I. WHAT IS LOVE? Mat_5:43-47 — "Ye have heard that it hath been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hath thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you: That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?" 1Jn_3:14; 1Jn_3:16-17 — "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death .... Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?"
Love for another is a desire for and delight in their good. Love is not mere fondness for another nor pleasure in their society. The character of another may be hateful to me, and his society disagreeable, but still a real desire for his welfare is love.
II. THE OBJECTS OF CHRISTIAN LOVE. 1Pe_2:17 — "Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God.
Honor the king." Eph_1:15 — "Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints."
First Proposition: We should love the brethren — those born of God, all saints.
While a Christian should love all men, he should and will have a peculiar love for God's children. (Compare to Gal_6:10 — "As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.") Mat_19:19 — "Honor thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Mat_22:39 — "And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."
Second Proposition: We should love our neighbor.
QUESTION: Who is our neighbor?
ANSWER: Luk_10:29-37 — "But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbor? And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side, and likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was; and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host: and said unto him, Take care of him: and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves: And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise." 1Th_3:12 — "And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another; and toward all men, even as we do toward you."
Third Proposition: We should love all men. Mat_5:44 "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you."
Fourth Proposition: We should love our enemies.
Enemies are specialized because they are the ones we are least likely to love.
QUESTION: How shall we show our love to our enemies?
ANSWER: The remainder of the verse shows. See also Rom_12:20 — "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." Eph_5:24 — "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it."
Fifth Proposition: Husbands should love their wives.
The husband has a special duty of love toward his wife. The feeling that a husband should have no more interest in the welfare of his wife than in that of any other woman is totally unscriptural. While Christ has a love for all men, He has an altogether special and peculiar love for the church, and so the Christian husband should love all, but have an altogether special and peculiar love for his wife. Tit_2:4 "That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children."
Sixth Proposition: Wives should love their husbands.
III. HOW SHOULD WE LOVE? 1Co_16:24 "My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen."
First Proposition: We should love in Christ Jesus.
Christ Jesus is the author of our love. It is for His sake that we love. Our special love to the brethren is because of their special relation to Him. Rom_12:9 RV — "Let love be without hypocrisy."
Second Proposition: We should love without hypocrisy.
Much professed love is a mere pretense. Much calling of one another "brother" is the hollowest formalism. Our love should be genuine, unfeigned. 1Jn_3:18 — "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth."
Third Proposition: We should not love merely in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth; not in saying, but in doing; not in profession, but in practice. 1Pe_4:8 — "And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves; for charity shall cover the multitude of sins." 1Pe_1:22 RV — "Seeing ye have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren, love one another from the heart fervently."
Fourth Proposition: We should love from the heart, fervently; or rather, intensely. Php_1:9 — "And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment." 1Th_3:12 — "And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you."
Fifth Proposition: We should love aboundingly.
No mean, reluctant, or stingy outgoings of love. Mat_19:19 — "Honor thy father and thy mother: and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Rom_13:8-9 — "Owe no man anything, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Gal_5:14 "For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."
Sixth Proposition: We should love our neighbor as ourself. Joh_13:34 RV — "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; even as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." Joh_15:12 RV — "This is my commandment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you."
Seventh Proposition: We should love the brethren even as Christ loved us.
QUESTION: How much was that?
ANSWER: Joh_15:13 — "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." 1Jn_3:16 — "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."
IV. HOW LOVE TO MAN IS MANIFESTED. Rom_13:10 — "Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."
First Proposition: Love is manifested when we abstain from everything that would injure another. "Love worketh no ill." There is much here for reflection. The applications are countless. Gal_6:10 — "As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith."
Second Proposition: Love is manifested in doing good as we have opportunity.
It is not merely negative (abstaining from doing injury), it is also positive, doing positive good. Gal_5:13 RV — "For ye, brethren, were called for freedom; only use not your freedom for an occasion to the flesh, but through love be servants one to another."
Third Proposition: Love is manifested by becoming a servant to others.
This is illustrated in Jesus Christ. Joh_13:1-5 — "Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that the hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him; Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; he riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded." Php_2:4-7 — "Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men."
The man who wishes to be served but will not serve does not love. Love seeks lowly places of service. 1Co_10:24 RV — "Let no man seek his own, but each his neighbour's good."
Fourth Proposition: Love is manifested when we seek not our own, but rather our neighbor's good. Php_2:4 RV — "Not looking each of you to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others."
Fifth Proposition: Love is manifested in our not looking to our own things, but rather to the things of others.
We are not to be concerned about our glory and honor, but the honor of others. (See the context in verses 5-8.) Gal_6:2 — "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ."
Sixth Proposition: Love is manifested by our bearing one another's burdens. Rom_15:1-3 RV — "Now we that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each one of us please his neighbor for that which is good, unto edifying. For Christ also pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell upon me."
Seventh Proposition: Love is manifested (a) by our bearing the infirmities of the weak; (b ) in not pleasing ourselves; and (c) in pleasing others to edify them.
Christ is the great example here also. 2Co_2:7-8 — "So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow."
Eighth Proposition: Love is manifested when we forgive and comfort the wayward.
In this particular instance, the man had gone deeply into the vilest sin. Gal_6:1 RV — "Brethren, even if a man be overtaken in an), trespass, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of meekness; looking to thyself, lest thou also be tempted."