2. This study…
is an extension to The Key
Elements of Christian Living
presentation. The Four Key
elements are being
presented as four separate
presentations. This is the Faith Love
second after Power of Faith THE KEY ELEMENTS
OF CHRISTIAN
The Power of Faith LIVING
The Power of Love
The Power of Forgiveness Forgiveness Living
The Living Example Example
THE POWER OF LOVE
3. WHAT IS LOVE?
A very complex question with a million
possible answers.
Defined in the dictionary as…
A deep, tender, ineffable feeling of affection
and solicitude toward a person, such as
that arising from kinship, recognition of
attractive qualities, or a sense of
underlying oneness.
4. WHAT IS LOVE CONT…
While having a myriad of references in the
modern-day, Love in this study is based on
our bonding with God and also with one
another…
For Christians we have an excellent
description for LOVE in Paul's letter to the
Corinthians
1 Corinthians 13
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it
does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not
dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not
easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with
the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts,
always hopes, always perseveres.
5. CHRISTIAN LOVE
For Christians Love means a lot more than a mere
definition. It is the very basis and foundation of Christianity
Matthew 22
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind’] 38 This is the first
and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it:
‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
GOD
Love the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all your soul L
and with all your mind O
V
E
MAN LOVE MAN LOVE MAN
‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
6. CHRISTIAN LOVE
Jesus emphasized the need to love each other many
times…
Matthew 19
18 Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit
adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, 19
honor your father and mother, and ‘love your neighbor as
yourself’
Because Love is fundamental to all goodness.
7. CHRISTIAN LOVE
A Hard call…
Luke 6:
27 “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do
good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for
those who mistreat you. 29 If someone slaps you on one cheek,
turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not
withhold your shirt from them.
But then we see the explanation given by Jesus when
we continue in Luke 6:
32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that
to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And
if you do good to those who are good to you, what
credit is that to you? Even sinners do that.
Now…if we can say we are filled with Christian Love…
whom are we fooling?
8. THE NEED FOR LOVE
Jesus in His message to us has repeatedly
Emphasized the importance of Love
John 13
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have
loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this
everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love
one another.”
As Christians we need to have Love as a unique
feature spread among us…Love is our Identity. When
we live with an outflow of Love, others will see our
good deeds and we will be differentiated from the rest
of the Evil world with praise given to our Father in
Heaven…
Where is the example of Christianity(be a light on to this
world…) if we are also behave like the rest of the world.
9. HOW MUCH LOVE DO YOU HAVE?
REPLACE “LOVE” AND “IT” WITH YOUR NAME
IN 1CORENTHIANS 13
4 AA is patient, AA is kind. AA does not envy, AA does not
boast, AA is not proud. 5 AA does not dishonor others, AA
is not self-seeking, AA is not easily angered, AA keeps no
record of wrongs. 6 AA does not delight in evil but rejoices
with the truth. 7 AA always protects, always trusts, always
hopes, always perseveres.
Does it fit your Christian profile?
This way we can make a self assessment as to how far
off-course we are from the ideal with regards to the
degree of Love that we have in our lives…
10. LOVE AND SELFLESSNESS
Love = Selflessness
Absolute Love = Absolute selflessness
Love and Selflessness are co-related to each other.
The old Christian word for love was „caritas‟, which
means charity / giving or selflessness.
Christ emphasized the absolutely selfless
significance of the word „love‟ when he said,
13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down
one‟s life for one‟s friends. – Jesus (John 15)
Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for us… Because
of His love He lay down His life for us.
The very extreme of Love…absolute Selflessness
11. LOVE AND SELFLESSNESS
Taking Jesus’ sacrifice as one extreme of Love,
we can correlate Love to Selflessness.
Selfless
Selfish
Unloving LOVE Unconditionally
Loving
TRANSFORMS
Anger
Goodness
Jealousy
Care
Vengeance
Cruelty LOVE Concern
Forgiving
Unforgiving TRANSFORMS Understanding
Evil
12. LOVE IN THE WORLD
Christians are required to be a Light unto this dark world...
Matthew 5
16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see
your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
Therefore as Christians we cannot contribute to being a part of
the problem… Christians have to live by example. Instead of
joining in with what has gone very wrong, Christians have to
PRY OURSELVES AWAY AND BE THE SOLUTION. We have to
generate love . Because Love is the very essence of Christianity!
13. LOVE AND THE CHRISTIAN
Without Love we cannot be Christians…
1 Corinthians 13
1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not
have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging
cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all
mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can
move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I
give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to
hardship that I may boast, but do not have love,
I gain nothing.
Paul in his letter to the Corinthians emphasizes the
absolute need for Christian Love.
Because Love can change the world.
14. THE POWER OF LOVE
The power of Love can be enormous. With Love entering our lives we
release a host of other goodness such as Care, diligence, honesty,
concern, peace, respect ect. on to the World. This Goodness multiplied by
the number of Christians will bring in a new era of Love to this world filled
with Hate….vengeance… anger…war…plunder and evil.
LOVE WILL CHANGE THE WORLD!
Comp
Care
Concern Forgive assion
ness
Giving Respect
Hate Vengeance Anger Greed
WAR
Evil
15. IF YOU LOVE ME…
In addition to the importance that Jesus placed on
Love, we also come across a great assurance…
John 14
23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey
my teaching. My Father will love them, and we
will come to them and make our home with them.
24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my
teaching. These words you hear are not my own;
they belong to the Father who sent me.
If you love me you will obey my
teaching…
16. OUR PRAYER
Your love may abound more and more…
Philippians 1
9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and
more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be
able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless
for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that
comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
