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CHRISTIAN LOVE |
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"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another."
(John 13:34)
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Last Update 01/28/08
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 I take some bread, olive oil, milk, and cheese. As more food is passed, I also take some figs, grapes and pomegranates. The beans and lentils are being saved for supper. Since I am part of the cleanup crew, I finish my meal and get busy cleaning and putting food away. Then the instruction begins.
John:
Yesterday, we discussed the resurrection of Jesus and our own future resurrection. Today, we will talk about love. Several of us will be doing the teaching today. So, as each of us presents the different aspects of love, please ask all the questions that come to your mind.
Andrew: As most of you already know, the concept of love is deeply embedded in our religious history. God gave us two commandments on Mount Sinai. Remember when Jesus was with us, he talked to a lawyer of the Pharisees? The lawyer asked Jesus, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" and Jesus replied, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets." So, we can say that from Moses to Jesus, love is the key ingredient for our relationship with God and with others.
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Peter:
That's true. Love has always been foundational in our faith, but with Jesus, there is another dimension to love. Who would like to talk about what Jesus taught about love while he shared supper with His disciples just before the Feast of Passover?
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Bartholomew: Jesus shared the meal with us and then He washed our feet. Jesus said that one of us would betray Him. We didn't know who that was or understand why one of us would betray Him. Then Jesus said, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." Since Moses, nobody had ever given us a new commandment until then. |
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Rebecca:
Bartholomew. How does this new commandment differ from the second commandment? |
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Bartholomew:
As you have supposed, there is something different about this new commandment. There are two things we can immediately identify as being different. First, we are to love one another as Jesus loved us. Second, when we love one another as Jesus loved us, all men will know we are His disciples.
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Jonah:
I guess that means that we need to examine how Jesus loved us so we will know how to love one another, is that right?
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Bartholomew:
Exactly. So, let's examine how Jesus loved us.
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Simon:
Fist, Jesus said that as His Father loved Him, He also loved us. Jesus kept His Father's commandments and dwelled in His love, so we should keep Jesus' commandments and dwell in His love. Second, Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this that one lay down his life for his friends." Jesus had called His disciples His friends and He did die for them. So, we should be willing to die for one another. |
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Myself:
Are there other characteristics of love for us to practice? |
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Thaddaeus:
Yes, there are several. We are to love one another without hypocrisy. We are to be devoted to each other in love. We are not to destroy one another with our personal preferences such as food, instead, we are to love one another by building each other up, by encouraging, and by strengthening one another. |
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Alphaeus:
Barsabbas, there's more I can share with you and the others about the characteristics of love. When we love, we want to love out of patience, love out of kindness, love out of contentment, love out of humility, love with respect, love out of decency, love from selflessness, love by being calm and agreeable, love by ignoring bad behavior, love by rejoicing in righteousness and in truthfulness, love by enduring all kinds of things, love by having confidence in all kinds of things, love by hoping in all kinds of things, love by standing firm in all kinds of things, love by realizing that love never comes to an end. |
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Matthew:
We are to seek after love. In everything that we do, we are to do it out of love. We are also to be enslaved to one another in love. We are to think of ways to encourage one another to love one another. |
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James:
Remember, that love is the by-product of our relationship with the Holy Spirit. So, when we are immersed in the Spirit, we will love one another.
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Philip:
We are to love out of honesty. We are to be imitators of God by conducting our lives in love, just as Christ also loved us and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. So, we might say that loving one another is an act of making an offering to God and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. |
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James:
Lest we neglect this, we who are husbands, are to love our wives. We are to love our wives as our own bodies. We are to be appreciative of our wives in love. We are to love our wives using all of the characteristics of love that we discuss today.
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Matthew:
We, brothers and sisters, are to be brought together in love. We are to constantly love one another from the heart. Now, when I say heart, I mean "from our inner most being."
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Alphaeus:
We are to be bound together in unity through love. In addition, remember, your breastplate of righteousness comes from faith and love.
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Peter:
You older men are to be especially loving. You older women are to teach the younger women to love their husbands and their children. Family is the place to practice love before you go out and start loving everyone else.
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John:
Well, brothers and sisters, this is a lot to learn and remember. But the Holy Spirit will bring these truths to your mind as you go about your daily lives. When you go to the homes of the new disciples tonight, share with them what you have learned today. Also review the truths about the resurrection.
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John: (praying):
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time, and now, and forever. Amen.
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I am on my way to Jonah's home. My heart and mind are on fire. What glorious truths I have learned today. I am so thankful that the Holy Spirit will give me the words to say as I share with Jonah's family. |
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The contents of this web page are excerpted from Chapter 2, The First Week, in the unpublished manuscript with the working title Christianity - The Early Years (An Examination of 1st Century Christianity: A Guide for Contemporary Faith and Practice. |
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© 2008 by Jerold L. Reed All Rights Reserved |
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Contact the New Testament Psychology Institute for special permission to copy and distribute this information. |
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