Biblical Love
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Greetings…
Today is February 14th also known as “Valentine’s Day” and considering we have been studying through the theme of “Fundamentals” I thought today would be a great day to study the subject of “Biblical Love.”
Love is a word that has morphed into many different definitions specifically as it relates to the English meaning.
We love our pets, children, spouses, and parents and none of them do we love in the same way.
In the Bible we find the word love translated from several different Hebrew and Greek words.
In Hebrew we find the word love translated from several words with three being the most prominent.
Ahab “to have a great affection for”
Hesed “loyalty, faithfulness”
Dod “family love, lover”
In the Greek we find the word love translated from several words but only two are prominent.
Phileo “brotherly love as in love for family or friends.”
Agape “a selective and exclusive love for one’s soul.”
For this particular lesson, we are going to look at how God, through the apostle of love John, defines biblical love in 1 John 4:6-5:3.
6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. 7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have 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.
12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.
18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. 1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
With this in mind let’s examine our lesson for today.
The Love Of God
The Love Of God
Is Based In Obedience.
Is Based In Obedience.
This is made abundantly clear by God in 1 John 5:3.
3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
Jesus also declared this truth in John 14:15.
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
Thus, God’s love is based in obedience.
We also find it…
Is Based In Order.
Is Based In Order.
God is not chaotic or disorderly.
33 For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints,
Therefore, God’s love is not based on haphazardness but is calculated and precise in it’s force and effect.
We again find God’s love…
Is Based In His Nature.
Is Based In His Nature.
God cannot sin and thus cannot disobey, nor can he be chaotic as we just saw.
This is his nature as spiritually divine.
This means then that God, due to his nature, is love.
8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
Summary
Summary
Because God is love, the love of God is based on obedience and order but how do we translate that into our lives?
In other words, for us, how is…
Love Defined
Love Defined
Action
Action
Godly love that is based on obedience and order is not that which is bound by emotion but rather action.
9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.
The truth is emotions can lead us astray.
12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.
15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
Obedience to God never leads us astray.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
Not only is obedient action required to love but we also find love is based in…
Sacrifice
Sacrifice
God actively obeyed is promise to send us a savior and that savior ended up being his only begotten son.
10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
That is true love because true love is always willing to sacrifice for those whom they love.
13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
To love God we must be willing to sacrifice our life.
33 Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.
Summary
Summary
So biblical love is action not based on sacrifice.
It is not emotion; however, emotions are a by product of biblical love.
So, the question then must be asked…
How Do We Show This Love?
How Do We Show This Love?
We Love Our God.
We Love Our God.
We love God the Father, Son, and Spirit by first putting our full trust in them.
Loving God means we completely give our life in complete sacrifice.
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
Loving God means we whole heartily follow without waiver.
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
The more we study God’s word and draw closer to him (Romans 10:17) the more we will trust him and give him our all.
We love God the Father, Son, and Spirit second by when…
We Love Our Neighbors.
We Love Our Neighbors.
Showing our love for our neighbors means…
Putting their physical wellbeing ahead of our own if necessary.
10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
16 If any believing woman has relatives who are widows, let her care for them. Let the church not be burdened, so that it may care for those who are truly widows.
Putting their spiritual wellbeing far above their physical wellbeing.
11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.
15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
18 Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
When we love God and love our fellow neighbors there is established a special bond between God and his children.
That bond is described as…
God Abiding In Us.
God Abiding In Us.
By actively loving our God and our neighbors God is “seen in us” i.e. God is seen abiding or living in us.
12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
It’s this reason, our love allowing God to abide in us, that we should have no fear of man because we have no fear of hell either.
18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 19 We love because he first loved us.
13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
Summary
Summary
When we love the lord our God with our all (Luke 10:27), by putting our trust in God and loving our neighbors as our selves God lives within us and is glorified by other due to such.
Conclusion
Conclusion
The beautiful reality of God’s love is as Augustin once said, “God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.”
That is the God whom we are here to serve today, that is the God who loves us, and deserves our love.
Invitation
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.
8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.