Adapted from a Perry Greene sermon series https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/6-do-you-love-yourself-perry-greene-sermon-on-self-love-187106?ref=SermonSeriesDetails

2. We are to love.
We are to love our neighbor.
We are to love our neighbor as we love
OURSELVES.
NIV

3. Why "Golden Rule?“
In AD 222-235 Roman Emperor Alexander
Severus adopted the golden rule as his motto,
and displayed it on public buildings, and
promotes peace among religions. Some say the
golden rule is called golden because Severus
wrote it on his wall in gold.
It is NOT -- "He who has the gold rules."

4. A Restatement of NIV "'Do not
seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone
among your people, but love your neighbor as
yourself. I am the LORD.
This principle has been stated and restated in a
variety of forms.
Jesus combines this with to
give the greatest command completion.
It is the fulfillment of loving God.
A Key -- Love your neighbor AS YOURSELF

5. Selfish Esteem (Arrogance)
Manipulation
Say or do what is necessary to get what we
want.
Brings to mind politicians; some sales people;
abusive people.
Falls into the category of "Works of the Flesh."

6. NIV The acts of the flesh are
obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and
debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred,
discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition,
dissensions, factions and envy;
drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as
I did before, that those who live like this will not
inherit the kingdom of God.

7. Cain's Actions
NIV For this is the message you
heard from the beginning: We should love one
another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to
the evil one and murdered his brother. And why
did he murder him? Because his own actions
were evil and his brother's were righteous.

8. Low Self-Esteem
Self-loathing
Job and Jonah
Job 3:1 NIV After this, Job opened his mouth and
cursed the day of his birth. 2 He said: 3 “May the day
of my birth perish, and the night that said, ‘A boy is
conceived!’
Jonah 4:8 NIV When the sun rose, God provided a
scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s
head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and
said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”

9. A young man named Timothy writes: "I'm 23, I
hate the way I look and I just hate myself as a
person. I honestly believe that no woman on the
planet is attracted to me and I feel that a woman
will never love me ever in my life."

10. Lack of self-worth, feeling unworthy of good,
perhaps due to guilt for his wrongs?
How would a normal parent feel hearing those
kinds of things?
God?
Peter and Jesus in
After words of Love and affirmation,
action is prescribed -- help/feed others

11. NIV When they had finished eating,
Jesus said to Simon Peter,
"Yes, Lord," he said,
"you know that I love you." Jesus said,
Again Jesus said,
He answered, "Yes, Lord, you
know that I love you." Jesus said,
The third time he said to him,
Peter was hurt because
Jesus asked him the third time,
He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I
love you." Jesus said,

12. Love Others as You Love Yourself.
Do to others as you would have done to you.
Love For Our Neighbors.

13. In Times of Need -- NIV Suppose a
brother or a sister is without clothes and daily
food. If one of you says to them, "Go in
peace; keep warm and well fed," but does
nothing about their physical needs, what good
is it?
Out of Love for God -- NIV Whoever
does not love does not know God, because God
is love.

14. Love For Ourselves
We want the best for others as we want for
ourselves based on God's actions,
not arrogance
Example of Husbands and Wives --
NIV In this same way, husbands ought to
love their wives as their own bodies. He who
loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one
ever hated their own body, but they feed and
care for their body, just as Christ does the
church— for we are members of his body.

15. NIV
NEW = .
This is the kind of love that comes from God
and focuses on the good of others, even when it
does not benefit oneself. This kind of love cares
for others, no matter what they do.

16. Incarnate Expression of and
.
NIV "'Do not seek revenge or
bear a grudge against anyone among your
people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am
the LORD.
NIV

17. Jesus knew we needed a savior.
He put Himself in our place (literally and
metaphorically) and loved us as He would have
wanted to be loved if He was us.
The depth of His love.
NIV

18. See the need to love God and neighbor, may not
see the need to love self.
How do we love ourselves?
Regain proper self-image
Made in image of God, not the world.
Remember God's Love
If HE loves me, flaws and all, I can love me.

19. Principle of Sowing and reaping.
In the old Soviet Union there were very few laws
about factories polluting the water.
That was with good reason because one of the
few laws they did have was that any factory
which dumped chemicals back into the river
must do so upstream from its own intake pipes.

20. In other words, whatever the factory dumped in
the water was going to come right back into it
before it went any further downstream.
It was amazing how much this simple rule did to
cause factories to clean up their own pollutants.

21. What would happen if we knew that everything
we put out would come back to us?
We often say that what goes around comes
around, but what if that was a rule, not just a
principle?
What if you knew that every careless word or
deed would be returned to you almost
immediately?

22. Wouldn't that change the way we act?
Jesus gives us a positive version of this rule to
help us act properly.
He encourages us to make sure what we give
out to other people would be okay for us to get
back from them.
Motivation of sowing and reaping