LOVING EACH OTHER

LOVING EACH OTHER
BETTER TOGETHER – Part 2
Vernon Zook January 12, 2025

If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. -1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (NLT)

Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other… (17) And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first. If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters. -1 John 4:7-11, 17-21 (NLT)

1. When I love others … .

And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters. -1 John 4:21

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too. -1 John 5:1

2. When I love others … .

But anyone who does not love does not know God … -1 John 4:8a

Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples. -John 13:35 (NLT)

If we love our Christian brothers and sisters, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead. -1 John 3:14 (NLT)

3. When I love others… .

…for God is love. -1 John 4:8b

4. When I love others… .

…our love grows more perfect. -1 John 4:17b

What real love looks like:

● Complete

Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. -Philippians 2:2-3 (NLT)

● Requires

We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. -1 John 3:16 (NLT)

● Takes

Such love has no fear…perfect love expels all fear. -1 John 4:18

● Total

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. -Eph. 4:15 (NLT)

● Full of

Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. -1 Peter 4:8 (NLT)

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 perseveres…And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. -1 Corinthians 13:4-7, 13 (NIV)

Do all these things; but most important, love each other. Love is what holds you all together in perfect unity. -Colossians 3:14 (NCV)