Love One Another, Part 2
"One Another" Study, Lesson 1
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In the command to love one another, we have to go beyond the surface. It’s not enough to know who we should love or why we should love one another. We need to follow this knowledge with action. But how do we know what that action should look like? That’s what we’ll discover this week as we look deeper into Jesus’ command to love one another.
What is our model for loving one another well?
Not surprisingly, when we need a model for what it looks like to love one another, the greatest model we can find is Jesus.
John 15:12-13: 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
1 John 3:16-18: 16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
In both of these verses, we see that the example we are given for love is Jesus himself, who loved us so much that he laid down his life for us. We should be willing to do the same for others as an expression of our love. Love isn’t just something we say. It’s something we follow up with actions. For some, that might look like giving up your life for them. For others, maybe it’s sharing with someone in need. We all have something we can do or give to help those around us feel loved.
Not only do we have Jesus to follow as a model for loving others, but God himself teaches us how to love one another.
1 Thessalonians 4:9: Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other.
God created us with an innate desire to love and be loved. But God didn’t just create us to love those who love us in return. He calls us to love even those whom we would consider our enemy.
Matthew 5:43-48: 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Even in this, Jesus is our perfect model. The Bible tells us that before we were saved, while we were still living in sin, we were enemies of God. And even in this state, living in sin and enemies of God, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8-10: 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
If God can go so far as to love us even in our sin, those of us who have received this precious gift should model that depth of love to everyone around us, from our brothers and sisters in Christ to those who are still enemies of God.
What actions and attitudes help us love one another well?
As we look to Jesus as our model and explore the ability to love that God has placed in us, we need to take that further to not only say that we love others but actually follow that up with our actions, as we saw above in 1 John 3:18. This isn’t about following a list of rules about what it looks like to love others. Our love for others is an outflowing of our love for God.
The more we grow in our faith, the more we will find ourselves loving others.
2 Thessalonians 1:3: We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing.
We will also love one another more as we obey the truth and keep God’s commands.
1 Peter 1:22: Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.
1 John 3:23: And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.
2 John 1:5-6: 5 And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. 6 And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.
This love that flows from us is not just idle love. It is love that is sincere and from the heart, as we saw in 1 Peter 1:22. This isn’t something we do every once in a while when we feel like it. It’s something we do continually.
Hebrews 13:1: Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters.
The Bible reminds us to keep on loving one another. Sometimes it’s easy to abandon love when it gets too hard. We see this in the rate of divorce in our world today and in the number of family and friends who have parted ways over time because of past hurts. But those who follow God persevere in their love for one another.
Another attitude that goes alongside love is generosity. John makes this point by asking a rhetorical question.
1 John 3:17: If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?
Jesus made the point in Matthew 25:31-46 that whenever we see someone in need, whether they are hungry or thirsty or without clothes, or if they are a stranger or sick or in prison, we should do something to show we love them. If we don’t, it’s like we are ignoring God himself. Showing kindness and care and generosity to those around us is a key part of loving one another.
Next week…
If we keep Christ as our model of love and seek to continue growing in our faith and following God’s commands, we will develop perseverance in love and a generous spirit that spills over to those around us. Next week, we’ll see the outcome of this outpouring of love.
A very good study!