Be Loved Or Be Hated

Be loved or be hated

John 15:18-19

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

See the theme for this month is be loved

But the big question is who do we want to be loved by?

See we all have a thing within us that wants and yearns to be loved

But who do we want to be loved by?

Do we want to be loved by God?

Or better yet do we even see or believe that we are loved by God

Is his love enough?

The fact of the matter is this sometimes we can’t accept God’s love because deep down inside we don’t even love ourselves

And because we don't accept God’s love but we still have that thing within us that yearns for love we search for it in all the wrong places

Has anybody been there before?

We search for it in the:

The Bottle

The pipe

The party

The opposite sex

Power

All these things may give us a sense of love but they are not truly love

We here about many different kinds of love in the Bible

Philos

Eros

Agape

Quote

“To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truely loved is well alot like being loved by God. It is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self righteousness and fortifies us for any difficulty life throws at us.

See the only one that can truely love you 100% and truely know you 100% is God.

This is the kind of love we ought to strive for.

See hidden underneath the love of the world is a whole bunch of selfish motives.

The world throws that phrase love around so loosely that it has pretty much become a cliche.

“I love you”

“I’m in love”

But really theres no depth behind those words anymore

See sometimes we think were in love but really its just a bunch of emotions.

It’s like this guy bill he was talking with his friend steve about what love is and the possibility of love.

Bill said I thought I was in love three times.

Steve said thought. What do you mean.

Bill said well 3 years ago I was in love with a woman who wanted nothing to do with me. Bill said to steve wasn’t that love.

Steve said no that was just obsession.

Bill said well there was also a woman 2 years ago I cared deeply for. A very attractive woman who didn’t understand me. Steve said wasnt that love.

Bill replied no that was just lust.

Then bill said and just last year i met a woman while I was on a cruise ship. She was gorgeous, intelligent, a great conversationalist, and had a super sense of humor. I followed her everywhere on that ship. I would get a very strange sensation in my stomach. Steve asked well wasnt that love.

Bill replied no that was just motion sickness.

See the bible is very clear that we cannot live to please God and be loved by the world.

It’s either one or the other

Mt 6:24

No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

We cannot serve 2 masters

So what does it take to be loved by the world

Pleasing people attitude

Now i'm not saying be rude to people

But sometimes we put a priority on seeking the approval of people, and we dont even care about the approval of God

Sometimes we can be so afraid of peoples opinions that we fear stepping out

That we fear speaking the truth.

Because the thing about the truth is this. It hurts

And alot of people cant handle the truth

Galatians 1:10

Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Whos approval are we looking to gain

Who are we trying to please.

We should be trying to please God in all that we do.

Because God has already given us the approval

1 thessalonians 2:4

On the contrary, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts.