1st
John 4:7-8
7Beloved, let
us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of
God, and knoweth God.
8He that
loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
What
is Love?
What does it mean when you say the word “love”? Love can mean or be
many things.
"I love my dog, my phone, my new shirt,
my friends," and on and on. A person can be said to love a home, country, a principle, goal,
job, or hobby if they value it greatly and are deeply committed to it. People
can also 'love' material objects, animals, or activities if they make those
things part of their identity—the way they see themselves. Someone said: “Use
things and love people”. But the problem
in today's world is that, people are used and things are loved...
Do you know what love is? There are so many different types of
love, aren’t there.
TRUE
LOVE
If you
love something, set it free.
If it comes back, it was, and always will be yours.
If it never returns, it was never yours to begin with.
If it just sits in your living room,
messes up your stuff,
eats your food,
uses your telephone,
takes your money,
and never behaves as if you actually set it free in the first place,
you either married it or gave birth to it!
If it comes back, it was, and always will be yours.
If it never returns, it was never yours to begin with.
If it just sits in your living room,
messes up your stuff,
eats your food,
uses your telephone,
takes your money,
and never behaves as if you actually set it free in the first place,
you either married it or gave birth to it!
a)
A deep,
tender, ineffable feeling of affection and solicitude toward a person, such as
that arising from kinship, recognition of attractive qualities, or a sense of
underlying oneness.
b)
A
feeling of intense desire and attraction toward a person with whom one is
disposed to make a pair; the emotion of sex and romance.
c)
Sexual
passion.
d)
An
intense emotional attachment, as for a pet or treasured object.
Great philosophers have given their
profound definitions of love. Shakespeare wrote about love. Poets have written
thousands, maybe even a million poems on the subject of love. But what do
little children know about love? In a survey of 4-8 year olds, kids shared
their views on love. You may be surprised that despite their young and innocent
minds, kids already have a simple but deep grasp of that word.
"Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your chips
without making them give you any of theirs."
"Love is when someone hurts you. And you get so mad but you don't
yell at him because you know it would hurt his feelings."
"Love is when my mum makes tea for my dad and she takes a sip
before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK."
"Love
is when mum sees dad smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsome."
"I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old
clothes and has to go out and buy new ones."
"When
you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of
you."
"You
can break love, but it won't die."
“You really
shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should
say it a lot. People forget, and it's good for them to get reminded.”
So: is love a concept, a feeling
or an action?
Is it a
noun or is it a verb? Could it be both?
The verse we read a few moments ago says that it
is both a noun AND a verb.
God IS love. And we are command TO love.
In all languages, words may change
meaning depending upon their context. I could say, "The boy threw the
ball," or "The princess went to the ball," or "The kids who
went to the youth conference last week had a ball." The context tells you which
definition of "ball" I mean. With the word “love”, we understand that
we do not love our enemy in the same way in which a man is to love his wife.
With that in mind, let me talk about
some of the important differences between types of love in Scripture.
(Joyce Meyer)
1.
There's the
Greek word "phileo," which
means friendship or tender affection. You have this type of love for your
friends and your family.
John 11:3 gives us an example of this kind
of love. Lazarus was sick and his sisters sent a message to Jesus.
3Therefore
his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is
sick.
2.
Then there's
"eros," which is the
emotional and physical love we feel for our husband or wife. Eros is the Greek name
for love that is sensual and stimulates the senses. This is the most common type and easiest
for us to understand. That’s why the New Testament doesn’t talk about this kind
of love—we already understand what it means.
But there's a third kind, a higher kind of love.
First, let’s read Mark 12:
29-34
29And Jesus answered him, The first
of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is
one Lord:
30And thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with
all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
31And the second is like, namely
this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment
greater than these.
32And the scribe said unto him,
Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none
other but he:
33And to love him with all the
heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the
strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt
offerings and sacrifices.
34And when Jesus saw that he
answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the
kingdom of
God.
3.
"Agape"
is the kind of love God has toward His Son and the human race. It's a love that
sacrifices, the love that we see in John
3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only
Son..."(NIV).
Another scripture that teaches the concept of agape love is in Matthew 5.
It tells us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.
Matthew 5:43-44, 46
43Ye have heard that it hath been
said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
44But I say unto you, Love your
enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for
them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
46For if ye love them which love
you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
Now for some practical advice for the young people here.
When someone says "I love you" it could mean many
different things. Here are three different kinds of love.
1.
First kind
of love:
The "IF
kind of love" says, "I will love you IF you do things my way, IF you
give me gifts, IF you become a good provider, IF you get a good report card at
school." It is a conditional love based upon future expectations. If these
conditions are not met, then like a legal contract, love is broken. This is a
selfish love because it is solely based upon future expectations. It is love
that must be earned. Most marriages fail because they are based upon this
conditional love. Children are often heard saying, "I will be your
friend" IF you let me play with your new toy; till then I hate you. Thus
the IF kind of love is a fickle unstable love. This is the childish love we are
all born with. It is a worldly love of natural instincts. We need to mature out
of the IF kind of love!
2.
Second kind
of love:
The
"because of" kind of love says, "I will love you BECAUSE you are
now young and beautiful, BECAUSE I now desire you, BECAUSE you are now popular,
BECAUSE you are now in good health or wealthy, BECAUSE I feel good when
I am with you." This kind of love is common among the youth because it is
solely based upon the other’s current status. The BECAUSE OF kind of love is
also doomed to failure in marriage. When someone proclaims, "I have fallen
out of love" they have fallen out of the "because of" kind of
love, not true love. This kind of love is not in tune with reality when it
demands that things stay the same in an ever changing world. Like the IF kind
of love, it is unstable and fickle. It is full of doubts and fears for what
tomorrow might bring.
2. True Love:
True love is
the "in spite of kind of love". It says, "I love you IN SPITE OF
your faults, IN SPITE OF being fat and ugly, IN SPITE OF the times you are
selfish and inconsiderate, IN SPITE OF when you sin against me," True love
is unconditional. It is the love that God loves us with. It is a love we don't
naturally possess but must learn. It is an enduring love that doesn't even keep
a score card. It will always be there tomorrow regardless of what we have done
today. This is the kind of love that 50th wedding anniversaries are made of.
Romans 5:6-8 says,
"For
one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the very
good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love
toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
Notice the
contrast between conditional and unconditional love in this verse. Christ
didn't die for us BECAUSE we were very good and worth dying for. Rather He died
for us in SPITE OF the fact we were sinners.
(Joyce Meyer)
It's not difficult to pray for people who are good to you. But it
does stretch you to pray for people who have wounded you. It's easy to hang out
with your friends at church. But it's harder to seek out that person who looks
like they're miserable and alone and just listen to them for awhile. That's agapao. It's sacrificing your comfort to
do what's righteous.
1st
John 3: 16-18, 23
16Hereby perceive we the love of
God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives
for the brethren.
17But whoso hath this world's good,
and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from
him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
18My little children, let us not
love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
23And this is his commandment, That
we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as
he gave us commandment.
How do you
love people? You need to examine yourself. Agapao is God’s kind of loving.
It is God’s standard of love for you.
Never accept any lesser way of loving. You are to love without counting the
price. You are to love unconditionally. You are to love people who deserve no
love. Yes, this is God’s standard.
(Joyce Meyer)
You can agapao people by
being patient with them, by being understanding with them, by saying something
encouraging or by not saying anything when you could. As humans, we are
inherently selfish, constantly asking, "What about me?' It's time to
declare war on selfishness with the power of agapao.
It's time to be good and loving to people on purpose as we study
and understand what scripture says about love.
And let the agape of
God in you overflow to others.
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LOVE IS A VERB –by DC
Talk
Verse
1:
Pullin’
out my big black book cause when I need a word defined thats where I look
So I
move to the L's quick fast in a hurry threw on my specs though my vision was
blurry
I
looked again but to my dismay it was black and white with no room for grey
Ya see a big V stood beyond my word and yo that’s when it hit me
that love is a verb
Bridge:
Words come easy but don’t mean much and when the words we're sayin’ we
can’t put trust in
We're talkin’ ‘bout love in a
different light but if we all learn to love it would be just right
Chorus:
Hey tell me haven’t you heard love is a serious word hey I think it’s
time you learned
I don’t care what you say I don’t care what you heard the word love, love
Love is a verb
Verse 2:
Thinkin’ of a way to explain-o cause you know when I'm flowin’ like a
bottle of Draino
Simple and plain L—O—V--E ain’t all that junk that you see on T.V.
Put soaps on a rope cause they they ain’t worth dope and with it is a
myth that there ain’t no hope
And love is enough if its unconditionally given now your livin’ out the
great commission
Bridge:
Chorus:
Verse 3:
Back, back, back in the day there was a man who stepped out of heaven
and he walked to land
He delivered to the people an eternal choice with a heart full of love
and the truth in his voice
Gave up his life so that we may live how much more love could the son of
God give
Here is the example that we ought to matchin’ cause love is a word that involves
action
Bridge:
Chorus:
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Bibliography
Joyce Meyers’ Every Day Living Study Bible
http://www.dictionary.com
http://www.purpleslinky.com/jokes/relationship/the-real-definition-of-love
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love
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