The Importance of Love in Christianity
It was the PROOF
John 13:35 (NLT) — 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
1 John 4:20 (NLT) — 20 If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?
It was DEMANDED
Revelation 2:4 (NLT) — 4 “But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first!
Types of Love
1. Love that WELCOMES
- Galatians 3:28–29 (NLT) — 28 There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.
- Love that brings others in
- The world is starving for community.
- Will we be the type of church that gives it to them?
2. Love that FORGIVES
- Luke 23:34 (NLT) — 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.”
- Acts 7:60 (NLT) — 60 He fell to his knees, shouting, “Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!” And with that, he died.
- The early church was known for forgiving enemies. In this they modeled Jesus, who said, Father, forgive them.
3. Love that SACRIFICES
- Sacrifice for one another.
- Sacrifice for the lowly.
1 Corinthians 13:1–2 (NLT) — 1 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing.
