THE FREE GIFT OF LOVE

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put aside childish things. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, as I am fully known. Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love ​— ​but the greatest of these is love. — 1 Corinthians 13:11-13 (CSB)

·         One of the symptoms of a lack of love is loneliness. 

·         In an article by Mark Ellis (49 Loneliness Statistics: How Many People Are Lonely?) he states the following:

o   Over 60% of adults in the United States report feeling lonely.

o   Young adults between the ages of 18 and 22 are the loneliest age group.

o   Social isolation is as harmful to health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. 

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone.  — Genesis 2:18 (CSB)

·         PREMISE:  The answer to loneliness, depression, anxiety, anger, addiction, and the list goes on; lies in this free gift of God’s love. 

1.      Love is part of what is.

God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. — 1 John 4:16 (CSB)

·         The purest form of love is found in God, it is contained in his essence and personhood. 

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. — James 1:17 (CSB)

·         God’s love in unchangeable, because God is unchangeable. 

·         There is NEVER a time to approach God and not experience His unconditional love. 

·         God’s love is not dependent on circumstances or your performance.

I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. — Ephesians 3:17-19 (CSB)

2.      Love is God’s agent/vehicle to bring about . 

·         Throughout life we are subjected to or spend a tremendous amount of effort trying to make others change.

·         Children, boyfriend/girlfriend, parents, siblings, spouses, co-workers, employees, bosses, neighbors, and the list goes on. 

·         Stop doing this and do that. 

THE WORLD:

·         Although these methods can work in the short term, they cause emotional (heart) pain.

SEVEN WAYS CHILDREN MAY REACT TO A LACK OF LOVE:

1.      Outward (Outburst of anger that causes damaged relationships)

2.      Outward compliance – defiance (Stuffing anger that leads to depression and anxiety)

3.      Hypocrisy – everything is fine inside when it is not

4.      Feeling rejected and unloved when told what to do (Trouble submitting to authority as an adult)

5.      to perform – seek to please (People pleaser that tends to be a go along to get along)

6.      Pride and Dominance – no one is going to control me

7.      A loss of recognition that should motivate their response to those in authority (Undermines the Gospel itself)

HOW DOES GOD BRING ABOUT CHANGE (TRANSFORM THE HEART): 

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.  — John 6:44 (CSB)

But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. — Romans 5:8 (CSB)

·         God’s love draws us to salvation.

There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears is not complete in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and yet hates his brother or sister, he is a liar. For the person who does not love his brother or sister whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And we have this command from him: The one who loves God must also love his brother and sister. — 1 John 4:18-21 (CSB)

·         God’s love drives out fear.

·         Experiencing the love of God enables us to love others.

Above all, maintain constant love for one another, since love covers a multitude of sins. — 1 Peter 4:8 (CSB)

·         God’s love enables us to forgive others. (FOREBARNESS)

TO BE AFFECTIVE OUR LOVE MUST:

1.      Be focused on 1Peter 1:22

Since you have purified yourselves by your obedience to the truth, so that you show sincere brotherly love for each other, from a pure heart love one another constantly — 1 Peter 1:22 (CSB)

2.      Come from the heart (1Peter 1:22)

3.      Be genuine and sincere (1Timothy 1:5)

Now the goal of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. — 1 Timothy 1:5 (CSB)

4.      Be pure (1Timothy 1:5)

5.      Be refreshing (Philemon 1:7)

For I have great joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother. — Philemon 1:7 (CSB)

·         Does your spouse/boyfriend/girlfriend feel refreshed by your company?

·         Do your children feel refreshed by your company? (Fill in the blank)

·         If you utilize the world’s tools to bring about change you will leave people feeling drained.

·         If you love people as an extension of God’s love, people we leave feeling refreshed.

3.      is part of God’s love.

My son, do not take the Lord’s discipline lightly or lose heart when you are reproved by him, for the Lord disciplines the one he loves and punishes every son he receives. Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline ​— ​which all receive ​— ​then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had human fathers discipline us, and we respected them. Shouldn’t we submit even more to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time based on what seemed good to them, but he does it for our benefit, so that we can share his holiness. No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. — Hebrews 12:5-11 (CSB)

4.      God’s love has a . 

No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends. — John 15:13 (CSB)

“I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep. But I have other sheep that are not from this sheep pen; I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. Then there will be one flock, one shepherd. This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.” — John 10:14-18 (CSB)

For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For rarely will someone die for a just person ​— ​though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. How much more then, since we have now been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from wrath. For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. And not only that, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation. — Romans 5:6-11 (CSB)

“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  — John 3:14-17 (CSB)

·         All of mankind looked to, marveled at, or looks back at the most significant act in the entire history of mankind, the . 

·         The cross is the pinnacle demonstration of the love of God. 

APPLICATION:      Story of John

1.      God loves . 

I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us ​— ​ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. — Ephesians 3:17-21 (CSB)