A Better Way To Love Series

INTRODUCTION

• For the past few weeks we’ve been learning lessons from a couple named Caleb and Catherine, who are husband and wife and the central characters in the movie Fireproof.

• Not knowing how to really love each other, Caleb and Catherine have done a lot of things to hurt each other. They’ve come to the resentment stage in their marriage, and both of them want out.

• Then, Caleb’s dad hands him a book called, The Love Dare, which teaches him the fundamentals of expressing love.

• One of the issues that has pushed this couple apart is Caleb’s obsession with owning a boat. He’s been saving money to buy one for years, while Catherine’s mother needs medical equipment but has no money to purchase it.

• Watch this video, and see what happens when Caleb finally figures out the true nature of love. The first scene occurs early in the movie, and the second scene happens weeks later.

• Play the Session Six clip from your Fireproof Your Marriage DVD.

• PLAY CLIP

• SLIDE #1

• Today we are going to examine a better way to love.

• As a quick review we need to see that there are three types of love spoken of in the New Testament.

• EROS

• PHILEOS

• AGAPE

• Eros love is sensual love. Eros asks the question,

• EROS = “WHAT CAN I GET OUT OF THIS?”

• Phileos is relational love. It’s a deeper kind of love. It asks the question,

• PHILEOS = “WHAT CAN WE GET OUT OF THIS?”

• Agape is unconditional love. It’s the deepest kind of love. It asks the question

• AGAPE = “WHAT CAN YOU GET OUT OF THIS?”

• Another way to think of these is,

• EROS LOVES WHEN…

• PHILEOS LOVES BECAUSE…

• AGAPE LOVES IN SPITE OF…

• Let’s begin by looking at Luke 5:1-11

• SLIDE #2

• Luke 5:1-11(ESV)

• From this portion of the story we see…

• SLIDE #3

SERMON

I. Better love thinks about others more than self. (1-11)

• From the story we can see that Jesus thought about others before Himself.

• As Jesus began to teach the people, He had a choice of how to love them. He could have erosed them, or phileosed them or agaped them. His first challenge was how to manage the crowd.

• If He had erosed them, He would have said to Himself, “I love it when this happens. I love it when a crowd comes to adore me.”

• If the men and women had started pushing and shoving to get closer, He would have pushed them back and said, “Careful! If you get rough with Me, I’ll stop the lesson and you won’t be able to learn any more today.”

• If He had phileosed them, He would have said to Himself, “This is so great. We’re all here together to learn.

• I need to manage this thing so that none of us gets hurt.” With this perspective, most likely He would have organized the people and asked them to treat each other nicely, and then gone on with His sermon.

• Jesus didn’t employ either of those kinds of love.

• When the crowd began to grow, instead of thinking, “me,” or “we,” Jesus thought “them,” and “you.”

• While continuing to teach, He thought to Himself, “What can I do to serve these people better? After all, they’re getting crowded, and some of them are about to get wet.”

• Without missing a beat, He moved Himself into the boat and set it up so everyone could see and hear and feel comfortable.

• That’s real love, that’s agape. – Not, “me,” not even, “we,” but “you” love.

• Jesus’ second challenge was loving Peter.

• When the sermon was over, instead of thinking about Himself, or even thinking about everyone there, He thought about Peter. “Hey Pete,” He says, “Let’s go catch some fish!”

• And in His better way of loving, He sets it up so that Peter experiences the catch of his life.

• Now, which would have been easier on Jesus: fishing that day, or not fishing? (Not fishing.)

• He didn’t need the fish. He didn’t need the exercise. He didn’t need to spend the extra few hours in the burning sun.

• But Jesus wasn’t in the boat for Himself. He was in the boat for Peter. So after the sermon was over, He just loved Peter.

• Let’s look at verses 12-16 together for our second principle.

• SLIDE #4

• Luke 5:12-16(ESV)

• SLIDE #5

II. Better love makes the first move.

• Better love initiates the friendship, rather than waiting for the other person to initiate it. Jesus called Peter, not vice versa.