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1 Corinthians 13:4-7

2/23/2014

"Love is patient, love is kind. 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. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preservers."

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

If there was ever a church synonymous with problems it was the church at Corinth. They were spiritually tearing each other a part. They boasted over the gifts they had been given. They sought to one up each other at every turn in the road. They even sued each other in court over minor wrongs.

Paul speaks more about gifts to this church than any other one. But their great giftedness hadn't brought them peace, it didn't result in strengthening the kingdom of God or in Paul's praise to them. Instead it was a source of discord and destruction.

Paul knew what the problem was, and what remedy they needed: LOVE. They put themselves first in everything, and even God didn't have room in their hearts. To fix the problem they needed to stop looking at themselves, but to look to God and then each other.

1 Corinthians 13 is known as the love chapter. In a few short verses Paul sums up the Importance and the character of love in the believers life. There is nothing more important for us than to love as God has loved us.

For 2,000 years these words have rung out, and I don't think a better definition of love has ever been given.

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1 John 3:16

2/16/2014

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This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 1 John 3:16

We are all familiar with John 3:16, "For God so loved the world..." But fast forward to I John and in the same spot you find another powerful verse on love, and again the focus is the only begotten son, Jesus Christ and his example of love.

The world often asks the question "What is love?" Yet finding the answer is difficult in a world with half Iles and empty promises. In one rock song the singer cries out "I want to know what love is." The problem is too often we are looking in the wrong places, and the truth is we have no idea what it is we are really looking for.

The scripture paints a clear picture of love. If you want to know what love is, look to Jesus. He is the very definition of love, and he showed it by giving his life for us. How do we know then that we are loving? Are we acting like Jesus? Verses 17 & 18 give us our part of the equation. We love when we act in love, when we meet needs of those around us. We love not just when we say loving things, but when we act with loving acts.

On facebook this past week someone had posted some pictures that made this point. Each picture showed a person in need and a lot of hands around them with a thumbs up, in other words, we wish you the best. But no real help was being offered to the person in need. Brothers and sisters let's not just love with words, but in action and truth.

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1 John 4:7,8

2/9/2014

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"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

We continue this week in 1 John and for obvious reasons, his view on love is Inspiring and challenging.

When asked for the greatest command Jesus said to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and body. He then added that the second command was similar to the first, in fact it builds on it, to love your neighbor as yourself.

We may look a little sideways at that. God how can we do that with people that we just don't like or that don't like us? John gives us the answer in this verse from 1 John 4. It isn't us loving them it is God through us loving. The love I have comes not out of my own heart, but from God. This is how I know that he is in me; there is a love and care for others that didn't come from me.

If on the other hand I lack love for others then the question becomes is God real in my life. Now when we say "love" that's not to say I have warm fuzzy feelings for everyone, but I care about them, and for their need. We should love others enough to share Christ and his love with them. We need to pray for them.

When I love others in Christ, I am simply passing on what was already a gift freely given to me. Pass It on.

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1 John 3:1

2/2/2014

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"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! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him." 1 John 3:1
John is known as the apostle of love, simply because he talks so much about it. John was also known as the disciple that Jesus loved. One thing about the love of God, it's contagious. When we are infected with it we tend to pass it along.

John was writing to the church near the end of the first century and Christianity had been around now for nearly 60 years. False teachings and doubts about Jesus were beginning to take a toll on the faith of the church and John hits that head on. His gospel proclaims the divinity and Lordship of Jesus much more than the others. But he also stresses the need to not just believe in Jesus as the Son of God, but the need to live that belief. Nowhere is our relationship with Christ more evident than in how and who we love.

It was the love of the early church as much as the doctrine that stood out to the world around them. For some that love was a light leading them not only to the church, but to Christ. For others it was a reason to hate them all the more, just as the world had hated Jesus. When we love as Christ loved we will reach some and we will offend some. We aren't to be in a popularity contest with the world. To win that is to lose something even more precious. We are to pass along, what God shared with us, his love in the form of his son. When we share Jesus with others we are sharing God's love, his greatest gift. But, hey, love is contagious.

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1 Corinthians 13:4-7

1 John 3:16

1 John 4:7,8

1 John 3:1

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