THE TRUTH ABOUT: Love


‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13‬:‭4‬-‭8‬, ‭13‬ ‭(NIV‬‬) Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

4 Greek Words For Love

  • Storge - familial love or natural affections, especially between parents and children

  • Phileo - deep friendship or brotherly love

    • John 11:34–36 (ESV) And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.”  Jesus wept.  So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

  • Eros - (not in the NT) - romantic or passionate love

  • Agape - highest form of love referring to sacrificial love seeking the well-being of others (referring to God’s love for us and the love Christians are called to have for one another)


Experiencing The Love Of God Equips You To Give/Receive True Love

  • 1 John 4:19 (ESV) We love because he first loved us.

    • Parents, children, spouse, friends, neighbors and enemies

  • True love for God is possible in response to His love

    • Religion is created when we try to love God without the revelation of his love.

    • “God grant me a revelation of your love for me.”

  • The revelation of God’s love is something we walk in. It is a status, It is something we wear. It is like a superpower

    • Romans 8:35, 38-39 (ESV) Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,  nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

  • Self love is a poor substitute for the revelation of God’s love.

  • The revelation of God’s loves enables us to love correctly

    • The love you have experienced prior to that is incomplete, possibly even poisoned.

    • Loving others out of a broken experience will be limited.

  • In choosing a potential spouse, choose someone who loves God first

    • Matthew 10:37 (ESV) Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

LOVE: The Sacrificial DECISION To Seek The Well-Being Of Others

  • 1 Peter 2:4 (ESV) As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious.

    • God chose to love you.

  • God would not command you to do something that you could not choose

    • Matthew 22:39 (ESV) And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

    • Matthew 5:44–46 (ESV) But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,  so that you may be sons of your Father who is 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 do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

  • Falling into love leads to falling out of love

  • That type of love is emotion

  • That type of love is attraction

    • “You can’t help who you love” is not a true statement. “You can’t help who you are attracted to” is the correct response.

    • Attraction is often impacted by brokenness and traumatic experiences

      • Childhood trauma

      • Broken relationships

      • Grooming

  • In marriage, attraction is important, but the decision to love is paramount.

    • Fall in love means you can fall out of love.

    • At moments it will feel like being trapped.

    • The decision will unlock the emotion

LOVE: The SACRIFICIAL Decision To Seek The Well-Being Of Others

  • John 3:16 (ESV) “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

  • John 15:13 (ESV) Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

  • LOVE empties its vault to increase the value of someone else.

  • Anyone who demands things under the umbrella of love is likely manipulation.

    • If you loved me then you would….

  • God will deal with your narcissism through others.

  • “Oh, this is how you feel God…”


LOVE: The Sacrificial Decision To Seek The WELL-BEING Of Others

  • 1 Corinthians 13:6 (NIV) Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

  • “Well Being: God’s Best

  • Some forms of love are out of alignment with AGAPE

    • Care for feelings

    • Care for comfort

    • Care about being liked

    • Care about being accepted

    • Ex: During the pandemic, riots, and current woke agendas “how will that show the world the love of God?”

  • Love in spite of sin, but we can never affirm sin

    • Illus: the man sinking because of the concrete block he is holding needs someone to love him without affirming the block.

  • True love does not pull people out of the boundaries of God’s Word. True love seeks to center others within God’s Word, sometimes at the expense of:

    • Their feelings

    • Their comfort

    • Their cultural 

  • There are more important things than how people feel

    • Rejoices with the truth

    • Ephesians 4:15 (ESV) Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.

Leslie ParrishSteve ParrishComment