What is Love? - Agape

What is Love - Agape

1)     Where it Begins                                                                                             

v  Anyone take the challenge to learn a new verse?

Main Point: God is love, and this love is a choice, not a feeling.

ü  Discuss: Love is such a versatile word - we use it for everything. How many ways is the word “love” defined and used in our culture?

-          According to our research, there are five different “types” of love used and eluded to in the Bible: agape, phileo, eros, epithumia, and storge. Tonight we will be addressing the first, most common and most difficult love: agape.

2)     The Meat                                                                                                        

I.                    What is agape?

Watch Jimmy Evans: Five Types of Love (1:09 – 5:38)

-          All the verses in this study use the Greek word “agape” or “agapao” when they say “love”. As we read keep that in mind. So far we’ve been learning that our salvation, relationship with Christ, and our interaction with others should be built on love, not rules.

·         Mark 12:30-31 Jesus said, “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart (life core) and with all your soul (breath and feelings) and with all your mind (understanding and desire) and with all your strength (ability and might).’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

-          This love, this agape, it’s a full-body experience. It requires commitment and involvement. From this verse alone we see that while agape love can be expressed through fondness, soul is only part of the picture. Agape is also fused with our life source, enacted by choice, and driven by force. Doesn’t sound as easy as loving chocolate, does it?

--- side note: before we continue I want to draw some attention to love your neighbor as…who? Yourself. We can interpret this as treat others the way you want to be treated (which is biblical), but the verse doesn’t say treat; it says agape. Ephesians says we are God’s workmanship. Psalms says we are fearfully and wonderfully made. 1 Corinthians says our bodies are temples. Take care of yourself, respect yourself, and love yourself as God’s beloved creation. Don’t do yourself harm, don’t call yourself worthless. Agape yourself so that you can agape others.

II.                  How God agapes.

-          So if we’re going to agape, we should probably take a look at how God does it.

·         1 John 4:7-10 “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

·         John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world he gave his only son.”

·         Romans 5:8 – “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

ü  What themes are you seeing? What are the characteristics of this love that God has demonstrated for us?

-          Agape can be painful. Obviously it wasn’t easy for God to send his son – a part of himself – away. It wasn’t fun for Jesus to be tortured and die. And not only that, but God did those things for people who didn’t deserve them with no guarantee that we would even accept him. He knew this, but he was determined. Unconditionally and selflessly he gave. This is agape.

III.               How we agape.

-          So what does that mean for us? Never fear, 1 John continues its discourse on God’s agape love with instructions for us, like as if he knew we’d ask…

·         1 John 4:11-21 “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother (fellow man) is a liar. For whoever does not love their fellow man, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their fellow man.”

-          There is no fear, because it’s not about us. We’ve been forgiven so we are not afraid of being punished. We love unconditionally so we are not afraid of not being paid bacl. We love because of God, not ourselves.

ü  Any extra thoughts or observations before we break into groups?

3)     Break Out Groups                                                                             

·         Luke 6:27-31: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

-          It’s easy to love people who are good to us, but loving people who hurt us is hard,

ü  Who are your enemies? Why? How have you dealt with your anger?

-          Sometimes even people we wouldn’t classify as enemies, we treat with contempt.

ü  Are there any people who are your friends/family who can bring out the worst in you? Why?

-          If you’re harboring bitterness, bless and pray for the people you’re angry at. Don’t try to get them back for what they taken from you. (Proverbs 20:22 “Do not say, "I will repay evil"; Wait for the LORD, and He will save you”) Pray a prayer of blessing over your enemies; it will help you to forgive and move on. You have no right to be angry because if God (who does have every right to be angry) forgives, then so can you.