Jesus Is Getting Ready To Leave Series

The strange thing is, there are people who call themselves Christians who act like love is something they’re supposed to be shown rather than something they’re supposed to show others. How many of you have met believers who are angry, selfish, miserable, mean and cantankerous. And their whole life can be summed up by, it’s my way or the highway. I’ve even met people who claimed they were believers who were either drunks, immoral or out and out crooks. And they would tell anybody who would listen that they were saved.

Listen to what Paul said about these people in I Corinthians 13:2, “And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.”

So, how can we tell if someone is a true believer in Jesus Christ? Listen, it’s not by their theology. I’ve got books on my shelves by men who’ve known the scriptures inside out, not only in English but also in Hebrew and Greek but in the end they turned away from the Lord and the teaching of the word. We can’t even be sure if some of these pastors of large churches know the Lord. About a month or so ago there was a man in the states who pastored a church of 14,000 members and yet it came out in the news that he had been involved in drugs and homosexual activities for the last five years. Listen, this wasn’t a slip or a momentary lapse, this guy had a real problem and it wasn’t just his morals it was his heart! I like how Jesus said it so clear, “You’ll know them by their love.” He had a wife and four kids and I don’t think he really loved them.

C.S. Lewis’ wrote a book called The Four Loves and he says there are four different words to describe the four ways that love is used in the New Testament. He uses the Greek words and then explains their meaning. The first one is ‘storge’ which is the love of affection and it’s a love that springs from natural attraction and that can be the love we show and get from our dog or the love we have for a certain place in the country. And it’s not unusual to hear someone say, “I love to go down to the ocean.”

And then there is ‘philia’ which is the love of friendship or camaraderie. It’s the kind of love you might have for a close neighbor who’s always friendly and available to help at anytime or it’s a love we can have for someone who plays with us on a sports team or even works with you on a daily basis. You feel a certain amount of affection and kinship with them because you spend a lot of time together and because you’re both committed to the same goals.

And then there’s ‘eros’ which is the idea of romantic or sexual attraction and we all know that this kind of love can come and go unless there’s something deeper that our commitment is based on.

And then last, we have ‘agape’ which is the Godlike, self-giving type of love and this is the kind of love that loves when there is no expectation of love in return. Listen to a portion of scripture where God gives us an example of His love. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” He gave without the expectation of any love in return. This is the kind of love that Jesus has for each and every one of us and expects us to have the same kind of love for one another.