Regardless of where you have been, where you think you are going, there is a God identity in you that needs to come out!

Who are we called to Love?
a. Love the Lord. Matthew 22
b. Love your neighbor/The world. Mark 12
c. Spouses and Children. Eph 5:25
d. Love your brother/Household of Faith. Gal 6:10.

My love for the world, the church, my family all springs out of my love for the Lord!

Our Motivation to love comes from above, but the expression of Love for each of these groups looks different.

God always expects more from the mature than He does from the world.

God expects that our relationship as Believers looks different and sets the example for those that don’t know Jesus.

Colossians 3:12-16 ESV-
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

After God’s love for us, the strongest emphasis about love in the New Testament is on love among fellow-believers.

1 Peter 4:7-11 ESV
The end of all things is at hand; therefore be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaint. As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks, let him speak, as it were, the utterances of God; whoever serves, let him do so as by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever.

The End of All Things Is at Hand

Church too focused on when He I am coming instead of what we are called to do until his coming.

Peter is speaking of the goal of all things, which cannot be anything less than the return of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom He will establish.

Be sensible - indicates a state of mind that is in control and not prone to extremes.
Have Sober Judgement- sober can indicate either a state free from the inhibitions of alcohol or emotion.

John 13:34-35 ESV-
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

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1. Our Love For One Another crosses cultural Norms. **
- The word Peter uses for the type of Love we have is the word strenuously.
- It is used to describe a horse at full gallop or the tautness of an athlete’s muscles in full exertion.
- This term goes beyond implying effort to picturing effort that stretches the subject to his limits.

2. Demonstrate a Love that Covers.
- Love is supposed to be a commitment that has real-life implications.

• The idea is not that Christians show love to one another in order to sweep sins under the rug.

• Only a love that stretches to the breaking point enables a body to function.
  

• It’s saying at least this. When we’ve done all the confrontation—when we’ve done all the argumentation and exhortation—we cover it. Whatever side we are on, we cover it; we give it up; we bury it as a cause of murmuring.
  

Ephesians 3:14-19 ESV
14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family[a] in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

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3. Love for the outside starts with love from within. **

If we don’t have real love going on in our local body of Christ, it will be very hard for us as a group to love anyone else either.

Like a biological family, You don’t get to pick everyone who becomes part of your Church, but we have a commitment to love each other.

Psalm 133:1-2 ESV
Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity![a]2 It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard,on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes!

I have to lay down my own life, to protect unity.
I will lay down my opinions to protect unity.
I will give up my preferences to protect His Presence.

Discussion Questions:

1- What are some practical ways to promote a culture of hope, belonging, purpose and love?

2- What do you think are some hinderances to loving others? What has kept you from loving other people in your life? Describe God’s heart for how His church is to love one another?

3- Describe a time that you were pushed to your limits to love, but in your stretching you witnessed God breaking through?

4- What does it mean that “Love Covers?” What does it not mean?

5- Read Psalm 133:1-2. What is unity? What are some misconceptions of unity? Describe what unity can look lie even in the midst of a disagreement?