Brother Love

BROTHERLY LOVE
1 Thessalonians 4:9-10
 INTRODUCTION: What is the greatest witness our church can give to this community? I believe without doubt that our greatest witness is our love. Our love for the Lord, our love between members, and our love for the lost. Paul commended the church in Thessalonica for their loving fellowship but admonished them to “increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men.”
 I. COMMENDED FOR LOVE
   A. PAUL’S PRAISE. (1:3)
   B. PAUL’S PRAYER. (3:10, 12)
 II. CHARACTERISTIC OF LOVE
     A. DIVINE LOVE. (1 John 4:8, 16)
 David Prior: "It is a love for the utterly unworthy, a love which proceeds from a God who is love. It is a love lavished on others without a thought of whether they are worthy to receive it or not. It proceeds rather from the nature of the lover, than from any merit in the beloved."
 B. DEFINITION OF LOVE.
Man is incapable to give a complete and clear definition of God’s divine love. 
 THE LOVE OF GOD
 The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell.
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.
Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky. L. .M. Lehman
 The Holy Spirit speaking through John gives us a portrait of God’s love. “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.” (1 John 4:9)
 III. CULTIVATING OF LOVE  
“A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” (John 13:34)
 A. PRIORITY TO LOVE.
  1. Taught by God to Love.
  2. Grow in love. (v. 10, 3:12)
  3. Empowered by the Spirit to love. (Col. 1:8, Gal. 5:22) 
“. . . because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given unto us.” (Rom. 5:5)
 B. PRACTICE OF LOVE.
“See that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.” (1 Pet. 1:22)
“. . .by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” (Gal. 5:13-14)
C. POWER OF LOVE. 
“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (John 13:35)
LESSONS FOR LIFE:
1. Love is the greatest virtue of the Christian faith.
2. Christian love is more than a feeling; it is a way of life. (Eph. 5:2)
3. Brotherly love well increase as we exercise Christian love to one another.
4. Love for Jesus, fellow believers, and even our enemies give evidence to the genuineness of our salvation. 
“Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” (1 John 4:7-8)