"What Is Love?" By Jesse Rairdon April 12th,
2015
1 John 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God
is love. This message has four parts: 1. Something to Commit
to. 2. Something to Die
for. 3. Something to Live
for. 4. Something to Give. What is Love? 1. Something to Commit to When you love someone, it involves
commitment. I can’t say “I love you” without
some level of commitment. I would even dare to say you can’t
have love without commitment. John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments. Just saying, “I love You, Jesus,”
is not enough. He wants commitment. 1 John 2:3-5 And hereby we do know that we know him, if
we keep his commandments. He that saith,
I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not
in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in
him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. How can I truly say I love someone
if I’m unwilling to commit to the things that please them? Marriage is a commitment. If someone loves another and they are willing
to spend their lives together, the proof of that love is the commitments they
make to each other. If someone is
unwilling to commit to marriage, do they truly love you? They could leave at
any time. It’s easy to quit when there
is no commitment. The same is with God,
it’s easy to quit if you truly don’t commit. If you truly don’t count the cost
and consider what you’re really getting into, it’s easy to just walk away. The world will teach you to say,
try it for a while and if you don’t like it just quit. It’s like trading in
your old car for a new one. I will take the one that doesn’t make as much
noise. True love won’t cause you to quit,
it will cause you to be even more committed. You will not want to let that love
go. So what is Love? Something to
commit to. 2. Something to Die for Love is something to die for. If someone broke in to my home and was going
to harm my family, they would have to kill me first. I’m willing to lay down my life if it ever
comes down to it, because of love. Parrish asked Easter Sunday. “Why
would God do this for us?” He did it
because love was something to die for. Genesis 22:1-13 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and
said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. And He said, Take now thy son, thine only son
Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him
there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee
of. And Abraham rose up early in the
morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac
his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto
the place of which God had told him. Then
on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye
here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again
to you. And Abraham took the wood of the
burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his
hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and
said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire
and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide
himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. And they came to the place which God had told
him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound
Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and
took the knife to slay his son. And the
angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham:
and he said, Here am I. And he said, Lay
not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know
that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son
from Me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes,
and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and
Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the
stead of his son. Luke 6:27-38 But I say unto
you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them
that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee on the one
cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to
take thy coat also. Give to every man
that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not
again. And as ye would that men should
do to you, do ye also to them likewise.
For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also
love those that love them. And if ye do
good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even
the same. And if ye lend to them of whom
ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to
receive as much again. But love ye your
enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall
be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the
unthankful and to the evil. Be ye
therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and ye shall not be judged:
condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be
forgiven: Give, and it shall be given
unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over,
shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal
it shall be measured to you again. Loving your enemies is not easy,
is it? We were once the enemies of God
and God loved us. You see love is
something to give. We as humans put
limitations on love, don’t we? God
doesn’t. John 13:31-35 Therefore, when he
was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified
in him. If God be glorified in him, God
shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him. Little children, yet a little while I am with
you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot
come; so now I say to you. A new
commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you,
that ye also love one another. By this
shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. After Judas left, Jesus gave this
new commandment. Remember we talked earlier about love is something to commit
to. You see love is something to give
to one another. Why would this be a new
commandment? Why would He wait until now to give it? The only way people are truly
going to see the love of God, is how we give that love one to another. That is agape love. The love that you would be
willing to die for. So back to the theme verse for the
month: 1 John 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God
is love. So my last question is: What is love? God is love.
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