Agape Love
Book of 1 Corinthians Chapter 13
The word "Agape" is the Greek word for "love".
Our lesson states that "if a church is having problems, love is always the fix".
Our love for the Lord Jesus Christ will resolve any doctrinal issue within the Church.
When we love the Lord Jesus, we will love each other, and Church problems will go away.
There is no question, "what the world needs now is love, sweet love"!
This love must be according to the truth of God!
What the Church needs is love, the love that Jesus Christ has shown to each of us and His expectation that we will follow in His ways.
Throughout this passage, the word we see for love is "charity".
In the Bible, the word "charity" is not used as we use it today for supporting a Christian cause; it is always used for "love".
There are a whole lot of charities out there today that do not support good causes, but they are allowed to exist.
Let's compare the various types of love:
1) There is "passionate love or eros love". This is the physical love between a man and a woman.
It can also describe the love we have for our nation or the ambition of those who are seeking power, wealth, or fame.
This type of love is never used in the New Testament.
2) There is "affectionate love or storge love". This is the kind of love that exists between a parent and child and between a loyal citizen and a trustworthy ruler.
This type of love is also not used in the New Testament.
3) There is "endearing love or philia love". This is the love that cherishes. This is the love of a husband and wife for each other, or a brother for a brother, or a sister for a sister, or a friend for their dearest friends.
It is a love that cherishes, that holds someone or something ever so dear to their heart.
4) Then there is "selfless and sacrificial love or agape love.” Agape love is the love of the mind and loves a person even when they don't deserve it, even those who are unworthy to be loved, the love our Savior has for each of us. The love our Creator has for His creations.
It is the love of God for the ungodly.
It is the love of God for the unworthy.
It is the love of God for His enemies.
It is the love of God for sinners.
Selfless love, Agape love, is the greatest love in all of life and in all of Heaven!
Mat 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Mat 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.
Mat 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Mat 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
*****1Co 13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
There is an absolute necessity for love in the Church!
There is an absolute necessity for love in every child of God!
The superior quality of life is love; it is not in any gift we possess.
The most excellent way to live and serve the Lord is to possess and share His love; it is not in gifts.
Note: Paul did not say he spoke with all the languages of man, nor did he say he spoke the language of angels; he just said even if he did and did not have the love of God in him, he would be nothing more than a trumpet or a cymbal.
Being able to have a conversation with anyone we meet and we do not show the love of God is meaningless.
We all know that if a person with no musical talent, such as myself, were to use cymbals or any musical instrument, I would be making nothing but noise!
There are Christians today who can speak in almost all languages of the world, but if they do not know how to show the love of God, then they are not good witnesses for the Lord Jesus Christ.
When we do these things, without love, we become useless to the Lord Jesus Christ!
Though someone becomes the best preacher in the world, if he does not have love, he is just someone who is making noise that the church can do without.
*****1Co 13:2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
Even if a preacher has the gift of speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they can predict and proclaim the truth of God's Word, but have no love, they are useless in the work that Jesus Christ has given to us to accomplish.
He may possess the stature, the eloquence, and the descriptive language in the world, but if he does not have love, he is nothing, and his gift of preaching means nothing because if those he is preaching to cannot feel the love of God, then his preaching is nothing and he is nothing.
There is a great danger of those who know so much about the Word of God that they make themselves superior to God's people, and God's people will be turned off by this speaker.
It is possible to long for souls and preach the glories of Heaven and the tragedy of Hell with an attitude and a tone that no one sitting in the pews will ever want because there is no love in his words.
There is such a gift of understanding "all mysteries and all knowledge" of all the things God has revealed and all that man has ever learned and discovered, yet without love, this knowledge is meaningless because there is always the danger of looking down on others.
There is such a gift as the gift of faith, and it is a very special gift given by the Holy Spirit and the Lord Jesus said this faith could move mountains and do great things for God, but without love, he could do nothing to win those lost souls for Jesus Christ.
Some of these men of God have an overblown sense of importance about themselves; they are not good witnesses for the Lord Jesus.
If we are trying to be more like the Lord Jesus Christ, then nothing can help us more than having love in our hearts for all people as He does and as He showed when He was upon this earth.
*****1Co 13:3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
When we give out of duty, God does not acknowledge that gift.
When we feel forced to give, it is meaningless.
When we give because we have it and the needy do not have it, it is meaningless.
When we give with a rebuke because those who receive are irresponsible, it means nothing.
When we give unsacrificially, it is meaningless.
If we cannot express the love of God to those around us, then we are useless in the work the Lord has commanded us to do!
1Jn 3:14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
1Jn 3:15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
1Pe 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
1Pe 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
Without love, I am of no benefit to my Heavenly Father, and He cannot use me!
*****1Co 13:4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
1Co 13:5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
1Co 13:6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
1Co 13:7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
If we do not know it, then we must know it is love that builds the Church!
Any church that does not show love to anyone, and this means anyone, who enters the sanctuary of God will not gain any new members.
What is given to us in these Scriptures is not to be taken as a definition of charity.
What is given in these Scriptures is the behavior of each Christian as we live before others in the Church and before the world outside the Church.
Our love for the lost of this world must endure in these last days.
Our love for the lost of this world must endure the evils in it, as this world gets even worse than it is now.
There is nothing in this world that we should envy. Envy includes malice, grudge, jealousy, and an evil eye.
Love is patient with all people, but not patient with the circumstances of their sin!
Love does not seek revenge.
Love controls itself to win another person to Christ and to help them to live and serve.
Love is kind even when we do not want to be kind.
Love is not boastful.
Love is not full of pride, nor brag, nor seeking recognition.
Love does not think evil of anyone.
Love is not rude.
Love is not disgraceful.
Love is not selfish.
Love seeks to serve, does not seek to be served.
Love is not resentful.
Love suffers any evil that comes to it and then forgets that it happened.
Love will never rejoice in unrighteousness!
We should understand by now, in these last days, that we will only be fed with tragedy from the reports of the world, and many times with open lies, and they are intentional.
Love rejoices in the truth, and there is no greater truth than the "Gospel" of Jesus Christ!
Love endures with patience and dignity unless the well-being of our brothers and sisters requires us to stand against such things, and then we will stand on their behalf.
*****1Co 13:8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
1Co 13:9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
Love never fails because the Word of God is the truth, and truth cannot fail.
The prophecies of Muhammad will fail.
The prophecies of Zoroaster will fail.
The prophecies of Krishna will fail.
The prophecies of Confucius will fail.
The prophecies of Joseph Smith will fail.
The prophecies of Ron Hubbard will fail.
The prophecies of Nostradamus will fail.
The prophecies of these men will fail and then fade away!
The prophecies of the Lord Jesus will reign supreme because He cannot fail!
Love is perfect and complete, but as humans, we do not know what perfect means unless we know the sinless Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ!
The "Day of Perfection" will come with the return of the Lord Jesus Christ!
On that day, only those who will be made perfect will stand and endure throughout eternity.
What is the one word that will describe Heaven? That word is charity, "love", "agape love"!
Love is far superior to any gift that the Holy Spirit may give to us in the Church Age because love rules every Age.
Far too many believers glory in earthly gifts and abilities instead of serving the Lord and ministering in love!
It is love that will bring a Christian to maturity of behavior, the love of Jesus Christ!
While upon this earth, all that we are and all that we possess, including our abilities, our knowledge, and our being, are all as a child.
While we are on this earth, we are immature and imperfect, no matter what area of life we are in at that time.
Rom 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Rom 8:20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
Rom 8:21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
*****1Co 13:10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
1Co 13:11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
1Co 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
We can only be perfect on the Day we are Redeemed!
Eph_4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
Luk_21:28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
Love is being face-to-face with our Holy and Perfect God!
Love is when a Church can come together and truly be identified as the Body of Christ.
Eph_4:16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
It is only love that will bring us into a face-to-face relationship with Jehovah and a perfect knowledge of the truth!
Php 3:12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Php 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
Php 3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Php 3:15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
*****1Co 13:13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
What are the three characteristics every Christian must have?
Faith, Hope, and Love are the sum of perfection on Earth!
We believe only in the things we love!
We hope only for those whom we love!
Love alone is the sum of perfection in Heaven!
We see that faith and hope cannot work without love!
The Holy Spirit is love, and He produces love in every child of God.
If God does not possess love, He could not produce love in each believer!
1Ti 1:5 Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pureheart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:
1Pe 4:8 And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.
When we get to Heaven, the one thing we will all witness will be the perfect love of our Savior.
We witness the love of Christ in the Scriptures, but we just cannot wrap our minds around what it really means, but we will on that day we are made perfect!
Amen
