The Truest Valentine

Stories abound about the origin of Valentine’s Day and its association with an individual person who was a patron saint of the Catholic church…search the internet and find out...

Eros — attraction of desire

The Romans celebrated a holiday on Feb 15th when two men would run around in their underwear slapping people with goat skins…according to ancient historians, married women believed this practice helped them conceive better...

The Romans celebrated a holiday on Feb 15th when two half naked men would run around slapping people with goat skins…according to ancient historians, married women believed this practice helped them conceive better

There seems to be a belief that Valentines day was created as a Christian holiday to replace the Roman holiday.

Most scholars believe Valentine’s day became associated with love in the Middle Ages thanks to the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer…if you don’t know who he is search him also…most known for his work The Canterbury Tales… (if you have ever seen the movie Knight’s Tale with Heath Ledger…Geoffrey Chaucer is characterized by the herald that travels with him)

Agape — self-giving love of God displayed in Jesus

All of these are ways of thinking, acting and behaving towards specific individual things or people...

In the late 1300 (1370 or 1380) Chaucer wrote a poem called “Parliament of Fowls” which contains this line...

“For this was on Saint Valentine’s Day, when every bird comes there to choose his mate” — Geoffrey Chaucer

Agape Love

Agape type of love stands in total contrast to the others…its source is God and its inspiration is Jesus Christ...

You can have a love for objects, i.e. money — you would use the word phileo

You would only use agape love when discussing personal relationships whether with God or other humans.

The other forms of love could very easily become self-centered and self-serving…not so with agape…it is self-sacrificing…it is unselfish...

Agape proceeds from the heart and is directed towards the other person to bless them and to seek their highest good.

Agape love is not just an emotional desire to seek the good of someone else, it is also a devotion measured by self-giving, practical action and sacrifice.

God’s Love For You Defines Agape Love

Romans 5:8 ESV

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

John 3:16 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

This was a moment in Europe when a particular set of romantic ideas took shape. Chaucer and other writers of his time celebrated romance between knights and noble ladies who could never marry—often because she was married already...

By the 1400s, nobles inspired by Chaucer had begun writing poems known as “valentines” to their love interests. It was only at this point that stories began to appear linking Saint Valentine to romance.

How Do You Know When Someone Loves You or You Love Them?

"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth." Billy - age 4

Billy - age 4

"Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken." Elaine - age 5

"When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you." (what an image!) Karen - age 7

Elaine - age 5

Ask leaders how do you know your spouse loves you?

Karen - age 7

Love in the Bible

Storge — love of a parent to a child

Phileo - kind affection of friends, kindred spirit

Eros — attraction of desire

Agape — self-giving love of God displayed in Jesus

All of these denote an inner disposition of the heart, a way of thinking, acting, behaving towards the object of love…

because of sin the first three forms of love have been badly distorted…in fact, by the time of the NT, eros kind of love had been so badly distorted with unnatural lusting, that the writers avoided using it altogether)

Agape type of love stands in total contrast to the others…its source is God and its inspiration is Jesus Christ...

You can have a love for objects, i.e. money — you would use the word phileo

You would only use agape love when discussing personal relationships whether with God or other humans.

The other forms of love could very easily become self-centered and self-serving…not so with agape…it is self-sacrificing…it is unselfish...

Agape proceeds from the heart and is directed towards the other person to bless them and to seek their highest good.

Agape love is not just an emotional desire to seek the good of someone else, it is also a devotion measured by self-giving, practical action and sacrifice.

“Valentine’s Day” really finds its origin in God.

Romans 5:8 ESV

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Love is not a feeling…it is an observable action that reveals the character of the heart...

John 3:16 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Love is the deepest expression of God’s character…even though God loves all people…He is especially committed to a sacrificial, loyal relationship with His people...

The kind of love that God expresses is not a selfish love…it is a sacrificing love...

Girls and guys listen up…Don’t be ignorant about love…sex does not equal love…what the world paints as love is not love it is lust…

when that special someone tells you they love you, unless they are willing to sacrifice of themselves for you, what they are really saying is that I love me and lust for you

No one will ever love you as deeply as God loves you.

Love is the deepest expression of God’s character…

Characteristics of God’s Love

It is eternal

Psalm 103:17 ESV

But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children,

Hebrews 13:5 ESV

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Hebrews 13:7 NASB95

Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.

It is a promise keeping love

Deuteronomy 7:9 ESV

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,

It is a lavish love

Exo

Exodus 34:6–7 ESV

The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

Exodus 34:6–7 NASB95

Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”

1 John 3:1 ESV

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

It is holy and just

Psalm 37:28 NASB95

For the Lord loves justice And does not forsake His godly ones; They are preserved forever, But the descendants of the wicked will be cut off.

Psalm 33:5 NASB95

He loves righteousness and justice; The earth is full of the lovingkindness of the Lord.

Love Always Motivates God to Action

Ps 37

In Sending Jesus

1 John 4:9–10 ESV

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

1 Jn 4:9-10

John 3:16 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

John 15:13 ESV

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

Romans 5:7–8 ESV

For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

When you are unlovely

Dt 7:7-8

Romans 5:8 ESV

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Deuteronomy 7:7–8 ESV

It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Eph

Ephesians 2:4–5 ESV

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

Sin makes us ugly…sin makes us mean…sin makes us unlovely…yet God loves us anyway…

I am going to say something pretty radical right now so listen closely...

You are all loved by God…but you will not experience the fullness of God’s love until you become one of His own...

God Always Works The Best For His Children

Romans 8:38–39 NASB95

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:28–29 ESV

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

Rom 8

28-

John 1:12 ESV

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

God has a special relationship with his children…he pours out his love upon them and it comes in various ways…and God assures us that everything He does for us is for our good...

1 John 4:16 ESV

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

Applications

Do You Belong to God?

Listen closely…if you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, you do not belong to God...

1 John 4:8 NASB95

The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

John 1:12 ESV

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

Listen closely…if you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, you do not belong to God...

John 8:42–44 NASB95

Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me. “Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Ephesians 2:3 ESV

among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

I don’t intend to scare you into heaven but I want to give you a realistic picture of what lies ahead of you if you continue to reject God’s love for you in Christ...

John 8:44 NASB95

“You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Romans 2:5 ESV

But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

Your continued rebellion against God’s love for you is piling up God’s wrath…the day is coming very soon when Jesus will come to get his children and you will be left behind to experience that wrath of God known as the Tribulation…(that is a topic for another all nighter)

Listen to this...

Deuteronomy 8:19 ESV

And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish.

God is lovingly warning you…He is giving you an opportunity to hear Him and receive His gift...

John 3:36 ESV

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

Romans 6:23 ESV

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Rom

Because of sin, we are born separated from God…until we accept God’s free gift of salvation in Christ there is a huge gap between us and Him that nothing we do can bring us closer...

Ephesians 2:8–9 ESV

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Eph 2 8-9

Ephesians 2:8–9 NASB95

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Don’t think that because you are young that you have plenty of time to do what you want and keep rejecting God’s love...

Tomorrow is NEVER guaranteed to any of us…you and I are one heartbeat, one breath away from eternity…God is giving you an opportunity right here, right now to secure your eternity...

James 4:14 NASB95

Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

2 Corinthians 6:1–2 ESV

Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

How are you going to respond to God’s love?

For Those Who Are God’s Children...

What evidence exists that you love God?

Loving God only on Sunday doesn’t show you really love God...

Matthew 22:37–39 ESV

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Loving God with all your heart, soul and mind means He is your highest priority EVERYDAY of the week, not just Sunday

2 Corinthians 5:9–10 ESV

So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

If I asked your friends if they know your relationship with God is a priority would they laugh mockingly or agree?

in other words…are you only putting on a show…On Sunday you are this super spiritual person who knows all the right answers, raises your hand while singing and swaying and then once you step outside the church the words that come out of your mouth or the way you treat your parents and others indicate a heart that loves self more than God.

If I asked your friends if they know you love God would they laugh or agree?

John 1

John 13:34–35 ESV

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Agape love, not phileo love…self sacrificing love not selfish love

One of the ways you can show you love God is to love others!

What changes need to occur in your life that are focused on pleasing God and not self?