I write this blog about God's love (agape) fully acknowledging that it is an impossible task to fully define it, or it even come close to it. It is so vast. I can only give you some scriptures, my thoughts and the views of others whom I have read on this subject. Nevertheless, I pray this study will bless you.
"Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour," (Ephesians 5:1-2).
We are commanded to love as the Lord Jesus Christ has loved us. That would be an impossible task apart from the help and grace of the Holy Spirit, for Romans 5:5 tells us that "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." We know that God is love (I John 4:8); therefore, when agape love is being released from our hearts, we're actually releasing God - extending His love out to others.
"This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you," (John 15:12).
HOW DOES JESUS LOVE?
1. Not through feelings, but through obedience.
"For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous," (I John 5:3).
Our flesh will fight against the expression of this kind of love. So will our pride and all the lusts of our flesh and eyes. Jesus is the only preacher who ever taught the following:
"But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you," (Mt. 5:44).
This kind of love was new theology at the time of Jesus' earthly ministry. The term "agape" used to describe the love of God needed to be coined because using the terms "eros", or "storge" or "phileo" could not convey the message of this kind of love.
2. Love for God the Father was in First Place in the Life of Jesus
God the Father was and is Jesus' first love. His obedience was to the Father:
"Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God,"
(Ps. 40:7 & Heb. 10:7).
Jesus only did the will of the Father. He never got so "grown" that He felt He could step out and "do his own thing" like so many of our young people when they "come of age". As a man, He never lost His connection to the Father. He remained obedient, even unto death. When the will of God was painful...when it called for a whip, a nail, a crown of thorns, Jesus still loved the Father enough to say, "Not My will but Thy will be done."
The power and authority Jesus walked in as a man wasn't simply because of His love for you and me. His love for us was an extension of His love for the Father. The first commandment to you and me is the same:
28 "And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?
29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment." - Mark 12
3 . Jesus loves compassionately. Whenever Jesus was moved with compassion, miracles would occur [Mt. 9:36; 14:14; Mark 1:41; 6:43]. The power of agape love is the power to save, heal, and deliver.
4. Jesus loves personally. He came to seek and save that which was lost. He is not willing that ANY should perish. He ministered not only to great multitudes, but to individuals. He takes time to hear a sinner's prayer.
5. Jesus loves eternally. This is way He came to give us eternal life... so that we could be with Him forever. All things were made by Him and for Him. Isn't it wonderful to know that He desires you forever and that He made it possible to fulfill that desire? Hallelujah. He came to give you an abundant life - not only now, but He's in glory preparing a place for you, that where He is, there you may be also.
6. Jesus loves unconditionally. He rains blessings on the just and the unjust. While we were yet in our sins, He died for us. He only requires that we believe and receive because we can never earn His love or life.
7. Jesus loves practically. In other words, His love feeds the hungry, clothes the naked, sets the solitary in families, comforts the brokenhearted, visits those in prison, sets the captives free, and even washes dirty feet!
After His resurrection, Jesus showed up on the seashore, cooking fish for the same men who had denied him. His love restores. Look at the exchange between Jesus and Peter in the following verses:
15 "So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.
16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep." - John 21
In the original language, in verses fifteen and sixteen, Jesus asks Peter: "Do you (love) agape me?" And Peter answers, "Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I (love) phileo thee."
The cocky Peter had been humbled by his failure to agape Jesus. He knew that the love he had for the Messiah was not on the same level as the love the Messiah had for him. Jesus had tried to warn Peter that Satan desired to sift him as wheat. Jesus let him know in advance of His intercession on Peter's behalf. Jesus knew Peter was going to fail, but Peter could not accept that truth at the time.
31 "And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: 32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." - Luke 22
"And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly," (Mt. 26:75).
Jesus loved Peter enough to ask him a third time whether or not he loved Him. Yet, the question was not quite the same in John 21:17 as it had been in the previous two verses. In the original it would be more like this:
"He said to him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest (phileo) thou me? In other words, if you cannot yet agape Jesus, do you really phileo Him? Do you love Him like a brother? Peter was grieved at the question, but responded as he had before, yet acknowledging that Jesus already knew what was in his heart. Jesus knew the kind of love Peter had for Him. Nevertheless, Jesus willingly commissioned Peter to "feed my sheep".
Beloved, you and I may fall short of the love of God the way God wants it to be expressed in our lives. However, God knows the love we have towards Him. And He knows how to perfect it. He will use us right where we are if we are willing. And that love will grow until one day, we can give ourselves totally over to agape love. Peter was a mighty apostle of God. After Pentecost, he was changed and transformed... a powerful pillar. The "Cephas" or stone upon which God could lay the foundation and build His church, Jesus Christ being the Chief Cornerstone.
Peter eventually died a martyr, choosing to be crucified upside down because he felt unworthy to be crucified in the same manner as the Lord Jesus had been. The sacrifice of his life was more than what phileo alone could accomplish. Somehow, somewhere along the way, the agape of God invaded Peter's heart and gave him the grace and power to be all that God had called him to be.
And so it shall be with you and me. Amen.
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