Agape Love

Colossians 3:12–15 (NIV):

12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be il thankful.

We use the word love so freely. We say I love ice cream; I love my dog/cat; I love that color on you; I love your shoes.

I have seen people who tell everyone that they meet “I love you.”

There is a song by Peter Scholtes called

They will know we are Christians by our love

We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord;

We are one int he Spirit, we are one in the Lord;

And we pray that all unity will one day be restored.

Chorus: And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love,

yes, they'll know we are Christians by our love.

We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand;

We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand;

And together we'll spread the news that God is in our land.

We Will work with each other, we will work side by side;

We will work with each other, we will work side by side;

And we'll guard each man's dignity and save each man's pride.

All praise to the Father, from whom all things come;

And all praise to Christ Jesus, His only Son.

And all praise to the Spirit who makes us one.

Introduction:

There are at least four different Greek words that are used for “love,” but not all of them are found in the New Testament. (Actually there are more than four Greek words for “love,” but usually it is these four that come up in discussions.)

The first Greek word for “love” is eros, which refers to romantic or sexual love.

From it we get the word erotic. This specific word is not used in the New Testament.

The second is storge, which refers to familial love like that of a mother for her baby or of a brother and sister for each other.

It is not used in the New Testament; however, the negative term astorgoi (“unloving”) is found in 2 Timothy 3:3,

and a similar term, astorgous(“no love” in the NIV and “without natural affection” in the KJV), is found in Romans 1:31.

The third Greek word for “love,” philia, refers to friendship and comradery. This word is often translated as “friend” (one who is loved) in the New Testament.

Once, in Romans 12:10, the New Testament uses the compound word philostorgos, which is translated in the NIV as “devoted . . . in love.

”Finally, agape is used to speak of God’s love that He has for the world and that Christians are supposed to emulate.

This is the word for “love” that is most commonly used in the New Testament.

For a while it was thought that Christians must have coined the word agape to speak of a godly kind of love that the Greek world knew nothing of.

But the word agape was in fact in use in the Roman Empire, and it was not coined by Christians to communicate God’s love.

Colossians 3:11–15 (NIV):

12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

We see here that we are to put on these qualities ( compassion, kindness. Humility, gentleness, and Patience, what are these; but fruits of the spirit. ) Gal. 5:22

Ephesians 6:10-18 The full armor of God.

Peter T. O’Brien writes in the New Bible commentary:

It is Jesus who is the chosen one. What a remarkable privilege it is, then, that we are addressed in the same way as Christ! This is a powerful motive to behave in a Christlike way.

Peter T. O’Brien, “Colossians,” in New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, ed. D. A. Carson et al., 4th ed. (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994), 1273.

13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

Ephesians 4:32 (NIV):

32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

What is the greatest way to love one another,

Matthew 5:24-26

24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.

25 “Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison.

26 Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.

Luke 6:42;

42 How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Like the rock in the desert that Moses struck and water flowed so is the fruit of the spirit if we agape love.

Numbers 20:10-11

10 Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11 And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock

15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

1 Corinthians 12:27

27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

Stuart Strachan Jr. writes:

One thing we often do as human beings is take for granted how our physical presence can impact those around us. Do you remember how big your parents seemed when you were a kid? They were massive! Over time of course, things change; we grow up and we become the big humans.

I (Stu) am about 6’0 and surprisingly enough, my children are not quite so tall. My wife reminds me that when I begin to lose my temper, I can be a bit scary for a child whose only a few feet tall. When I’m at my best as a parent, and one of my kids is beginning to struggle, the best thing I can do is kneel down on their level and speak to them in a soft gentle voice.

This is what God did when He sent Jesus to be among us. I think we all know what it’s like to think of God as this massive cosmic force we need to be constantly in fear and trembling towards (think Isaiah 6), but God didn’t want that to be the final word towards His creation. God wanted us to know him primarily as the one who loves. And the way God did that was by “stooping down,” coming to us on our level, not as a mighty king or grand emperor, but as a common man

Stuart Strachan Jr.

Conclusion:

Matthew 22:37-39

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.

John 3:16-17

16 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. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

We are loved! We are loved by a creator that went to a cross for us. Died for us.