Love Comes Out Like Toothpaste: Developing the God Kind of Love

Sermon outline

You do not need to pray for love, because as a born-again child of God the love nature of God is already in you; feed it the Word, practise it and let it out, because love never fails.

1. The fruit of the Spirit is love

   Love is the first fruit of the Spirit Paul names. Christians think they should pray for more love or ask God to help them love, but that is wrong, because God has already imparted love to every born-again believer. When Christ died for you while you were still in sin and you said yes, your whole nature was filled with light and love.

   “God has already given you love. Love is in your heart as a new creation being.”

   • Galatians 5:22-23
   • Romans 5:8

2. Develop it the way you develop faith

   Every believer has been given a measure of faith, so asking God for faith borders on unbelief; you grow it by exercising weak faith until it becomes strong faith. Love works the same way: the Holy Spirit regenerated your spirit with the love nature of God, and it is that nature that moves you to give in God's house and to buy someone a gift without knowing why.

   Illustration: The first time you have flu you run to the doctor, the second time to the chemist, the third time you rest in bed, the fourth time you lay hands on yourself and say you are healed, and by the sixth time you are walking in divine health.

   “So it's by your exercising weak faith, you develop it into strong faith.”

   • Romans 12:3

3. You are a love child, a product of love

   You were born of the Word, the incorruptible seed, and God is love, so you came out of God with a love nature. People may not like you and family may have written you off, but nothing you do will stop God's love toward you. The fruit may still be small and green, but if you feed it the Word and practise it, it will grow and ripen; you cannot lay your Christianity aside to sort somebody out, so let out the love you have imprisoned inside.

   Illustration: When the toothpaste tube is nearly empty you press it with both thumbs to get the last bit out; when the circumstances of life squeeze you, even if it is the last little bit, love should come out.

   “When you are squeezed, love comes out like toothpaste.”

   • 1 Peter 1:23
   • 1 John 4:8

4. Love never fails

   Love is a spiritual law designed by God never to fail, and it will dominate a situation at work or in a relationship. Refuse hatred and selfishness, leave your defence to God instead of getting even, and accept that you deal with two kinds of people: those walking in love and those who can only function in selfishness and envy. Some fights are not worth fighting, and you should only speak your whole mind if your mind has been renewed by the Word.

   Illustration: They took love and crucified Him, then buried Him, and on the third day love arose from the dead.

   “It's okay if you speak your whole mind if you have a good mind.”

   • 1 Corinthians 13:8

5. Let love govern you and make you a blessing

   Walking in love makes people want to be around you; if you have no friends, examine whether you offload all your troubles on everyone you meet. Faith works by love and the gifts of God flow through love, so with love you can overcome at work and God will be with you strong, as He was with Stephen. Joseph did not get bitter in the pit but looked up, and when God promoted him he chose to give his brothers their lives.

   Illustration: There are two kinds of people: those who look down and see the mud, and those who lift their eyes to the heavens and see the stars. When he wanted to help God settle the score, the Lord told him He is the best chartered accountant you can get and He will balance the books.

   “So in your life, let God balance the books.”

   • Galatians 5:6
   • Philippians 4:13
   • Acts 7:55-56
   • Genesis 37:28
   • Genesis 50:20

6. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you

   Jesus speaks in the past tense, so His love for you is a settled fact whatever valley you are in; continue in His love every day and remind yourself that God loves you and is with you strong. He shares a man of God's saying that 'I will never leave you nor forsake you' is not only a promise but a threat: once God has set His love on you, He will come after you wherever you run, like a mother protecting her child.

   Illustration: God once made a donkey speak to a prophet; he jokes that if you stop coming to church, God might use your barking dog to tell you to go. Like Jonah, some are in the wilderness because they keep running from God's plan, singing 'I did it my way'; he says he did it too for many years until he said 'Okay, Lord'.

   “Once He set His love and affection on you, you are not your own anymore.”

   • John 15:9-13
   • Hebrews 13:5
   • Numbers 22:28

7. If you love God, endorse it with your conduct

   It is bad manners in the eyes of God to miss church, because Israel's whole life was centred on the tabernacle and your job and pay packet are not your God. Heaven hears the thoughts and intents of your heart louder than your words, so if you say you love God, do something for Him, just as you would do something for your mum today. Solomon got God's attention with a thousand offerings.

   Illustration: If you really love your mum, you will take her for lunch, buy her a gift or do something nice for her on Mother's Day.

   “If you really love God, endorse it with your conduct.”

   • Hebrews 10:25
   • 1 Kings 3:4-13

8. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly

   Another translation reads 'gaining the ascendancy over all your faculties', so Christ reigns over your mind, mouth, heart, spirit and actions. To dwell means to take permanent residence, and when the Word lives in you like that, you cannot help but love God, be in His house and pray. Everything comes back to a Word problem: believers have authority over devils, so the real problems are a lack of the Word and selfishness, which is putting your interests above the interests of others.

   Illustration: A mother whose child is in trouble has a heart that burns to get there; that is how a heart full of the Word burns for God.

   “We don't have a devil problem. What we have is a word problem.”

   • Colossians 3:16
   • John 1:1-2
   • Hebrews 4:12
   • Psalm 37:23
   • Psalm 122:1
   • Mark 16:17