Agape: Only The Bible Can Define God's New Commandment

So, very good to see all of you and to be here as the parade. As the choir is parading off here, let me commend them. That was a beautiful, beautiful piece, a beautiful number, beautiful psalm. Very well performed, very inspiring. As we stand here, it's great to look out over all of you that are here in Panama City Beach for the feast. Earlier in the feast, we were up in Walnut Creek, which is a satellite feast site. I had 160 to 170 people at the feast up there. It was great to be with them wherever you are with God's people.

It is just an absolute pleasure. So, it's a pleasure to be here with all of you. It's been a while since we've been at Panama City Beach for the feast, but it's a very, I know, a very well-loved feast site and for good reason. But, you know, as I look at you and I think about where we were earlier in the feast, I realize as we're at this service, we're all before God, of course, and there are many more that are here with us at this time.

All across the United States and the time zones that this service can be played in and across Mexico and South America and those time zones and other places as well, the rest of the world will hear this message that you and I are part of here later on in this feast tomorrow if they don't have it today. It is an awesome thing to be before God, and it's an awesome thing for all of us to be together. As I hear the hymns sung, as I hear the choir sings, as we're all here, realizing we're all before God, I can only imagine how pleased he is with your faith and with your dedication and your commitment to be here and to be here every day of his feast.

The feast and what God has given us, the knowledge of what his plan is, is beyond anything that we could ever have even imagined in our lives. It's only because of his Holy Spirit, only because of his goodness and mercy and calling you and me that we have the opportunities to know and have a purpose and meaning in life, and I hope we never forget that. And as Mr. Broach said, you know, take souvenirs with you from every feast and every sermon you hear because God gives us that, and our faith and our commitment to him grows with every single thing we do to honor him.

And being here at his feast, being here at every Sabbath service, and being before him whenever he commands, and living our lives 24 hours a day, seven days a week for him, brings him glory, and that's what we are all here for. You know, as we're here at the feast, we of course think about the time when Jesus Christ will return. We think about the times when there will be peace and joy and all those good things that we talk about on earth. And those are very important and a time for us to look at those things and know they will surely happen, as sure as we are all together in this room and others who are listening to this around the world.

Those will happen. But there are things that we have to do in this life as God works with us and as God prepares us so that we can be part of that time. It's great to think about. It's great to know it, but this is our time of preparation because God has something in mind for you, for me, and this is our time to be allowing him to prepare that. And he does that with us individually, but he does that with us as his church, as his people, as well. So today, as we're all together, I want to begin with a few foundational verses to set the tone for what I want to talk about today.

So let's look at Jesus Christ's own words. If you turn with me to the Gospel of John, look at his words as he was about to complete his mission on earth, give his life as a sacrifice for us, that our sins could be forgiven, and then the hope of eternal life if we follow him as he had commanded us to do.

And he was giving these words to his disciples at that time, his disciples to us today, as well. We must remember them, and they must be in our hearts and our minds always. So in John 17, 17, as he's talking to a group of disciples there with him on that night of Passover before he's arrested and then later gives his life that next day, he tells them this. He says, sanctify them as he's praying to God. Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth.

And so the ones that God calls out, all of his ecclesia, the church, the church of God, the people that God calls that respond to his call, that repent, genuinely repent of their sins, that turn to him, that are baptized, have hands laid upon him, and receive their Holy Spirit. God says, set them apart. They're separate from the world. They're his people, God's people.

Separate them by truth. And you and I are set apart by truth. It is so imperative that we know the truth, that we are constantly in the truth and understand what we believe, not allowing other thoughts and not allowing other ideas from the world crowd in and take away that truth because God gives us the truth. He tells us in Deuteronomy 12, don't add to it, don't take away from it, do it, and live your life exactly the way I said. And he gives us the details. We don't have to guess what his way is. It's written there in the Bible for us. Set them apart by truth. Down in verse 19, he repeats it. He says, for their sakes I sanctify myself, Jesus Christ said, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. Jesus Christ was set apart by the truth. The Jews of that day, they knew of holy days, they knew of the Sabbath, they knew of the Bible, but they had done things different than the way that God had wanted them to do. Jesus Christ came to show the way, to be the life. He is the truth, and we follow him, and we follow what he has to say. So, the true Church of God, true Christians are marked, they're set aside because they know the truth. It's different than what the so-called Christian churches in the world teach. They don't have the truth, they know the Bible, they know who Jesus Christ is. They don't teach the truth. The Church of God lives by the truth, teaches the truth, and is set apart in this world as God works with us by the truth.

If we go further down in that verse, let's look at verse 21. Jesus Christ talks about the unity that he expects and that he wants and that he will provide the Spirit in us to make us one. In verse 21, he says, his will is that they all, he's speaking of everyone who God calls, that they all may be one, as you, Father, are in me, Christ says, and I in you, that they may be one in us, that the world may believe that you called me. Verse 23, I in them, you in me, that they may be made perfect in one. And so we see our goal, to become holy, to become perfect, to become blameless, and that life we've been called to, to become more and more like God, more and more like Jesus Christ, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me. Verse 25, O righteous Father, the world has not known you, but I have known you, and these have known that you sent me, and I have declared it to them, or I have declared to them your name, and will declare it, that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them. And so we see truth, we see unity, we know the truth binds us together, we know that God's Holy Spirit binds us together, but we also see this word love, that they may have the love. I will declare the love with which you have loved me, that it may be in them, and I in them. Truth, truth and love. Now let's go back or forward to the book of Ephesians.

And in chapter 4, Paul expounds on this, as the disciples were that night listening to Jesus Christ pray, and those words were recorded for them and for us, as we see what God's will for us is, and what we become, or how we grow, and how we're sanctified, and the things that God wants in us, we have Paul who, several years later as he's learned these things, as well he says in Ephesians 4, we'll begin and break into verse 12 here in Ephesians 4, and just look what he says about how God set up his church, the training ground for the people he calls, his called out ones, the ecclesia of the world. In verse 11 he talks about how he ordered his church. He's the one who started it. He's the one who orders it. He's the one who is the head of the church. We follow him. We look to him. We seek his guidance. We seek what his will is, and we should all pray in our individual lives and in our collective lives that we are doing his will and always seeking his will, but he says he does all this so that the saints may be equipped for the work of service, the work of service for people, for the edifying or the building up of the body of Christ. We come here to grow. We come here to become stronger in the way of life God has called us to. We come here to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. Verse 13, growing the edifying of the body of the Christ until we all come to the unity that he is looking for, until we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man. He sets these goals that he has for us as he calls us and gives us the tools that we need to accomplish those if we use them, if we're committed and dedicated and don't lose sight of what our calling is.

To the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. And then he says in verse 14 that they don't allow every wind of doctrine to come in, take them apart, but they're sanctified by the truth.

They know the truth. They're not looking for truth and how to add something to it from the outside world. God tells us what the truth is. He tells us how to worship him. He tells us how to love him.

In verse 15 he says, but speaking the truth in love, the truth. And speaking really when you look at what the original Greek is, it's doing the truth. It's living the truth. That they're living the truth in the state of love. Living it in the state of love. Truth and love, just as Jesus Christ said, truth and love will mark his church. But speaking or living the truth in love, they will grow up in all things into him who is the head Jesus Christ.

And in verse 16, a verse that I see fulfilled so many times, not only in America, not only in the congregations I pastored, but around the world as we see God work and in all the areas around the world, he provides all we need. Every single person has something they contribute to the church as it grows into who God wants it to be. Every single person. He has a plan and every single person has a part in that plan. We just need to let God grow us and direct us into what he wants us to learn, what he wants us to know, because he knows exactly what is needed. When Jesus Christ comes, returns to this earth, and the world is rebuilt, and understands and is taught the way of God as that thousand-year period grows into the truth that God wants as well. So we have truth, and we have this word, English word, love, that Jesus Christ talked about, and that Paul talked about, too, as well as the other apostles. But let's go back to John 13 now, and look at Jesus Christ's words again. As he begins the time after the Passover service, and they go out, and he begins talking to his disciples as he prepares them for what is going to happen and what the rest of their lives and calling will be. In John 13 and verse 34, he says this. He says, A new commandment, a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another. And he repeats it, or in verse 35, he says, By this all will know, by this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. A new commandment, a new commandment that he gives, a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. This new commandment that Jesus Christ gave didn't replace the Ten Commandments. We live by those commandments. We live by that way of life. Later on in that same evening, he says, If you love me, keep my commandments. But to you, Church of God, to you, disciples going forward in the New Testament, I give you this new commandment, love one another. And you know what that word love is, and all the places we've read it so far today, is that Greek word agape, a very important word for us to understand, think about, and define.

Because God says, this is your command. This is what you are to do. If you're going to be my disciple, agape one another. What does that mean? What does that word mean?

It's a very important thing for us to understand, and sometimes we can lose sight of what it means.

The world doesn't understand what agape is. You can't go to a Christian church in the outside world, and they cannot define for you what agape means. You cannot go to Strong's Concordance, and they cannot define for you what agape means. You can't go to the English dictionary, and they can't define for you what agape means. You cannot find the definition of agape anywhere else, except in one place. And that's in the Bible. And that's in the Bible, and that's from Christ's own words. Only He, only He can define what agape is. And today, because Christ gave us that new commandment, we're going to talk about that word agape, and look at His words, and define it the way He meant for us. But before I do that, before I do that, let's talk a little bit about this word love. Because we do have the King James Version. We have the New King James Versions that are very good translations of the Bible, and they were translated into the English language. But you know that the original manuscripts were in Koine Greek. And Koine Greek linguists say is the most expressive language that was ever spoken on earth. It was very detailed. If you said a word in Koine Greek, they knew exactly what you meant. But English isn't that detailed. English combines things into a word that sometimes can confuse us. One of those words is love. Let me give you just some definitions of love from the English, our English dictionaries, and you can see how varied love, as we use the word love, can be as we speak our language. One of them is that love is a feeling, a feeling of affection or concern toward another, arising from kinship or close friendship. So we might say to a friend or a brother or sister or mother or father, I love you. That's a good trait. The same word love can represent a strong feeling, the dictionary says, of affection or concern for another, accompanied by sexual attraction and desire. Same word, two different things. If I say I love my wife, and when I was dating her, I told her I loved her, far different than what I might say to a very good close friend.

You would have to know the context. What does that word love mean? What does he mean when he said I love you here? And he also said I love you over here. You have to know the context. Another one, the third definition they list, a feeling of devotion or adoration toward God or a God, a feeling of kindness or concern by God or a God toward humans. So we can say I love God.

God loves me. Jesus loves me. It's a slogan that you see all over the place. Same word love.

You have to know the context of what is there. And the fourth one they give is it's an intense, emotional attachment to something as a pet or a treasured object. So you love your pets. You might have a favorite whatever it is. I love that. I love that TV show. I love this. I love this thing in my house. Same word love, but so many different meanings. You have to know the context. By contrast, Koine Greek, you didn't have to know the context. If you said four words in Koine Greek, you would understand what the person was talking about. One of those words was storge. That storge is a love that was for a family love. You love your brother and sister. You love your mother and father. You love your aunts and uncles and your family members. It's just a natural love that should occur among all people. Nothing wrong with that love. It's a very good love. Interestingly, the word storge never appears in the Bible, but it does appear. It was a well-known word, of course, in Greek, because it's just a natural love that everyone should have. Now, the Greek words, storge being the family or the blood love, the bloodline love, could have the opposite. It could be if you put an A in front of it, it would mean without. So you could have the word astorgos, A-S-T-O-R-G-O-S, and it would mean this is someone without that love. They don't love their family members. It's only used a couple times in the New Testament. One time in 2 Timothy 3 verse 3, where it talks about all these traits of people of the end times, and one of them that's listed is without natural affection. People in the end times who would even hate their family members might even kill their family members without that natural human experience of loving the people in their family.

Hard to imagine, but all of you have seen reports on TV or know of situations where family members just stop loving each other. So that's one of the words, storge. Another one is filia. P-H-I-L-E-O can be used as a noun or a verb, two different, slightly different spellings if you use it in that. Filia is a brotherly love, the type of love that you would say, you know, my best friend, I love him. I love him or I love her or I love my co-workers or I love my fellow church members, the people in church, I love them. There's this brotherly affection in there. You look kindly on them, and that's a good thing. We all have that. We all experience that in our life, and it's what we should experience. The third one is eros.

That's the marital love. That's the sexual attraction love. And by the way, filia and filio, you do find that often in the Bible. Not as often as you might think, but you do find that in the Bible. And the third one there is eros. It's the love between husband and wife. The love between people that is, that grows into a marriage, the attraction that is there, and it grows into that. We're all familiar with that. It's part of the human experience. It's part of what God created us to be. And there's nothing wrong with any of those kinds of love. But there are certain similarities between those loves and agape, similarities between those three that you don't find in agape. We'll get to that for a moment. But let's just talk about those three types of love. Family love, brother and sister, mom and dad, friends, fellow church members, people we work with, people we've been associated with from childhood, etc., and eros, the love between a man and a woman that goes there. There are common things about them that are interesting when you look at them. One of them, all three of those feed off emotions and feelings and attractions for the most part.

Nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with the fact that we may be attracted to another person, that we have common interests with someone, and that we find an affiliation with them. Nothing wrong with emotion. God built it into us. Emotion is great. And each one of these loves Storge, Eros, and Filia build off those things. They're the kind of things that make the world go around, that make life interesting, and that bond people together. Second thing, every single person, every single person in the world, every single person is capable of having these loves with or without God's Holy Spirit. Every single person is just part of how God created human beings.

So you don't need God's Holy Spirit to have friends. You don't have to have God's Holy Spirit to have family members. You don't have to have God's Holy Spirit to fall in love with someone and get married. It's just part of the human experience. Nothing wrong. Nothing wrong with that.

Third thing, while all these loves, these three types of love we've talked about so far, they can lead to outward acts of service and to others, and you do nice things for someone.

Maybe even forgetting yourself, but, hey, my wife likes this, and so if she likes this, this is what I want to do because I want to please her. Or, hey, my friend really has this interest in this. I've been someplace, and so I see this thing that he or she would really be interested in. I'm going to buy it and give it to them because we're thinking of them and we want to please them, and that's a good thing. That's a good thing. Those act-word outs, those outward acts of love. Nothing wrong with that at all. But all these three loves have a basis in self.

They have a basis in self. You are attracted. They're part of your family. They have common interests. They see things the same way I do. There's a common bond. Or you just get along well because your personalities mesh. Nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with that. We're in John.

We can see this in John 15. Turn over there to John 15, and Jesus Christ uses this word, philia, in John 15, 19, as he is talking to the disciples. As we set the pattern in the early verses, you will be sanctified by truth, and you will be marked, and you will be known because of the agape you have for one another. In John 15, verse 19, he, Jesus Christ, says, if you were of the world, the world would love its own. The world would philia you. Why? Because you're like them.

If you were of the world, they would like you. But you know what? That's a human love.

And when you're set apart by the truth, and when you're set apart because you aren't of the world, because God called us to be out of the world, they're not going to like you. Jesus Christ was the most kind, giving, loving, agape-ing person that ever lived, and the world hated him because he wasn't part of them. So he makes a very pointed verse, sir, if you're of the world, the world would love its own, yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. So while there's good things to those loves, there's a negative side too, because it's based in us, what we like, what we're attracted to, etc. Another thing about those three loves, they can all end, they can all be broken, they can all fail. How many people do we know, outside the church or even in the church, who are at one time all wrapped up in Eros, E-R-O-S, they loved each other, going to spend the rest of their lives with one another, but today they're no longer apart. Somewhere along the line, Eros stopped.

That love could be broken. Same thing with Philia. How many people? Even in the world today, as you look around and you see this political climate that we have here in America that is filled with hate, and as I look at Twitter sometimes and see what's on there, I see people who just simply just end lifetime friendships because he or she no longer see politically what I see. Right? Just end it. It's over. Now you're no longer like me. I want nothing to do with you. And so friendships break up, not just for political reasons, but for other reasons as well. It can end. Storge can end. Sadly. Maybe all of us know someone of a family member who just simply will not talk to another family anymore. And they may go the rest of their lives with just, I don't want anything to do with them for whatever reason that may be.

They can all fail. All those loves can end. Nothing wrong with all of them, but they can end.

One more thing on them. They can be added to one another. So you can have philia between a man and a woman. And they might be friends. I really like being around her, but there may be no physical Eros attraction in the beginning. But you all know someone, and I would add my wife and me into that category, that then all of a sudden Eros is there.

And you can add Eros to philia because that bond is there and you grow to love your wife for whoever it might be in that state because you can add that to it. And it does make for a bond that lasts for a lifetime.

You can add Storga to philia. And that you may have a friend that is so close to you that they are like a family member. And so the Bible even talks about philio storgas as they combine those because you can become so close to someone that you see them as a brother. In fact, we can see one example of that in the book of Romans if we turn back there for a moment.

Romans 12.

Romans 12 verse 10. Paul talking to the church as he's exhorting them how to live with one another. He says in verse 10, Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another. Kindly affectionate there is philia storgas. They're like family members.

You and I are like family members. We're all part of the same church. We all have that common bond. We all are bound by the Holy Spirit, all bound by the truth that we live by and the agape that should be binding us together that Christ said there's a command for you to do.

So we can have all these things, all these other types of love we experience, and they're good things. God created them. But they have these common traits, and one of them is they can fail. There's only one. There's only one Greek word that is translated love in the English Bible that cannot fail, or I should say should not fail. And if we really are applying and understanding what Christ's new commandment to his church is, it will not fail. And that's agape. That's agape. In the New Testament, the word love, the English word love, is there over 300 times. 263 of those times that you read love in the New Testament, it's the Greek word agape. As Jesus Christ teaches us what this love is that we must have.

And the difference between it and those other types of love that are part of our existence as well.

So let's look. Let's look at those things that Jesus Christ said. Let's begin again with his words in John 21. Very well known discourse between Jesus Christ and Peter after Jesus Christ is resurrected, and he's working with the disciples before he ascends into heaven and before the day of Pentecost where the Holy Spirit was given to the people that were gathered together on that day. In John 21 verse 15, we see Christ begin to explain or make known to his disciples the difference between agape and philia. Verse 15, John 21, so one day I had eaten bread breakfast Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon son of Jonah, do you agape me more than these.

Peter said to Christ, yes, Lord, you know that I philia you.

Christ said, do you agape me Peter? Peter said, well, yes, I philia you. I do love you. I do have this affinity with you. I see you as a brother. I love you. Christ, as you go on, asks Peter the second time the same question, Peter, do you agape me? Peter says the same thing. Yes, I philia you. Now, what was going on there? See, this word agape is in the Greek language. It existed before Jesus Christ was on earth and he started using it, but it was different. Even if you read through what the linguists say, agape wasn't, it was kind of that, what does that word really mean? How do you define agape? Is there a definition you can find somewhere of what agape is? That's someone, someone put the word agape into AI, one of these things. I don't use any of that stuff. What does agape mean? And it came back and it said Jesus Christ put a whole new meaning on the word agape that you don't find in history before that. A whole new meaning. And in the New Testament, in his command to you and me, he sets the meaning. No one else. He commanded it.

He tells us what it is and we learn it. And there's only one way we can learn it. So when Peter, and I'll surmise a little bit here what's going on in this conversation, agape, what do you mean agape? Well, yes, I do love you. Yes, I do love you. And so, Christ asks it again. And then the third time, Christ says, Peter, do you fill you in me? Peter says, yes, you're Lord. You know I fill you you. Yes. But there were things that Peter was going to have to learn about this word agape, which Christ had told them before in John 13, before he was crucified. I knew commandment I give you, that you would agape one another as I have agape'd you. Peter learned it during the rest of his life. If we go back to one of his epistles later on in life that he wrote some 20, 30 years later, we see him with full understanding of what the word agape is. Let's go back to 2 Peter here for a second. 2 Peter 1 and verse 5. Peter begins listing the progress of our Christian life or walk with God. And he kind of puts us, puts for us together this pathway, if you will, of how we may progress in the understanding of God's will because we continue learning throughout our lives. As long as we're drawing breath, there are things yet we have to learn about God's way. There are things yet that we have to overcome to become like Christ, because that's what the goal is. To become perfect, because that's what the goal is, or blameless, if we want to use that word instead of perfect. But here in 2 Peter 1 verse 5, Peter writes this, he says, Also for this very reason, giving all diligence, work hard at it, whatever you do, put your hand to it, do it with your might, for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith, your belief in God, virtue. If you believe in Christ, become like him. Christ said, if you love me, keep my commandments. Add to your faith virtue, to your virtue, the way you lived your life, the moral standard that you now live by. Add knowledge. Comes from the truth, reading the Word of God and understanding what his plan is and what his will is. Add to knowledge self-control. What does self-control do? It gives us the strength from God's Holy Spirit to choose right and to do what's right, rather than choosing what becomes or what comes naturally to us. And that includes some choices we make in the way we agape one another. Add to your self-control perseverance. Stick with it. Godliness, living a righteous life. Add to that brotherly kindness. And finally, to brotherly kindness, fill the agape.

The end result. Through life, come to understand the agape. Get to know agape. Become that.

It doesn't happen instantaneously when we're baptized. It doesn't happen instantaneously when God gives us the Holy Spirit. The opportunity there to grow and develop that fruit is there, but it doesn't happen. It happens, and it grows over lifetime. Let's go back a few books to the book of Titus. Paul speaks to Titus here in verse chapter 2 of the book. He gives instructions to young men, older men, older women, younger women. As we grow in life, we learn more of these things. There is the experience that we have in learning God's way, living God's way, and we can be a benefit to those who are younger in the faith or younger in age to let them know how things go. And God did intend for that to happen as part of the teaching experience. In chapter 2, in verse 1, as Paul is instructing Titus, he says, But as for you, Titus, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine. Speak the truth, that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, sound in agape, and in patience. The older men, they should have learned agape if they're following God. We go down to verse 6. We see him talking about the younger men. Likewise, verse 6, exhort the young men to be sober-minded. In all things, showing yourself to be a pattern of good works, do what God said, do it his way. In doctrine, showing integrity, true to the truth, living the truth, committed to the truth. In reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you. For some reason, the word agape doesn't show up for younger men. All these other things, living the Christian life, doing all those things that God said, keeping the commandments, having a pattern of good works, making sure you are living by God's way, choosing to do what's right and not just the way of the world, looking to his Bible for truth, his word as truth, understanding that you are sanctified by that truth, all those things.

But is there a reason? Is there a reason that agape isn't there yet? Because agape takes time to develop. We grow. We grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, and we grow in agape.

And we build the definition of agape from the Bible. Now, I have written down here, for instance, from Strong's Concordance. I mentioned earlier that you can't go any place and find a definition of agape anywhere in a coco- let me read what Strong's Concordance gives as their definition of this word, agape. Brotherly love, affection, goodwill, love, benevolence. Well, those are all good words, but they don't tell me much more than I already knew about the word love to begin with. They don't give me the depth. If Jesus Christ said, I give you a new commandment, we already have philia, storge, and eros. That's just part of the whole human experience. What is this new commandment? What does it do? So let's begin.

We've already done part of it, building the definition of agape as Jesus Christ gives it to us. The first point you can put down there is agape is a goal. It's a goal that we work toward. It doesn't happen instantaneously, just like perfection doesn't happen instantaneously. It's something we work with. We work toward our entire life. Let's go back to the epistle of John the Apostle. We find it in 1 John 4, because here he who heard those same words Jesus Christ said on that night when he said, a new commandment I give you that you agape one another as I have agape you. Some 40, 50, whatever years later, he's learned about it, and he says some interesting and very instructive and insightful things in 1 John 4. Let's just go through that a little bit and see some of the things that are in there as we build this definition of what agape is that you and I are to be working toward. 1 John 4 will begin in verse 7.

Every time we read the word love, and I'm going to use the word agape here, I wish the new translators, when they came to this word and they didn't really know what agape meant either. So they just put the word love on it in the New King James. If you look in the Old King James, they understood there's something different about agape than these other types of love, because they used the word charity in many of those places. Charity doesn't cover it either, but at least they tried because they knew there's something different, something different about this word agape. Verse 7, Beloved, let us agape one another, for agape is of God, and everyone who agapes is born of God.

Well, that's quite a statement. Everyone who agapes is born of God and knows God. He who does not agape does not know God, for God is agape. That's who he is. It says it again later on in 1 John 4 as well. He is agape. If we are his disciples, we are job, our purpose in calling us is to become like him. If he's agape, if Jesus Christ is agape, what does he give us?

Become agape. Not just in word, not just to define it in your heart, just as it is in God, the Father, and Jesus Christ. Verse 9, In this the agape of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. In this is agape. Not that we agape God, but he agape'd us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. If he so agape'd us, we also ought to agape one another.

So we see that God is agape, and we are to become like him. Second point we're going to find here in verse 12. John says, no one has seen God at any time. If we agape one another, what all that agape means, if we agape one another, God abides in us, and his agape has been perfected in us. So when something is perfected in us, we know that there is this process that happens. We don't become perfect overnight. Agape isn't perfected overnight. It's something, as we said, is a goal. But when we are perfecting it, and when it's there, God dwells in us. He makes his home with us. We're family. We have his spirit. He isn't comfortable with us, and we want him abiding in us. It's the temple in us that he is building, as we heard in the Bible talk that we had earlier today. He abides in us. Now, if we keep our fingers there in 1 John 4, let's go back and let's look at Jesus Christ's word, because he talks about this very thing as well as he's instructing his disciples then and his disciples now, who are you and me, in exactly what this word abide and how important it is to God the Father and Jesus Christ that we are living our lives, that they will make their home with us, that they will abide in us. John 14. Look at verse 23.

Again, Christ talking to his disciples on that night before he is arrested and later crucified on that same 14th of Abib. 1423, Jesus answered and said to him, Well, there's something. So when you know people or churches in the world that aren't keeping God's word, they don't know what agape is. They don't know what this love that Jesus Christ is talking about. If anyone agape is me, he will keep my word and my Father will agape him and we will come to him and make our home with him. That's a beautiful thing. Don't you want God to make his home in you?

Don't you want his Holy Spirit guiding us, directing us, making us at one with him?

And that same spirit and that same agape that is there between him and us, that is binding you and me together as well as his people around the world, everyone that he calls.

You know, sometimes I hear people talk about love. I know Jesus loves us. I even hear that in the church sometimes. And I think, what are we thinking? The world will talk about Jesus loving.

Sometimes I listen to Christian music and I think, you know, Christian music we have to look at because they'll talk a lot about Jesus loving you. Jesus loving you and you need to love Jesus. And all this stuff was not wrong to love Jesus, but that's not the agape that God is talking about. And sometimes we can look at the churches around our world and just love Jesus, just love him, he loves you.

Absolutely not a problem with that, but it waters down and it's very shallow as to what God is saying.

We need to watch what we're doing. We need to go to the Bible. We need to let the Bible teach us and guide us and not allow these other ideas that are coming from perhaps churches, music, other things that might infiltrate us and water down what this commandment that Jesus Christ gave us is. So here he says, if you would agape me, I'm gonna make my home with you. In chapter 15, Jesus Christ talks about the thing that we know very well about how God, when he abides in us, fruit grows, verse 7, chapter 15, verse 7. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, if you're living by truth because that's what sets you apart from the world, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, then it will be done for you. How do prayers get answered? In the way that you want them to? Relatively speaking, you have to be living the way that God asks you to live, the way he called us to live. By this, verse 8, my father is glorified. Isn't that what we want? To everything we do, we bring glory to God's name. By this my father is glorified that you bear much fruit. So you will be my disciples.

What's the first fruit listed of the Holy Spirit? It's love. The first one listed. It doesn't mean it's the first one that's perfected in us, but it is very, very important because if God is agape and Jesus Christ is agape, and as disciples, we understand Luke 6, verse 40, where it says it's enough, it's not enough that a disciple just listens to his teacher, he becomes like his teacher, then that has to become us as well. And it takes the self-control, one of the fruits of the Spirit, to make the choices in our life that agape begins to define us, a lifelong process of becoming like him, of becoming agape, as he is. By this my father is glorified, verse 8, that you bear much fruit. So you will be my disciple. If you're his disciple, those things are beginning to show. You're a little bit different than you were five years ago, a bit different than you were last year, a bit different as you've been in the church 20, 30, 40, 50 years. You have a lot of experience that you can pass on to others who are newer in the church, just as we pass on to our children who are born to us physically.

It's all part of God's family. We're all here, we're all bearing with one another, understanding each other, praying for each other, loving one another, bound together as one toward God's purpose for all of us. Verse 9, as the father loved me, or agape'd me, I have also agape'd you, abide, abide in my agape. If you keep my commandments, now all 10 of them, all those statues that we read in Deuteronomy, as we read through Deuteronomy, all those standards of virtue that Moses talked about to ancient Israel, those things that we learned and maybe had to refresh our minds on as we read through those things. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my agape, just as I have kept my father's commandments, and abide in his agape, living just as Jesus Christ lived. So, abide. Abide in his commandments. Live in the Bible. Live the truth, as we talked about, and God will abide in us. You don't have to turn back to 1 John 4 if you're not still there, but let me go back. Let me go back. Well, actually, we read verse 12, and there it talks about that God abides in us, and his love has been perfected in us. Down in verse 17, he repeats it. Agape has been perfected among us in this, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. You know what? If you're not there, let's go back to 1 John 4, 17. You know, because he does make some comments there about agape. In verse 18 of 1 John 4, he says, there is no fear in agape. We live in a time in the world that can be kind of fearful if we just look at it humanly speaking, right? We see things happening in the United States that, you know, conditions could deteriorate very quickly, if that's what God's will is. Makes no difference who wins the election. Things could dissipate really quickly, and we could find ourselves in times just a few months from now, or even less than that, completely different than what we are in even today. Does that make us fearful? Or do we understand that's God's plan? Do we understand that we are agape God so much that we completely trust Him, whatever His will is? He told us what it will be. It's here in the Bible. His Word is sure. Do we agape Him so much that we trust Him? The way out or what it is? That's where we look at it, because love has been perfected in us. In verse 18, there is no fear in love, but perfect agape casts out fear. It's okay.

It's what God's plan is. Jesus Christ is returning. There will be a time of peace and joy on this earth as that truth of God develops in that world to come, and the agape in that world as well.

There is no fear in agape. There was no fear in Jesus Christ. He knew what was coming to Him as He was there on that 14th of David, looking at what was going to happen the next day. He didn't try to get out of it. He did pray to God and ask if this cup could be taken from Him, that it would be. But the answer was no, and He just proceeded with it, with what the plan was, just as you and I do, with what God asks us to do.

If you're in 1 John, let's go back a couple books to the book of Hebrews, and we'll see that Jesus Christ was perfected as well. He was already perfected, or already perfect when He came to earth. He lived a perfect life. But we see, even in what He endured in life, He had to go through a process to become who He became, our Savior, the only Savior in the world. There is no other Savior. There is no other religion that has another Savior. It's only Jesus Christ. In Hebrews 2, and verse 10, speaking of Jesus Christ, it says, it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation, that's Jesus Christ, to make the captain of their salvation perfect, through sufferings, through sufferings. He went through it, and that agape that He is was perfected. He was already perfect, we would say. Never sinned. He became perfected through those sufferings.

We fast forward to chapter 5, and verse 8 says, though He was a son, yet He learned, learned obedience by the things which He suffered. He already was perfectly obedient.

He abided by all those commandments that God established before the foundation of the world, that the world has known or have been there well before Israel. Though He was a son, He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. Verse 9, and having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.

So, if Jesus Christ was going to be perfected, if His agape was going to be perfected so that He could become eternal salvation for us, suffering might be part of that. No, not might be. Suffering will be part of that. As God agapes us because He agapies us because He wants us to be in His kingdom. He wants us to be part of His family. It can't be that we never suffer any trials. You know that as we read through the Bible. We become perfect. We become stronger in faith, stronger in patience, closer to God as we go through those things. We're in Hebrews. If we go to chapter 12, verse 5, it talks about chastening. None of us enjoy chastening, right? None of us want to be rebuked. None of us want to have our faults or weaknesses called to attention to us. We just kind of want to go through life pretending everything is okay and God and all of the people around us are there. But there is a necessary part to having agape perfection. That includes, as we become who God wants us to be, that includes some things that may not be so pleasant. Verse 5 of chapter 12 of Hebrews, you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as sons. It's speaking of the training that you are and I are in right now. My son, Christ says, don't despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked, by him. For whom the Lord agapes, he chastens and scourges every son whom he receives.

It's part of the process. Don't hate it. Oh, we don't enjoy it. But we take it to count and we become, again, as God is working with each one of us to become who he wants us to become, to become like Jesus Christ, there are things we're going to have to face in life about us. That we have to eradicate from our lives with the power of God's Holy Spirit. And if we truly agape him, we'll do that. We'll listen. We'll listen to what God has to say. So, I'm going to keep you a little longer than should. I've been talking too much, but more I'm going to say, so I'm going to keep you a little bit longer here. So we have, as part of our mission, more I'm going to say, so I'm going to keep you a little bit longer here. So we have, as part of our definition, we can add perfected. Let's go back and look at Christ's words in John 3 again.

John 3, verse 16.

Everyone who knows Jesus Christ in the world knows this verse, right? You can watch. I don't know about so much anymore. I haven't seen it in an NFL game lately, but John 3 16. God so agape the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Jesus Christ gave Himself for us. He gave His life. He had no regard for His own well-being. He had no regard to the pain that He was going to do. He was mindful of it, but He did it anyway, because He agape'd us. It is a part of the definition of agape. He did it for others. He did it, and it was the ultimate self-sacrifice. You know, in John 15 12, it even tells us, you know, you ought to lay down. Would we be willing to lay down our lives for the brethren? It might be easy to say it, but when the time comes, if agape has been perfected in us, we would be willing to do that. Lay down your life for others. A good example of what agape is, we find in the story of the Good Samaritan. You can find that story in Luke 10 verses 25 to 36. Let me just paraphrase it for you a little bit here. You know the story well. There's a man who's robbed. He's laying by the side of the road. He can't help himself. He is there. He is completely helpless. A Levite, a man of God, supposedly, sees him. He passes on by. Don't have the time to help this man. I don't know him, and he's... I don't know him. Why would I stop to help him? A priest comes by. He sees the man living by or laying by the side of the road. He turns. He crosses the street. I don't even want... I don't... I'm going to pretend that I don't even know he's there. And then a Good Samaritan, of all people, a Samaritan who the Jews look down on, a Good Samaritan comes by, and he helps that man.

He takes care of him. Let's just do read a few verses there in Luke 10 to get the picture of what went on there and put yourself in that place. If you see someone you don't know, someone that you're not attracted to, absolutely no relationship between you at all, and you see them in a situation like this situation that we've been talking about, what would you do? Well, here's what the Good Samaritan did in Luke 10 and verse 34. Luke 10 verse 34. So the Good Samaritan went to this man, bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine, and he set on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took two denarii. That was quite a bit of money in those days. Two denarii gave them to the innkeeper and said to him, take care of him. And whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.

Notice all the things that he did in that. I mentioned there was no relationship between. He didn't know the man that was laying there. It wasn't usually a friend or an acquaintance or anything else like that. So there was no physical relationship. But he took the time to bandage this man up, carry him to the inn, pay for his care, and then came back and paid more and told the innkeeper, and if there's anything else, let me know. Completely selfless in that. He never asked for anything in return. He didn't tell the man, well, when you're well enough, pay me back.

Didn't tell the innkeeper anything. Just whatever he needs, just give it to him and make sure he has it.

He was willing to do whatever that man needed with no regard for self or what was in it for him. There were absolutely no strings attached to the love. We might call it agape that he showed that man. In that example, we see a pretty strong example of what agape is.

It wasn't filia. It wasn't storge. It certainly wasn't Eros, but it was agape, a different kind of care for someone else. In Romans 5, we see God and his love toward us. Romans 5. And I'll read verses 3 through 5. Paul, again writing to this New Testament church, says, not only that, but we also glory in tribulations. They teach us a lot. They draw us closer to God.

We glory in tribulations knowing that tribulation produces perseverance. We're going to stick through it. We know it's the truth. We have absolute faith and trust in God that what he says and what he promises he will do. Knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, perseverance, character, and character, hope. Verse 5, now hope does not disappoint because the agape of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which was given to us.

The agape of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which was given to us. For when we were still without strength, in no time Christ died for the ungodly. We didn't deserve it. He did it with no strings attached. Agape, poured out in us by the Holy Spirit.

Now how do you receive the Holy Spirit?

Acts 2, 38, repent and be baptized. Have hands laid on you. Genuine repentance, not the repentance that you hear a few ministers on TV add say, just say this little prayer and God has forgiven you. No, it's not the little simple prayer of repentance. It's a genuine heartfelt turning from our way to God's way and strongly disliking who we were that we ask God put that person to death so that the new person that God wants to create in us happens. Repent, be baptized, have hands laid on you. Then you receive the Holy Spirit and then the Holy Spirit can begin to teach us the new things. We're a new creation. God sees us. He's living in us. His Holy Spirit in us. We begin to think like him, act like him, realize the way we handle these things in the past was not the way to do it.

The old ways of thinking and whatever disappear because we have this Holy Spirit that is in us.

With the Holy Spirit, you can understand agape. Without the Holy Spirit, you can't understand what the agape that Jesus Christ talked about is. Without looking in the Bible and Jesus Christ's Jesus Christ's words, you can't understand agape. Acts 5 verse 32 says, if we obey God, let's turn to some of these verses so that we actually see them. Acts 5, 32.

The obedience comes through the Holy Spirit. 5, 32.

We are as witnesses. Acts 5, 32. To these things and so also is the Holy Spirit which God has given to those who obey him. Agape through the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 2. We now understand the truth of God because of the Holy Spirit in us. We can now understand agape because of the Holy Spirit that's in us. We can now become or begin the process of developing the fruit of the Spirit which is agape. 2 Timothy 1 verse 7 talks about the Holy Spirit. It says it is the spirit of power, agape, and a sound mind.

Power, agape, and a sound mind from the Holy Spirit that you and I and everyone listening have if we've been baptized and if we're living the way of God that he has called us to.

So let me recap before one final point that we'll talk about. What is agape from what we've looked at today and what we've seen Jesus Christ say and the examples we've seen in the Bible? Agape is a proof of our discipleship. If we are his disciples, truly disciples, dedicated to becoming like him, agape will be among us. People will see, as Jesus Christ said, they will know you by this will all men know that you are my disciples if you have agape for one another. If we don't have agape for one another, then we're missing something that God wants us to do. If we have agape, it's a tool toward unity. And if we don't have unity, if there's these divisions and everything, we are maybe need to be looking really closely at what agape is and what we need to be doing. Agape is a proof of our discipleship. It is a totally unselfish, outgoing concern for others, not motivated by emotions or what we will receive in return. But it is what is best for the other person. It starts with action. Agape is a choice. I'm sure you've heard that before. It's not a natural, not a natural thing. It's a choice we make. The Good Samaritan made a choice to go and help that person. Jesus Christ made a choice to continue to sacrifice himself that you and I could have our sins forgiven. It starts with action. It's your choice to do it, and it is not at all dependent on how others treat us. If God was looking to see how we treated him, Jesus Christ would have never given his life. It involves self-sacrifice, forgiveness, giving of our time for what is best for that person with no respect or partiality for persons. We feel the same way and would do it for anyone, not just the people we know or care for. I could add to it.

Agape is not just a feeling or emotion. It will grow in, can grow into, filia. We would say about many of the people we know in the church, we filia you. We love being with you. You have become our brothers and sisters. I think we would say that about everyone who is that way, but Agape is not that feeling. It's a motivation for action that we are free to choose or reject. The sacrificial love that voluntarily suffers inconvenience, discomfort, and even death for the benefit of another without expecting anything in return. It comes as a result of the Holy Spirit and living God's way of life and understanding and being dedicated to the truth. Let's turn to Matthew 5.

One more thing to add to it. Matthew 5 verse 43.

Something that's quite difficult as humans to do, not something that comes naturally.

Jesus Christ also talked about in the Sermon on the Mount. Verse 43 of Matthew 5, He said, You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.

That's the natural, carnal, human way of doing things. I love you if you love me, if you agree with me, if you never have anything negative to say about me, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, agape your enemies. Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who hate you and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. Do all those things why, verse 45, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven, for He makes the Son rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. Agape your enemies. Agape your enemies.

See, agape transcends emotion. Agape transcends those feelings or how you feel about the other person. You want what's best for them and you follow what God's will is, even though you may not want to.

You choose, this is God's will, this is what He wants, He wants oneness, He wants unity, He wants agape, He wants the truth, He wants it all done, and sometimes I have to sacrifice myself never with things that are against the Bible or illegal or unethical, but follow God and love Him. Agape Him, Jesus Christ said, with all your heart and with all your soul. And also, agape your enemies. That can only happen with God's Holy Spirit. That can only happen. It's the way that we can say what Jesus Christ said when He was there, being crucified that day, when He looked down at the people who had caused all that, who had put the nails in His wrists and in His feet, and He said, Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they do. That's how Stephen in Acts 7, when he was being stoned, said the same thing. Father, forgive them. They don't know what they do.

It was the agape in them that loved all mankind and saw what the future that God, because God loves all mankind. He says He doesn't want any of us. He doesn't want any of mankind to perish. Not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance, which is the first step toward eternal life, turning to God with all your heart, mind, and soul, and doing the things that He said to do.

Agape. Agape. Think about it. Go back and look at the times that God talks about agape.

Study it and let's build it into our lives. Let me conclude here in 1 Corinthians 13 that has a lot to say about agape and how important it is to God. 1 Corinthians 13. And the old King James is going to talk about charity and the new King James. It's love. Every time you see love or charity, it's the word agape. That word that the world doesn't know how to define, that strong concordance doesn't know how to define, the English dictionaries don't know how to find, Jesus Christ defines it for us. 1 Corinthians 13 verse 1, Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, if I don't have agape, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. I'm just a bunch of noise. I have to have agape. A new commandment I give you, that you agape one another, Christ said, as I agape'd you. And though I have the gift of prophecy, though I understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, well, boy, that would seem incredible, right? None of us can do that today. And though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains, if I don't have agape, I'm nothing. How important is it to God that we are known by our agape and that we are actively and consciously working and asking God, teach me, teach me how to develop agape in my life, teach me what you want me to know, show me and give me the opportunities to develop it. Verse 3, Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, what more sacrifice could you give? But if I don't have agape, it profits me nothing.

How important is it to God? Agape suffers long and is kind. It doesn't envy. It doesn't parade itself. It's not puffed up. It doesn't behave rudely. It doesn't seek its own. It's not provoked. It thinks no evil. It doesn't rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in what? The truth!

The same thing you and I do. Verse 8, agape is the only type of the English word love that never fails, that never fails. It comes from God and his Holy Spirit.

Verse 13, Now abide faith, hope, and agape these three, but the greatest of these, the greatest of these, is agape. And Paul says in verse 1 of chapter 14, pursue agape. Look for it. Seek it. Be diligent. Be diligent in practicing it. Let's all be dedicated to agape. Let's all be doing what God wants as his church for us to do. Be dedicated to truth. Be dedicated to agape. Be dedicated to him. And thank you. Thank you for your dedication and the commitment that I know that you will show to him and each other as we together develop agape among all of us so people will know that we are disciples of Jesus Christ.