Ephesians 5:25 & Titus 2:4

The word love is used for almost anything these days.  I love my dog.  I love ice cream.  I love baseball.  Love is also associated with certain feelings.  The poets and philosophers disagree on what love is.  They range in their descriptions from the highest heights to the lowest depths. Hollywood has taught us that love is an uncontrollable emotion that one can fall into, hence they “fell in love”.  But God’s opinion is reality so what did God say about this overused under applied word.

Love is not Natural

• It’s not that people are incapable of love, it’s that love is not what we are inclined to do.
• Children don’t have to be taught to disobey; that’s natural.  They must be taught obedience.  When Jesus Christ is asked about the commandments of God in Matthew 22:36 he gives two answers about love that cover the scope of the law and the prophets.  It’s a command because it’s not natural.
• Men must be commanded to love, Ephesians 5:25
• Women must be taught to love.  For the longest time I believed that women were more naturally geared to love until I saw this verse, Titus 2:4.

Love is not Perpetual

• Love doesn’t exist in a vacuum.  It is work to maintain it and there are constant forces at work to destroy it.
• Matthew 24:12 – sin has an eroding effect on love.  The more sin, the less love.
• Revelation 2:4 – activity and business will distract from love

Love is not an Emotion

• 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
• A man said he didn’t think he loved his wife anymore because he didn’t feel anything for her.  At the same time a woman said she was willing to throw away her entire family because she had feelings for someone else.  On the one hand, the man is throwing it all away because of a lack of feelings and the woman was willing to throw everything away because of the presence of feelings.

Love is not Lust

• Amnon 2 Samuel 13:10-15

And now let’s look at what love is in the Bible.  God’s opinion is reality.  Christianity, unlike all other religions, is about what God has done for mankind as opposed to what mankind will do to get to God.  Jesus Christ cited loving God and loving others as the foundation for the entire law.  He also said that your love for each other would be a testimony to the world.  So we see that love is one thing that differentiates Christianity from everything else.

God is the SOURCE of love

• 1 John 4:7-11
• Biblical love can be defined as a question, What are you willing to give for the object of your live? John 15:13

God is the STANDARD of love

• Jesus Christ modeled God’s love and then commanded us to do what he showed us how to do – 1 John 3:16, Ephesians 5:25

God gives the STRENGTH to love

• Romans 5:5 & Galatians 5:22
• 1 Thessalonians 3:12 – It is the bond of perfection – Colossians 3:14