This week in our series, "Take a Vow," we are talking about the call of followers of Christ to love. This call to love extends to everyone, including our spouses. As we turn to Scripture to understand the call every Christ follower has to love, we will be reminded, as we were during the weekend message, that love is an action and a choice, not a feeling.
How do you specifically feel love from others? How do you express love?
1. Based on what you know from Scripture, how is God's definition of love different from the world's?
2. Read 1st Corinthians 13:1-7. What does this passage of Scripture reveal about love?
1st Corinthians 13:1-7
If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. 4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
3. How does this passage of Scripture teach us that love is an action and a choice, not just a feeling?
4. Read John 13:34-35. How did Jesus demonstrate love during His ministry on earth?
John 13:34-35
“So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
1. Look back at 1st Corinthians 13:1-7. Which of these characteristics of love would you like to grow in? Why?
2. What is holding you back from following Jesus’ command to love the people around you?
3. Who has God placed in your life to love? What is one way you can show love to that person (or persons) this week?
Earlier, you shared which of the characteristics of love in 1st Corinthians 13 that you would like to grow in. Now, share one way that you can begin to grow in that area with the people in your life, starting today and tomorrow. If you are married, focus on how you can grow in this area in order to demonstrate love toward your spouse. After everyone has shared, ask God to help you all as you seek to grow in this area and follow the example of love in Scripture.
When it comes to love, there is no greater example of love than Jesus. Jesus loved counter-culturally. He taught and demonstrated that love does not prioritize one's own interests. Genuine love serves, sacrifices, and forgives. This is how Jesus loved the people around Him. For the next few minutes, read teachings from Jesus about love and about His example of showing love in Scripture.
Because of His love, Jesus was committed to serving throughout His entire ministry on earth. In a world where people seek to be served, Jesus, the King of all kings, chose to serve. Take a look at what Jesus taught about serving in John 13.
1. Read John 13:1-16
John 13:1-16
Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end. 2 It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. 4 So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, 5 and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him. 6 When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” 7 Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.” 8 “No,” Peter protested, “you will never ever wash my feet!” Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me.” 9 Simon Peter exclaimed, “Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!” 10 Jesus replied, “A person who has bathed all over does not need to wash, except for the feet, to be entirely clean. And you disciples are clean, but not all of you.” 11 For Jesus knew who would betray him. That is what he meant when he said, “Not all of you are clean.” 12 After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? 13 You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. 14 And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. 15 I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. 16 I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message.
2. How were Jesus’ actions in this passage of Scripture counter-cultural?
3. What was Jesus’ command in this passage of Scripture to His disciples?
4. What does it look like today to follow Jesus' example of service?
While every other king required people who were willing to protect them and lay their lives down for them, Jesus lived differently. Instead of demanding that others lay their lives down for Him, out of His great love, Jesus laid down His life for the sins of the world. This, my friends, is the greatest example of love, and it is the example we must follow, laying down our wants, needs, desires, and even our lives for others.
1. Read John 15:9-13.
John 15:9-13
“I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. 10 When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. 11 I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! 12 This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. 13 There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
2. How is Jesus’ definition of love different from the world’s?
3. How did Jesus live out the teachings He taught in this passage of Scripture?
4. What does it look like today to follow Jesus’ example of sacrifice?
This world promotes bitterness and holding people’s sins against them. Jesus taught something completely different. Jesus taught that genuine love offers forgiveness, always. After all, we have all been forgiven greatly, so we, too, must forgive.
1. Read Matthew 18:21-35.
Matthew 18:21-35
21 Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?” 22 “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven! 23 “Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. 24 In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. 25 He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold—along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned—to pay the debt. 26 “But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’ 27 Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt. 28 “But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment. 29 “His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’ he pleaded. 30 But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full. 31 “When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. 32 Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. 33 Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ 34 Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt. 35 “That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.”
2. Describe Jesus’ teaching about forgiveness in this passage of Scripture.
3. What is our motivation for forgiving, according to Jesus, in this passage of Scripture?
4. Do you find forgiveness difficult or easy? Why?
Take a few moments to reflect on the Scripture you studied today. Discuss the questions below with your small group. Together with your small group, commit to loving others, including your spouse, in the same way that Jesus loved while He was on earth.
1. How did Jesus redefine our human understanding of love?
2. When it comes to loving in the same way as Jesus, in which area would you like to grow: service, sacrifice, or love, and what change can you implement in your life to grow in that area?
3. How would demonstrating this kind of love impact your relationships, specifically your relationship with your spouse if you are married?
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