Topic: God’s love and our serving one another
I must first start with God’s love and how it relates to our love. Then our love to our serving.
God’s love is the source of our love.
1 John 4:11- “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” God has loved us so we must love one another.
But why? How can this be?
A: Christ. Look at the verse before
1 John 4:10 “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
How?
If we truly have seen Christ’s love, love should be produced in us.
Ex of this relationship. Matt 18: 24-35 shows this kind of relationship. For those of you who don’t remember, it is the story of the king who’s servant owed him money and he forgave his servant yet the servant did not forgive his fellow servant, and the king was rightly angry, for the servant, after receiving such mercy and grace should have been merciful to forgive his fellow servant.
Just as receiving such mercy and grace should make us into merciful and gracious people, seeing and being the target of such love, as is in Christ, will make you a loving person.
In what way are we to love one another?
A: The way Jesus loves- John 13:34 – “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another.” Jesus has told us the answer.
How has Jesus loved? What are the characteristics of His love?
His Love acts
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Romans 5:8 “but God shows us his love for us in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us.
Point is that Love drives us to action
But what kind of action? Love is to seek someone else’ good even at the cost of yourself. Thus the actions that love produces are of the very same quality. And these actions are what serving is.
When Jesus says to love one another as ourselves and Paul says to serve one another as Christ has served us, they are two sides of the same coin. One is the motive of the other.
how intensely should we love and desire to serve one another?
-More than any other person or people group we know or are a part of.
-brothers and sisters are God’s beloved
Mat 12:48-50 “Who is my mother, and who is my brothers?” and stretching out his hand towards his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
They are God’s family, and ours as well.
You would serve your own family do you not?
Some of you might say: But they are related to me by blood.
To which I would say: We are relatives to Christ and one another through His blood!
-The point is Love one another, serve one another, as brothers and sisters in Christ
Last point: How do we serve one another?
Attitude: Seek the good of other before ourselves
Use our gifts in the church.
AACF can use you. The Church can use you. God has specifically gifted you. Use them. Do not neglect them.
Excuses?
Dont think you have gifting? If you don’t think you have gifting you are wrong. You do. Find and cultivate that gift to serve your brothers and sisters. I am jealous for you that you would serve one another in ways that only you can serve, so I urge you, love with a love like Christ’s and serve one another, showing yourselves to truly be children of God.
Don’t want to serve or don’t love your brothers and sisters enough to serve?
Shows something is wrong, yet situation is not hopeless or without solution. Pray and look to Christ and be changed.
Last exhortation
Simply serve one another, because you love one another.
Close in prayer.