Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Agapē . . . Authentic Love │ Msg 1214 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

Transcript

Agapē . . . Authentic Love │ Msg 1214 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

0:01
Speaker 1: I once read about a young man who was determined
0:03
Speaker 1: to win the affection of a lady who refused.
0:06
Speaker 2: To talk to him anymore.
0:09
Speaker 1: He decided that the way to her heart was through
0:12
Speaker 1: the mail, so he began writing her love letters. By
0:17
Speaker 1: the way, letter writing is a form of communication virtually
0:22
Speaker 1: lost now in our high tech digital age. Nevertheless, back then,
0:28
Speaker 1: he wrote a love letter every day to this lady
0:33
Speaker 1: six seven times a week. She received a love letter
0:36
Speaker 1: personally delivered by the postal worker. When she didn't respond,
0:42
Speaker 1: he increased his output to three notes every twenty four hours.
0:47
Speaker 1: In all, he wrote her more than seven hundred letters.
0:53
Speaker 1: She wound up marrying the postman.
0:58
Speaker 2: Love that story.
1:01
Speaker 1: Now, that doesn't at least make you smile, You may
1:04
Speaker 1: need a long nap. But the kind of love we're
1:07
Speaker 1: going to be discussing today is much more serious, long lasting. Actually,
1:16
Speaker 1: it falls in the category of supernatural love. The Greeks
1:22
Speaker 1: would say, it is agape love, the love that originates
1:28
Speaker 1: with God.
1:30
Speaker 2: We're going to do.
1:30
Speaker 1: A close study of this love by looking at John
1:34
Speaker 1: thirteen thirty one to thirty eight. I'd like to read
1:39
Speaker 1: this brief passage as the basis for the message I'm
1:42
Speaker 1: calling a gope authentic love. Join me in your bibles
1:49
Speaker 1: as I read John thirteen. John thirteen, verses thirty one
1:55
Speaker 1: to thirty eight. I'm reading today from the New Living Translation,
2:01
Speaker 1: verse thirty one. As soon as Judas left the room,
2:05
Speaker 1: Jesus said, the time has come for the son of
2:09
Speaker 1: Man to enter into his glory, and God will be
2:12
Speaker 1: glorified because of him. And since God receives glory because
2:18
Speaker 1: of the Sun, he will give his own glory to
2:22
Speaker 1: the Sun, and he will do so at once. Dear children,
2:29
Speaker 1: I will be with you only a little longer. And
2:33
Speaker 1: as I told the Jewish leaders, you will search for me,
2:38
Speaker 1: but you can't come where I am going. So now
2:43
Speaker 1: I am giving you a new commandment. Love each other.
2:49
Speaker 1: Just as I have loved you. You should love each other.
2:55
Speaker 1: Your love for one another will prove to the world
2:59
Speaker 1: that you were mine. Disciples. Simon Peter asked, Lord, where
3:06
Speaker 1: are you going. Jesus replied, you can't go with me now,
3:13
Speaker 1: but you will follow me later. But why can't I
3:17
Speaker 1: come now?
3:18
Speaker 2: Lord?
3:19
Speaker 1: He asked, I'm ready to die for you. Jesus answered,
3:25
Speaker 1: die for me. I tell you the.
3:28
Speaker 2: Truth, Peter.
3:29
Speaker 1: Before the rooster crows, tomorrow morning, you will deny three
3:34
Speaker 1: times that you even know me.
3:40
Speaker 2: Francis A. Schaeffer is a name familiar to most Christians
3:44
Speaker 2: in this generation. His books have been perhaps the most
3:50
Speaker 2: provoking and profound of books that have come across the market.
3:56
Speaker 2: Just the mention of a few titles brings a smile
3:59
Speaker 2: of understand to the face of those who have read Schaeffer,
4:04
Speaker 2: The God who is There, Escape from Reason, The Death
4:09
Speaker 2: of the City, the Church at the end of the
4:12
Speaker 2: twentieth century. What profound publications these are. I suppose there
4:22
Speaker 2: isn't a Christian campus across the country that hasn't battled
4:26
Speaker 2: out some of the issues that have stretched from ecology
4:30
Speaker 2: all the way up to sovereignty in the writings of Schaeffer,
4:36
Speaker 2: the keen thinker, provocative speaker. I've heard him, and as
4:40
Speaker 2: he stood there in his knickers and that strange little
4:43
Speaker 2: bow tie that he wore from day to day through
4:46
Speaker 2: the lecture series, I looked at him in amazement, as
4:50
Speaker 2: if to wonder how a mind could control and hold
4:55
Speaker 2: such facts. This man has also written a little book,
5:01
Speaker 2: along with the others I've named, that probably would not
5:04
Speaker 2: be among his best sellers, and certainly wouldn't be the
5:08
Speaker 2: most provocative or profound, but I have found it to
5:14
Speaker 2: be equally penetrating. It's a book that has staying power.
5:24
Speaker 2: It haunts you. You perhaps have read it. The Mark
5:31
Speaker 2: of the Christian is the name of this little thirty
5:35
Speaker 2: five page booklet that I read in less than an
5:38
Speaker 2: hour last week. Now, if you haven't read it, don't
5:48
Speaker 2: unless you're ready to be shot at from all sides
5:54
Speaker 2: by a man who knows how to do it. The
5:58
Speaker 2: Mark of the Christian is not a book about bumper
6:02
Speaker 2: stickers are a little excuse hanging around the neck, or
6:09
Speaker 2: a cross on your lapel, or a Bible in your arm,
6:14
Speaker 2: or for that matter, even good solid doctrine, as important,
6:21
Speaker 2: essential as it may be. It is a book that
6:25
Speaker 2: talks about the brand, the logo, the mark that will
6:33
Speaker 2: sustain an incredible impact upon the world about us. Guess
6:41
Speaker 2: what it is. You know the answer, don't you. It's love,
6:49
Speaker 2: the most magnetic force this world will ever have to
6:53
Speaker 2: reckon with love. But you and I know the answer.
7:03
Speaker 2: The problem is we don't bear the mark. That's why
7:07
Speaker 2: he writes the book. We have the answers. We've got
7:14
Speaker 2: answers to questions people aren't even asking. We have trouble
7:19
Speaker 2: with those they ask, but we can answer those they
7:22
Speaker 2: never ask. Our problem is in the display of the real,
7:30
Speaker 2: authentic love of which Jesus Christ spoke. Now I realize
7:39
Speaker 2: as you hear the word love, there flashes into your
7:42
Speaker 2: mind what flashes into most people's minds, whether Christian or
7:47
Speaker 2: non Christian. And that's the idea of affection, sort of
7:53
Speaker 2: a romantic mood music, kind of soft candlelight scene, the
7:59
Speaker 2: likes of which Elizabeth Barrett Browning probably had about her
8:02
Speaker 2: when she wrote, how do I love thee Let me
8:05
Speaker 2: count the ways? And it's moving and it's good, and
8:10
Speaker 2: there's nothing wrong with that. We need it. But that's
8:14
Speaker 2: not the mark of the Christian. As a matter of fact,
8:19
Speaker 2: that kind of love can often be very fickle, like
8:24
Speaker 2: John O'Reilly's piece when he wrote, you gave me the
8:28
Speaker 2: key to your heart, my love, Then why do you
8:31
Speaker 2: make me knock? And she answers, oh, that was yesterday,
8:38
Speaker 2: Saints above, last night, I changed the luck. We smile
8:46
Speaker 2: at that because it's painfully true, painfully true. There's not
8:50
Speaker 2: a stranger here to that kind of experience. You have
8:55
Speaker 2: exhibited affection and had it turned off and you were pained.
9:00
Speaker 2: You have given yourself to someone and they rejected it,
9:03
Speaker 2: and you've been hurt. You have wanted to have a
9:07
Speaker 2: love relationship, perhaps with someone else, in a romance that
9:11
Speaker 2: would lead to a permanent relationship, and it's been jilted,
9:16
Speaker 2: it's been twisted, it's turned sour, and that's not the
9:24
Speaker 2: love I'm speaking of this morning important though, that is
9:32
Speaker 2: last Sunday, we looked at the area of acceptance. Remember
9:37
Speaker 2: the question how high is your AQ? Now that is
9:43
Speaker 2: a perfect entrance into your love relationship with one another,
9:50
Speaker 2: because I am of the personal opinion that one cannot
9:54
Speaker 2: possess a gope authentic love without acceptance. Until the road
10:07
Speaker 2: is paved clear with acceptance, there cannot be a free, flowing,
10:13
Speaker 2: genuine expression of the kind of love Jesus head, the
10:21
Speaker 2: kind of love Matthieson spoke of when he wrote the
10:24
Speaker 2: words to the Love That Will Not Let Me Go John.
10:32
Speaker 2: Chapter thirteen is a penetrating chapter. If you don't know
10:38
Speaker 2: it by now, you will before the morning is over.
10:43
Speaker 2: Remember last Sunday, Jesus has put beside him Judas at
10:49
Speaker 2: the place of honor, and of all things he's dipped
10:53
Speaker 2: the morsel and given him the peace, as if to say,
10:56
Speaker 2: this is my acceptance of you Judas. And Judas in
11:02
Speaker 2: turn turned on his heels and left, and it was night.
11:08
Speaker 2: Remember well, in that moving scene, it's easy to forget
11:14
Speaker 2: the first verse of this chapter, where Jesus is described
11:19
Speaker 2: as the one who, having loved his own, loved them
11:22
Speaker 2: unto the end. And the word doesn't mean until the
11:27
Speaker 2: end of his life, it means to the uttermost. Jesus
11:33
Speaker 2: love was one massive crescendo that just never diminished. He
11:39
Speaker 2: left to the end the lover of my soul. He
11:45
Speaker 2: is that kind of a lover. And Jesus was ready, now,
11:50
Speaker 2: having given Judas this magnificent display of acceptance, to turn
11:57
Speaker 2: and look at the long faces of his men and
12:00
Speaker 2: talk about that issue down at the grassroots level. You see,
12:05
Speaker 2: it prepared the way for what he wanted to say.
12:09
Speaker 2: Now that's where we pick up the story in verse
12:11
Speaker 2: thirty one. Look at it with me. When therefore he
12:16
Speaker 2: had gone out that he is a reference to Judas.
12:21
Speaker 2: When Judas had gone out of the room, Jesus said,
12:29
Speaker 2: now is the son of Man glorified. Before I go
12:33
Speaker 2: any further, you will read that word glorify in its
12:37
Speaker 2: root form five times in the next two verses. In
12:42
Speaker 2: your mind. Remember he is referring to his death, to
12:48
Speaker 2: the victory of Calvary. Not a tragedy, but a glory,
12:56
Speaker 2: not an afterthought, but an eternal, prearranged plan in which
13:04
Speaker 2: the Father had set it in motion, had empowered it,
13:09
Speaker 2: and it was now only hours away. What a glorious thing.
13:14
Speaker 2: The enemy has gone. Jesus Christ is to be glorified.
13:20
Speaker 2: That's what he means here. He says in verse thirty one,
13:25
Speaker 2: Now the son of Man is glorified. In other words,
13:28
Speaker 2: it's as if the last niche in the plan has
13:32
Speaker 2: taken its course. The cross is now coming. He's glorified,
13:39
Speaker 2: and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified
13:45
Speaker 2: in him, God will also glorify him in himself and
13:51
Speaker 2: will glorify him immediately. Jesus is saying, as if to
13:57
Speaker 2: say to his men, the plan of God has not
14:03
Speaker 2: been thwarted. My death is now a reality, and glory
14:12
Speaker 2: will come to God because of it. Then he looked
14:18
Speaker 2: around the room and probably saw eleven sad faces. When
14:25
Speaker 2: they began to put together the mystery of this story.
14:29
Speaker 2: He was communicating you see, we've had twenty centuries to
14:34
Speaker 2: think back upon it. They were hearing it for the
14:36
Speaker 2: first time that night, and it was just beginning to
14:41
Speaker 2: fall in place, and in their hearts was a great
14:46
Speaker 2: deal of anxiety. Look at verse thirty three. He says
14:52
Speaker 2: to them, little children. You see, they were looking upon
14:58
Speaker 2: it as a child would look upon it. Little children,
15:01
Speaker 2: I'm with you a little while longer. You shall seek me.
15:07
Speaker 2: And as I said to the Jews, where I am going,
15:11
Speaker 2: you cannot come. Now, I say to you also three
15:18
Speaker 2: things he told him in that verse. I'm departing soon.
15:27
Speaker 2: People will look for me. They will seek for me.
15:31
Speaker 2: They won't find me, but they'll look. No one can
15:35
Speaker 2: go with me. I'm going alone. Now, it's that part
15:40
Speaker 2: that It's that verse that really struck it their heart.
15:46
Speaker 2: You see, for three and a half years, the hub
15:49
Speaker 2: of the wheel has been Jesus. He's been the catalyst,
15:55
Speaker 2: he's been the point of reference, the main shaft. He
16:00
Speaker 2: has been the pillar in the whole plan for these disciples.
16:05
Speaker 2: And suddenly he's being uprooted, sent to the cross, and
16:11
Speaker 2: soon to leave the earth. The hub is leaving the wheel.
16:17
Speaker 2: When you take a hub away, all you have is
16:19
Speaker 2: a very weak rim. That's what they pictured. When you
16:25
Speaker 2: pull out the main shaft, you have a building that
16:28
Speaker 2: begins to shift and tilt and soon collapse. And that
16:32
Speaker 2: was what was happening. They saw their Savior leaving the catalyst.
16:39
Speaker 2: The whole impact of their lives was now in temporary form.
16:47
Speaker 2: He was going They thought to themselves, how can we
16:53
Speaker 2: still sustain an impact? How can we go on? It's
16:58
Speaker 2: the same question of a family asks, when for some
17:03
Speaker 2: unrevealed reason, the mother is taken to the Lord, how
17:08
Speaker 2: do we go on? It's the same thing a group
17:11
Speaker 2: of employees ask in a young company that were they
17:14
Speaker 2: all put their eggs in one basket because of one
17:17
Speaker 2: man's dream, and he's taken. The company begins to weaken
17:22
Speaker 2: and begins to crumble. How can we go on? That
17:25
Speaker 2: was their feeling, and that is why Jesus went into
17:30
Speaker 2: the subject of a whole new impact, a whole new dynamic.
17:36
Speaker 2: In other words, when he, the living Christ, would be
17:40
Speaker 2: removed from their presence, he would be replaced with a
17:44
Speaker 2: whole new dynamic that would have a sustaining impact on
17:50
Speaker 2: a world around them. Look at what the impact was,
17:55
Speaker 2: Look at what the dynamic was verse thirty four. He
18:00
Speaker 2: gives them a command, a new commandment I give to you.
18:07
Speaker 2: Now look at that for just a minute before you
18:09
Speaker 2: see the command itself new? Was it new? Sure? It
18:16
Speaker 2: was new. You notice the commandment is not love God.
18:21
Speaker 2: That's not new. Moses had written love the Lord, thy God,
18:26
Speaker 2: with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all
18:28
Speaker 2: thy mind. Nothing new about that. They were to love
18:32
Speaker 2: the Lord, and they had been loving the Lord Jehovah
18:35
Speaker 2: for centuries. Neither did he say, love my word. The
18:41
Speaker 2: word had been preserved by the Jewish people. They were
18:47
Speaker 2: the bank in which God had made constant deposits of
18:53
Speaker 2: living truth, and they had carefully preserved and copied out
18:58
Speaker 2: and passed on from general to generation the scrolls of
19:03
Speaker 2: God's truth. They loved the truth Ah. But this was new.
19:09
Speaker 2: This was a fresh, unique dynamic. What was it verse
19:15
Speaker 2: thirty four, that you love one another? That's the dynamic.
19:24
Speaker 2: In other words, people who lived in the days of
19:27
Speaker 2: Jesus had witnessed the disciple's love for Jesus, But up
19:32
Speaker 2: till now they had not been moved by the Disciple's
19:35
Speaker 2: love for one another. They knew they were committed to
19:40
Speaker 2: the same cause but they did not know up till
19:44
Speaker 2: this point that those men were committed to one another.
19:49
Speaker 2: That was what was to be new. That was the
19:53
Speaker 2: brand new dynamic that Jesus left with them, that you
20:02
Speaker 2: love one another. Now notice the new impact verse thirty five.
20:11
Speaker 2: By this, by what, by witnessing your love for the
20:17
Speaker 2: other person in this band, your love for your brothers
20:22
Speaker 2: in the Lord, By this, all men will know your
20:25
Speaker 2: my disciples. If you have love for one another, that's
20:29
Speaker 2: a new dynamic, that's a new impact. Up till now,
20:34
Speaker 2: they've been impressed with me, says the Lord Jesus, my miracles,
20:39
Speaker 2: my teachings, my presence. Now I'm going to be leaving,
20:47
Speaker 2: and the sustaining impact that will have a reaching effect
20:51
Speaker 2: to this world will be your love for one another. Now, friends,
20:56
Speaker 2: I know you know that that's part of our problem,
21:01
Speaker 2: our overexposure. I know that you know in theory what
21:06
Speaker 2: I am about to say. But that's not our problem.
21:11
Speaker 2: Our problem is in fact, not doing what we know.
21:19
Speaker 2: I appreciate Schaefer's comment. He uses two words together all
21:24
Speaker 2: the way through this book, observable love. I like that
21:31
Speaker 2: because the individual can say, well, look, I have a
21:34
Speaker 2: lot of love for that person. I'm just not the
21:35
Speaker 2: type that shows it. Then you ain't got it. Okay, Well,
21:42
Speaker 2: I'm just not the type that releases it and lets
21:44
Speaker 2: it go to bring encouragement or to express it. I'm sorry.
21:48
Speaker 2: That's not a got a love. A gop a love
21:53
Speaker 2: reaches out. It is a conquest of the will. It
21:58
Speaker 2: doesn't wait for an invitation, nor does it wait for
22:05
Speaker 2: a sweet response before it goes on and on. You see,
22:13
Speaker 2: we need to go back and get a real look
22:15
Speaker 2: at this, at this whole concept. Go back to verse
22:19
Speaker 2: thirty four. Look at the dynamic again. Jesus says love
22:24
Speaker 2: one another. He uses a word that here again has
22:29
Speaker 2: become a household word in many Christian vocabularies, agape. There
22:37
Speaker 2: is a movement called the Agape movement. There are halfway
22:42
Speaker 2: houses called agape houses. There are little signs with fish
22:47
Speaker 2: around him that say agape on the backs of cars
22:50
Speaker 2: and on bibles. I gope a gope agape. What is that? Well,
22:58
Speaker 2: in the days of John, when he wrote this book,
23:00
Speaker 2: he had available to him about four words he could
23:03
Speaker 2: have used. Three were well known to the world. One
23:09
Speaker 2: was a word store gay, and it spoke of patriotic love.
23:14
Speaker 2: That's what made the chills go up the back of
23:17
Speaker 2: a Greek when he thought of his forefathers that had
23:21
Speaker 2: paved the way of freedom and had marched out and
23:25
Speaker 2: planted in the minds of the world that the Greek
23:28
Speaker 2: will win out. It was a patriotism, a love for country.
23:34
Speaker 2: It's not the word he used. It's another word eros.
23:39
Speaker 2: We get our term erotic from it. That tips our hand.
23:43
Speaker 2: You know what it means. It's a sensual love, even
23:48
Speaker 2: at times of perverted or sexual, perverted love, and it
23:55
Speaker 2: ran its gamut among the Greeks. That's not the word obviously.
24:01
Speaker 2: Then there's philos love. We get the word Philadelphia from it.
24:07
Speaker 2: Kind of a bad analogy, But this word philos means affection.
24:14
Speaker 2: It's romance, it's the feel. It's the rewarded love that
24:20
Speaker 2: reaches out and is rewarded and reaches back, and it
24:24
Speaker 2: just grows and grows because of a warmth of friendship.
24:30
Speaker 2: Nothing wrong with that. We all need that more than
24:35
Speaker 2: most of us even want to admit. But that's not
24:39
Speaker 2: the highest form of love. The highest form is I gotte.
24:44
Speaker 2: And you know it is so unique the world hardly
24:49
Speaker 2: even knew it existed. That's great, isn't it. God dreamed
24:54
Speaker 2: it up and deposited it into the minds of some
24:58
Speaker 2: writers of scripture, and they used it in the Testament
25:02
Speaker 2: we have today is the New Covenant, the New Testament,
25:05
Speaker 2: and it became the catalyst among the Christians. It was
25:09
Speaker 2: an altogether Christian term. Never had it been contaminated, and
25:16
Speaker 2: it can't be. It's either there or it's not. A
25:23
Speaker 2: gope is deliberate refusal to respond negatively. I gope is
25:33
Speaker 2: a conquest of the will. It is a love of
25:37
Speaker 2: the mind that says, I accept and therefore love that
25:42
Speaker 2: person as he is, as she is. I'm not blinded
25:48
Speaker 2: to the flaws. I see them, but that doesn't affect
25:51
Speaker 2: my love. One man put it this way. I gope
25:57
Speaker 2: is the spirit in the heart which will never seek
26:00
Speaker 2: anything but the highest good of others. It does not
26:06
Speaker 2: matter how it's fellow men treated, nor does it matter
26:10
Speaker 2: what and who its fellow men are. It does not
26:15
Speaker 2: even matter what their attitude is to it. It will
26:19
Speaker 2: never seek anything but their highest and their best good.
26:25
Speaker 2: Isn't that great love is the expression of the highest
26:29
Speaker 2: good for the other person, whatever it may be. And
26:33
Speaker 2: encouragement a reproof, a word of instruction, financial assistance, of
26:45
Speaker 2: help in the physical areas of life. It just keeps
26:51
Speaker 2: coming back, just keeps coming back. I'm sure you've all
26:57
Speaker 2: seen this little toy that children have in their homes.
27:02
Speaker 2: It's an inflatable toy that stands about oh four feet
27:06
Speaker 2: high and it comes in all different forms you've seen.
27:11
Speaker 2: It has a big weight in the bottom, and a
27:15
Speaker 2: child can back off and just punch that thing and
27:19
Speaker 2: he goes honey, comes right back up again. Child can
27:24
Speaker 2: take it and strangle it, or can swing it around
27:28
Speaker 2: like my boy did when he had one, swinging around
27:31
Speaker 2: and let it go and it goes out in the
27:33
Speaker 2: front yard, right back up again. You can't keep it down.
27:39
Speaker 2: It just keeps coming back. It just keeps coming back.
27:44
Speaker 2: It has staying power. That's the word. When the world
27:52
Speaker 2: witnesses that staying power between you and your fellow sister
27:58
Speaker 2: or brother, it'll have a real serious case of lockjaw.
28:06
Speaker 2: It will be without an answer. How can that be knowledge?
28:13
Speaker 2: I can put that together. Buildings, Yeah, I see why
28:18
Speaker 2: they need that. And we have buildings too. Leaders, yeah,
28:24
Speaker 2: they we we we have to have leaders to go up.
28:27
Speaker 2: But love the missing link in the world and that
28:35
Speaker 2: for which they long in the truth of their hearts.
28:43
Speaker 2: Now Jesus left us with an example. You'll notice that
28:46
Speaker 2: this love is not just a concept He's put it,
28:51
Speaker 2: He has incarnated it in himself. He says, love one
28:55
Speaker 2: another as I have loved you, there as your comparison,
29:01
Speaker 2: as I have loved you. In other words, the disciples
29:07
Speaker 2: didn't have to imagine what this kind of love was
29:10
Speaker 2: all about. All they had to do was reflect on
29:12
Speaker 2: three and a half years in his presence. How had
29:16
Speaker 2: he loved them well? He had left the father's presence
29:20
Speaker 2: with all that marvelous coequality, perfect uninterrupted harmony, And he
29:28
Speaker 2: had come to this earth to live among people like
29:34
Speaker 2: you and me. Can you imagine anyone less attractive to
29:39
Speaker 2: come and live among than people like you and me?
29:42
Speaker 2: And there he came, and he chose those fellows, words
29:47
Speaker 2: and all. He chose them, knowing their failures, knowing their foolishness,
29:54
Speaker 2: knowing their lack, knowing their needs. He chose this man
29:57
Speaker 2: and that Matthew, and he chose John. He chose Andrew
30:01
Speaker 2: and Simon, and he got them all together. He said,
30:05
Speaker 2: remember that, men, when you think of love, reach out,
30:09
Speaker 2: knowing the flaws reach out, and then when they were
30:13
Speaker 2: in need of reproof, he leveled them. He said to them, Peter,
30:18
Speaker 2: on one occasion, you get behind me. You don't even
30:21
Speaker 2: sound like one of my own. He loved Peter too
30:24
Speaker 2: much to let him get away with that. Love doesn't
30:28
Speaker 2: mean that OOHI gooey. Whatever it is that leaves the
30:31
Speaker 2: banks and floods the area sort of the river of emotion.
30:41
Speaker 2: Love maintains its discernment, it's quality, But it ever flows,
30:47
Speaker 2: continues to flow. As a matter of fact, he says
30:53
Speaker 2: it will have an impact verse thirty five, so that
30:58
Speaker 2: all men will no see that word no doesn't mean
31:02
Speaker 2: theoretical knowledge. It says they'll know by experience. They'll see
31:07
Speaker 2: that badge, they'll know that you were mine. You know
31:15
Speaker 2: that is the hardest easy to talk about it, but
31:19
Speaker 2: it is the hardest thing in the world to carry out.
31:26
Speaker 2: You cannot do it without the spirit of God's power.
31:30
Speaker 2: Let me make that clear. I have an excuse on
31:34
Speaker 2: the back of my Volkswagen. You know how long it
31:37
Speaker 2: took me to get it on there, Well, it took
31:39
Speaker 2: me forty five seconds. You know how much it costs
31:43
Speaker 2: thirty nine cents nothing to it? I could stick an
31:48
Speaker 2: excuse on the back of my car and zing around,
31:51
Speaker 2: and you know who knows I'm a Christian? Christians right
32:01
Speaker 2: world doesn't know what that thing means. It just links
32:04
Speaker 2: me to my brother, my sister. You know. My difficulty
32:11
Speaker 2: is getting the real truth of that ecthus behind the
32:14
Speaker 2: steering wheel. That's my battle. That's where they discover I'm different.
32:22
Speaker 2: Anybody stick a dome ecthuse in the back of his
32:25
Speaker 2: car a bumper or whatever and zing all around and
32:29
Speaker 2: you know, whistle the tunes and whatever. So what this
32:36
Speaker 2: was really driven home to me. Recently, I had lunch
32:39
Speaker 2: with a fellow from our church in a local restaurant
32:44
Speaker 2: and he introduced me to a waitress. He apparently goes
32:48
Speaker 2: there quite a bit, And when she discovered that I
32:50
Speaker 2: belonged to this work and was a part of it
32:53
Speaker 2: down here, she said, oh, I know some of your kids.
32:56
Speaker 2: I said, really, how do you know? They're all from
33:00
Speaker 2: this church? And I was really hoping she would say, Oh, man,
33:06
Speaker 2: the way they love each other. You know what she said, Well,
33:11
Speaker 2: she said they run in a group, and she says
33:13
Speaker 2: they all carry these big books and they got different covers.
33:18
Speaker 2: Some are leather and some have funny little things on
33:20
Speaker 2: the front, and when they sit down, they usually just
33:23
Speaker 2: order coffee. They don't leave much of a tip. She
33:28
Speaker 2: also added, and they spent a lot of time talking
33:31
Speaker 2: about what's in that book. She didn't know it was
33:34
Speaker 2: a Bible. Es just said it was a book. You
33:40
Speaker 2: know what I learned from that exposure. I learned that
33:43
Speaker 2: carrying a certain kind of Bible links you to a
33:46
Speaker 2: certain church, doesn't link you to Christ. The world can't
33:51
Speaker 2: put that piece of the puzzle together. Not they just
33:55
Speaker 2: carrying the Bible or whatever you carry is gonna do it.
34:05
Speaker 2: That's the mark of a church. It's not the mark
34:11
Speaker 2: of the Christian. Some time ago, I had a funeral
34:16
Speaker 2: service for a lady in our church who had lost
34:19
Speaker 2: her husband good Man. They were faithful witnesses, and she
34:25
Speaker 2: and I talked about the funeral plan. She said, you know,
34:29
Speaker 2: we have a real desire. I know if my husband
34:32
Speaker 2: were sitting right here by me that he would say
34:34
Speaker 2: the same thing. We really want this funeral service to
34:37
Speaker 2: honor Jesus Christ. We really want the love of the
34:42
Speaker 2: Lord to be reaching out. Especially do I have in
34:44
Speaker 2: mind one of our neighbors, And she said, we have
34:49
Speaker 2: tried different ways to reach them. They've given them little cassettes,
34:54
Speaker 2: and we've given them booklets and records, and we've had
34:59
Speaker 2: them for dinner, but but we just have never really
35:05
Speaker 2: gotten through. I say to them. The woman was living alone,
35:10
Speaker 2: the neighbor woman, and she said, we just can't get
35:12
Speaker 2: through to her. So I said, Okay, let's really pray
35:15
Speaker 2: that she'll be reached someway with a message or some Okay,
35:20
Speaker 2: so we did the funeral. Morning came and that afternoon
35:25
Speaker 2: I slipped by their home for some coffee, and the
35:29
Speaker 2: neighbor woman was there. I met her after the service,
35:34
Speaker 2: and while I was sitting there, I noticed that there
35:37
Speaker 2: was a steady stream of different members of the Family
35:41
Speaker 2: of God coming, bringing food, some stopping by and telling
35:47
Speaker 2: the widow, look, we're available to help you. You're welcome
35:50
Speaker 2: to use our car if you're in need, will help
35:53
Speaker 2: you clean, let us know this or that, And they
35:56
Speaker 2: went on and on, and they talked, and I just
35:58
Speaker 2: listen real demonstrate of love. It just thrilled my heart
36:02
Speaker 2: to see that going on. I wasn't the only heart
36:06
Speaker 2: to thrill. Said goodbye. And a couple of days passed
36:12
Speaker 2: and my phone rang and the lady, the widow called
36:16
Speaker 2: me and she said, I just want to tell you
36:18
Speaker 2: what's happening. She said, remember the neighbor and I said yeah.
36:22
Speaker 2: She said she stayed till everybody else had left, and
36:27
Speaker 2: she said, to me, my, what love. These people must
36:37
Speaker 2: all belong to your family. That interesting that she made
36:43
Speaker 2: a carry over. Now she meant, obviously blood family. But
36:48
Speaker 2: what a perfect opportunity for this widow to turn right
36:53
Speaker 2: around and say, yeah, we're all from the same family.
36:57
Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, we have one hub, one message,
37:03
Speaker 2: one person, the object of our worship. And she was
37:07
Speaker 2: able to share openly because of this demonstration, because it
37:14
Speaker 2: was released. And you know what, that's a living truth
37:20
Speaker 2: of what Jesus Christ said in verse thirty five. By this,
37:24
Speaker 2: people will know that you belong to me. You have
37:30
Speaker 2: an exhusi that's fine, but it just links you with
37:33
Speaker 2: a movement known by Christians. You have a cross good,
37:38
Speaker 2: you wear it fine. That links you to a religion.
37:43
Speaker 2: You carry a certain Bible that links you to a church.
37:48
Speaker 2: But you have observable love that is authentic to the core,
37:52
Speaker 2: and that'll link you to Jesus Christ. Your church, in fact,
37:56
Speaker 2: will become totally insignificant as your Christ becomes pre eminent.
38:02
Speaker 2: It's remarkable, remarkable. Now. I would love to drive that
38:11
Speaker 2: home further than I will before we're through, But I
38:14
Speaker 2: just want to show you the flow of thought. Look
38:16
Speaker 2: at Peter's response. It is indicative of a very practical
38:22
Speaker 2: thing that happens when this subject is presented. Look at
38:28
Speaker 2: what Peter says, Simon. Peter said to him, Lord, where
38:35
Speaker 2: are you going? Can you believe that he hasn't mentioned
38:45
Speaker 2: going anywhere for the last few sentences. Where's Peter's head? Well,
38:55
Speaker 2: it's back up in verse thirty three, and it was
38:59
Speaker 2: a great, big, massive parenthesis around verses thirty four and
39:03
Speaker 2: thirty five. As far as his experience was concerned, I
39:08
Speaker 2: don't think Peter ever heard what Jesus said about love.
39:13
Speaker 2: You know why well, because Peter was Peter, and Peter
39:20
Speaker 2: wanted to be on that trip to wherever Jesus was going,
39:28
Speaker 2: And he said, Lord, where are you going? And he said,
39:31
Speaker 2: then later, why can't I go along? I'll lay down
39:34
Speaker 2: my life for you now listen. Peter gets an a
39:38
Speaker 2: plus for loyalty, and I believe he was sincere. But
39:45
Speaker 2: Peter did not really hear what Jesus said about love,
39:50
Speaker 2: I personally believe that's the reason. Later on in John's Gospel,
39:54
Speaker 2: chapter twenty one, Jesus has a personal lesson for Peter
39:58
Speaker 2: on what it means to love, what it's all about,
40:02
Speaker 2: because he missed this one. You know, it's like that
40:04
Speaker 2: here in this congregation. It's remarkable those that need the
40:08
Speaker 2: message on love the most aren't even hearing it, and
40:12
Speaker 2: those of you that need it the least, you just
40:15
Speaker 2: drink it in. That's the way it is in human nature.
40:20
Speaker 2: Unless something like this is said to sort of jar
40:23
Speaker 2: the mind back. There are some Peters who are thinking, well,
40:28
Speaker 2: let's get on to the big things. What's bigger than love?
40:36
Speaker 2: What's more important than the single ingredient that will stun
40:41
Speaker 2: your neighbor and those that you work with the greatest,
40:48
Speaker 2: genuine job of proselyting under the Spirit's power is done
40:55
Speaker 2: in this area of love, you with your sister and
41:00
Speaker 2: brother in the family. And Jesus said, oh, truly, I
41:06
Speaker 2: say to you, a cock shall not crow until you
41:09
Speaker 2: have denied me three times. Peter. He sort of brought
41:14
Speaker 2: him back to reality. You may mean that, and I
41:17
Speaker 2: take it seriously. But even though you're sincere Peter, it
41:24
Speaker 2: really won't work like that now. I don't want any
41:30
Speaker 2: person this morning to leave this church service occupied with
41:37
Speaker 2: the future plan of God for Christ or for you.
41:43
Speaker 2: That's important, and as a matter of fact, it is
41:46
Speaker 2: one of the fundamental doctrines of the faith, and I
41:49
Speaker 2: would live and die for it because I believe in
41:54
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ's coming. But I want to talk as I
41:58
Speaker 2: close this message about the presence of love or the
42:04
Speaker 2: lack of it in the lives of you who really
42:11
Speaker 2: believe you're committed to Jesus Christ. Whether or not you're
42:15
Speaker 2: a part of this church is immaterial. I have no
42:18
Speaker 2: one in mind. I have a truth that I want
42:21
Speaker 2: to communicate, and I wish you would think of my
42:24
Speaker 2: voice for the next four or five six minutes as
42:28
Speaker 2: just God's voice box saying one thing to one person
42:32
Speaker 2: and one to another, or maybe taking the same truth
42:36
Speaker 2: and communicating one series of things to one and something
42:40
Speaker 2: completely different in the same truth to another. Okay, let's
42:45
Speaker 2: just act as though you and I are talking about
42:47
Speaker 2: this together in the comfort of your room right now.
42:54
Speaker 2: I believe there are three things that ought to be
42:56
Speaker 2: remembered about authentic love. For first, it is unconditional in
43:02
Speaker 2: its expression. If love is real love, then it doesn't
43:09
Speaker 2: have to have the conditions. As a matter of fact,
43:15
Speaker 2: Jesus with the young ruler who was rich. The very
43:18
Speaker 2: first thing it says is Jesus loved him, and he's
43:22
Speaker 2: the one that turned away and rejected says he loved him. Unconditional.
43:29
Speaker 2: No ifs, no promises. You do this and then I'll
43:35
Speaker 2: really love you. This actually happened a phone in the
43:44
Speaker 2: home of a Boston family of socialites. The whole scene,
43:51
Speaker 2: the loose living, the wife's swapping, that whole bit, one end,
43:56
Speaker 2: and a phone booth in California connect together about the
44:01
Speaker 2: end of the Vietnam War. On this end, a mother
44:06
Speaker 2: picked up the phone and answered. And on this end
44:08
Speaker 2: was a son who had just come back from the war.
44:12
Speaker 2: And there was an instant delight in hearing each other's voice.
44:18
Speaker 2: And the boy said, Mom, I'd like very much to
44:20
Speaker 2: bring a fellow home with me. She said, that's fine,
44:24
Speaker 2: couple of three days bringing to whoever you want to.
44:26
Speaker 2: That's good. He said, No, I want you to understand
44:28
Speaker 2: something about him. He doesn't have a right leg, he
44:33
Speaker 2: doesn't have a right arm, he doesn't have a right eye,
44:38
Speaker 2: and his face is terribly disfigured. The mother listened and said, well, yeah,
44:45
Speaker 2: that's that's okay. You know, a couple of days, that's fine. Now,
44:51
Speaker 2: he says, mother, you still don't understand. I want him
44:54
Speaker 2: to live with us. I want him to be a
44:57
Speaker 2: part of our family. I want it to be permanent.
45:03
Speaker 2: The mother responded, well wait, I'm not sure, and click
45:10
Speaker 2: in the dial tone. A few hours later, same phone
45:17
Speaker 2: rang in Boston. There was a police sergeant from California
45:21
Speaker 2: on this end, and he said to the mother, we
45:25
Speaker 2: have a young man here who has only one leg
45:29
Speaker 2: and one arm, and his identification shows that he's your son.
45:36
Speaker 2: He's just taken his life, you see. It was too
45:44
Speaker 2: painful to ask directly, so he handled it indirectly. And
45:54
Speaker 2: the conditional love of the mother was as if to say,
45:59
Speaker 2: we don't watch it all. I got a love doesn't
46:04
Speaker 2: have to have arms or legs, doesn't have to have proof.
46:12
Speaker 2: It's just there. It just reaches out. Authentic love is
46:22
Speaker 2: unselfish in its motive. It is Paul said, this kind
46:28
Speaker 2: of love suffers long and is kind. This kind of
46:32
Speaker 2: love doesn't keep a record of when it is done wrong.
46:36
Speaker 2: It isn't easily provoked. It hardly notices when it is rejected.
46:45
Speaker 2: There's no end to its endurance. This kind of love
46:50
Speaker 2: reaches and never waits to be rewarded. It's calvary love.
47:02
Speaker 2: While he hung there on the cross, the saliva from
47:07
Speaker 2: their mouths dried on his body, and the blood from
47:12
Speaker 2: his body still on their fists. He died absolutely unselfish,
47:20
Speaker 2: Jesus said, men, when this kind of love is demonstrated
47:24
Speaker 2: from your head and heart and feet and hands, the
47:30
Speaker 2: world won't have an answer. Authentic love is unlimited in
47:40
Speaker 2: its benefits. That's the third unconditional inness expression, unselfish in
47:50
Speaker 2: its motive, unlimited in the benefits. You know, with this
47:57
Speaker 2: kind of love you win every time you do. You
48:03
Speaker 2: know why you win every time, because there is the
48:08
Speaker 2: greatest satisfaction simply in the demonstrating of it, just the
48:17
Speaker 2: expression of it. Even the vulnerability, as hard as it
48:22
Speaker 2: is to be on that cutting edge, just the expressing
48:26
Speaker 2: of it is satisfaction enough to bring the benefits that
48:31
Speaker 2: are unlimited. Dale Galloway has written a book Dream, A
48:36
Speaker 2: New Dream, about a broken life of his that was
48:41
Speaker 2: patched up by the grace and love of God, and
48:46
Speaker 2: in it he conveys this story and I close with it.
48:51
Speaker 2: A children's song says love is something. If you give
48:54
Speaker 2: it away, give it away, it's just like a magic penn,
49:01
Speaker 2: you end up having more. I love the story of
49:08
Speaker 2: the little boy who moved into a new neighborhood. He
49:12
Speaker 2: was shy and quiet. His name was Chad. One day
49:17
Speaker 2: he came home and said, you know what, mom, Valentine's
49:22
Speaker 2: Day is coming, and I want to make a Valentine
49:24
Speaker 2: for everyone in my class. I want them to know
49:27
Speaker 2: I love them. His mother's heart sank as she thought,
49:34
Speaker 2: I wish she wouldn't do that, because every afternoon she
49:39
Speaker 2: would watch all the children coming home from school and
49:41
Speaker 2: they'd be laughing and hanging onto each other, books under
49:45
Speaker 2: their arms, all except Chad. He always walked behind them.
49:54
Speaker 2: She thought, however, she would go along with Chad. So
49:57
Speaker 2: glue and paper and crayons were purchased, and three weeks
50:02
Speaker 2: he painstakingly made thirty five valentines. When the day came
50:10
Speaker 2: to deliver the valentines, he was so excited this was
50:16
Speaker 2: his day. He stacked those valentines under his arm and
50:21
Speaker 2: ran out the door. And his mother thought, it's gonna
50:25
Speaker 2: be tough, tough day for Chad. I'll bake him some
50:29
Speaker 2: cookies and have some milk ready when he comes home
50:31
Speaker 2: from school, and maybe that'll ease the pain. He won't
50:35
Speaker 2: be getting very many Valentines. That afternoon. She had the
50:40
Speaker 2: warm cookies and the milk out on the table. She
50:43
Speaker 2: went over to the window and scratched a little bit
50:45
Speaker 2: of the frost off the glass and looked out. Sure enough,
50:50
Speaker 2: here came the big gang of children, laughing valentines under
50:55
Speaker 2: their arms. They had really done well. And there was
51:00
Speaker 2: her Chad coming up behind. He was walking faster than usual,
51:06
Speaker 2: and she thought, bless his heart, he's ready to burst
51:10
Speaker 2: into tears. His arms are empty. He doesn't have a Valentine.
51:18
Speaker 2: He came in the house and she said, darling, mom
51:22
Speaker 2: has some warm cookies and milk for you. Let's sit down.
51:26
Speaker 2: But his face was all aglow. He just marched right
51:31
Speaker 2: by her, and all he could say was not a one,
51:37
Speaker 2: not a single one. I didn't forget one. They all
51:44
Speaker 2: know I love em. It isn't a song until it sung.
51:52
Speaker 2: It isn't a bell until it's rung. It isn't love
52:00
Speaker 2: until it's given away. That's about it, Cather, this morning,
52:10
Speaker 2: your children know you love him? I mean the grown ones,
52:15
Speaker 2: those that are married and those that they have married.
52:25
Speaker 2: Do those people that you say very little to know
52:27
Speaker 2: that you love him? Why are you keeping it? Authentic?
52:39
Speaker 2: Love cannot remain a secret. God proved his love to us,
52:52
Speaker 2: and that while we were sinners Christ died. He didn't
53:04
Speaker 2: get a Valentine, but he didn't miss a one in
53:12
Speaker 2: giving his love. Right now in your heart, acknowledge Jesus
53:23
Speaker 2: Christ as Lord, and this week give it away.
53:32
Speaker 1: Our Father in heaven. How thankful we are today for
53:36
Speaker 1: your unending love toward us in Christ, and this amazing
53:43
Speaker 1: love that is inexhaustible despite so many of our loveless
53:49
Speaker 1: responses to you.
53:53
Speaker 2: Please equip us today.
53:54
Speaker 1: Our Father, to be dispensers of this agape love, first
54:03
Speaker 1: by loving one another as you have loved us in Christ,
54:08
Speaker 1: and then enable us to love our neighbors as much
54:11
Speaker 1: as we love ourselves and our dearest own. Thank you,
54:18
Speaker 1: Father for broadening our lives once again through your magnificent word,
54:24
Speaker 1: for opening the eyes of our hearts to a new
54:28
Speaker 1: and compelling truth that even while we were still sinning,
54:34
Speaker 1: Christ died loving us. Today we give you our whole
54:41
Speaker 1: lives without reservation. We place ourselves before you as living sacrifices,
54:49
Speaker 1: grateful for your boundless affection in Jesus your Son, in
54:56
Speaker 1: whose name we pray Amen.
55:02
Speaker 3: The preceding message, Agape Authentic Love, was copyrighted in nineteen
55:07
Speaker 3: seventy five, nineteen eighty seven, two thousand and twenty eighteen,
55:12
Speaker 3: and the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty eighteen by
55:16
Speaker 3: Charles R. Swindall, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication
55:21
Speaker 3: of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited