Agape Love in the Words of Jesus
Agape Love in the Words of Jesus.
“In Christ Jesus, the most important aspect is faith expressing itself in love… In Christ Jesus, the only thing that really counts is faithful trust as brought to perfection through agape love.’ (Galatians 5:6).
In other words, the most important thing to remember as we follow Jesus is that our trust in Him is activated by our unconditional love; our faithfulness to Christ is made effective by the divine love we show others; our belief in the truth of Christ is energized by our demonstration of God’s love; the divine love that we show others reveals our faith to be alive and well; our trust in Jesus gets its exercise through a lifestyle of agape love.
Faith – (Greek, pistis); reliance upon Christ; loyal faithfulness to God; confident belief in the truths of Jesus; earnest trust in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit; being firmly persuaded that the Christian way of life is true; the trust in God that finds its complete fulfillment in demonstrating agape love; that kind of belief that is spelled out in its language of divine love.
Agape Love – Agape love is the supreme of all the loves, and desires the highest good of someone else. Agape is “the highest level of love known to humanity,” (C. S. Lewis), and thus can only come from above with God as its source. Agape love is the ultimate expression of God’s nature, the essence of His character (see Exodus 34). Agape love is not Eros, which is romantic love. It is not Phileo, which is brotherly love. It is not Storge, which is family love. Agape love is the divine love that can only come to us from the heart of God. Agape love is the love shared between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God is truly the source of all these other loves, but it is only agape love that is poured into our hearts from the Holy Spirit, to those who believe in Christ. Agape love is an eternal virtue outlasting all the other virtues (1 Corinthians 13:8). Agape love is the primary fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) Agape love, the sacred love of God, is universal, it is a gift, it is highly active, it is sacrificial, and it is unconditional.
Universal: “For God so agape-loved the world that He gave His only and unique Son, so that everyone who faithfully trusts into Him may have eternal life instead of being utterly destroyed.” (John 3:16). This seems too good to be true. But actually, because of God’s love, it is so good it has to be true. Creator God has an eternal love for all people. He didn’t send his Son for the sake of the privileged or elite. He doesn’t love just those who are religious or pious. God truly loves everyone in His creation, past, present and future; the righteous and the unrighteous; the worthy and the unworthy; the broken and the whole; those who have a lot to offer and those who don’t. He sent His Son for those who would love Him, and those who would hate Him; those who might accept Christ and those who might reject Him; those who would worship Jesus and those who would shout “Crucify Him!” Not one person in the history of the world has had to qualify for God’s love, to somehow earn God’s love, to be considered worthy of His love. “For God so loved the world…” That kind of universal love is agape love, and is intended to spill out into the world through believers in Him.
A Gift: “For we know how dearly God agape-loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with agape love; God has poured out His agape love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom He has given us; We can now experience the endless agape love of God cascading into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who lives in us!” (Romans 5:5) The most virtuous person on the planet cannot manufacture agape love as if it’s merely a highly esteemed trait. We don’t have it in us. We aren’t born with the ability to show agape love. It is impossible for us to demonstrate agape love on our own, because it can only derive from God, and not from human nature. Agape love is an undeserved gift. Faith in God comes first, even a microscopic faith. And then agape is poured into our hearts as believers, and it then spreads to the world. This divine love being poured into our hearts is meant to be demonstrated to others through acts of mercy, kindness and compassion. This love, this affectionate yearning that others are blessed, spills over from our hearts only after being poured into our hearts through a faithful submission to the Lord. Through the Holy Spirit, agape love can realistically become second nature to us and in us, displacing the old lesser loves in a Christian’s life. Agape love is the means by which God’s divine love may reach the world. Agape love is an eternal virtue, and it lasts forever (1 Cor. 13:8). Agape love is the primary fruit of the Spirit, the divine love offered to us to spread God’s love to others. Love poured into us, love splashed out to others… God’s gift to us that we would offer that gift to others.
Unconditional: God’s agape has always been offered to the world unconditionally, so that same divine love is offered to others in the same way. Our love for others is fleshed out by desiring the highest good for someone else. Our love doesn’t expect anything in return, it is a love that gives but doesn’t take. Our love does not seek out those who would somehow be worthy of love, or could earn God’s love. Agape love is that love which is offered to hateful enemies, to those who love nothing better than to hurt you and disrespect you. Agape love even desires what’s best for those who hate God. Agape is offered freely, no strings attached, to all made in the image of God. When we love an image-bearer, we are honoring our Creator. Agape love is revealed through forgiveness.
Sacrificial: Agape love is the ultimate demonstration of unselfishness, of self-denial for the benefit of others. Agape develops the habit of forgetting yourself on purpose. It is the willingness to remain a daily martyr of goodwill, picking up one’s cross so others are blessed. Agape love sometimes is demonstrated at great personal cost. It could even mean giving up something that is rightfully ours so that someone else can receive something he probably hasn’t earned. The clearest and most profound example of sacrificial agape love was the death of the Innocent One, Jesus Christ, on the Cross. He gave up His life for those who didn’t deserve it, which includes all of humanity. “No one has greater agape love than a person who is willing to lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13).
Active: Agape love is not theoretical, it is not abstract. It is not just a great idea ripe for discussion. Agape love actually does things, it acts out and demonstrates love. Agape doesn’t merely think about loving others with God’s love, agape fleshes out the love and makes it visible. Agape is filled with genuine empathy and not mere sentimentality. Feelings and emotions have nothing to do with agape love. Agape is an act of the will, a deliberate decision to demonstrate God’s love to others whether they deserve it or not, whether you “feel like it” or not. Agape loves what is best for someone else, which could mean accountability and a proper justice. It could mean mercy, too. That’s why agape love depends on the wisdom of God to discern what is best for someone else. Sometimes agape love is inactive, in the sense of not intervening, and stepping back if it is appropriate. Agape love is literally practical that way, and wants to put into play an imitation of Jesus as He knew when and what to say, what to do. We know that the Son of God was completely filled with agape love, and that He went around doing good, touching the untouchable, loving the unlovable, embracing the unclean, accepting those who were rejected, serving those who were unlovely and broken. If one wonders what agape love looks like in action, read the gospels and imitate Jesus. When we need to be reminded of what marks the life a true believer, we fix our eyes on Jesus and witness agape love in the flesh.
Words of Jesus, Agape-Love in the Flesh:
“To you who are listening, what I say is this: Agape-love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you… Treat other people as you would like them to treat you. Agape-love your enemies, do good, and lend expecting nothing back! Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High. For He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:17-36).
“Nobody can work as a slave for two masters at the same time, and neither can you worship two lords. Agape-loving one lord, you’ll end up hating the other. If you work well for one master, you will end up despising the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other, and obedience to one results in hatred for the other. God and Money are like different masters, two different lords. You can’t serve both. You must choose one or the other.” (Matt. 6:24).
“They are going to throw you to the wolves and kill you, everyone hating you because you carry my name. And then, going from bad to worse, it will be dog-eat-dog, everyone at each other’s throat, everyone hating each other. In the confusion, lying preachers will come forward and deceive a lot of people. For many others, the overwhelming spread of evil will do them in—nothing left of their agape love but a mound of ashes.” (Matt. 24:10-12).
“Then Jesus, looking at him, agape-loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” (Mark 10:21).
“And you shall agape-love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall agape-love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:30-31).
“Woe to you, Pharisees! Judgment will come on you! You are fastidious about tithing—keeping account of every little leaf of mint and herb—but you neglect what really matters: justice and the agape love of God! If you’d get straight on what really matters, then your fastidiousness about little things would be worth something.” (Luke 11:42).
“For God agape-loved the world so much that He gave His only and unique Son, so that everyone who trusts in Him may have eternal life, instead of being utterly destroyed. For God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but rather so that through Him, the world might be saved.” (John 3:16-17).
“The One that God sent speaks God’s words. And don’t think he rations out the Spirit in bits and pieces. The Father agape-loves the Son extravagantly. He turned everything over to him so he could give it away—a lavish distribution of gifts. That is why whoever accepts and trusts the Son gets in on everything, life complete and forever! And that is also why the person who avoids and distrusts the Son is in the dark and doesn’t see life. All he experiences of God is darkness, and an angry darkness at that.” (John 3:35).
“I’m not interested in crowd approval. And do you know why? Because I know you and your crowds. I know that agape love, especially God’s agape love, is not on your working agenda. I came with the authority of my Father, and you either dismiss me or avoid me. If another came, acting self-important, you would welcome him with open arms. How do you expect to get anywhere with God when you spend all your time jockeying for position with each other, ranking your rivals and ignoring God?” (John 5:41-44).
“Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would agape-love Me and welcome Me gladly, for I came forth from God, out of His very presence. I did not even come on My own authority as self-appointed; but He sent Me.” (John 8:42).
“For this reason the Father agape-loves me, because I am willing to lay down my life that I may take it again.” (John 10:17).
“Now before the Passover Feast began, Jesus knew (was fully aware) that the time had come for Him to leave this world and return to the Father. And as He had agape-loved those who were His own in the world, He agape-loved them to the last and [a]to the highest degree.” (John 13:1).
“Jesus said to them, ‘I give you a new commandment: that you should agape-love one another. Just as I have agape-loved you, so you too should agape-love one another. By this shall all know that you are My disciples, if you keep on showing agape love among yourselves.” (John 13:34-35).
“Every person who knows my commandments and obeys them is the person who really agape-loves me, and every person who really agape-loves me will himself be agape-loved by my Father, and I too will agape-love him and make myself known to him.” (John 14:21).
“Just as the Father has agape-loved me, I have also agape-loved you; dwell in my agape love. If you obey my commandments, you will be dwelling in my agape love; just as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and dwell in His agape love.” (John 15:9-10).
“This is my commandment, that you agape-love one another, just as I have agape-loved you. Greater agape-love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:12-13).
“I in them, Father, and You in Me, in order that they may become perfectly united, that the world may definitely recognize that You sent Me and that You have agape-loved them even as You have agape-loved Me. Father, I desire that they also whom You have entrusted to Me as Your gift to Me may be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory, which You have given Me; for You agape-loved Me before the foundation of the world. I have made Your Name known to them and revealed Your character, and I will continue to make You known, that the agape love with which You have loved Me may be in them, and that I Myself may be united with them.” (John 17:23, 24, 26).
A Parable of Jesus about Agape:
“Jesus said to Simon the Pharisee, ‘I have something to say to you. A certain creditor had two debtors; the one owed ten times as much as the other. When they were unable to pay him back, he canceled both their debts. Now which of them will agape-love him more?’ Simon answered, ‘ I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.’ ‘Yes, you have judged rightly,’ said Jesus to him. Then, turning to the prostitute, Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I came into your house – you didn’t give me water for my feet, but this woman has washed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair! You didn’t give me a welcome kiss, but from the time I arrived, this woman has not stopped kissing my feet! You didn’t put oil on my head, but this woman poured perfume on my feet! Because of this, I tell you that her sins – which are many! – have been forgiven, because she has agape-loved me much. But someone who has been forgiven only a little agape-loves a little.” (Luke 7:36-50).
Agape is also in the Father’s Vocabulary:
“As soon as Jesus had been immersed, He came up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, He saw the Spirit of God coming down upon Him like a dove, and a voice from Heaven said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved, whom I love with agape love; I am well pleased with Him.” (Matthew 3:16-17).
“… in order that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, ‘Behold, my Child, my Servant, whom I have chosen; My Beloved (agape) in whom my soul is well-pleased; I will put my Spirit upon Him, and He shall proclaim justice to the Gentiles…” (Matthew 12:17-18, Isaiah 42:1).
“… And Jesus was transfigured right in front of them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became white as light… and behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice out of the cloud said, ‘This my Son, whom I love with agape love; I am well-pleased with Him; Listen to Him!” (Matthew 17:2-5).