Love: Part 1
Notes
Transcript
Love Introduction
Love Introduction
Love is and has always been defined by God.
Love is not God, God is Love.
The phrase love is love makes no sense. Love itself cannot stand on its on. Love comes from God because God is Love. God defines it. God always was and is. Love is of God and not God. God is love.
The Bible never says contrary to what people think or say that love is God. The Bible says:
And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
People want love to stand on its on so they can define it.
People want love to stand on its on so they pervert it.
People want love to stand on its on so they can separate it from God.
Love From The Beginning
Love From The Beginning
Love is mentioned 200 plus times in the Old Testament as both a noun and verb.
The verb form is - ahev
the most frequently used verb is ahev
ahev:
It refers to a relationship between two people, from parent and a child to a husband and wife.
The Old Testament concept of love as well as the New Testament is build around a relation between God and His People.
Love is a verb and is associated with action
Beloved is a noun and refers to those who have accepted God’s love.
God Taught His People From The Beginning How to Love Him and that He loved Them.
God Loved Them First
God Loved Them First
“For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the Lord our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him?
The Lord delighted only in your fathers, to love them; and He chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day.
God Loved Them First So He Expected Them To Respond With Love Through Obedience
God Loved Them First So He Expected Them To Respond With Love Through Obedience
“Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;
And He will love you and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your land, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flock, in the land of which He swore to your fathers to give you.
Deuteronomy 28:1-14 outlines the blessing of the nation if they keep the relationship and love.
Deut 28:68 outlines the curses and consequences if the people of God break the relationship.
Love In Deuteronomy - A Concise Commandment
Love In Deuteronomy - A Concise Commandment
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!
Deuteronomy 6:5 (NKJV)
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
Love in the Intertestamental Writings
Love in the Intertestamental Writings
Phileo or brother love
eraō sensual love
Phileo and eraõ were the two most frequently used word for love.
agapao intimate love - rarely used and hardly understood until God showed it again by giving His Son.
Love in the New Testament
Love in the New Testament
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
agapao: to have great affection for and loyalty towards
verb
The Greatest Commandment
The Greatest Commandment
Context: Jesus silences the Sadducees about the woman who had married seven brothers who died one after the other.
Now the Pharisees try to trip Jesus up asking the Greatest Commandment.
But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.
Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying,
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
Matthew 22:38 (NKJV)
This is the first and great commandment.
Matthew 22:39 (NKJV)
And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
Quick Note: Who is our neighbor?
Quick Note: Who is our neighbor?
Neighbors Referred To God’s People Not Neighboring Nations.
Neighbors Referred To God’s People Not Neighboring Nations.
The Misunderstanding of the Good Samaritan
The Misunderstanding of the Good Samaritan
Luke 10:29 (NKJV)
But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Luke 10:30 (NKJV)
Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
Luke 10:31 (NKJV)
Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
Luke 10:32 (NKJV)
Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side.
Luke 10:33 (NKJV)
But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion.
Luke 10:34 (NKJV)
So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’
Luke 10:36 (NKJV)
So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?”
And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.”
Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
Jesus Was Helping Them To Understand That In The New Testament Not Only Jews Would Be Their Neighbors!
Jesus Was Helping Them To Understand That In The New Testament Not Only Jews Would Be Their Neighbors!
Samaritans Could Now Be Saved
Samaritans Could Now Be Saved
The Good Samaritan Story is Important in Helping to Change the Minds of The Jews
The Good Samaritan Story is Important in Helping to Change the Minds of The Jews
The Woman At The Well
The Woman At The Well
Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John
(though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples),
He left Judea and departed again to Galilee.
But He needed to go through Samaria.
So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.”
For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water?
Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”
Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again,
but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”
Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”
The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.”
Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’
for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”
The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.
Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”
Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.
You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.
But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.
God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”
Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”
And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?”
The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men,
“Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?”
Then they went out of the city and came to Him.
In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”
But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”
Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?”
Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.
Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!
And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.
For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’
I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”
Their Enemies Could Now Be Their Neighbors
Their Enemies Could Now Be Their Neighbors
Matthew 5:43 (NKJV)
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
Matthew 5:44 (NKJV)
But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,
Matthew 5:45 (NKJV)
that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
Now Their Enemies Could Be Saved
Now Their Enemies Could Be Saved
God Had Told Them In The Old Testament to Not Harm and To Care But Now He Says To Love Them!
Exodus 23:4–5 (NKJV)
“If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden, and you would refrain from helping it, you shall surely help him with it.
Leviticus 19:34 (NKJV)
The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
The Jews Had To Broaden Their Understanding of Not Who Their Neighbors Were But Who Could Now Be Their Neighbors!
The Jews Had To Broaden Their Understanding of Not Who Their Neighbors Were But Who Could Now Be Their Neighbors!
The Command To Love Your Neighbor Is Referring To Us Today Also As In The People of God No Matter Their Background.
The Command To Love Your Neighbor Is Referring To Us Today Also As In The People of God No Matter Their Background.
Everyone Has The Potential To Be Our Neighbor In Christ! That’s Why Treat Everyone With Love
Everyone Has The Potential To Be Our Neighbor In Christ! That’s Why Treat Everyone With Love
We Treat Everyone With The Love of God So Hopefully They Will Accept The Love Of God Through Christ
We Treat Everyone With The Love of God So Hopefully They Will Accept The Love Of God Through Christ
Romans 12:18 (NKJV)
If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.
Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.
And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
The Stranger For The Jews
The Stranger For The Jews
The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
Notice the “stranger who dwells among you”
And when a stranger dwells with you and wants to keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as a native of the land. For no uncircumcised person shall eat it.
One law shall be for the native-born and for the stranger who dwells among you.”
“You shall neither mistreat a stranger nor oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
All Men Are Not Our Neighbors But People In General
All Men Are Not Our Neighbors But People In General
Hang all the Law and Prophets on These 2, Why?
Hang all the Law and Prophets on These 2, Why?
On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
First Half Love God
And God spoke all these words, saying:
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
1st half Relationship With God
1st half Relationship With God
1st Commandment
1st Commandment
“You shall have no other gods before Me.
2nd Commandment
2nd Commandment
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;
3rd Commandment
3rd Commandment
you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
4th Commandment
4th Commandment
“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.
For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
Relationship With One Another And God
Relationship With One Another And God
5th Commandment
5th Commandment
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
Relationship With One Another
Relationship With One Another
6th Commandment
6th Commandment
“You shall not murder.
7th Commandment
7th Commandment
“You shall not commit adultery.
8th Commandment
8th Commandment
“You shall not steal.
9th Commandment
9th Commandment
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10th Commandment
10th Commandment
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”