in all things.

1 John 5:2-3

Who Should We Love?(Matthew 22)

• God: The Supreme Object of My Love– Lk. 14:26; Matt. 6:33; Psa. 119:97; 1 Jn. 5:2-3

• Loving My Neighbor: The Secondary Object of Love– Lk. 10:29-36; Jn. 13:35; 1 Cor. 12:31; Matt. 5:44;

Rom. 12:19-21

“So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves? 37 And he said, ‘He who showed mercy on him.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’”

The neighbor we love is anyone whose needs we are in a position to meet. Again, it is doingdoing!

Luke 10:36-37

“By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

We especially should have love for those of like precious faith.

John 13:35

“But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.”

While spiritual gifts were important, the greatest of all things which abides forever is love (cf. 13:13).

1 Corinthians 12:31

“But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

Jesus even commands us to love our enemies!

Matthew 5:44

“Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord. 20 Therefore ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.’ 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Romans 12:19-21

Who Should We Love?(Matthew 22)

• God: The Supreme Object of My Love– Lk. 14:26; Matt. 6:33; Psa. 119:97; 1 Jn. 5:2-3

• Loving My Neighbor: The Secondary Object of Love– Lk. 10:29-36; Jn. 13:35; 1 Cor. 12:31; Matt. 5:44;

Rom. 12:19-21

• Loving Myself: The Final Object of Love– Not 2 Tim. 3:1-5; But, Matt. 22:39; Eph. 5:28

– Care and protection of self. Highest Good.

“But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves,… 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!”

In this context, self love becomes selfish love! We love self more than we love God!

2 Timothy 3:1-5

“And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

We are to seek our neighbor’s welfare as we seek our own. We are to seek our own highest good. But, our highest good is served when we live righteously before God!

Matthew 22:39

“So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.”

Same as before. We are to seek our wife’s welfare as we seek our own.

Ephesians 5:28

ConclusionConclusionWe should emulate Jesus in

our expressions of love…

“…who went about doing who went about doing goodgood and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” (Acts 10:38)