Agape Love

The story is told of a businessman whose wife was experiencing depression. She began to mope around and be sad, lifeless—no light in her eyes—no spring in her step—joyless. It became so bad that the man made an appointment for her with a psychiatrist. On the appointed day, they went to the psychiatrist’s office, sat down with him, and began to talk. It was not long before the wise doctor realized what the problem was.

Without saying a word, he stood, walked over in front of the woman’s chair, signaled her to stand, took her by the hands, looked at her in the eyes for a long time, then put his arms around her and gave her a big, warm hug. You could see the change come over the woman. Her face softened, her eyes lit up, she immediately relaxed. Her whole face glowed.

Stepping back, the doctor said to the husband, "See that’s all she needs."

The husband thought for a moment, then said, "Okay, I’ll bring her in on Tuesdays and Thursdays each week, but I play golf on the other afternoons.”

I believe the husband’s love is a little misplaced here.

But what really is love? What does it mean to love someone? It can be rather confusing. In our language this one word has a lot of different meanings. We can say we love a lot of things and even people but each time we use it we don't always mean the same thing. For example:

We say we love golf, but is it the same kind of love we have for our spouse, our children, or our close friends?

We say we love our job but is it the same kind of love we have for our spouse, our children, or our close friends?

We say we love a certain food but again is it the same kind of love we have for our spouse, our children, or our friends?

We say we love to watch baseball, go shopping, or listen to music but again is it the same love that we have for our spouse, our children, or our friends?

And when we tell someone that we love them what do we really mean?

Is it the same love we have for everyone else or is this love towards this person different; unique all to its own?

What do we mean when we say we love our children and grandchildren?

What do we mean when we say we love our friends, our co-workers or even our pet(s)?

What do we mean when we say we love our LORD? Is that love deeper, richer and more special and unique than our other loves?

This one word we use "LOVE" can get all complicated and tricky. This one little word can carry a multitude of different emotions and meanings. For the ancient Greeks it wasn't quite as tricky.

• If they were wanting to express love in a passionate, romantic, or sensual manner they would use the word "EROS".

• If they were speaking of a friendship type of love, they would use the word "PHILEO" (fil-eh'-o).

• If they were wanting to talk about love among family members or refer to a type of love that shows loyalty, they would use the word "STORGE" (stor ge).

Those were the common Greek words used for love - EROS, PHILEO and STORGE. And when they used either of them then the person hearing the different words knew exactly what type of love they were meaning.

The Apostle Paul doesn't use any of those words here in this chapter. In fact, Paul and the other writers of the New Testament chose for the most part to use another word when they spoke about "love" in a Christian context. They used the word "agape". Because it was not used in everyday common speech, the Early Church adopted this word and greatly enlarged its meaning.

Agape love became to mean a love that is not based on emotion, affection or even approval. Agape love was viewed as unconditional love.

In other words, agape love is love that comes as a free gift.

• It doesn't come because someone deserves it, or someone demands it. -You cannot buy agape love, nor can you earn agape love.

It is freely given. Agape love is a decision of one person towards another person to act in the highest regard for that person's best interests whether they feel like it or not. Agape love is very much like grace.

Agape love is a love that comes from the center core of a person's heart.

It is, the love that can withstand a betrayal, then a beating and finally carry a cross to a hill called Calvary.

It is, the love that can look down from the cross and speak words of caring, forgiveness and mercy.

Agape love is in essence - God love. It is the way God loves us and the way that God calls us to love others. It's the love that God breathed in us so that we could experience Him and all of creation in its fullness.

Read; 1 Corinthians 13:1-7.

1 Corinthians 13:1-7 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. Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

I. Agape Love is the Greatest - verses 1-3

The Apostle Paul wants everyone who is reading his letter to understand that Agape - God type love - is greater than anything else under the sun. There is nothing greater in creation than agape love - both receiving and giving this unconditional love.

Everything on this earth pales in comparison to Agape Love.

To connect with God is to allow Him to transform a person into a genuine human being.

And part of being a genuine human being is to learn how to love agape style. Paul wants his Corinthian brothers and sisters in Christ, and us, to understand that a major part of following Jesus is to love. But to love differently than Eros, Phileo or Storge. Those loves have their place, but Agape love surpasses those loves.

Paul wants his friends, and us to understand that Christianity seeks to focus on Agape Love.

• Agape love transforms us to become genuine human beings reflecting God's glory and honor.

-Agape love transforms us to be the people God created us to be on this earth.

What Paul is saying is that when it comes down to what is most important, it is receiving and sharing God's Agape Love. What is most important is living a life in which one loves people unconditionally. It is living a life of being able to love like Jesus. It is living a life of being like our Heavenly Father.

Agape Love is Garden of Eden type of love. It is the type of love that Adam and Eve shared with God, with one another and with all of creation. Agape love is Heaven love.

The Apostle then goes on to give us a taste of what all that means in verses 4 -7

II. Agape Love is ... verse 4 - 7.

There is so much packed into these few verses. I think it is amazing how much of what Paul says here about the positive aspects of love, reflect back on the LORD and equally how much the negative aspects of what love is not reflect back on what a life absent of God really looks like.

The Apostle Paul tells us that true love - unconditional love - agape love - the love that the LORD God has for us, and the LOVE God created us to enjoy, experience and share is a love that is:

• Patient - It is able to bear with others in and through all circumstances

It is Kind - It is a love that has at its core gentleness and understanding.

It Rejoices in truth - It celebrates truth, honesty, and integrity.

It Bears up under all problems and doesn't give up.

It Believes and Trusts.

It Hopes - It is optimistic, positive, and cheerful.

It Understands the faults of others.

It is Everlasting and Perseveres - It is 2nd Mile Love.

Each one of those ideas are a sermon in themselves. Paul's little chapter here is not just a one-day chapter. What Paul has to say here deserves lifelong attention. It deserves to be read, meditated on and to be placed under the guidance of the Holy Spirit to become a reality in our lives.

Wouldn't our world be a better place if this type of love - Agape Love really did live in the air - really did exist in marriages, relationships, in the home, in the workplace and in every Church?

Patience, kindness, truthfulness, protection, hope, trust, gentleness, and perseverance. Those are some of the amazing qualities of this Agape Love. This Love is the Love that Jesus displayed for all to see while he was here on this earth. This Love is the Love that Jesus says that we can experience and share through His Holy Spirit. This Love is the Love that we can live out on a day-to-day basis watching it grow deeper and richer in our lives and in the lives of others.

Alongside of all of this the Apostle Paul takes the time to then weed out some of the things that love is not:

Love is not:

All about Competition and making sure that we win or that we are more important than another person.

It isn't about having the most or seeking to do anything to enjoy the most popularity.

It isn't about thinking that we must be the center of attention.

It isn't solely about us.

In other words.

Love is not about:

Being Envious. Proud, Boastful or Rude.

Love is not.

Selfish - having a "ME" mentality.

Love is not.

Being Short-tempered.

Love is not.

About getting easily upset or offended by others - walking around with a chip on our shoulders.

Love is not. About evil and accepting sin.

Agape love means that we share the truth. In other words, when we see people doing wrong and causing harm either to themselves or to others we speak up in love. We don't become cowards, but we are bold in sharing the truth in love.

All of this is a rather tall order. It's not easy to say the least.

It is easier for us dedicate our lives in being right more than to practice agape love. It is easier for us focus on what is all wrong around us than it is for us to practice agape love.

It is easier for us to focus on making a set of rules and principles demanding everyone follow them than it is for us to practice agape love.

Paul began to understand the more he allowed the Holy Spirit to transform his heart and his mind the more it became clear to him that the most important thing in this life was "agape love" - Agape love for God, agape love for others and for all of creation.

For the Apostle Paul the most important things are the most important things. And one of the most important things in this life and in the life to come is LOVE - AGAPE LOVE. Eros love will pass away. Phileo love will pass away. Storge love will pass away. But what will last forever and ever is love - agape love.

And when we allow God's agape love to fill us, motivate us and be our core - then we will never have to worry about what will happen to us, to our families and even the Church of Jesus Christ. When agape love rules in the heart of the Church then the Church advances, it experiences victory, and it transforms the lives of those around it and in it.

But when we start allowing things like impatience, competition, selfishness, rudeness, arrogance, greed, resentment, apathy and lukewarmness to come in and find a home then we begin the slow slide towards spiritual death.

For where agape love is there is the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. Where agape love does not rule then there is a spirit of lukewarmness and apathy.

When agape love is put on the shelf the marriage suffers, the home suffers, the office suffers and most of all the cause of Christ suffers.

John 13:35 (NIV)

35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.”

My favorite image of Jesus is that of a Shepherd. I think it is because a Shepherd is a person who develops a deep and loving relationship with his sheep. Maybe it's because I have seen pictures of Jesus sitting with His sheep, rescuing His sheep, and walking with His Sheep. Maybe it's because when I think of Jesus as the Good Shepherd I automatically think of love - agape love.

Maybe it's because it is the Shepherd who not only watches over His flock but loves each and every sheep of that flock - the obedient ones, the mischievous ones, the ones that try the hardest to please and those who are a little rebellious. For to love them all it takes agape love.

Maybe it's because this Meeting does a good job as a Sheep fold - each person belongs no matter their past, their present, or even their future. Each person is loved regardless of whether they have money or not. Each person is loved no matter if they are a believer or not. Each person is considered as a person created in the image of Jesus and worthy of time, attention, and love.

Paul wants to remind us of what is most important - it isn't some program or title or even a building. It's not having the most or being the most popular. It's having agape love - it's sharing agape love and it’s living out agape love each and every day.

This morning, as we close, the Good Shepherd is encouraging us all to Agape Love - the Love of Forgiveness, Acceptance, Grace, and Oneness.

Today, let us allow God's Agape love to enter into our hearts. Let us allow the LORD to forgive us of our sins, to take away anything that presents itself as a barrier between us and Our Lord. Let us desire God's mercy, grace, and love.

And let us pray that the Holy Spirit will lead us today, tomorrow, and forever-more as ambassadors of AGAPE LOVE. Let us be people who have received God's Agape Love and who live out a life of Agape Love - doing our best to be who God has called us to be in Christ Jesus.

Amen.