Life on the Vine

#2 Love

Q) Name some songs with the word "love" in the title?

Q) How does our society define love?
Q) Describe someone who is easy to love? How many people in
our culture do you think fit this description?
What we're going to look at today is how we can bring out love in
our lives while living in our society.
It isn't by accident that love is mentioned first in the list of fruit.
Without love, can you have the other things?
Q) Who does our society tell us to look out for? What are some
examples of that?
Is self love what God had in mind for us when he said to love?
God's love is always directed outward; never are we told that God
loves himself, instead God's love is shown to mankind throughout
the Bible, and culminates with his Son coming to earth
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:
While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
So how does God expect us to love? Luke 6:27-36
But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good
to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for
those who mistreat you. 29 If someone slaps you on one cheek,
turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not
withhold your shirt from them. 30 Give to everyone who asks you,
and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.
31
Do to others as you would have them do to you.
27

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even
sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those
who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do
that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect
repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to
sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do
good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything
back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of
the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.
36
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
32

Q) What do you think is Jesus key instruction in this passage?

What were some phrases that stuck with you?
Q) What are some common ways, both good and bad, that
Christians in our society distinguish themselves from nonChristians? How could you spot a Christian in public?
With this reading in mind, how would we spot Christians?
Q) Why isnt it enough for Jesus to say, love everybody and
leave it at that? Why does he tell us to love our enemies?
Q) In this text, what does Jesus tell us to do besides love our
enemies
Examples of loving our enemies: When an expert on the law
asked Jesus what he had to do to be saved, Jesus replied "what
does the law say?". The man's reply was to love God and love
your neighbor. Jesus was then asked "who is my neighbor?". This
is a standard rabbinical questions; the teachers of Jesus time were
always setting limits, saying what constitutes following the law
and what strays from it. They set limits on what is actually work
for the Sabbath, how much you should give to both God and the
poor, how many times you were to forgive people, etc. So "who is
my neighbor?" is a natural questions for a Jew.

Jesus replies to the question with: A man was going down from
Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They
stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him
half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road,
and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So
too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by
on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where
the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He
went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine.
Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn
and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii[c] and
gave them to the innkeeper. Look after him, he said, and when I
return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.
Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man
who fell into the hands of robbers?
36

37

The expert in the law replied, The one who had mercy on him.

Jesus told him, Go and do likewise.

Q) how is this an example of loving your enemy?

Q) How essential to being a Christian is loving our enemies? Why?
The notion that God's people should seek to embody God's loving
character is not a minor theme in the Bible.
1 John 4:19-21
We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God
yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love
their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God,
whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command:
Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
19

Ephesians 5:1-2
Follow Gods example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and
walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself
up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
1

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.
Q) What is at stake if Christians do not love their enemies? What
is the problem?
Is the ability to love as God loves a gift or is it something that we
should attempt to cultivate. The answer is both:
Romans 5:5
And hope does not put us to shame, because Gods love has been
poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been
given to us.
Yet Paul ends his discourse on love in 1 Corinthians 13 with this
statement from 14:1
Pursue love...
So what are obstacles in our society that impedes the
development of the Spirit's fruit?
1) we are taught to promote our own self interest. "What's in it for
me" is a common rallying cry for people in our nation.
2) We put a price on everything. For our system to work,
everything must have value... including people. We value people

by how much they contribute to society, and how much they are
worth.
3) We are not encouraged to interact with others, in fact we are
discouraged from doing so. When was the last time you talked to
the farmer who grew your food, or the truck driver who brought it
to your grocery store? We rarely even talk to the shoppers around
us or the person who checks us out!
Q) How do you see these three things showing in our church life?
So how do we show love in our culture?
1) pay attention to others. We cannot love others without paying
attention to them. Even though our society tells us to be
indifferent to those around us, we must pay attention to learn
their needs.
2) We must receive and give graciously. The heart of Christian
faith is giving of gifts. God has abundantly given to us, we must
seek to be avenues of God's grace by giving gifts to others. We
must seek out those who truly need them, not just give gifts to
those around us.
3) Sustaining Stewardship. Our possessions can easily become
means to separate and divide us. Our culture encourages us to
form links to our selves and our possessions (does your car or
your home really reflect who you are, etc). Instead of looking for
ways to further our own cause with our possessions, we must look
for ways to use our possessions to further God's cause.
Each chapter ends with practical suggestions to encourage the
particular aspect of the Spirit that we are studying.
1) Consider beginning each day by asking God to give you eyes to
see the needs of others. Look for ways to promote others, even if
it means setting aside your own agenda and preoccupations.

2) Devote time to reflection on your personal relationships. How

do you view them - just as ways to help yourself? How can you
improve them?
3) Consider how our culture, and its preoccupation with selfinterest, has affected your relationship with God. Do you look to
God just as a means to obtain things? Have you come to worship
and asked "what's in it for me" or "I didn't get anything out of it
today"?
4) Do you "keep score" at Christmas, birthdays, etc? How much
did my friend spend on me? Are you upset with how little they
spent? Do you feel the need to spend more on them than they did
for you? Do you seek out ways to give without any hope of ever
getting anything back?