Sermon Notes

Put On Love

We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him (1 Jn 4:16)

The word agape means, goodwill, benevolence, and willful delight in the object of love. Agape love involves faithfulness, commitment, and an act of the will. It exemplifies moral character.

There are many facets to the truth that God is Love, these would be my top ten. God’s love is:

• Initiating - Not that we loved God but that he loved us (1 Jn 4:10)
• Sacrificial - God so loved that He gave (Jn 3:16) – to give freely without manipulation
• Forgiving - Forgiveness is a manifestation of love, forgive as God forgave (Eph 4:32)
• Compassionate - The Lord's great love means that His compassions never fail (Lam 3:22)
• Secure – His covenant means nothing can separate us from His love (Rom 8:39)
• Trustworthy - His love never fails (1 Cor 13:8) – reliable when everything else shakes
• Powerful - Love drives out fear; gives birth to hope and faith; breaks division (1 Jn 4:18)
• Vulnerable – Demonstrated by His willingness to say I love you first (1 Jn 4:19)
• Passionate - He takes great delight in you; He quiets you with his love (Zep 3:17)
• Transferable – Our ability to love is activated when we are born again (1 John 4:7, 8)

Beloved, let us love one another; for love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

God’s love is: Received by Impartation

 And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us (Rom 5:5)

• The love of God is beyond our human capacity – we love because (1 Jn 4:19)
• His love is put in us by the Holy Spirit – just open up and receive
• We need an encounter with His love so we can be a love encounter for others
• As his image bearer’s we are called to accurately represent His nature to the world

God’s love is: Applied by Choice

In addition to all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity (Col 3:14)

• Love is like sunscreen we must keep applying it, interaction with others rubs it off
• Love is put in us by the Spirit but we must put it on and keep putting it on
• To put on love is a conscious choice to make love our normal, love is God’s nature
• Context - put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience and forgiveness
• In addition, put on love – beyond or over – love is the motivator for character change
• When attacked by an enemy or a friend, - we put on love and bless rather than curse
• When someone disagrees with us or is insensitive – we put on love and win a friend

God’s love is: Maintained by Mindset

Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God (Col 3:1, 2) (this is the direct context for the command to “put on love”

• Two realms, a natural culture and values – spiritual with heaven’s culture and values
• To consistently love is to operate from our position in Christ, not from earth’s perspective
• Set is an imperative meaning; to be wise or to think – deliberately think like heaven
• Our mindset determines our capacity to “put on love” and to respond in love
• The key here is perspective, when we look at them, do we see their value or their faults
• If we look down at our brother or sister, we are operating out of the wrong mindset
• This becomes a daily exercise, monitor the input and you will adjust the output
• If we live frustrated or troubled by what the world is doing, we lose our capacity to love
• This is not ignoring the problems; rather, we refuse to let them dictate our response

God’s love is: Sustained by Obedience

A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another (John 13:34)  

• One of the few commands Jesus gives – love is not an option, it is a requirement
• Love is the prerequisite for life in the kingdom and essential for our mission
• Any other motive, attitude or behavior distorts our message and destroys hope
• You don’t have to feel love to love - even if or especially when it is hard to love
• Obedience requires us to be vulnerable and open ourselves to being hurt
• Only in this place of sacrifice can we begin to love with our whole heart like Jesus did
• Obedience is birthed from abiding intimacy not simply from discipline or self-effort

God’s love is: Perfected by Unity

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us (1 Jn 4:11, 12)

• Perfected here means to be complete or to reach its goal – for the world to see Jesus
• Too often we love the brethren, but not enough to work out our differences
• Put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity(Col 3:14)
• It is love that unites and empowers us to fulfill our purpose of representing Jesus
• No one has seen God – and they won’t except through the body of Christ in unity
• Perfected in unity so that the whole world will know (Jn 17:23)

We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him (1 Jn 4:16)