Sharing God ’ s love in Community GOD ’ S LOVE AND OURS 1 John 4:7-21, 1 Corinthians 13 Penge Baptist Church 15th September 2013

“ Love ” in Scripture Eros – physical love between man and woman Philia – love in a friendship Agape – sacrificial love that asks nothing in return

God ’ s love “God is love” (1 John 4:16) “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16) “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1)

God ’ s love and ours The power to love – “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” (1 John 4:7-8) The example of love – “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” (1 John 4:9-11) – “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” (John 13:14-15)

The command to love – “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35) – We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother. (1 John 4:19-21)

What godly love is “Love is patient, love is kind…. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7-8) “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self- control”. (Galatians 5:22-23)

What godly love is not “It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-6) “We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” (1 Corinthians 8:1)

Without godly love, all is meaningless …. “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 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 have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)

….love lasts into eternity “Love never fails….we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears…..Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:8-10, 12-13)

How then shall we live? Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40) “No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” (1 John 4:12)