Love

Love

• In Life I have found there are a lot of things that make me stop and wonder.

• I wonder why a speaker who "needs no introduction" --- gets one anyway.

• I wonder why, when a preacher says, "In closing..." he doesn’t.

• I wonder why people will punish a child for lying

• But they will tell the same child, "Just say I’m not home."

• When they don’t want to be bothered.

Many things in this world cause us to wonder.

But one of the strangest of all is why God would love us.

A Minister was speaking about all the things that money can’t buy.

• Money can’t buy happiness it can’t but laughter and money can’t buy love.

• To drive home his point he said What if I offered you $1000 not to love your mother and Father?

• A hush fell over the congregation and finally a small voice was heard near the front and raised an important question

• How much would you give me not to love my sister?

John 15:9-17

• And that is the subject of the day Love

• Not our love for God because that should be obvious

• But our love for our fellow man

• Today I want us to look at the importance of loving each other

• What exactly is Jesus instructing us to do?

Read

Jn 15:9 “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love.

Jn 15:10 When you obey me, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father and remain in his love. Jn 15:11 I have told you this so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! Jn 15:12 I command you to love each other in the same way that I love you. Jn 15:13 And here is how to measure it—the greatest love is shown when people lay down their lives for their friends. Jn 15:14 You are my friends if you obey me. Jn 15:15 I no longer call you servants, because a master doesn’t confide in his servants. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me.

Jn 15:16 You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.

Jn 15:17 I command you to love each other.

We see that twice Jesus’ is giving us a command

• And that command is To Love each another just as He loves us.

• Jesus invites us to be in relationship with Him by loving others.

Love is a complex word.

• If you ask 100 people what love means to them

• You’ll probably get at least 50 different answers. Maybe more.

• People say: I love my wife. I love my dogs. I love Alice’s Chocolate chip cookies. I love to work in the yard. I love to ride my bike.

• I love… well, you fill in the blank.

• Love is a very complex word.

• Now the examples I mentioned (and others), are all different types of love.

• So often love can be misplaced, misdirected, and misunderstood

• Sometimes, people end up “looking for love in all the wrong places”.

• The challenge that we face today is “what did Jesus mean by ‘love each other as I have loved you’?”

It might be helpful to look at what Jesus was doing just before He said this

• In John 3, we see that Jesus speaks to Nicodemus at night.

• Nicodemus was a teacher of the law and was nervous to talk to Jesus during the day,

• Because he was afraid that someone might see him.

• Jesus showed patience towards Nicodemus to answer his questions so that he could understand.

Jn 3:5 Jesus replied, “The truth is, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.

Jn 3:6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven. Jn 3:7 So don’t be surprised at my statement that you must be born again.

• Now at times I know that its hard to be Patient (Elab)

• Maybe this is the type of love that Jesus was talking about. Patience.

In the very next chapter, Jesus reaches out to a Samaritan and talks to her.

• It was Amazing that Jesus was talking to a Samaritan.

• Samaritans were the outcasts of society.

• It was prohibited for Jews and Samaritans to talk with each other.

• There a huge hatred between these two groups.

• But to make matters worst,