Hi Everyone
Be blessed!
Chris
God IS Love
2 Peter 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. (NKJV)
Matthew 13:12 For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. (NKJV)
Matthew 25:29 ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. (NKJV)
Luke 8:18 Therefore take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him.” (NKJV)
We must hunger for more.
1. What IS Love?
We need Bible definitions to understand Bible terms
Outside of the stupid cupid
The 4 Greek loves:
• Philia – love between brothers, friends. Requires virtue, equality and familiarity: e.g. buddies hanging out and enjoying each other’s company
• Eros – love between a man and a woman, beyond Philia, in dating or in marriage. Has a sense of attraction.
• Storge – love because of relationship – e.g. and often Motherly love
• Agape – Self-sacrificing, giving kind of love. The love that has in benefit only the recipient of the love
2. God is Agape
Everything else that we know about God hinges on this knowledge today.
1 John 4:8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. (NKJV)
God doesn't just agape us, God IS agape. Everything that He does for us is self-sacrificing and only for our benefit.
If you know God, you WILL love. Knowing is in degrees, so our ability to love is also in degrees.
Until people know God, know love, no point telling people to love. When we know God, we can learn to love.
Conversely, it doesn't mean that if we “love” we will know God. Without God, we cannot agape. We might storge, philia or eros but I am convinced we cannot agape.
3. Know and Believe God’s Agape
1 John 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. (NKJV)
Known – perceived. Perceived = believed. Not cursory – we have to meditate on this.
Some don’t think we are good enough for God. THAT’S what qualifies us! When you know you aren’t good enough and come to God!
Pharisees thought they were good enough for God and Jesus did not like that one bit.
Abide = Remain
We abide in His love when we know and believe in His love. When we live knowing He loves us, we abide in God and God in us. Not that He departs from us when we don’t – in our spirits, we are ONE with Him for eternity, but we need to believe what this Word says for this truth to sink into our hearts. Only then does this truth set us free. John 8:32
God is love. Knowing God is knowing His love. If we learn all ABOUT God and miss His love, we miss the heart of God.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (NKJV)
We need to know the love of God. When we receive salvation, we must realize not just what He had done, but about how much He loved us to do that.
The cruelty of the cross, and ultimately the separation of Jesus from the Father in His death, spell His love for us.
We need to receive every part of His salvation, the exceeding great promises which we are now studying.
Those who don’t trust this love, don’t receive it and die to a godless eternity.
Jesus died willingly – God gave His Son willingly.
Some of us believe this, but believe that God loves us grudgingly, like an angry parent.
If that is all we believe, it will block every other thing.
Genesis 3:22 Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— 23 therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. (NKJV)
Sin separated but it is not that God got angry. God wants more to be united with His creation that we want to be united with our Creator. We see that as the curse kicked in, Man went further and further away from God.
Thank God for Jesus!
He blesses us because He loves us. He takes care of us because He loves us. He has given us eternal life because He loves us. He sent His Son Jesus to die for us, to open that way for us to be in relationship with Him, to enjoy His love for us.
We must henceforth read everything in scriptures from this viewpoint, that whatever the Bible says, it was because of God’s love.
4. God’s Definition of Love
1 Corinthians 13:4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails. (NKJV)
God IS love.
1 John 4:19 We love because he first loved us. (NIV)
We love because He first loved us. Everything that defines love is how He loves us. So you can change the word “love” to God.
1 Corinthians 13:4 [God] suffers long and is kind; [God] does not envy; [God] does not parade [Himself], is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek [His] own, is not provoked, thinks no (keeps no record of) evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 [God] never fails. (NKJV)
This is who God is to us.
5 The Take Away
• God IS agape
• He has our best interest in heart – more than we will ever realise
• Everything the Bible says is for OUR benefit
• Knowing God is knowing His agape
• We become more like Him when we know and believe Him more and more
• 1 Cor 13:4-8 embodies God’s nature of agape to us!
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