The Summer of Love: Agape Love
So today is the last day in our Summer
of Love series, and we’re going to talk about the fourth Greek word for love.
We’ve already covered eros, or erotic, passionate love, and talked about the
passionate love God has for us as described in the Song of Solomon. We’ve
talked about storge love, or parental love, and the privilege of being God’s
adopted children, and being privy to that sort of Fatherly love that he gives.
We talked about philos love, or brotherly, friendship love, and how Jesus said
that if we love others, then we are his friends, and we share that philos love
with him.
Today, we’re talking about a fourth
Greek word for love, and that word is agape. Agape is the most general word for
love, although it has come to be a catch word for Christian or Godly love. This
is the most common Greek word for love in the New Testament. It would have been
used to describe how you feel about anything from your dog to your mom’s pot
roast to your favorite sports team to your feelings for a particular religion
or way of life.
So like we would use the word agape
for love if we said, “I love the
This is the word we would use mostly
when we talk about love so I think it’s the one we might relate to the best.
You know, when I was in youth group, my youth group leaders would always be
preaching to me that the word “love” is overused and abused in our society
today. It’s in all of our music and on the internet and everywhere you look,
someone is talking about love, and it is being devalued. But they didn’t really
have a good solution for that, other than, you know, just be careful about when
you use the word.
But I don’t think that’s really the
problem. I’m not sure we can ever have too much love. The problem comes when we
get confused about what type of love we are feeling or talking about. Because
love is such a broad term, right? I mean, we’ve already seen that. Love can
describe everything from my feelings for my wife to my feelings for my parents
and my brothers and my friends to my feelings for the Buckeyes and potluck
dinners and my feelings for the faith I hold so dear. I describe my feelings
for all of those people and all of those things, with the word love. But of
course I feel differently about Holly than I do about potluck dinners, right?
Of course the love for my parents is way different than my love for the
Buckeyes. It’s different. So the problem isn’t necessarily that the word love
is overused, the problem is that the word “love” is confused. It is too broad
in the English language. I think the Greeks had it right: love is too broad of
a term, you have to have different words for it.
But we don’t, with our fine English
language, so when we use the word love, people have to look at the context in
which we use the word to figure out what that love looks like. Is it romantic
love? Is it brotherly love? Or is it something deeper? It’s like the words from
the disco-era song: “How deep is your love?”
I think people understand this, right?
Like if you hear someone say, “I love what you’ve done with this room,” you
know, because of the context, that they are not romantically attracted to the
way in which the room was decorated, right? We can usually tell from the
context of the conversation what type of love we are dealing with.
But sometimes it isn’t just what
someone says that determines the context, it’s what they do. When I do marriage
counseling for couples, I’ll often ask a husband, “Do you love your wife?” They
always say yes. But I don’t leave it at that. I assume they love their wife at
some level. If the answer is no, then we’ve got some big problems on our hands.
But they always say, “Yes I love her,” and I ask, “What does that look like?”
Because one husband says he loves his wife, and his actions show that that is
definitely the case. He goes out of his way to make her feel special. He does the
little things. He is kind and considerate and still treats her as if they are
dating. But another husband will say he loves his wife, but his actions don’t
show it nearly as much. They spend most of their time apart. They don’t
communicate. They fight constantly. There’s abuse. Both say they love their
wives, and perhaps both do, but the love of one looks way different than the
love of the other.
Do you know what Christianity’s big
selling point is? Anybody know? What sets Christianity apart from other religions?
What makes us different from Muslims or Buddhists or Hindis or any of the other
religions? Do you know?
You should know, we used to, and
sometimes still do sing it at the end of every service. They’ll know we are
Christians by our…LOVE! Our love, right? That’s our selling point! That’s what
sets Christians apart! That’s what makes us so different and so unique and so
wonderfully attractive…in theory.
I wonder how many visitors, how many
non-Christians have heard us sing that song. I wonder how many people have
heard the claim that Christians want to love their neighbors as themselves.
That’s part of the greatest commandment: Love the Lord with all your heart,
mind, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself, right? The
greatest commandment! Jesus himself said it. And we boast about it. “Oh, I love
my neighbor. I love everybody. Christians are loving. We have that agape love.
That Christian love. And we just love everybody.”
And people want to know, the world
wants to know: “What does that love look like?” We have to qualify it. Love is
a broad term! We claim to love the world, so what does that look like? And at
different times in history, we’ve interpreted it in different ways. During the
Crusade, we interpreted it to mean that if we love the world, then we as
Christians should take back the
All of that was done in the name of
Christianity, the religion that is different because of its love. That is the
answer we have given when the world has asked, “What does Christian agape love
look like?” In a lot of ways, we’ve done a rotten job. We have not loved our
neighbors as ourselves. Perhaps the worst thing we have done is as bad now as
it has ever been. We have become complacent and ignored our neighbor. If we
believe in Jesus, and if we believe in what he has said, and if we believe that
he is the only way to the Father – those aren’t my words, those are his – if we
believe that, and we do not share the good news with our neighbor, with our
friends, with our relatives, with everyone we meet, then that is a tragedy and
a failure of Christian love.
A Christian, a true Christian, loves
like a Christian. They WILL know we are Christians by our love, and they’ll
know we are hypocrites by our complacency. Do you remember the scripture that
was read for us earlier? Jesus asks Peter, “Hey Peter, do you love me?” Peter
says, “Yeah.” Jesus says, “Feed my lambs.” This goes on three times. Peter, do
you love me? Yes Lord, you know I love you! Tend my sheep. Peter do you really love me? Lord, you know
everything, and you know that I love you. Feed my sheep.
Do you hear what Jesus is driving at?
Do you love me? Yes? Then love others. Do you love me? You do? Then take care
of one another. Really love your neighbor. Go the extra mile. Does anyone know
where that phrase comes from? Go the extra mile?
I’ve gotta share it with you. Back in
the days of Jesus, the Romans occupied the region that is today
"You
have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.'But I tell you,
Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn
to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let
him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him
two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who
wants to borrow from you.
"You
have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighborand hate your enemy.' But I
tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may
be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the
good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those
who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing
that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others?
Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is
perfect.”
Folks, that’s what Christian love is
supposed to look like. That’s agape love at its finest. Can I be bold and frank
with you? This church does a fantastic job with loving one another inside the
walls of this church. When you come through those doors on a Sunday morning,
there is no doubt that you can feel the love in this place. But the people who
really need to feel this love aren’t here this morning. And the answer isn’t,
“Well, then, they need to come so they can experience Christian love!”
That’s not the answer. It’s not their
fault for not coming. It’s our fault. It’s our fault for failing to show them
what Christian agape love looks like outside of the walls of the church. It’s
our fault for not loving our neighbor. It’s our fault for not going the extra
mile or turning the other cheek or loving our enemies. We are called as
Christians to a radical love that goes against every fiber of our being. It’s
the thing that sets us apart and makes us different and causes others to want
to know why we are different. It’s not that Christians are better than others;
it’s that Christians love in a radical way.
If you tell others you are a
Christian, but you don’t act any different than anyone else at the office and
you fail to show love to the guy who always gets picked on or the boss that
always picks on you, then you have not shown radical love, you have shown
ordinary love, and you have lost the thing that makes you different as a
Christian.
If you tell others you are a Christian
but you only hang out with other Christians and people of the same social
status that you belong to, then you have not shown radical love, and you have
lost the thing that makes you different as a Christian.
If you tell others you are a Christian,
but you only look out for number one, and your priority is yourself, and you
fail to sacrifice for others, then you have not shown radical love, and you
have lost the thing that makes you different as a Christian.
We are called to a radical love. An agape
love. A love that cares for our enemies and the people we really can’t stand. A
love that goes the extra mile, even in the literal sense when necessary. A love
that does not retaliate, but responds with kindness. That’s what makes
Christians different, or at least, that’s what it’s supposed to be.
What are you doing to show radical
love? The word is asking you, “What does that agape love look like?” They’re
looking to see the context that surrounds your claim that you love your
neighbor. They want to see, how deep is your love?
The greatest example we have of what
agape love is meant to be came from Jesus, who was mocked, and persecuted, and
beaten, and murdered. And he didn’t retaliate. He didn’t get even. He came back
to show them love. He was willing to die. He was willing to have his blood
spilt and his body broken.
And as a symbol of this sacrificial
love, on the night before his death…(communion)
Pastor
Dan Metzger
Van
Buren United