The Power of LoveGod Company Sri

Lanka

is an extension to The Key Elements of Christian Living presentation. The Four Key elements are being presented as four separate presentations. This is the second after Power of Faith

Faith

Forgiveness

LivingExample

Love

THE KEY ELEMENTSOF CHRISTIAN

LIVING

This study…

THE POWER OF LOVE

The Power of Faith The Power of LoveThe Power of ForgivenessThe Living Example

WHAT IS LOVE?

A very complex question with a million possible answers.

Defined in the dictionary as…A deep, tender, ineffable feeling of affection and solicitude toward a person, such as that arising from kinship, recognition of attractive qualities, or a sense of underlying oneness.

While having a myriad of references in the modern-day, Love in this study is based on our bonding with God and also with one another…

WHAT IS LOVE CONT…

For Christians we have an excellent description for LOVE in Paul's letter to the Corinthians

 1 Corinthians 134 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

For Christians Love means a lot more than a mere definition. It is the very basis and foundation of Christianity

CHRISTIAN LOVE

Matthew 2237 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all

your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind’] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And

the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

MANLOVE LOVE

LOVE

GOD

MAN MAN

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind

‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

Matthew 1918 Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother, and ‘love your neighbor as yourself’

CHRISTIAN LOVE

Jesus emphasized the need to love each other many times…

Because Love is fundamental to all goodness.

  Luke 6: 27 “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.

CHRISTIAN LOVE

But then we see the explanation given by Jesus when we continue in Luke 6: 32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that.

A Hard call…

Now…if we can say we are filled with Christian Love… whom are we fooling?

John 1334 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

THE NEED FOR LOVE

Jesus in His message to us has repeatedlyEmphasized the importance of Love

As Christians we need to have Love as a unique feature spread among us…Love is our Identity. When we live with an outflow of Love, others will see our good deeds and we will be differentiated from the rest of the Evil world with praise given to our Father in Heaven…

Where is the example of Christianity(be a light on to this world…) if we are also behave like the rest of the world.

4 AA is patient, AA is kind. AA does not envy, AA does not boast, AA is not proud. 5 AA does not dishonor others, AA is not self-seeking, AA is not easily angered, AA keeps no record of wrongs. 6 AA does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 AA always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

HOW MUCH LOVE DO YOU HAVE?

REPLACE “LOVE” AND “IT” WITH YOUR NAME IN 1CORENTHIANS 13

Does it fit your Christian profile?This way we can make a self assessment as to how far off-course we are from the ideal with regards to the degree of Love that we have in our lives…

Christ emphasized the absolutely selfless significance of the word ‘love’ when he said,

13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. – Jesus

(John 15)

LOVE AND SELFLESSNESS

Love and Selflessness are co-related to each other. The old Christian word for love was ‘caritas’, which means charity / giving or selflessness.

Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for us… Because of His love He lay down His life for us. The very extreme of Love…absolute Selflessness

Love = SelflessnessAbsolute Love = Absolute selflessness

LOVE AND SELFLESSNESS

Taking Jesus’ sacrifice as one extreme of Love, we can correlate Love to

Selflessness.

SelfishUnloving

SelflessUnconditionally Loving

LOVE

Anger JealousyVengeanceCrueltyUnforgivingEvil

LOVE

GoodnessCareConcernForgivingUnderstanding

TRANSFORMS

TRANSFORMS

LOVE IN THE WORLD

Therefore as Christians we cannot contribute to being a part of the problem… Christians have to live by example. Instead of joining in with what has gone very wrong, Christians have to PRY OURSELVES AWAY AND BE THE SOLUTION. We have to generate love . Because Love is the very essence of Christianity!

Christians are required to be a Light unto this dark world...

Matthew 5 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that

they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

1 Corinthians 131 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

LOVE AND THE CHRISTIAN

Without Love we cannot be Christians…

Paul in his letter to the Corinthians emphasizes the absolute need for Christian Love.Because Love can change the world.

LOVE WILL CHANGE THE WORLD!

THE POWER OF LOVE

The power of Love can be enormous. With Love entering our lives we release a host of other goodness such as Care, diligence, honesty, concern, peace, respect ect. on to the World. This Goodness multiplied by the number of Christians will bring in a new era of Love to this world filled with Hate….vengeance… anger…war…plunder and evil.

Anger

Greed

Vengeance

Concern

Forgive ness Giving Respec

t

Compassion

Care

Hate

Evil

WAR

John 1423 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

In addition to the importance that Jesus placed on Love, we also come across a great assurance…

IF YOU LOVE ME…

If you love me you will obey my teaching…

Philippians 19 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

OUR PRAYER

Your love may abound more and more…

God Company Sri Lanka

Thank you