Love Is a Verb - Part A

So far in the book of Romans. The only time Paulus pulled out the word agape is what he wants to talk about how God loves us. Now he takes the term is used to describe God's love for us and says that is why, because agape love is the gold standard for Christian love in the Greek New Testament use the word love and talk about a lot of things we like to Paul. Love was meant to give her today on connect with Skip Heitzig Skip shares how you can practically show Jesus love to your family in Christ into the program Skip and his wife Linda give you some encouragement if you been praying for reconciliation of friendship. A gift is one way a card apology. I'm sorry I text phone call something along the lines of blood draw different all have different opinions from each other, different backgrounds, etc. but we have the same safe so I'm just appealing to you on that basis. Forgive me if I've done something wrong, but I love you and I want to make it right. Thank you, skip, be sure to stay with us after today's message to hear the full discussion right now we want to tell you about a resource that will help you pray more soul-searching prayers that inspire you to pursue God's calling for your life, ready to radically upgrade your prayer life still stuck in blessing mode, you have come to the right place you are ready for dangerous prayers really start playing three new players and I will warn you. These are not easy.

Prayers does not say prayers is not benign prayer, recalling the dangerous prayers, but there dangerous in a good way and that is just my opinion. Most people I know in this part of the world most people's prayers way to say that Craig Rochelle from his book dangerous prayers. And this is our summer resource offer. If you are ready to get out of your comfort zone was some prayers that are not safe to pray no going into the when you pray this prayer to really ask God to do something that will take you out of your comfort zone to market their potential. With Craig Rochelle's book dangerous prayers as our gift to you when you give $35 or more today to help keep this ministry on the air. Request your copy when you get online securely connectwithskip.com/offer or you can call 800-922-1888 another clip from Craig's book dangerous prayers talk about God's prayer right but the last thing it was one of the other side of brokenness is a real intimacy with God on him.

But you cannot get any other way will have enough encouraging books yet one that will grab you by the throat and get her attention, replaced send me know what I want to do is blank contract basically whatever whenever and however you whatever you want to do. My life is your son connectwithskip.com/offer or you can call 809 two 218 Romans chapter 12 message with skip-teenage boys were talking about dating and what was friendless and I have a cousin pretty girl I've set you up on a date with her Saturday night and his friends that no no no I don't do blind dates. No thank you I said no, really. She's a pretty girl she's smart you really like her. I've set it up, but if something happens were you just don't want to do this once you see here do what I do because what you do. So while what I do is ask a girl out guarded the door she opens the door. If I take a look at Aragon that I want to do this. What I do is I fake like I have an asthma attack. Put your hand up your throat and just do that you get out of it so the guys at okay I'll go out with her cousin so he goes over to her house knocks on the door opens. She opens the door he takes one look at her she's beautiful and for him. This teenage boy gets love at first sight, and so we so pleased but then that girl looks at him and grabs her throat and the national question.

Would you agree that the word love is an overused word in our culture affect time magazine said it's time to change the meaning of the word love. You know how we use lob we tell the word around the mean so many different things. I love my wife.

I love my children I love your car I love that color. I love pizza while when I say I love my wife means I care about her want to spend time with her. I want what's best for her. When I say I love pizza.

I don't care all that much about a personal relationship with pizza.

I don't want what's best for pizza. When I say I love pizza. All I mean is I like it when I want to eat it and when I'm done eaten it could throw it away, give it to the dog put in the refrigerator till it gets moldy.

I don't care when a person says to you they love you how to they love you. Do they want what's best for you or do they say they love you because really they want something for themselves.

So the next time somebody says I love you, you might just want to ask, at least in your own mind is that pizza love or is that the real thing. According to the dictionary. Love is a profoundly tender passionate affection for another person. A feeling of warm personal attachment.

In other words, the dictionary defines it as a noun that is a feeling that's one of its definitions. I suggest we start viewing love, not so much as a noun, but as a bird actions we are willing to take to demonstrate something. In fact, the very first time in the Bible the word love is used, it appears in the book of Genesis, so it's a Hebrew word in the Hebrew word is Chava and that word means an act of doing an act of doing it is connected directly with action and obedience. The root of that word.

Chava is 1/2 and it means to give, so now were starting to get the real definition the biblical definition of love the ideas it wants more to give than it does to get for years I've enjoyed the movie fiddler on the roof. I think it came out 1971 anybody remember the film.

One of the greatest films in my opinion ever.

So I love it because it's a musical. I love it because it's Corky there some funny parts in it but II love the part when the patriarch named Kavya says to his wife girl that they've been married 1/4 of the century, and he turns to her and says do you love me and what what he's waiting to hear is all I have this warm fuzzy feeling about you, but rather she says to him for 25 years. I've washed your clothes I've cook your meals.

I clean the house. I've given you children. I've milk your cow. If that's not love what is bingo love is a verb.

Love is willing to act on something that we come in the book of Romans chapter 12 beginning in verse nine to the end of the chapter is the section that really is summed up with the word love Paul is very practical, especially in chapter 12.

He gives us 11 chapters that he sums up as the mercies of God. In chapter 12 verse one he sent all that you know of what God's plan is for you.

Therefore, now here's the will of God for you, so chapter 12 verse one and two is the will of God.

Generally, and then chapter 12 beginning in verse three is the will of God.

Specifically, and we come now to chapter 12 verse nine to verse 21 section of 13 verses but get this.

This is how practical Paul is in 13 verses, he gives us no less then 33 zero commands 30 commands, 30 exhortation's all dealing with love, the very heart the very motive of the Christian life. So what I want to do because when I could be able to cover every nuance of these 30 commands and 13 verses I want to sum it up by dividing love up into three areas. Love displayed in three areas. First of all, love, and the family and what I mean by that is the Christian family. The body of Christ, the family of God. Second, love amidst hostility when were out in the world and people don't sympathize with us and then number three love among our enemies and somebody's really poised against you. Let's begin with the first love in the family that begins in verse nine, Paul writes let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love and honor giving preference to one another, not lagging intelligence fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation continuing steadfastly in prayer distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.

First thing I want you to notice is that in verse nine he begins with the statement about the quality of love when he says let love be without hypocrisy him to give you quiz right now because I know your Bible nurture Bible students what he says love what word do you think he is using from the Greek language. I got to see a lot of you know that already. He uses the term agape. Why is that important because up to this point, Paul has never used that term. Agape love for love describing our love to one another so far in the book of Romans. The only time Paul is pulled out the word agape is what he wants to talk about how God loves us.

Now he takes the term. He is used to describe God's love for us and says that is the love you are to have for one another wife because agape love is the gold standard for Christian love in the Greek New Testament is the one thing Jesus said the world will be able to tell that you belong to me.

John chapter 13.

By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, by the agape love that you have one for another. That's our calling card. Love Melanie just sort of brush up on on some of these words in Greek and I said we have one word for love. I love my car love your car love your color. Love your pizza love whatever my wife we have the same word for many different things. In the Greek language not so they have several different Greek words for love.

There are four principal words, the first Greek word is the word Eros. Eros is the term or we get erotic it's physical love. It's never found. Once in the Greek New Testament. It's a word that means to grab or to grasp because the idea is self-satisfaction as the first work the second word that is used in Greek. It is found in the New Testament is the word for Leo and for Leo shows up in words like Philadelphia or philanthropy. This is brotherly love. This is affection for a friend, a fondness for another person. 1/3 word is the Greek word is story gay story gay is family love like when a parent loves a child or a child loves a parent it is family affection. But then there's that fourth term and is used here agape it's it's as if it's as if the writers of the Greek New Testament wanted to come up with a word all in its own class to describe the kind of love God gives to us and that we inch turn should give to others.

So that's the word he uses and notice what he says. Verse nine let love. Let agape be on cool black treetops is one word on Hoopa treetops without hypocrisy, who thought treetops were we get the word hypocrite was a word that simply meant and after in the Greek stage because they didn't have many backdrops actors would come out on the stage with a few different masks on a stick like a happy face or sad face or a somber face and they would put the mask on and speak through the mask so that the word hypocrite came to mean somebody who wears a mask or an actor so when he says let love be without hypocrisy.

He means genuine love love without a mask, not the kind of lover you give somebody a nice sweet compliment, but when they leave you stab him in the back with gossip that's fake love.

That's love wearing a mask church the family of God should never become a stage that is filled with fake love. I know some parts of the country were when they say bless your heart.

That's not a compliment this a bad thing.

I remember hearing some people well I love him with Christian love, which could be translated. I can't stand him. But if I say that it just sounds better. I kinda have to love them so. I love with Christian let your love be absolutely genuine and not feigned, not fake. Matthew Henry said hypotheses to do the devils work in God's uniform. That would be fake love to give an example of feigned love fake love Judas Iscariot on the same night that he sold Jesus out for a few pieces of silver. He met Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, and how to degrade them with a kiss and that's so upset Jesus that he even said you betrayed the Son of Man with a kiss. This signal of affection, but in your heart you don't love. I have much more respect for an honest atheist than a bogus believer. Let love be without hypocrisy. But notice is followed by another command right after he talks about love. What's the first word in verse nine, the second sentence was a set abhor you know what a poor means hate very strongly in odd that after talking about genuine love. He immediately talks about hate as a command, love, hate, I wanted a love that. But I want you to hate that one because part of authentic love is authentic hatred. What I mean. I mean that's God's character God hates evil, God hates unrighteousness. But God loves what is good and God especially hates high hypocrisy. He hates false religion you remember in the first chapter of Isaiah God to the prophet speaks to his people are coming to worship in the temple to bring sacrifices that are keeping the feast day is the Sabbath days, the new moons there doing all the religious activity and God says who has required that you trample my courts like this bring no more vain oblations.

Incense is an abomination to me your sabbaths and your feast days, my soul hates God is saying he hates false religion now. I think one of the greatest problems. One of the greatest weaknesses in the church is not intolerance. I think one of the greatest weaknesses is tolerance for evil gnosis so much around us.

It's in every movie we see pretty soon, you know, it's just that since the world needs you can get rid of it. You and I should hate it. We should abhor that which is evil. Paul rebuked the church of Corinth because they were tolerant of immorality, Paul rebuked the church at Galatia because they tolerated legalism.

Jesus rebuked the church at Thyatira saying I have this against you, you tolerate that woman Jezebel. She misleads my servants into sexual immorality and eating food sacrificed to idols. Apparently one of the members of that church was very loose, morally, and that started having repercussions. As an example with some of the other church members. Jesus said, I have that against you.

You tolerate that stuff you shouldn't tolerate evil in your own life.

Why, because it is evil that sustains the fellowship. Love that we have in the body of Christ. It brings something foreign into it ruins it the very next verse. Speaking of this family love. He says be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love and honor giving preference to one another. I want to brag on you for just a second I get lots of letters tax emails from different people. Visitors of this church and now we have thing were we welcome people. What you don't always here is what I hear when people say I just started coming here or I visited your church last week and the love that I experience from people in your fellowship toward one another was overwhelming to me. It made such an impact on me. One of the phone calls I got a while back was from a man who called to say thank you and to share this blessing. He said that he and his wife were in the 8000 block of Central Avenue here in Albuquerque which is a not the best part of sound and he parked his car on the curb when inside of the store. He left his wife in the car, locked part when inside to do some business in a store and he said while I was in the store. This is how he put it, for Calvary fellows approached the car, knocked on the window. My wife rolled down the window slightly look of these four guys said excuse me ma'am, but one of your your tires is hissing.

I think you have a flat if you'd like we be happy to change for got the keys open the trunk.

Jack the car up change the tire on the car he was inside. He came out it was already done all he saw was verse four guys by my car only to find out there for Calvary fellows and what he said was said to me on the phone. He had just gotten out of the hospital would not of been able to fix that tire if he would have been there out there with them is that God sent them and so here's what I love it. Just when I get worried and sometimes a boy the church getting so big and so impersonal and happily ever so love one to another. I get letters like that and thinking you're doing it awesome.

Thank you for being such a great now look at verse 11 because I see verse 11 is the motive for this family. Love when Paul writes not lagging in diligence, but fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. That's the key because we are serving the Lord and that's our motive. We want to please him and honor him and serve him.

It's that love for him and service to him that spills out in loving others.

We love the father.

We love the father's children. The new living translation renders verse 11 never be lazy in your work serve the Lord see Astec message for you from the series partnership you Skip is to give you some encouragement if you would prefer reconciliation in a French in today's message mentioned that it's important for Christians to cattle on because I left for nonbelievers has to begin with lab one another.

Get there might be someone less and strange from a brother or assisting Christ less than vital steps they could take toward reconciliation. First of all a gift might help now says in Proverbs 1816 a man's gift makes room for him.

Something about just not expecting a gift that opens up or it takes them off guard opens up her heart. Philemon is a good example of appealing to somebody who has a different so in in in in the letter that Paul writes to Philemon.

Paul didn't try to control Philemon whose slave, an SMS ran away from him and he tries to bring them together but he doesn't try to control and say look, I'm the apostle and I have every right to say this, though he mentions that he could just as I appeal to you as a brother. It's a beautiful approach were on the same level, so a gift is one way a card, an apology. I'm sorry I text a phone call. Something along the lines of luck, while different we all have different opinions from each other, different backgrounds, etc. but we have the same Savior. So I'm just appealing to you on that basis.

Forgive me if I've done something wrong, but I love you and I want to make a right now that doesn't guarantee it will happen, but you're doing your best to reconcile reconcile means to clear the path you just try to remove the obstacles from the path now is up to the other person to accept. Sometimes it's good to find mediators well if you can find a neutral person in between that can meet with both of you and find some common ground after the Thanksgiving lagniappe well we have this conversation encouraged and right now we want to tell you how you can help keep these to his left hand and encourage others by connecting them to come out 892 and 1992 or visit cannot escape.com/connect.com/donate back again tomorrow is Skip shares or you can demonstrate an extraordinary Christlike love to those people who has to Skip presentation of connection communications changing truth