How to Love One Another

Sermon. Carlisle Evangelical Free Church. Shad Baker.

If you pay attention during only one sermon, this should be it!

1 John 4:7-12

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

P(ray).T(hink).A(ct).

1. Pray
- acknowledges our dependence on God
- "Let me see [people or person's name] the way you see [them/him/her]"
-- how does God see people? v10
--- God didn't see potential in us because we didn't have any
--- God still loved us in spite of us
-- we're not trying to see past reality, we want to see reality
--- there's a way to love in spite of reality

2. Think
- Loving thoughts come from God (v7)
- take thoughts captive and test them to see if they're from God (loving) or not (not loving)

3. Act
- ...NOW!
- must act immediately or we will miss the opportunity
-- obedience is not following directions eventually, it's following them right away
- Love is not just an emotion, it is an action
-- v9
-- God manifested his love through Jesus
-- what good is love is it's only words/thoughts?
-- love is perfected when it is manifested

Our job is to PTA, it is God's job to supply the love
- v7 love is from God
- God doesn't fill us and then send us
-- he sends us and fills as we go
-- we must go trusting that he will provide. He says he will so the question is: Do I trust God?
-- 2 Corinthians 9:10 - God provides seeds to the sower, not the sitter
-- this is why we must act now! we will never overflow till we pour into others!


[Aside: I love verse 12. "No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us." No one can see God, but by loving one another, God is in us. Who cares about being able to see God if he is in me! By the propitiation offered through Christ's sacrifice, God can be in us! But it gets better...His love is perfected in us by loving each other. His love was designed not to be emotions or words but instead actions spread to others. How do we get filled up? By him abiding in us for the very purpose of pouring into others!]