INTRODUCTION: Rom. 5:6-10; Matt. 5:43-48.
ILLUSTRATION: G. K. Chesterton noticed that the best fairytales teach us how to live as grown ups. Chesterton said that Beauty and the Beast teaches us that unlovely things must be deeply loved before they become lovable.
1. Notice what Paul wrote: God demonstrates His own love . . .
2. Unlovely things must be deeply loved before they become loveable. Is this true??
1) Well, John said: We love, because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).
2) And, Peter said: Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins (1 Pet. 4:8).
1. Peter used the word agape for love.
I. AGAPE LOVE IS UNPROVOKED LOVE.
1) The Greeks had four primary words for love:
1- stogei–love of a family member for another family member.
2- philia–love of a friend for another; strong friendship ties;
3- eros–erotic love, often linked with the sexual experience.
4- agape–which is essentially a NT word. It is the highest form of love. It is NOT an emotional response, but a volitional one.
2) Often, agape has been described as unconditional love–a love that is not earned.
2. Most love that operates in the human realm is conditional!
1) Jesus gave two statements on love in the Sermon on the Mount, BOTH of which were designed to contrast human love and divine love.
1- agape love is an imitation of divine love, because that is precisely how God loves us
2- Human love, on the other hand, depends on the person who is loved: i.e., we tend to love people who are beautiful and/or who have great personalities.
1- Divine love depends upon the person who does the loving, so, it can love even enemies.
ILLUSTRATION: A couple asked their preacher to approve their divorce, because, as they put it, “there’s no feeling left.” The preacher told the husband to love his wife as Christ loved the church. He said, “I can’t do that.” The preacher continued to ask him to love her as he would love himself. Again, he said that he couldn’t. So the preacher said, “The Bible says to love your enemies. Start there.”
2- Jesus loved His enemies, and died for them. There were really no friends surrounding the cross on that awful day (except a few women and disciples). He gave Himself for His enemies.
3- Paul said that Christ died for us even when we were enemies of God. God loved us when nothing within us was deserving of that love. We were completely:
4- So, what does God do? He loves us! Divine love says, I may not need this, but you do, and I’ll put your needs above mine. This is exactly what our Lord did for us.
3. THIS is agape love!
1) agape is a choice to love; the emotion comes after that decision.
2) agape actually pursues the object of its love. It is loving in the face of resistance. It is love even in the face of behavior where an entirely different emotion might be expected.
3) Here is a simpler way to understand it: agape is unprovoked love. And, just as with unprovoked violence, when we seek to understand unprovoked love, we look for the explanation NOT in the person who is love BUT in the person who does the loving.
4) God the Father is an agape lover. He loves, NOT based upon the loveliness of the object (you and me), BUT because of something within Himself!
II. WE NEED AGAPE LOVE FOR THREE TYPES OF PEOPLE:
1. The losers (”the least of these”), the winners (”the greatest of these”), and the enemies (”the worst of these”).
2. First, we need agape love for the least of these–the LOSERS.
1) The least of these are the people you’re most likely not to notice. Or, if you do notice them, you’re tempted to avoid them!
2) They drain you! There’s absolutely no gain in loving these people, and there’s no loss to you in not loving them.
3) So, we need to suppress our sense of superiority, our love of comfort, and our need for security, in order to serve them.
4) We need to overcome our disdain, our disgust, and our weariness with the presence of the least of these–the LOSERS of the world.
5) Just before he was beheaded, John the Baptizer sent his disciples to Jesus. Listen to the record:
3. Second, we need agape love for the greatest of these–the WINNERS.
3) What we need here is to gain freedom from our sense of inferiority and insecurity so that we can become the winner’s biggest fan.
2) You have cause to despise them. They have hurt you. They have betrayed you. They have taken something precious from you. They have exploited you.
3) Listen to Jesus in a parallel text to the Sermon on the Mount:
32 “And if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 “And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 “And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, in order to receive back the same amount. 35 “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. 36 “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Luke 6:32-36 (NASB77)
4) What exactly is it that we think the Father has done for us? His unprovoked love for me came when everything in me provoked anything but love on His part! There has certainly been no measuring up on my part!
5) The love for me came from the One who is doing the loving–my Father in heaven.
CONCLUSION
1. The opposite of love is NOT hatred, but fear!! It has been a long time coming for me to understand what John was saying in 1 John 4:18:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. 1 John 4:18 (NASB77)
1) Now I think I know what John was saying. Fear will block the love of God from controlling me and then coming out of me for you!
2) Fear says: “You don’t measure up. You’re not worth it. If people really knew you, they wouldn’t like you.”
3) That’s what fear says. The reality is:
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