Good evening. This week I seem to have had writers block. I was able to get my Wednesday evening Bible study done. I was able to get the Sunday School lesson done. And I was even able to come up with a sermon for this morning. All that was done by Wednesday! That left me Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and today. And wouldn’t you know it; I just finished it up this afternoon.
I had no clue about what I was going to do or what we would study this evening, until Saturday afternoon while I was at the wedding of one of my groomsmen. As I sat there, I though, what is love. If I had to define love, how would I do it? So finally, I decided, love is the topic to use for this afternoon. Many of you display your love for lost loved ones around this time of year as we celebrate Memorial Day. But what is love?
This evening, we are going to be looking at I John 2:7-11 and a few other passages. Before we do that though, let’s open our time with a word of prayer. Let’s Pray!
How would you finish this sentence, Love is “…”?
Well there is a different way that the Bible defines love. There are 2 Hebrew words from the Old Testament that define the word love. The first word is the word “Hesed.” Now this word would be used to describe kindness, mercy, and steadfastness. Then the second word would be “Aheb.” And this would be used to describe pity or compassion.
Then as we turn over into the New Testament we have 4 separate Greek words. Does anyone know any of those four words? (Eros, Phileo, Storge, Agape)
First, there is the word “Eros.” Does anyone know what kind of love Eros love defines? (This word describes a sexual, or a physical condition.)
One word that would go with this type of love would be the word “if.” “I’ll love you if…you stay pretty, or if… you continue to look that way.” This kind of love is often changed as a person changes.
Then we have the words “Phileo” and “Storge.” Does anyone know what those kinds of love define? (These words would be used to describe love as being brotherly, friendship, social friendship, and a family type of love.)
The one word to describe these words would be the word because. “I love you because… you are my friend, or because… you are family.” This kind of love is usually unconditional, but it can be destroyed by choices and decisions that we make.
And the 4th word that we have is the best know. It is the word “Agape.” Can anyone define the Agape love for me? (This word is used when referring to an unconditional, self-sacrificing, or action type of love.)
The words that would go with this type of love would be the words in spite of. “In spite of the fact that you did this to me, I still love you, or in spite of the things you did or said, I still love you.”
It is the Agape that God loves us with. It is in spite of our sin that He loves us. We find this love in the well know text of John 3: 16, where it says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Now I looked up some of these words. The word “Perish” actually depicts the opposite of salvation. It is used of death as opposed to the word life. God loved us so much that He was providing us a way to avoid death, and receive eternal life. God did this because He loved us. It was through the cross that God built that bridge for us to travel to Him. He truly does love us.
Robert Hastings reports that more than 50 years ago, at John Hopkins University in Baltimore, a young sociology professor assigned his class the project of interviewing 200 city youth in downtown slums. He asked them to predict their own futures. Students predicted that 90% of them would serve time in prison. 25 years later that same professor asked a class to track down as many of the original boys and discover what happened to them. 180 of the boys were located, and only 4 had ever served any time in jail. Why were these predictions all askew?
Looking for common factors, over 100 of the boys mentioned the strong influence of a teacher they all had in common. They then located a 70 year old Sheila O’Rourke, in a Memphis nursing home. Puzzled by the interest in her, she could only exclaim, “All I ever did was love each of them.”
The same is true for us. All God ever does is love us, and it works! He loves us so much that He is willing to sacrifice for us.
Could I get someone to read I John 4:9-10
And someone else look up I John 3:16
I would agree with one pastor who stated that he had yet to meet anyone who enjoyed taking a test. Even when we come across test questions that seem simple on the surface, we later see that underneath is something that is harder than we first thought. For example the question How long did the Hundred Year War last? Seems obvious, but the correct answer would be 116 years.
When a test asks, which country manufactures Panama hats? The correct answer would be Ecuador. Or from what animal do we get catgut? From a sheep or a horse. How about in which month does Russia celebrate the October Revolution? November.
Even though we are glad to be out of school where we may receive these trick questions on tests, we still face tests in our lives. We take driver’s test, eye tests, and entrance exams. People in law enforcement have to qualify on the shooting range at least 4 times a year, and many of you may have to take a test in order to stay in your chosen profession. Like it or not, test are a part of life.
But is there a test to determine whether a person is on the right track spiritually? One of the main purposes of the book of I John is to help Christians, the children of God to know that they are truly in a right relationship with God. So is there a test that we can take? The answer is yes!
The first test is in I John 2:3-6. Here in I John 2:3-6 it says, “1”
The keeping of God’s commands is the first test. But after that, we need to take a serious look at I John 2:7-11. Here in I John 2:7-11 it says, “1”
Well that Agape love we talked about is something that is a mark of a saved person. In John 13:35 it says, “All men will know you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
The second test would be loving others. Thomas Aquinas said, “To love is to will the good of another.”
Josh McDowell once said, “I believe that two of the greatest fears people struggle with today are; the fear that they will never be loved and the fear that they will never be able to love.” Christianity is all about meeting those needs.
As a church, how do we meet both of those needs?
Well, in verses 7-8 John mentions that this is not a new, but an old command. Why does he say that?
Could I get someone to look up and read John 13:33-35 for me please.
See this is not a new teaching. The command for God’s people to love each other has been around since the Jewish Old Testament Law. Leviticus 19:18 says, “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”
Later the cross was God’s public display of His love. Jesus’ command is for us to love each other in the way we saw Him love us by going to the cross for us. Jesus even says in John 15:12 said, “My command is this, love each other as I have loved you.”
So let me ask you this question: who are we to love? (Everyone!)
In closing I have a couple of questions for us to discuss.
Are you really striving to love others?
Do you help your brothers and sisters?
Do you really love one another/everyone?
How do you display your love to those you love?
How do you display your love to those you don’t like?
Okay, and which of these is easier: to act your way into a right feeling, or to feel your way into right acting?
In closing this evening, I believe that it is easier to act your way into right feelings. When you demonstrate love to others, the feelings will eventually be there. The important thing that we need to keep in mind this evening is this: we must start showing love to others, even those who we may not love. And the reason we need to do this is because “God first loved us!”
Let’s pray! |
