Agape Love

Illus: Perhaps the answer can be illustrated by the story of the little girl who went to her mother to show her some fruit her friend gave her. The mother said, “Your friend has been very kind.” “Yes,” said the child, “She gave me more; but I gave some away.” When her mother asked who she gave them to, she answered, “I gave them to a girl who pushes me off my bicycle and makes ugly faces at me.” When her mother asked why she gave them to her, she replied, “Because, I thought it might make her know I wish to be kind to her, and she will not, perhaps, be so mean to me again.”

WHY IS GOD SO GOOD TO US? We do not have to surmise. His Word says, Romans 2:4b, “,,,knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?” Every day God is good to mankind. Day after day He is seeking to lead men to repentance as they realize how much He loves them. Yet ungodly men continue in their ungodliness. For example:

- They take God’s name in vain.

Illus: When a sinner smashes his finger with a hammer, why does he not say, “Devil damn” when he gets mad instead of taking the name of the God, Who loves him, in vain?

- They reject the teachings of this Bible so strongly that if you even suggest they read It they will get angry.

- They reject the presence of God so much that they get angry even if someone invites them to God’s house.

- They want to only be around ungodly people. They have contempt for the people of God.

It is mind boggling that day after day God showers His blessings on evil men who reject Him daily. It only makes sense when we realize God loves men and would have all to come to their senses and realize it is God Who has enriched their lives and as a result they will give their lives to Him.

Illus: Suppose you had two neighbors. One drove by every morning and dumped his trash in your front yard, but the other one, as he drove by, stopped to pick up the trash the first neighbor had thrown out. Then one day you got the news you won a million dollars on the condition you would select someone from your neighborhood and give that one a hundred thousand of the million. Now who would you give the hundred thousand to? the man who dumps trash in your yard every day, or the one who comes by and cleans it up. Without hesitation you would choose the one who has been good to you.

That would be the sensible choice.

Why is it that people will give their lives to Satan, who dumps his garbage on them every day? It is because lost mankind have not learned how to respond to love.

Illus: Suppose out of the goodness of your heart you go and wash your neighbor’s car for him next Saturday. You give it a scrubbing it has not gotten in a long time.

More than likely your neighbor will think: 1. What do you want?

2. What has happened to you? Have you “flipped”?

Why do people think like that? Because we know very little about love. However, we know a whole lot about selfishness. There are two reasons people are so unloving toward God. Both reasons have to do with WHY people do NOT KNOW HOW TO LOVE!

1. PEOPLE HAVE A WARPED VIEW OF LOVE. We are trying to teach each other about love when we ourselves have not learned the first thing about love! It is a fact that if you do not know something yourself, you can not teach others.

Illus: Our homes are bombarded nightly by movies which are produced by people who have been divorced time and time again. How can they produce an accurate picture of what love is when their view of love is so warped? How do we know their view is warped? Their lives reflect they do not know what love is. How then can they make movies about love.

If you turn your television on you will see multiplied examples of “warped” love. They televise people performing explicit sex acts and call that “making love.” What they are doing has nothing to do with love; it has to do with SIN! Yet week after week our young people, along with their elders, are brainwashed into believing this is LOVE.

Illus: Did you know you could go into any church nursery and tell the children that an apple is an orange, and say over and over again, “Orange,” and that child will grow up thinking an apple is an orange.