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THE MEANING OF LOVE 2 John 6 TONY LLOYD LEWIS � 6. Love means following his commandments, and his unifying commandment is that you conduct your lives in love. This is the first thing you heard, and nothing has changed. (THE MESSAGE BIBLE) ? ? This morning I want to preach on the matter, THE MEANING OF LOVE. As I read through this passage, I �discovered that God unwaveringly demands of us that we obey Him by conducting our lives in love. For the Christian life at its best is not just the accumulation of knowledge but it is translating that knowledge into obeying His commandments. � � The modern Christian writer Vance Havener was right when he said, "You have not really learned a commandment until you have obeyed it . . . The church suffers today from Christians who know volumes more than they practice." They know more, but do less . . . they know the Word, but they don't practice the Word. � The real test of whether or not we are practicing love from God's point of view is not necessarily seen in our work or activity, or even in our sound doctrine. It is found in this: �"...we will do whatever he tells us to. And he has told us from the very first to love each other." � John 14:15 says, "If you love me, obey my commands." Obedience is one major part of love. We have been given an example in Jesus Christ, and an instruction manual in the Bible on love. As the wise man says, "When all else fails, read the instructions." Let's examine the inspired, Holy, and perfect instructions - God's Word. � If you first of all apply this principle of loving Jesus and loving one another then there will be no schism and separations in the body. If you apply this principle no matter what gift you have the foot will never try to usurp the function of the eye. Nor will the hand will ever try and take the place of the ear. If you first apply this principle, you can insure harmony and concord in the body of Christ. � You see there is no use in us talking about how we are going to function as a body if there is no love one for the other. There is no use in trying to become a well greased organized machine if there is no love one for the other. It doesn't matter what kind of gifts the body has if there is no love for eh other then it is all in vain. If the people of God were to free love from the shackle of the theoretical and practice it in everyday living we would usher in a new society. A society that the English philosopher sir Thomas Moore calls Utopia. Society where highest good would be practiced. � According to Matthew, Levi, Alphas son it is a society where God's will is done on earth as it is in heaven. According to Paul, it is a walking in the light. � The apostle Paul says that all of the law of the prophets can be fulfilled in that one word . . . Love. There is power in love. It is the most powerful force in the cosmos. As a matter of fact the magnificence of its magnitude is so moving until it provoked God to send his son to die on Calvary. � Without it nothing else seems to really matter. You can speak in the language of the angels, but without the main ingredient it's just like sounding brass and a tinkling symbol. � How many times have we have seen folk who gifted and talented, polished and proficient yet they can't give you the simple courtesy of a hello and how are you? They are gifted and lifted. Yet there is walking in the light. The first characteristics of walking in the light are long suffering. Now there is a difference between long suffering and patience. Patience is the ability to endure trying circumstances. But longsuffering is the ability to endure trying people. � Some times I am driven to the point where I am just about ready to cross somebody off my list. When folk take every opportunity to viciously attack you. When they are mean and bitter toward you and have never done them anything . . . I am just about ready to cross them off my list. � When folk watch you like a vulture waiting for you to make a mistake. Especially when you are accused of having a hidden agenda you know in your heart that all you are trying to do is what you believe is the will of God . . . I am just about ready to cross them off my list. � But then I remember that I should have been off God's list a long time ago. And helps me to be longsuffering with other folk. Because he was longsuffering with me. And he keeps on being longsuffering with me every day. � Another characteristic of walking in the light is that is a way free from envy. I have discovered that one of the reasons why some folk are jealous is because they lack confidence in the ability that God has given them. Instead of rolling up their sleeves and going to work in their own vineyard where God has placed them they got their eye on somebody else's vineyard. � They can't cultivate and develop their own vineyard because they are so preoccupied with what's going on in their neighbors vineyard. � The fruit in your own vineyard can blossom just as well as the fellow next door. But it can only happen if you quit watching him and his and take the time to develop and nurture what you have. � Siblings Suffer Separation Because of Envy. Friends Fracture Fellowships Because of Envy. Relatives Ruin Relationships Because of Envy. Sisters Soil and Stain the Sanctity of Sisterhood Because of Envy. Brothers Break and Bruise the Bonds of Brotherhood Because of Envy. � Walking in the light frees you from envy. When YOU WALK IN THE LIGHT YOU WALK IN LOVE The bible speaks much about LOVE. As a matter of fact the apostle Paul says that all of the law is fulfilled in that one word. � Peter says that it is so powerful that it covers a multitude of sins. � John says that if you are not practicing the principles of his more excellent then you know God for is love. � Solomon says that it is such a burning force that many waters cannot quench it neither can the floods drown it. � Since the dawn of the so-called age of reason much has been written and said on the subject of his LOVE. Many intellectuals have attempted to define it. Many a skilled artist have attempted to capture it on canvas. Composers have tried to capture its melody. Ludwig von Beethoven the famous 16th century composer once said that it demands everything and has a right to everything. � Poets have tried to subdue it and put it into rhyme, however he only way to know and experience LOVE is to know him who is love. � If you don't remember but two things from this message remember him who is love and remember what love does. The love Who is, is the person of God, and what love does is seek the good. That is if I truly love you from God's point of view, then I will be caught up in seeking the best for you. That's what God did when he sent his son. Calvary called for God's best and because he so loved the world he gave his best. � Often what we call love is not really love at all but a kind of sub-love. (You know sub means don't you? It means beneath, inferior to, underneath, below as a subway, a way that is beneath the upper way) And if you really want to be brutally honest it's not even love at all, not agape love but, lust erotic love or selfishness . Love is not that tingling sensation that goes up and down your spine when he walks into the room. What's going to happen when that tingling is gone? That why love is not a feeling. Love may affect our feelings but, love is not a feeling. � The reason why I know that love is not a feeling is because you can't command feelings, and God commands us to love. Love one another as I have loved you. By this all men shall know that ye are my disciples. Well Jesus . . . How did you love your disciples? Let me suggest to you four principles the Master applied in the expression of his love toward his disciples and they are all right here in this 13th chapter. � First of all, he loved them selflessly that is his love for them was not selfish. Secondly, he loved them sacrificially, in other words no sacrifice was too great for him to make for his disciples; not even the death of the cross. Thirdly, his love for them was understanding fourth and finally, he loved them enough to forgive them, even when they all forsook him. He loved them selflessly . . . No matter how high we set our ideas. No matter how noble our love may be there is always some element of selfishness. It is the nature of human love to think of what we can get out of a relationship. Whether consciously or unconsciously always in the back of our minds is what's in it for me? However, the love that Jesus expressed was diametrically opposite to that sub-love that we express for each other. His love had no ulterior motives. He totally denied himself. His one desire was to give himself and all he had for those he loved. He loved his disciples sacrificially . . . You see a love that is not willing to make sacrifices is not really love at all. Too often we go around seeking to place limits on our love. When we should be looking for outlets to express our love. Love that is not willing to make sacrifices isn't worth the four letters it takes to spell it. Sacrificial love is that kind of love that is willing to do whatever it takes to meet the need. Even if it calls for Calvary. And it really doesn't have anything to do at all with how I feel. My heart doesn't have to skip a beat in order for me to love you. � As long as I am seeking that which is best for you I am expressing my love for you. Whether or not I hear bells or my toes twinkle doesn't really matter. � You can be thrilled and excited about someone and not really love them, but, you cannot truly say that you love them if you don't seek that which is best for them. Because that is what love does it seeks that which is best for someone. � If love meant the cross then the Master was prepared to go there. Sometimes we make the mistake in thinking that love is meant to give us happiness. Wee in the end it actually does. However, love just might mean that you have to suffer pain. Love could very well demand a cross. His love for them was long suffering . . . Then thirdly. The way of Master is walking in the light because of his long suffering. The Master had an understanding love toward his disciples. He knew his disciples through and through. He knew that they were frail, fragile, and weak creatures. Yet he was willing to abide with them and understand their shortcomings. Some folk can only love you as long as you show them your best side. But, once you express your moods and irritabilities the first thing they say, "You know I just don't understand you!" But real love . . . The LOVE covers a multitude of sins, and overlooks many faults. Real love loves not what it imagines a man to be, but, what he really is. � The responsibility is on us to love one another and understand one another just as we are. In other words the test of whether or not we are functioning on the walking in the light principles is will you still love just as much when you see me at my worst as you did when you saw me at my best. The love of the Master was forgiving . . . The last test of whether we are operating on more excellent principle is this. Is your love enduring? And the only way our love can endure dealing with frail, fragile, and fractured humanity is that we must be willing to forgive. The Master love exculpated the offender. Many of us fall short in the area of forgiving. We walk around for years with emotional scars simply because we refuse to forgive somebody who has done us wrong. � Some folk enjoy being the victim of wrong doing because it gives them a chance to show off and get attention. They take their hurt feelings and wear them on their sleeves so that every time you see them you can be reminded of the fact that you hurt them. � Some of them may not say anything but, they got a way of looking at you. And there are some folk every time they get a chance they bring it up. You remember when you said this, you remember when you said that. You remember when you did this. You remember when you went out and messed up. All because we haven't yet learned how to function on walking in the light principles. � An unforgiving spirit is like a cancer if it isn't checked and dealt with it will continue to spread until the whole body is consumed. The love that isn't willing to forgive will soon shrivel and die. You might as well learn how to forgive because as long as your address is planet earth somebody is going to hurt you somehow, somewhere, sometime. � The amazing thing is you always hurt the Who loves you the most. Like Ivory Joe Hunter said, "We always take the sweetest rose and crush it until the petals fall. � The point being is that after your petals have been crushed can you forgive and still love. That's what the Master did. � It crushed the petals of . . . � The Rose of Sharon when they tried him in a kangaroo court. but his love for them continued � The Lily of the Valley when the Peter denied him but, his love for him continued. � The Messiah when the Jews yelled crucify him, but his love for them continued. � The Savior when they ridiculed him and blasphemed his name, but, his love for them continued � The Son of David when he came unto his own and his own received him not, but this love for them continued. � Can you see the roses of Sharon and the lily of the valley as he hung there on Calvary? Can you hear him saying, Father forgive them for they know not what they do?" Even though they crushed his petals on the first day of the week God the Father put the pieces back together again. � He got up . . . The Ancient of Days The Author and Finisher of Our Faith The Anchor of Our Hope The One Altogether Lovely