Love First Right Kind of love

what is the gospel?

Eternal Love 18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. - 1Pet. 1:18-20 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ to further the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness— 2 in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time, - Tit. 1:1-2

Application If God “so love the world that he gave his one and only Son” and this was all set in motion before the foundation of the world, then what did God do first? God loved first!

Love is the point 3 If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Look in the Mirror Christ followers are rightly expected to be the absolute best at expressing His compassion. So when we do not deliver on empathy, sympathy, and compassion the world feels a deep sense of betrayal.

The healing Healer “I want to suggest that when the church is consciously attentive to healing it own woundedness, we are uniquely repositioned to offer meaningful healing to thee world around us, both locally and globally.”

“Our world is desperate for Christians who know how to respond to the heart of the world rather than with the heart of the world.” This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC

Luke 7:11-17 the widow’s son 11 Soon Jesus and his disciples were on their way to the town of Nain, and a big crowd was going along with them. 12 As they came near the gate of the town, they saw people carrying out the body of a widow’s only son. Many people from the town were walking along with her. 13 When the Lord saw the woman, he felt sorry for her and said, “Don’t cry!” 14 Jesus went over and touched the stretcher on which the people were carrying the dead boy. They stopped, and Jesus said, “Young man, get up!” 15 The boy sat up and began to speak. Jesus then gave him back to his mother. 16 Everyone was frightened and praised God. They said, “A great prophet is here with us! God has come to his people.” 17 News about Jesus spread all over Judea and everywhere else in that part of the country.

A healing touch “ Where uncleanness causes others to recoil , Jesus restores life, joy and celebration. This is a model for the church to follow that will lead to positive solutions for todays world

1 Corinthians 6:1-8  When one of you has a complaint against another, do you take your complaint to a court of sinners? Or do you take it to God’s people? 2 Don’t you know that God’s people will judge the world? And if you are going to judge the world, can’t you settle small problems? 3 Don’t you know that we will judge angels? And if that is so, we can surely judge everyday matters. 4 Why do you take everyday complaints to judges who are not respected by the church?

1 Corinthians 6:1-8 (cont.) 5 I say this to your shame. Aren’t any of you wise enough to act as a judge between one follower and another? 6 Why should one of you take another to be tried by unbelievers? 7 When one of you takes another to court, all of you lose. It would be better to let yourselves be cheated and robbed. 8 But instead, you cheat and rob other followers.

What's Paul’s Point? But what is Paul’s point? What drum is he beating at? His great concern is the reputation of the gospel in the world, and the church is the key to the gospels standing. But an even deeper layer to their illness is the reasoning behind the choices they are making. “The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already , why not rather be wrong? Why not rather be cheated? instead come you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters.” Of all the problems that the church at Corinth had their blindness was there biggest problem. There is a lack of love.

Abandon Ship Let us now consider all the doctrines that you would have to let go of in order to criticize others. 1. I believe all humans are the product of divine creation. 2. I believe Jesus died on the cross to save people from their sins, and this includes saving me from my sins 3. I believe in treating others as I would have them treat me 4. I believe I am commanded by God to love Him, my brothers and sisters, my neighbors and my enemies no exceptions.

Conclusion So this proposes a question, how can we claim not to be sick if we're not doing what God has asked us to do? If we do not have the markers of good spiritual health present in our lives how can we claim to be healthy? If we claim to be spiritual in one breath and then in our next, we heavily bash people, we are missing the love of Christ in our lives.