DOING EVERYTHING IN LOVE

The whole of this passage is talking about love. Love towards God and love towards our brethren and neighbours

The love of God talks about here is the love flowing through us to other people. This is a divine love, heavenly, trinitarian love, transmitted love, the love we get when we are born again.

Our salvation experience begins with love, and the sustenance of our christian life continues with love, and the coronation of our life terminates with love, and when we get to heaven, love will continue. From all eternity, to all eternity, God is love. Love will never pass away, and in every generation, the love of God is manifested. Love is eternal, and is still abiding.

Christ has commanded us to love each other in the same manner that He has loved us according to (John 15:12). God is in fact the source of love; in other words, He’s love by nature (1 John 4:8). Furthermore, He has shared with us that remarkable love through His only begotten Son Christ Jesus. And He demands us to share that same type of love which is flowing through us to others, so that they may see that we are of Him and know Him.

Love is defined as a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person. Love is such a powerful, profound, and useful feeling in a wide host of ways. And love should be the very substance that binds us together as followers of Christ. Humanly speaking, love tends to be expressed conditionally. Meaning that we simply love those who love us, those who are related to us, along with those who have treated us well.

That’s kind of love is very superficial by nature because it doesn’t really compel us to make any type of sacrifices to go beyond the very impediment that may keep us from expressing it in such a way that reflects God’s love. Conversely, the love of God is both unconditional and sacrificial. He demands us to love others in like manner.

When taking into account the things that God has done for us, He didn’t move on our behalf because we were worthy in His sight. It was all because of His grace bestowed upon us in connection to His unconditional love for us. We didn’t deserve His love, but He has loved us anyway. As wretched we are as humans, we don’t have the capacity to produce the kind of love that God desires us to express aside from Him.

All we truly have to do is to allow ourselves to become a vessel through which God can carry out His works in order to empower us to overcome the barriers that can keep us from loving others as He wants us to do so. That love should be expressed on the basis of how we deal with others. And love must take the place of indifference in that regard.

ILLUSTRATION:                  

(1 Cor 16:14) Do everything in love.

God does everything in love…d you?

Consider one of many situations where there is tough love: A parent takes his child to the clinic to get a treated so he will not catch a disease. The child in confusion feeling the needle go in thinks his parent is treating him mean.

A brother takes his friend to the rehab center even though he will be deathly sick without the drugs or alcohol he has been using. This is love with pain, sometimes as humans we only focus on the pain but do not understand the love behind the pain, right?

Here in the churches, some of you when you are corrected focus only on the pain and your feelings, and you do not understand the love behind it.

Love sometimes includes pain, but if it is God’s love, it comes from the sincere good intentions of the heart and the effect is good fruit & healing! But sometimes as humans we fail and to do all things “ in love”. 14 Do everything in love. It is extremely hard to do! Can you? Do you? It is sad when we see sometimes some things not done in love and that makes You and I, and obviously the Lord, feels pain! A loving action that initially is painful to the recipient, but the outcome is a positive, life saving action.

1.  THE ETERNAL CHARACTERISTICS OF GOD THE FATHER

1 John 4:7-9; John 3:16; Romans 5:6,8-10; 2 Corinthians 5:19-21; Ephesians 2:4; 1 John 1:5; Isaiah 6:3; Proverbs 3:12; Hebrews 12:6-10; Revelations 3:19

There are some repetitions as we read this passage. He talks about our love for God, the love of God. If you don’t love, you are not of God whatever you do.

You cannot see the wind, but you can see the effect of that wind, so likewise, you can not see the love of God, but you can see the effect of that love of God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us.

The love of God does not want us to suffer, either in this world, or in that to come. He sent His only Begotten Son that we will not die nor perish, that is the evidence of God’s love for us.

Sinner do not have any strength against sin, Satan and evil spirits, so at that time, God sent Jesus to die for us. God commends His love towards me, that Christ died for us, while I was still a sinner. Jesus came for sinful, weak and people who could not help themselves. God made the move first while we were yet still sinners and bad unlike the world that will love you when you love them first. The blood of Jesus will cleanse and wash any sinner from all sin.

God shows His love to us at Mount Calvary that we should not perish.

Your sin will not be too great for the love of God to reach you for the love of God is deeper, higher and farther than your sin.

Anything different from love is not of God, hatred, bitterness is not of God.

God is love. His Nature, characteristics, the evident of what comes out of God is love.

God does not control everything human beings do, because we are free moral agents. For if God controls everything we do, then He cannot judge us. So when calamities happen in life, we cannot lay the blame on God, for God is love. There is a Satan, sinners and wicked people in the world. Our carelessness, ignorance and wickedness may injure our lives, so don’t attribute that evil occurrence to God again, for God is love. And in your family, you will find out that love of God for your life and family.

He that dwells in hatred, wickedness, dwells in Satan and evil spirit, because Satan and evil spirits are wicked. God is love.

Other attributes of God include

1. God is Light – 1 John 1:5

2. God is Holy – Isaiah 6:3. He will not do anything contrary to holiness and light

3. God is Just – Isaiah 45:21. He is love, yet He is Just God. He cannot manifest love contrary to the justice of God.

4. God is True – John 3:33. He cannot cover up any lie, for though He is love, yet He is True. None of His attribute cancel any other

5. God is Righteous – Daniel 9:14. He is Righteous in all His works.

6. God is Incorruptible – Romans 1:23

7. God is of a Purer Eye to behold iniquity – 

8. God is Unchangeable, Faithful, Perfect and Eternal.

The love of God is not a sentimental thing. He manifest holy, pure, righteous, incorruptible love. 

What does God do in His love? He corrects us in His love. It is love that is based on true, that will want to corrects, chastise and put you right, to get you into heaven. His love will never leave us to go astray, He wants to corrects and bring us back to the path of righteousness and His holiness.

God’s love isn’t about us at all but rather an expression of His being.

2. THE EXPLICIT COMMAND TO GOD’S CHILDREN

     1 John 4:11-15; John 13:34,35; Ephesians 5:1,2

If God has loved us that He has forgiven and saved us, blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, then we must reciprocate that love of God to others as well. By showing your love to members of God’s family is how we can show our gratitude to the love that God has given us. He has given us Jesus Christ, grace, forgiveness, Holy Spirit, book of Life, then we are to love one another.

How do you really show that we love one another? A- Z of love

1. Assist one another

2. Bear one another’s burden – build a bridge between you and one another. Break the   

    ice, and the silence.

3. Care one for the other

4. Defend each other in a very good way.

5. Encourage one another

6. Fellowship with one another, so that isolation and insulation is not there.

7. Give yourself to other people, your time, talent, ability, money

8. Help other people, let the money, strength, experience.

9. Influence each other for the better.

10. Judge not one another. Not quickly, nor severely.

11. Keep one another, not in prison, confinement, nor sorrow, but in the light and life

12. Liberate one another from their sorrows, burdens, sickness and sufferings, Make the  

      life of somebody happy and worthy living.

13. Merciful to each other. Not oppressive, militant.

14. Nurture one another

15. Oppress not other people.

16. Pray one for other.

17. Quieting the fears of other people.

18. Rejoice with one another, and weep with one another

19. Support one another

20. Teach one another

21. Uphold one another

22. Visit the sick, weak, backsliden, and people

23. Watch over one another. Warn the unruly

24. Exhort one another as we see the day approaching

25. Yield to one another so that there will be no collision and accident

26. Zealously serve one another

This is the love the Lord is calling us to to show in the family of God. And this is the commandment that the Lord has given, and we are going to be obedient in Jesus Name.

Push aside your knowledge, grievances, offences of the past, and just show love one to another this time. Put love in the fore front. 

You follow God when you follow love. Walk in love, stop going about with frowning face, moody face, teased up, relax and walk in love. If you are frowning, moody everytime, nobody will want to come around you.

Cheer up, relax, show some love and others will ease up too.

3. THE EXPRESSED CONFIDENCE OF GOD’S CHILDREN

     1 John 4:16-21

You have to believe that before you can be saved. You believe that God loves you, that Jesus died for you. You have to believe that to be sanctified and for your prayer to be answered.

Some will think that if you show love, that people will take advantage of us, or that we are tough, strong, having great backbone, but no. If we show love, it shows that we dwell in God and God dwells in us, this is the greatest praise that any body can give to us.

It takes practice to show the love of God, and as you practice this, then your love is perfected. At every opportunity, you will greet others.

There is no fear in love, no suspicion in love, you give yourself away even if they are going to trample upon you, you want to be like Jesus Christ.

We must love each other, receive each other as Christ has received us.

He who loves God, loves his wife, children, brethren, leaders also, and our neighbors also.

Let the love flows, build the bridge of love between yourself and the brethren.

Ponder on this! Our salvation begins with love, and the sustenance of our christian life continues with love, and the coronation of our life terminates with love, and when we get to heaven, love will continue.