An Uncommon Love
From beginning God has required
us to Love
In OT God commands this of the Jews:
Deuteronomy 10:12 And now, Israel, what
does the LORD your God require of
you, but to fear the LORD your God, to
walk in all His ways and to love Him, to
serve the LORD your God with all your
heart and with all your soul,
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God also required the Jews to
love their neighbor
Leviticus 19:18 “You shall not take
vengeance, nor bear any grudge
against the children of your people, but
you shall love your neighbor as yourself:
I am the LORD.
 It was understood that you had a love of
self to base how you treat others, thus
treat others as you would like to be
treated.
God also commanded the
Israelites to love strangers
Leviticus 19: 33 ‘And if a stranger
sojourns with you in your land, you shall
not mistreat him. 34. ‘But the stranger
who dwells among you shall be to you
as one born among you, and you shall
love him as yourself; for you were
strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the
LORD your God.
 A stranger could easily be also an
enemy.
And in NT we are told the same
things
Matthew 22:37 Jesus said to him, “You
shall the love the LORD your God with
all your heart, with all your soul and with
all your mind.’ 38. “This is the first and
great commandment. 39. ‘And the
second is like it: You shall love your
neighbor as yourself.’
An uncommon love
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All of this is an uncommon love in the
world today.
World expresses love and thinks about
in a different way from what the Bible
teaches.
It is often unevenly (or too closely)
linked to emotions, feelings, or actions
that bring a desired feeling.
An uncommon love
Bible often relates love to actions, and
thoughts followed by emotions, or felt
with reason.
 Understanding leads to action in many
of the examples.
Ephesians 1:15 For this cause I also,
having heard of the faith in the Lord
Jesus which is among you, and the love
which ye show toward all the saints,
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How do you define love?
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Difficult to define love in exact terms.
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Draw our conclusions based upon what
the Bible gives us to understand and to
understand that love is a growth
process that can get stronger over time.
An uncommon love
Look today at what God’s word says
that we need to love:
1. Our enemies
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2. Our brothers and sisters
1. Our enemies
Luke 6:27-35
 Even in OT it was not commanded to
hate enemies. Jews inferred wrongly
that if they were to love their neighbor
as themselves that they should hate
their enemies.
Deuteronomy 23:7 “You shall not abhor
an Edomite, for he is your brother. You
shall not abhor an Egyptian, because
you were an alien in his land.
An uncommon love
Luke 6:31 “And just as you want men to
do to you, you also do to them likewise.
32. “But if you love those who love you,
what credit is that to you? For even
sinners love those who love them.
Matthew 5:45 “that you may be sons of
your Father in heaven; for He makes
His sun rise on the evil and on the good,
and sends rain on the just and on the
unjust.
An uncommon love
Luke 6:33 “And if you do good to those
who do good to you, what credit is that
to you? For even sinners do the same.
 As Christians do we compare with
sinners? Do we love uncommonly?
 Do we give love only if we can get
something out of it?
 Some people in this world that cannot
give us anything, do they deserve love?
Who is our enemy?
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How do we make enemies?
How does someone become our
enemy?
Are they ours alone for shallow
reasons?
Or are they enemies because they
spited us and we want vengeance?
An uncommon love
Even so, we are commanded to love
those who spitefully use us.
Acts 16:18ff
 Paul is cast into prison
 Dealt with harshly
 Calls out to jailor
 Teaches jailor and baptizes him
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An uncommon love
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Do we have love for our enemies?
Someone we call enemy, are they not
our neighbors?
Look at parable of good Samaritan
Accounted only in Luke 10. After
discourse of great command from
lawyer found in Matthew, Mark, and
Luke.
An uncommon love
Lawyer believed in these commands yet
wanted to justify who was his neighbor.
 But Jesus showed him and us a more
excellent love of neighbors, and to love
our enemies.
 Do we do the same?
John 14:23 Jesus answered and said to
him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep
My word; and My Father will love him,
and We will come to him and make Our
home with him.
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2. Our brothers and sisters
Also commanded by Jesus to love our
brothers and sisters.
 Even though it may seem easier thing to
do than loving our enemies, we
sometimes fail in this respect.
John 15:12 “This is My commandment,
that you love one another as I have
loved you.
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An uncommon love
John 13:35 “By this all will know that you
are My disciples, if you have love for
one another.”
 A mark or proof to others that we are
disciples of Jesus, evidence.
I John 3:17 But whoever has this world’s
goods, and shuts up his heart from him,
how does the love of God abide in him?
An uncommon love
I John 3:18 My little children, let us not
love in word or in tongue, but in deed
and in truth.
I John 4:10 In this is love, not that we
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.
An uncommon love
I John 4:19 We love Him because He first
loved us. 20. If someone says, “I love
God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar;
for he who does not love his brother
whom he has seen, how can he love
God whom he has not seen?
 Do we love our brothers and sisters as
we should, proving that we do indeed
love God?
An uncommon love
So let us strive to understand what the
love of the brethren is.
I John 3:16 By this we know love,
because He laid down His life for us.
And we also ought to lay down our lives
for the brethren.
 Do we give what we have in our lives to
the brethren? Do we appreciate those
that do?
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An uncommon love
Looked at love from what bible says
how we should love
1. Our enemies
2. Our brothers and sisters
 Jesus showed us the way in his love for
all.
Romans 5:1-9
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An uncommon love
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Do you want to be at peace with God?
Do you know that your sins separate
you from God?
Do you want to become a disciple of
Jesus Christ?
Come and confess and be baptized for
the remission of your sins.