Introduction: Bible love is a wonderful and delightful subject! Though it is one of the most notable subjects in the Bible, it perhaps is also one of the most misunderstood. Most equate love with feeling, but love is not just feeling. Being loved brings a good feeling, but love itself goes far deeper than feeling. Sometimes, Bible love has to be stern. Sometimes, it has to "lay down the law." Sometimes, love is gentle; and sometimes, love is very, very tough.
Love is so important, it is the first in a list of fruits the Holy Spirit produces in our lives, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness..." (Galatians 5:22) Word order is very important in the study of God's Word. The very first thing the Holy Spirit desires to produce in the lives of believers is agape love. By its definition, agape love is unselfish, and 1 Corinthians 13 reveals to us what it means to be unselfish in our love. We also find that this agape love is the greatest of all the gifts. 1 Corinthians 12-14 are chapters that deal with the gifts of God. 1 Corinthians 13:13 makes a plain statement, "And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity." In other words, no matter what your gift, if it is not motivated by God's gift of love, then it is empty and worthless.
We also find that Jesus made one of the most important statements ever made about agape love, "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." (John 13:35) Notice with me that Jesus did not say, "By this shall all men know that ye are born again." He said, "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples." A disciple is one who goes beyond being simply a believer. The word "disciple" literally means "a learner or a disciplined one." Jesus told His disciples that the rest of the world would know they were learners concerning the things of Christ if they had agape love among themselves. ** The life you live reveals whose student you are!
* A person gets saved when he trusts Christ as his Saviour, but he does not become a true disciple until he decides to be a learner and follower of Christ and His teachings. Are you a disciple or just a believer?
1 Corinthians 13 lists for us the characteristics of agape love:
1. Agape love gives real worth to work.
2. Agape love suffers long and doesn't quit when the trials come.
3. Agape love is kind, which means it's pleasant and desirable.
4. Agape love does not envy or desire the same thing another has.
5. Agape love does not vaunt itself, which means it is not boastful.
6. Agape love is not puffed up; meaning, Bible love is not proud.
7. Agape love does not behave itself unseemly, that is shamefully toward others.
8. Agape love does not seek her own, is not self-seeking.
This brings us to the next two characteristics of agape love.
9. Real love is not easily provoked. - 1 Corinthians 13:5
"Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked..."
- Agape love then is long-fused. It takes a great deal to provoke one, with agape love, to anger.
- Many Christians today are short-tempered. They blame it on everything but the cause.* Some say it's because they have red hair.
* Some say it's because of their ethnic background. (German, Irish, Italian, etc.)
* Some say it's because of their upbringing.
* Some say it's because of their children.
* Some say it's because of their parents.
* Some say it's because of their job.
* Some say it's because of their circumstance in life.- The root of the problem has nothing to do with the color of their hair, their ethnic background, their upbringing, their children, their parents, their job, or their circumstances in life. A person is short-tempered because they lack agape love.
- You can always tell whether or not you have agape love toward a certain person by how quickly they anger you. Have you ever noticed how long-fused you are with some people and short-fused with others over the same issues?
- This is a test of agape love. One of the most irritating things a person can do is try to get under a person's skin who practices agape love. It's practically impossible to do.
- Many Christians today fly off the handle over the slightest thing. Those, with agape love, are not easily provoked.
- The word "provoke" is interesting in itself in that it means essentially "to bring out." In other words, all of us have a certain amount of anger inside of us. One, who practices agape love, keeps that buried deep under the cover of agape love. Those, without agape love, keep anger near the surface; and it is brought out easily.
- For example, in Colossians 3:21, Paul admonishes fathers not to bring out the wrath in their children, "Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged."
- We are commanded to provoke one another to practice good works, "And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works." (Hebrews 10:24)
- The one, who practices agape love, is one who does not wear his feelings on his sleeve and fly off the handle at the slightest provocation.
10. Real love thinketh no evil. - 1 Corinthian 13:5
"Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil."
- This means that agape love does not make, nor keep, a list of wrong-doings against an offender.
- Those, who keep no lists, have no mud to sling in the next fight.
- It has been said that any married man should forget his mistakes; there's no use in two people remembering the same thing!
- It is also said that computers must be female. Why? Even your smallest mistakes are immediately committed to memory for future reference.
- However, agape love does not live with a list. In fact, Jesus set the example for us when He said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
- A Godly deacon named Stephen followed Jesus' example. As they were pelting stones at his body, he said, "...Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep." (Acts 7:60) Stephen practiced agape love toward those who hated him.
- Many Christians keep lists of wrong-doings. When they begin to argue, they reach back into their bucket of mud and begin to sling everything that is on that list. This does not demonstrate agape love in any way.
- Perhaps this is a trait of real godliness. God forgets our sins and remembers them no more, but we are not like that. We remember sins done against us. The practicing of agape love involves not keeping a list of past wrongs.
- God has not called you to keep another Christian humble by reminding them of their sins against you. God has not called you to be the eternal reminder of a person's past.
- Perhaps this is one of the greatest traits of agape love. To err, may by human, and to forgive, may be divine; but the greatest mark of divinity is not just forgiving but not holding a person's sin, over his head, in a list.
- To think no evil, literally means that agape love reckons not (does not add up) the evil done to it.
Conclusion: Jesus said, "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." (John 13:35) Do people around you know that you are a disciple of Christ? Are you so easily provoked that no one can tell you're a disciple? When people observe your family, do they know you are Jesus' disciple? The practicing of agape love is more than words or feeling; it is actually a practice. Are you practicing it today?