John 13:35 (ESV)

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

• Love is so much more than giving people warm and friendly customer service. We must shift from FRIENDLINESS to LOVE.

Colossians 1:28 (ESV)

Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

What were the issues in the Corinth Church?

• They were splintering into factions (1 Corinthians 1:10).
• They were jealous of each other (1 Corinthians 3:3).
• They were permissive when it came to sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 5:1–6).
• They were suing each other (1 Corinthians 6:1–6).
• Some were overeating while others went hungry in church meals (1 Corinthians 11:17–22).

Love is concerned with people’s eternal outcome, not just whether they keep coming back to church.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 ESV

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

1 Peter 4:8 (NLT)

Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins.

You know someone is spiritually mature with how they love people.

1 Corinthians 3:1-3 (NIV)

Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly–mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?

Kelvin Teamer — “Love is a cross-shaped action that glorifies God and benefits someone else.”

Mark 12:30-31 (ESV)

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

• Because we love God & want to glorify Him, everything we do is for Him. (Colossians 3:23; 1 Corinthians 10:31; Matthew 5:16)

#1) LOVE FIGHTS FOR PEOPLE

Romans 12:9 NKJV

Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.

3 Things about Real Love:

A) Love must be genuine

B) Hate what is evil

If we genuinely love people, we will hate the thing which will destroy the person we love.

C) Cling to what is good

• We affirm what is good in truth.
• Real love does not affirm evil that will destroy them.

Matthew 18:15-17 NLT

“If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back. But if you are unsuccessful, take one or two others with you and go back again, so that everything you say may be confirmed by two or three witnesses. If the person still refuses to listen, take your case to the church. Then if he or she won’t accept the church’s decision, treat that person as a pagan or a corrupt tax collector.

Galatians 6:1-3 NLT

Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important.

#2) LOVE IS FULL OF GRACE & TRUTH

1 John 3:18 NLT

Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.

John 1:14 ESV

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

A) Love In Truth

7 Examples of how Jesus loved in Truth His disciples:

• Jesus invested a lot of time in his disciples.
• Jesus was patient with his disciples.
• Jesus upheld God’s teachings, even the hard ones, with his disciples.
• Jesus forgave his disciples, even after they had bitterly hurt him (e.g., Peter’s denials of knowing Jesus).
• Jesus opened himself up in vulnerable fellowship with his disciples, as in the garden of Gethsemane.
• Jesus rebuked his disciples when they needed it, never affirming sin to gain approval.
• Jesus died on the cross for his disciples, past and present.

Ephesians 4:15 (NLT)

Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.

B) Love In Grace

Ephesians 4:2 ESV

Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.

Ephesians 4:29 ESV

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Grace = God’s unmerited favor/divine gift that (1) saves us (Ephesians 2:8), (2) fills us with His unconditional love, (3) gives us victory over sin (James 4:6), (4) gives us hope (2 Thessalonians 2:16) to live the abundant life.

2 Timothy 1:9 NLT

For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus.

• If you love people, you will extend grace to them with the same measurement in which Jesus extends grace to you.

CONCLUSION

HOMEWORK

1) Learn & understand what true love is

2) Take the ‘Love As Actions Test’

3) Love people how Jesus loves us.

4) Get connected to a Sinai Group so you can grow in strong relationships

A Love as Actions Test

Take a closer look at 1 Corinthians 13:4–7 with each other. Score yourself. Then ask a trusted person to score you. How do they see you?  On a scale of 1 (terrible) to 5 (excellent), seek to provide an accurate score based on what you know about each other.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NIV)

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, 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 perseveres.

You are patient. 1    2    3    4    5

You are kind. 1    2    3    4    5

You do not envy. 1    2    3    4    5

You do not boast. 1    2    3    4    5

You are not proud. 1    2    3    4    5

You do not dishonor others. 1    2    3    4    5

You are not self-seeking. 1    2    3    4    5

You are not easily angered. 1    2    3    4    5

You keep no record of wrongs. 1    2    3    4    5

You do not delight in evil, but rejoice with the truth. 1    2    3    4    5

You always protect.  1    2    3    4    5

You always trust.  1    2    3    4    5

You always hope.  1    2    3    4    5

You always persevere.  1    2    3    4    5