Genuine Love for Others

Primary Text:  John 13:34-35                                                                      July 11& 12, 2020

Last Week’s Teaching:   Proclaiming the Truth

1)  Truth?

John 18:37-38:  "You are a king, then!" said Pilate.   Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king.  In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.  Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."  "What is truth?" Pilate asked.

DQ 1) Define truth.  Why is knowing what is true foundational to human life?

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2)  The Living Truth

John 14:5-9:  Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"  Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life.   No one comes to the Father except through me.  If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well.  From now on, you do know him and have seen him."…  Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.

DQ 2) When Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life" what was He declaring?  

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3)  Teach Me

John 16:13-14:  But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.  He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.  He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.  

DQ 3) How does the Holy Spirit work to impart truth to each believer?

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This Week’s Teaching

1)  Your Neighbor and You

Matthew 22:37-40:  Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

Romans 13:8-10:  Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.  The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself."  Love does no harm to its neighbor.  Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

John 13:34-35:  "A new command I give you: Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

DQ 1) Define love.

DQ 2) What are different types and dimensions of love?

DQ 3) What is agapē love?

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2)  Accepting Yourself

Genesis 1:27:  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Psalm 139:13-14:  For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

DQ 4) Do humans naturally love themselves?

DQ 5) Does the Scripture encourage humans to love themselves?

DQ 6) How do we accept and value how God has created us without falling into prideful self-love?

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3)  Denying Yourself

John 15:12-13:   My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

Philippians 2:3-4:   Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.   Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Matthew 16:24-25:  Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it."

DQ 7) What aspects of ourselves need to be denied to love others?

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