The Higher Order Of Love
JOHN 13:31-35 (NLT)
As soon as Judas left the room, Jesus said, “The time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory, and God will be glorified because of him. And since God receives glory because of the Son, he will give his own glory to the Son, and he will do so at once. Dear children, I will be with you only a little longer. And as I told the Jewish leaders, you will search for me, but you can’t come where I am going. 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 CORINTHIANS 13:1-3 (NLT)
“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. 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. 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.”
1 CORINTHIANS 13:13 (NLT)
“Three things will last foremost—FAITH—HOPE— AND LOVE—and the greatest of these is LOVE.”
MATTHEW 22:37-40 (CEV)
Jesus answered: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. This is the first and most important commandment. The second most important commandment is like this one. And it is, “LOVE OTHERS AS MUCH AS YOU LOVE YOURSELF.” All the Law of Moses and the Books of the Prophets are based on these two commandments.”
3 MAIN BARRIERS BETWEEN THE WORLD AND THE CHURCH:
- TRUST ISSUES
- TOLERANCE ISSUES
- TRUTH ISSUES
3 Principles of the HIGHER ORDER OF LOVE:
- The Higher Order of Love Begins with the Revelation: WE LOVE FROM BEING LOVED
EROS: Romantic/Sexual Love
PHILEO: Friendship/Relational Love
AGAPE: Unconditional Love
LUKE 7:47 (NLT)
“I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.”
3 Principles of the HIGHER ORDER OF LOVE:
- The Higher Order of Love Begins with the Revelation: WE LOVE FROM BEING LOVED
- The Higher Order of Love Requires: DYING TO SELF
“The first thing of necessity is that our treatment of others must never depend upon what they are, or upon what they do to us. It must be entirely controlled and governed by our view of them and of their condition.
The whole secret of living this kind of life is that man should be utterly detached. He must be detached from others in the sense that HIS BEHAVIOR IS NOT GOVERNED BY WHAT THEY DO! But still more important, he should detach from himself, for until a man is detached from himself, he will never be detached from what others do to that self. As long as a man is living for himself, he is SENSITIVE, WATCHFUL, AND JEALOUS, he is ENVIOUS and is therefore always reacting immediately to what others do.
The Christian is a person who is taken out of this present evil world. He is placed in a position apart and lives on a HIGHER LEVEL. He belongs to a different kingdom. He is a new man, a new creature, a new creation. Because of this he sees everything differently, and therefore reacts in a different manner. There, says Christ, you can become like God in this respect, that you will no longer be governed exclusively by what other people do to you, you will have something within you that will determine your conduct and behavior.”
- Dr. Martin Loyd Jones
3 THINGS I’VE LEARNED I HAVE TO LEARN TO DIE TO:
1. PRIDE
NARCISSISM: An extremely self-centered person who has an inflated sense of self-importance. A deep need for excessive admiration and a lack of empathy for others.
3 THINGS I’VE LEARNED I HAVE TO LEARN TO DIE TO:
1. PRIDE
2. OFFENSE
1 PETER 2:23 (NLT)
He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.
3 THINGS I’VE LEARNED I HAVE TO LEARN TO DIE TO:
1. PRIDE
2. OFFENSE
3. PREJUDICE
2 CORINTHIANS 5:14-20 (NLT)
Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a NEW PERSON. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”
3 Principles of the HIGHER ORDER OF LOVE:
- The Higher Order of Love Begins with the Revelation: WE LOVE FROM BEING LOVED
- The Higher Order of Love Requires: DYING TO SELF
- The Higher Order of Love is What MAKES US LOOK LIKE JESUS
JOHN 13:34-35 (NLT)
“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 JOHN 4:16b-17; 20-21 (NIV)
God is love, whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment. In this world we are LIKE JESUS…
Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
1 CORINTHIANS 11:23b-24; 28 (NLT)
On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me…”
“That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup.”
The Higher Order of Love | The Book of John
Pastor Dennis Rouse
October 2-3, 2026
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