What is True Love? (Message Outline - February 3, 2019)

Sermon outline by Raymund Tamayo

Intro – God is Love

God not only loves, He is Love! This means that Love is not merely one of his attributes. Love is His nature.

Text – 1 John 4:7-21

To say that God is love, is not to imply that love is God. There is a difference like there is a difference in me saying my dog is a girl and my girl is a dog. God is love means that God only wants the very best for you.

Body

Text – 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

How can we know what true love really is? God Himself shows us what true love is.

We can understand what true love is by understanding how much God loves us. Let’s look at His Word.

1. God’s love is complete

1 Corinthians 13:1-3; John 3:16; John 19:30

- Only God’s love will complete anything that we do.

- Anything we do, without God’s love, is inadequate and incomplete.

- When we add God’s love in anything we do, then it is complete.

- When our acts are based on a “have-to” mentality, or just a desire to fulfill an obligation or sense of guilt, then that is not how God loves.

- When what we do starts with God’s love, then what we do will be put into completion.

- When Jesus said, “It is finished,” it means that His work is not only accomplished, it is already “complete.” Tapos na.

- God’s love for us completed the work of salvation.

2. God’s love is loving someone who doesn’t love you back

1 Corinthians 13:4-5; Matthew 5:44; Romans 5:8

- It takes real patience to love someone who returns the opposite to us.

- I used to feel that God didn’t know what He was asking of us when He commanded us to love our enemies, those who do NOT love us.

- Then I realized that since the beginning of time humanity has refused to fully, truly, and completely love the Creator of the universe and Savior of their soul, yet He continues to shower us with His love.

3. God’s love doesn’t hold a grudge

1 Corinthians 13:6-7; Psalm 103:12; Micah 7:19; Isaiah 43:25

- We lack the ability to forget trespasses done against us.

- When someone hurts us, it is always floating around in the back of our minds.

- We even keep those things floating around just in case they mess up again, and we can bring up what they have done to us before.

- God’s love doesn’t hold our past mistakes and sins against us.

4. God’s love never fails

1 Corinthians 13:8-13; Romans 8:37-39

- The truth and reality is that everything on earth can, and has at some point, failed.

- Man’s attempt to reach God with Babel failed.

- Man’s attempt to silence the teaching of Jesus failed.

- Man’s attempt at stifling the growth of the early church failed.

- Everything on earth fails, but God’s love NEVER fails.

- God’s love gives us victory. Because of His love, what He sets us out to do will never fail.

Conclusion

God is love. God loves you. God makes you complete. God makes you whole.

God loves you even if you don’t love Him back. God does not hold anything against you. God will never fail you.

Unless you understand how much God loves you, you will never be able to give true love to someone else.