Worldly love is selfish and politically correct but not good necessarily. It is also anti-Christian. Worldly love has no love or room for God. You see that all the time. You see that on the streets. You see that at festivals. You see that at gatherings of families. You see that at parties. You see that at sports events. Even when someone is watching, let’s say the Olympics; they have this love for their country or the love for their particular team or even a particular player on the team. But that love has no basis of self-sacrifice. Therefore more correctly put, it is nothing more than a selfish, emotional attachment. But the Lord Jesus came to demonstrate, teach and place in us the Love that’s from on high, a love that’s from above. So the love from the world may be selfish, politically correct, anti-Christian has no concern for God, only for oneself, one’s feelings, how one can gain, personal gain, more pleasure. All of this is not God's love; this is human love, worldly love.
Now, the love of the world and the love of humans may be very friendly. That love can have a smile, that love can have a warm handshake, that love can have a hug, that love adjusts to others’ perception of itself. The world's love wants to get along and be accepted, but not necessarily seek the best interest of the other person. The world's love is based on self-gain. And even the world’s love, the human love can be based on fear! Now that is a curious thing. How can love be based on fear? But the world's love, human love can be based on fear. For example, when one sees a neighbor, that one does not necessarily like, they smile and greet them. Sure it’s a good thing to do. But what’s behind the motive for that? It may very well be the same thing in the workplace when you see colleagues or the boss they smile or they give a handshake-the greeting, the salute, they can all be based on the fear element. That is, “If don’t do this, I may have negative repercussions.” So that's not love. That nice gesture that seems to have some affection doesn’t have true love at the base. So God's love is none of these things.
The Lord's love is first of all directed toward Him because that love understands that every good thing comes from above, from God himself. The love that comes from God is also emotional. It’s also very passionate, similar to the world's love. Just at you see someone at a stadium, cheering their favorite team with all the passion or in a political campaign for a particular party or a candidate with all the passion, or a particular union in the workplace with all the passion, God’s love is also very passionate. The difference is the placement of that love and the motive of that love. Where does that love spring from? What is the interest of that love and where is it actually placed? The world's love cares about a man more than God.
Now, notice the different descriptions of the world or human love. It can be strong, it can be emotional, it can be passionate, but it is, in the end, nothing at all. Because there is no self-sacrifice, there is no actual concern for the best interest of the other individual. There is no principle by which that love stands and does not move. It’s very flexible. That love in the world can be motivated by fear, that love in the world is motivated by a love for man or people more than God Himself. The Lord Jesus said this in Matthew chapter 10 verse 37, and we ought to check ourselves as the Lord gives us this Word to see whether our love is unpolluted, whether it is undivided, whether it is the pure love of Jesus Christ. Because there's a vast difference as we are seeing right now between the world’s love and God's love. Human love as we said will go toward man and not God. Matthew 10:37 [King James Version], the Lord Jesus said this, “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” Now, there is a verse that is quite controversial to many people deep in their hearts. Even though they read these things within their heart, they haven’t come to a conclusion that “I will stand on God's Word and love Him first and foremost.”
When they have confusion about the doctrine of love, the biblical doctrine, and the practical application - the confusion sets in their lives. When the confusion comes in, all kinds of compromise and sin continue to grow within; not only the person but the people upon whom this person places his or her love. It is inevitable. Because God's love is not there, at the very end and ultimately, only death can result. What do we mean? We are familiar with a very oft-quoted scripture in the book of Romans The wages of sin is death. That is, everything that we do that is not pleasing to God when we serve sin, the result is death. It has to be. Similarly, human love ultimately will bring sorrow. This is something that we need to settle in our minds.
Only then will we be able to stand for the truth of God about His love and hold fast to His Words and be an agent in His hands to bring others to the love of God. You see, as long as we are entranced and held fixated by the human love and all the niceties; the nice thing about the conversation, about relationships, we will never be able to draw people to God's love. We may have a get-together with the family, we may have a party and everyone is happy but there is no divine joy. Everyone seems to hug each other, they seem to shake hands, they even exchange gifts; but without God's love, that human love will one day come to nothing. That is the stark and harsh reality for those who refuse to receive God's love. So as Christian, we receive God's love when we commit to Him and we accept the Truth that He died on the cross for us. We may have left certain sins. But as we look closer, when the will is not completely in line with God's divine love, the real love; our life will not be a shining testimony. We will never be able to draw people to Jesus. We need to love God first. So God's love is not the description that fits the world or human love.
Then what is God's love? If the Christian, who leans toward human love by and by, begins to separate from that straight and narrow path and brings in compromise, then what does the Christian who embraces God’s love look like? That person will put God first. The honor of the Lord comes first. We just read in Matthew 10: 37, the Lord Jesus Himself says, “When you have a decision to make whether to obey Me or obey father or mother, when it’s contrary to My Word, whether to love son or daughter when it’s contrary to my will…” - for example, God may ask us to send the child, son or daughter when they are of the right age on a particular task for God, perhaps it is the mission field. Or maybe the Lord will ask us, “Will you surrender your child for the Gospel's sake? That is, I want to use him.” God comes to us in a very gentle way, and says, “Will you yield him to My life?” Human love will jump and say, “No!” Human love will say, “How can I bear to see the suffering of that child, all the things that the child must undergo.” But God's love says, “The same Lord who went to the Cross is also the Lord of the resurrection. The Lord will never leave his children without His blessing and His promises. He will always provide and He will always give ultimate victory.” That faith in God, the belief that divine love is always the right love, will help me to overcome natural human love.
We remember Peter before the Lord was taken away to be executed, Peter said, “Lord they are not going to do this to You, they will not take You away, I am not going to let it happen. Far be from You that this should happen.” He took the Lord aside and he very forcefully spoke that to the Lord with passion. See the passion, human passion, “This is what I can see is best, as far as I can see this is the best thing.” But we must remember, God is God and He sees everything. And His will is always perfect and He is the greatest Lover in the whole universe. He gave His One and only Son. We can trust Him. When the Lord came along and said, “I have to go to the cross” and the human love from Peter came and tried to block or stop that, what did the Lord say? He said, "Get thee behind me Satan, for you do not care or savor the things that be of God, but that which is of man.” There is a clear-cut example of human love, Peter really loved Jesus. But the only problem was he didn’t know the difference between God's love and human love at that point. He forgot the scriptures. He forgot God's will and there is the crux of the matter.
When we are familiar with the Lord, we spend time with the Lord, we learn about His ways, we begin to trust Him and trust His will even when we don’t understand. That love for God, the love for the glory of God will prevent me from having human love, love for man, love for this world and this life, which will block God's purpose in my life. So that’s God's kind of love, it will love God first. Secondly, God's kind of love will move me and you to love others, not based on what we can get in return. Even in the churches, we may have behaved that way. We may have seen others very obviously behave that way, that the move that they make, the things that they say, the actions that they do, they are all designed to get some kind of leverage; perhaps in the church, perhaps to get a position, perhaps to gravitate towards those who are physically richer, materially richer in the church. The Lord warns against all these things. He says in the book of James, “Don’t do that. Don’t be partial.” But this is human love. God's love, the Christian that embraces God's love will say, “I care nothing for these things. Whether this person can pay me back or not in any shape, way, or form I will choose to give my best to them and for them. I will genuinely seek their best interest.” That is true benevolence, the love that seeks the good of another soul, never minding or becoming concerned with whether they even receive a thank you. That's God’s love.
