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Pastor Rob Carlson: 
"Think Different: Understanding Love in a Whole New Light" 
series: Sage Advice for a Godly Life
Sunday, August 22, 2004 
1 Corinthians 13 
[page 1137 in pew Bible]

Greek words for love... 

• Phileo - brotherly love
• Eros - romantic love
• Agape - Christ-like, Cross-like, Calvary love 
  Romans 5:8--But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
  o It is a love lavished upon others whether they deserve it or not.
  o It flows from the nature of the lover, rather than from the nature of the beloved. 

Ephesians 5:1,2--Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 
²and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. 

1. An agape relationship is superior in quality to all others. 

1 Corinthians 12:31--But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way. 

See also Matthew 5:43-48 and Matthew 22:34-40

>>>If I have not discovered that the best way of life is giving and receiving His love unconditionally...or that the ultimate standard for relationships is agape, then I don't understand Calvary love. 

2. What you are in a relationship supersedes what you do. 

1 Corinthians 13:1-3--If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 
²If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 
³If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. 

Galatians 2:20--I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 

See also 1 John 4:11-21 and 2:4-6

>>>If I have not determined that my thoughts, words and behaviors, are useless unless they flow from agape love, convey its message and must be perfected in its quality, then I don't understand Calvary love. 

3. An agape relationship is intensely deliberate, practical, and personal. 

1 Corinthians 13:4-7--Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 
⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 
⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 
⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 

>>>If I relate to others in a way that does not specifically seek to build them up and effect their highest good, then I don't understand Calvary love-real love (and I am not living in the shadow of the cross). 

4. Relating in an agape manner is investing in the eternal. 

1 Corinthians 13:8-13--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. 
⁹For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 
¹⁰but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 
¹¹When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 
¹²Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
¹³And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 

Paul says three things here about agape love: 

• He stresses its absolute permanency 
• He stresses its absolute completeness 
• He stresses its absolute supremacy 

>>>If my thoughts, abilities, energies, gifts, and time resources are invested in pursuits that are unrelated to agape love, then I am enchained by the temporal and don’t understand Calvary Love. 

5. Agape living must be our goal, our aim. 

1 Corinthians 14:1--Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy. 

>>>If my way of life excludes sweat, blood, and tears, for the sake of experiencing or sharing His love with another, then I don’t understand Calvary Love. 

Luke 22:19, 39-46--And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me." 
39Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. 
40On reaching the place, he said to them, "Pray that you will not fall into temptation." 
41He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 
42"Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." 
43An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 
44And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. 
45When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. 
46"Why are you sleeping?" he asked them. "Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation." 

Small Group Discussion Questions: 

*Scripture is quoted from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.
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