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What is Love Unending?
Is there such a thing as unending love? I can answer that, yes, there is love unending or eternal love. But unfortunately, often you don’t see that kind of love among your friends and loved ones. Instead, the love we see today is primarily self-centered.
In our daily walk, we see many things and actions that society calls love. However, do we have any idea of what true love is?
We use the word love so loosely today that a person must try to understand the context. It can mean that we like something like cake and ice cream or that we have sexual feelings. But unfortunately, those around us use love in so many ways that it has lost much meaning.
The Greeks understood that certain words were crucial for us to understand; they had several words for love to avoid confusion. We will touch on a few of these words to understand the importance of love unending in Scripture. People tell me that I teach and preach too much on love, but I believe you will see why I consider it essential.
As Christians, we must understand love. Jesus defined who we are to be by requiring us not only to love one another but to love everyone.
The love of Christ
In Ephesians 3:17-18 NKJV Paul prayed,17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Rooted and established in love are powerful words. To do our job, we need to understand Christ’s love. Paul understood and tried to convey his understanding as it related to the Lord. He wants us to grasp “how wide, and long and high and deep Christ’s love is.”
Love is essential in serving God. Therefore, Jesus often speaks about love and people’s lack of love for their fellow man. So much of His message is about loving and giving as we minister to others.
Love others is so crucial that Jesus points out that it is second only to loving God. All the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John tell us of Jesus saying we are to “love our neighbor as ourselves.” It is that important to follow Jesus. We always need to pay attention when Scripture repeats over and over.
No, this is not an easy command. You are to follow Jesus; He never said it would be easy. Love took Him to the cross. We must work at it every day. People are not always what we would like, but remember, we are also not perfect. God is still working on us if we let Him.
In 1 Corinthians 13:13 NKJV Paul says, 13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. All three are essential in our walk with the Lord. First, however, he emphasizes LOVE.
Once we apply love to our lives, we are to follow it on to the use of gifts. “Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy.” 1 Corinthians 14:1. Paul clarifies that love is the starting place and empowers to the end. Without love, none of the rest makes any difference.
Pursuing Love
As we will see in this message, love is the primary quality of fruit to be preeminent above all else. It is something God wants us to pursue in every relationship.
The Greek word for pursuing is “DIOKO,” the same word Paul used in Philippians, where he said, “I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.” Philippians 3:12 NKJV It is a strong word that denotes to pursue without hostility and to seek eagerly after.
To understand love in the Scriptures, we need to look at the Greek definitions of the word love. Therefore, let’s examine each Greek word used for love and how love is the superior quality of fruit in all we do as Christians.
We will define these three words for love, Agapao, Phileo, and Storge. These definitions will help us understand what love we should pursue with God and in other relationships. Love for God and one another must be the foundation of all we do as Christians. Without it, we are only making noise and commotion, and we are nothing.
Remember what Paul says in Corinthians, “If I speak in the tongues of men or angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If 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 do not have love, I am nothing.” 1 Corinthians 13:1-2 NKJV
So, of what kind of love are we speaking?
Before we fully understand what it means to pursue love unending with God and all the other relationships He has established in our lives, we must first have some applicable working definitions of love. So let us look at these words.
The Agape or Christian Love.
Agape love is the selfless love of one another without any sexual implications. We use it to describe God’s attitude toward His Son, the human race, and all those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Agape love is the love we are to show to the world by following Jesus.
Agape is the most important type of love because all other expressions should flow out of it. Therefore, Christian love is agape love. Let us look closely at our expressions of love. We will discuss this in detail and briefly discuss a few other loving terms used in our relationship with God.
It is such a part of our walk with the Lord that he says to us, 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35 NKJV
Our best example of agape love is in one of our favorite scriptures. It tells the story of God’s love for us and His desire to share eternity with us.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 1 John 3:16 NIV
It is important to remember that God, the Father, and God, the Son, planned our salvation from the beginning. They knew you, and you would not be able to live righteously before them. We sinned from the start, and sin is not allowed in God’s presence. When we sin, there is a price.
We could not pay the price for our sins, so Jesus came and paid it for us by giving His life on the cross.
God offers salvation to those who believe in and accept forgiveness through Jesus. However, God does not force us to accept Jesus. It is evident in Scripture that our acceptance of Jesus is up to us.
We are told a lot about God’s love and salvation through Jesus, but rarely are we told that God does require something of us.
Jesus is clear that if we love Him, we will keep His commands.
Jesus says, “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” John 14:21 NKJV
In other words, “My Father will love the one who loves me, and I will love them and show myself to them.” SO IF YOU LOVE HIM, YOU WILL KEEP HIS COMMANDS!
Love is action
Love is a word of action, and it prompts a response. So you see God’s love unending in the gift of His Son. This gift is His response to His love for us.
But God demonstrates his love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 NKJV
We must also respond to God’s gift with our agape love.
Christian love or agape love has God as its primary object and expresses itself first in implicit obedience to His commandments.
Jesus is very serious in the following Scripture. So often, we ignore the first part of this Scripture and hold fast to the last sentence. However, Jesus said it all, not just the parts we like.
If you love me, keep my commands… “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” John 14:21 NKJV
Christian love, whether exercised toward your mate, your children, the brethren, or humankind in general, is not an impulse from feelings. It does not always run with the natural inclinations nor spend itself only upon those with whom you find some affinity. Christian love seeks the welfare of all and works no ill to any.
Agape love seeks the opportunity to do good to all men, especially toward those of the household of faith. (See Romans 15:2, 13:8-10, Galatians 6:10, 1 Corinthians 13 and Colossians 3:12-14.)
In summary, Christian love or agape love expresses the deep and constant love of a perfect Being towards entirely unworthy objects. Agape love produces and fosters a respectful love in them toward the Giver, a practical love towards those who are partakers of the same.
Because of God’s love for us, we also want to help others find salvation. Agape love is an unselfish love that prepares us to serve and help others. God wants us to pursue agape love with all of our hearts, mind, soul, and body.
Phileo or Brotherly Love.
Bible writers often use Phileo love combined with Storge or family love. We will discuss some of those usages later, but Phileo love is the one used for love many times in Scripture.
Our forefathers used Phileo as part of the name of one of our major cities, Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love.
Phileo is brotherly love. It is a love for the brethren, a fraternal love that shows kindness towards one another. It does not have the depth of agape love. However, it flows out of Agape love.
The Scripture is full of examples of this type of love. In the following verse and many more, Paul defines brotherly love. Love unending is a constant theme in the Bible.
Now about your love for one another, we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. 1 Thessalonians 4:9 NKJV
Phileo is an Affectionate Love.
Phileo love is an affection that expresses feelings between friends and individuals. The disciples had this kind of love for one another.
It describes the sentiment or emotion of a brotherly nature. For example, Jesus had this kind of love for his beloved disciple, John. He had Agape love for them and some degree of Phileo, but John, (the other disciple in the verse below), was more like a little brother than the others.
So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” John 20:2 NKJV
This type of love is also the kind of love Peter displayed to Jesus when Jesus asked him whether he loved him or not.
When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” John 21:15 NKJV
God desires that we all learn how to be affectionate towards one another honestly and properly.
Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Romans 12:10 NKJV
Storge
The final word we need to understand is Storge. It is the kind of love that says you are family. In the Greek language, it denotes our feelings in our family relationships. In Scripture, it is used with Phileo to define the type of love more clearly.
10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; Romans 12:10 NKJV The, “kindly affectionate” comes from the combined words, Philostorgos. Paul uses it here to express the unique family relationships of God’s people.
Importance of Love.
I want us to see in this message that God’s ultimate desire for our lives is that we would truly learn how to love Him. Loving God is the path to doing His will in our lives. Love is more important than our call, using our gifts and ministries, or anything. Without love, we are nothing. Love is the glue that holds everything together.
And overall, these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Colossians 3:14 NKJV
The Bible says love is the greatest of the three essential ingredients in our relationship with God. It’s greater than our faith because our faith works by love.
And now these three remain, faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13 NKJV
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. Galatians 5:6 NKJV
If we lack faith and desire for other essential things to kingdom life, could it be that our love is lacking? Think about it. God’s unending love for you is your only hope.
The lack of love within our churches is more crippling than any other failure. Love is the mortar that holds it all together. Without love, the church is nothing more than a social club with a cross out front.
To love God with all our heart, soul, and mind is the first and greatest commandment. The second is to love our neighbor as ourselves. (See James 2:8.) These royal laws are what James speaks of here.
Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-40 NKJV
Concluding Remarks
In this message, I have simply tried to give you a foundation as to what love is so that you can know what it truly means to love God with all your heart, mind, and soul. It also means that you are to love the people that God has placed in your life.