Add On's 4
The Add On’s: LOVE
2 Peter 1:5-7 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.
Virtue
Knowledge
Self-control
Perseverance
Godliness
Brotherly kindness
Love
Caleb spoke on Virtue and Knowledge, I loved his point that knowledge is before self control because you get knowledge and then you need self control to ensure you don’t get proud.
Shoz spoke on Self-control and Perseverance, I really appreciated her questions “are we happy with ourselves”, if we could change something what would we change? We used them for our plug in group that week and even did the super challenging thing of having our neighbor share something they think we could work on! I thought it was great!
Phil dug into Godliness and Brotherly Kindness, what it is to be like God and what it is to show brotherly kindness - go check out his notes for the super practical keys he included!
Now before we get into today’s topic, gotta remind us that we are adding to FAITH.
Faith is a Biblical foundation principle (Hebrews 6:1-2) and if you’re unsure about what it really means, do our foundations course! It’s thorough, it’s practical, it’s relational. SO GOOD.
So I’m not going to go super into what faith is, except to mention that never in the scriptures is faith described as “my faith”
There is “The Faith” - is a gift from God, something we need to contend for, it comes from God - we don’t determine what it is
There is Biblical Faith - as in the way the Bible describes what faith is - e.g. Hebrews 11:1
There is the gifted measure of faith - as in we are all given a measure of Biblical faith to cultivate, steward and grow, and we are to act upon that faith in obedience.
This leads me to LOVE, our topic today! In terms of the Add ons, and adding on to faith, love is VITAL
Let’s go to Galatians 5:1-6
Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is [b]a debtor to keep the whole law. You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith which works by love.
F A I T H W O R K S B Y L O V E
LOVE
What is love? - Handy word breakdown link
4 key Greek words for LOVE
Eros (not used in Bible), Storge, Phileo, and Agape
Phileo - verb:
To love
To approve of
To like
Sanction
Treat affectionately or kindly, to welcome, befriend
To show signs of love
to kiss
To be fond of doing
Phileo is used in both the positive and negative in the scriptures:
For example:
Matt 6:5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
Matt 10:37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
John 5:20 For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.
Phileo is also part of the root for Philadelphia which is the word translated “Brotherly kindness” or “Brotherly love” and is used in the scriptures to mean “the love of brothers or sisters, and the love which Christians cherish for each other as brethren”
The word “love” used here in 2 Peter 1:5-7 is AGAPE - a noun
Meaning: Affection, goodwill, benevolence, and also love feasts
The best way to figure out what the Bible means by using a word is to look at HOW the word is used in the full counsel of the scriptures.
John 5:24 But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you.
John 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
John 15:9-10, 13 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Romans 14:15 But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.
Gal 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
Ephesians 3:14-21 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 5:2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour.
Philippians 1:9 And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;
Colossians 3:14 And above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness.
Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works
1 Peter 4:8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
GOD IS LOVE
1 John 4:7-8 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
LOVE IS THE MOST/MORE EXCELLENT WAY
1 Corinthians 13
Check out this previous briefing HERE
LOVE IS A FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
Gal 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
Keys to getting fruit:
Preparation of the soil (Hosea 10:11)
Be planted (Matt 13)
Death (John 12:24)
Get watered (Eph 5:26)
Pruning (Is 18:5)
SUN exposure (1 John 1:7)
LOVE: Resurrection and Reconciliation link
2 Corinthians 5 (handy link)
For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences. For we do not commend ourselves again to you, but give you opportunity to boast on our behalf, that you may have an answer for those who boast in appearance and not in heart. For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; or if we are of sound mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
LET’S GET REAL:
Just as in Essence God is Love, He is Holy
It’s his goodness that leads to repentance, and it’s his anointing, his HOLY SPIRIT that breaks the yoke.
What areas of our life do we NEED the love of God?