Love Last

Written by Ed Allen
 Saturday, 06 March 1999 19:00

Building Great Relationships

  • God, first and foremost, wants us to be holy.
    • Hebrews 12:14 "Without holiness no one will see the Lord." Ephesians 1:4 "He chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight."
    • This means "set apart, other-than"
    • Description of our character and our actions. Who we are, what we do.
    • FISH IS BLACK!
    • I am different from those around me. I think differently.

    Those around us typically think: God says:

    Love is hot

    Is fun

    Completes me

    Is jealous

    Is blind

    Feels good

    Sometimes dies

    • God, first and foremost wants us to be holy.
    • What we want naturally is

    Safety

    Security

    Significance

    Happiness

    But when we seek these we come away empty

    When we do things God?s way, when we seek holiness, we get these as byproducts. Matthew 6:33

     

     

     
    1. God created us to live in love.
    • Genesis 2:18
    • Jesus summarized all of the law in Love the Lord and love your neighbor.
    • This is the atmosphere, the culture where we thrive, where we were designed to exist.
    • FISH IN WATER, so us in love.
    • Water never fails the fish. Her fins can flap effectively; her gils can extract the air that she needs. So love will never fail us.
    • And there is freedom for the fish in water. (Stott illustration)
    • Eros is: creative energy romantic passion
    • These are good, but they are supplemental. And erotic love dies
    • Agape is: love which comes from God love which gives without expectation of reward.
    • Agape lasts. It will never fail. It will always sustain us.
    • We find our humanness in agape, in God?s love. We thrive in an atmosphere where God?s love is on display. If we breathe it in, it will provide everything our soul needs to survive and excel. It will never fail us.

     

     

    1. Love lasts because:
    • It is self-generating.

    Smedes quote p. 133

    Eros dies because it is generated by need and when the need is met and we no longer have need or when the need ceases to be met, eros dies.

    But agape does not grow out of need. It grows out of gift. "This is how we know what agape is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us." Agape is self-generating. It is a gift that does not depend on anything outside of itself for its energy. It is self-sustaining.

    • It is power.

    We know this from experience. When we have felt agape we have been electrified, we have been changed.

    This is why Paul personifies it. He speaks of it as if it did things. "Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

    But we must add love is not some psychic power that it simply "out there" waiting for us to tap into it. It is not surging from its own generators through the network of the universe. It is not an instinct pushing its way into our lives from the anonymous, benign abyss. It is not a part of the primeval myth. A distant echo from our past beating within our own breasts. It is personal. Love is a power because God is love.

    • And it comes from God. "Love comes from God and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God." 1 John 4:7

     

     

    How does this impact me?
    1. When I set my heart on significance, security, safety and happiness I may be working against God?s purposes for me.
    2. My desire for love is right and good.
    3. I must not accept cheap substitutes like sex, companionship, recognition and anger. These are good things but supplemental.

     

    Our efforts at love will not be perfect. We are under obligation to try our best, but it is not by our great effort that we hit the mark of true love. It is by great surrender to God working through us that we hit the mark.

     

    Website developed by ChurchKatalyst