The God Kind of Love Part 1

What is love?

Love is that reasoning, that intentional spiritual devotion such as is inspired by God’s love for us and in us.

To be clear, there are 4 types of love, according to the original Greek manuscripts: 

• Eros – erotic/ sexual love
• Storge – family love
• Philia – Brotherly friendship and partnership. It is the highest level of love that we humans can attain, without God’s help. It is the highest level of love for man.
• Agape – Unchanging, self-giving love. Love that gives without expecting or demanding repayment. Can love the unlovable and unappealing, love that is self-denying.

The kind of love that we want to look into is not Eros, Storge or Philia, but Agape. During the rest of this sermon when we mention love, we'll be talking about the God kind of love, that is Agape love. 

Let us go into a deeper meaning of this God kind of Love:

Love is of God. God is love:

1 John 4:8 

He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 

1 John 4:16 

And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in Him.

According to John 4:24, we learn that God is Spirit: God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth. We are spirit beings:

Genesis 1:26-27:

Then God said, “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created Him; male and female He created them. 

Genesis 2:7 

And the Lord formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. 

When we got born again, we received the Holy Spirit, who gave us power: 

Acts 1:8 

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. 

The first thing the Holy Spirit did when we got born again is give birth (rebirth) a spirit inside us:

John 3:6 

That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 

The next thing the Holy Spirit did when we received Him, which is for the first time stated when Paul first mentioned the Holy Spirit in the book of Romans, was to give us love:

Romans 5:5

Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. 

Now from the above texts we understand that the Holy Spirit gave us a spirit and then love, and according to another text this spirit is a gift, which is called three things: 

2 Timothy 1:6-7 

Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given s a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 

This spirit we received is in the image of God (God is love) and His likeness, and is called power, love, and sound mind. From this, we learn that love is power, spirit and a sound mind (self-discipline, sensibility, well-balanced mind). From here also, we learn that love is a gift. Just as fear is a spirit, so love is a spirit. God is Spirit, and God is love. So love is a Spirit.

If you have a tree and you want to determine what kind of a tree it is, the most assured way is by the fruit. You wait, and the first fruit it produces defines it. We received the Holy Spirit, and His first fruit defines who He is: love (Romans 5:5). 

Galatians 5:22-23 

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 

From this we learn that love is the Holy Spirit’s first fruit, and all the rest are the products or accompaniments of the first fruit (joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control). 

Why is love so important?
# Love is God Himself. The more aware you are of the gift of God in you, the more you are aware of the power of God working in you, and the more you are aware of God’s presence with you.

#  Love is the power to do all things, love everybody, bear and stand all things (2 Timothy 1:7). It is the power that helps us behave, walk, be and talk like God. Love is the spirit that identifies us with God. The world does not have God, so it cannot have the God kind of love. Love is the power that enables us to be like God.

#  Love gives you worth, and gives life meaning. Let us get deeper meaning from the "love chapter". 

1 Corinthians 13:1-3

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

This text speaks of “having love”, so if you do not know what you have, it cannot help you. If you someone deposits Kshs. 1 million in your bank account, without your knowledge, it cannot be of help of you if you do not know of the money. It will be of help to your current situation when you get knowledge of its existence. This is the same with love. If you are not aware of its existence, it cannot be of help to you, and so you cannot benefit from it. 

Let's get back to our text. In the Amplified Bible, it talks about “God’s love in you”, the love of God. If you do not know that you have the God-kind of love, it cannot make you anything (v. 1-2), and it cannot profit or gain you anything (v. 3). What you do not know you have cannot help you, cannot profit or benefit you. Love will help you never to fail. You have to be aware and know of the God kind of love in you so that your speaking in tongues is not in vain, so that your prophecy and knowledge is not in vain, so that your faith is not meaningless, and so that your charity is not in vain. God’s love gives everything meaning. 

Let's look at the rest of the text in the love chapter, to see other benefits of having the God kind of love. We will not be defining love, since we have already defined it. We will be looking at what knowledge of this God kind of love will do:

1 Corinthians 13:4-8a
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails.

From the above, we learn that:

# Love will make you patient and kind, will help you rejoice in truth, bear all things, believe all things, hope all things and endure all things. This is because love is power, and it is the power of God to make you like He is. He is patient, kind, rejoices in truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things. When we realise that we have Him living inside us, and that He is love, and that love is power, then come to the realisation that we have the power to be patient, kind, rejoice in truth, bear all things, believe all things, hope all things and endure all things.

#  Love will keep you from envy, pride and self-exaltation, rudeness, selfish ambition, easy provocation, evil thinking, rejoicing in iniquity. Just like I've elaborated above, knowledge of the God kind of love inside us will give us power to refrain from envy, pride, self-exaltation, rudeness, selfish ambition, self provocation, evil thinking, and the tendency to rejoice in iniquity. Love is the power that pushes us to refrain from all these, but again we have to be aware of what we have.

#  Love gets rid of that which is in part/ incomplete/ imperfect in your life:

1 Corinthians 13:10

But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

Love not only perfects you, but also drives out fear: 

1 John 4:17-18 

Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. 

Love makes us like Jesus, but we have to be aware of it (verse 17). Perfection means being entirely without fault or defect, satisfying all requirements, lacking in no essential detail, faithfully reproducing the original, pure. Love will make you without fault or defect, satisfying all requirements, lacking in no essential detail, faithfully reproducing the original (God), and pure. 

Let us get some more benefits of love, from the Apostle Paul:

Romans 8:31-33 (Read)
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.

#  If you are aware of God’s love in you, you will know that God is for you. God is the Almighty (All-powerful), the Omnipresent, All-knowing, Creator, Wonderful Judge. He is for you, since you are in Christ and have accepted Him. The more you are aware of God’s love for you, that He loves you just like it was just you in the world, the more you will know that He is always for you, and never against you. God's love cannot allow Him to be against you, no matter what you do. His love is unconditional. Nothing you do can ever make God love you any more or any less. God is forever for you, and never against you. 

Knowing of God's love for you and meditating more on it will help you overcome fear, knowing that He can never allow anyone/ anything to be against you (defeat you). The awareness of God’s love for you will strengthen your faith to know that nothing can defeat you. You cannot allow your child to be harmed while you watched; if they do they will feel the power of your love. Anyone who tries to touch you will feel the power of God’s love, if you are aware of it, like Nabal in 1 Samuel 25:39. Threats will come, but you will always be strong as you are aware of God’s love for you. If you are not aware of how much God loves you, you will fight for yourself, and thus the power of God's love will not be made manifest. 

The more you meditate on God's unconditional love for you, the more you come to the full realisation that everything will be okay, no matter how rough it may seem to be turning. The more you meditate on God’s love for you, the more your faith in Him and what He can do for you will grow. Whenever the enemy reminds you of your troubles/ situations, remind yourself how much God loves you. It will drive away fear, and remind you that all things work for good (Romans 8:28).

#  Verse 32 tells us that God proved His love for us by not sparing His own Son, and is willing to give us all things, freely. God wants us to know that He loves us so much that He was willing to give us His Son (John 3:16, 1 John 3:16). God defines the expression of love for us, which is giving. Love is best expressed through giving. The more you are aware of God’s love, the more He will give you freely all things. God’s love for you will give you the faith to believe that God can never deny you anything, if He did not deny you His Son. If I give you my most valued possession, you will be guaranteed that there is nothing else I can’t give you, as you are assured of my sacrificial love for you. You will never be afraid of asking anything from me, as you know that I once gave you my most valuable treasure. That is what awareness of God’s love for us does: it boosts our faith, and assures us that He will not only protect us and never allow anything to harm us, but will also give us all things upon request, according to His will.

#  Awareness of God’s love will give you courage to pray like Jesus prayed in John 11:41-42:

And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said,“Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.”

It will give you confidence of God’s promises. God loves you so much, that is why He says that His promises are Yes and Amen:

2 Corinthians 1:20

For ALL the promises of God in Him are Yes and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.

God’s promises are God’s will, and He guarantees to do it: 

1 John 5:14-15

Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”

The knowledge of God’s love for you will give you faith to believe that He will do them ALL for you, because He loves you. Try to make it a habit to quote a promise with the extension "because God loves me", and it will build your faith. For example, “The young lions and suffer hunger; but those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing;” (Psalm 34:10) I will not lack any good thing, because He loves me. “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all;" (Psalm 34:19) He will deliver me out of this situation because He loves me. "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want;" (Psalm 23:1) I shall never want, because He loves me. And so on and so forth. 

#  Verse 33 of Romans 8 ends by telling us that it is God who justifies. If God is love, then we can outright say that love justifies. His love in you will justify your actions, if you are aware of its power. Your heart may condemn you when you do something from the prompting of this power, but you can assure it that God is above your heart. This will give you confidence before Him, when praying:

1 John 3:18-22

My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. 19 And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. 22 And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.

Let us finish by looking at the rest of the verses of Romans 8:

Romans 8:35-39

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” 37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

#  Awareness of God’s love will cast away fear. Nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ. Tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril and sword all are brought by man, which is why Paul coins them as “who”. None of these shall be able to separate us from God’s love. Your knowledge of Christ’s love for you will assure you that one of these things will destroy you, as Christ loves you so much and highly values you. He died for you, and you are highly treasured. He did not create and save you, only for you to be destroyed by these things. He paid such a high price for Him to watch you swallowed by these things. The power of His love will not be stopped by being made manifest in your life, by either tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril or sword. 

#  Through it all, we are more than conquerors through Him (God, who is love), who loved us. Knowledge and awareness of God’s love for you will make you a more than a conqueror, which is why it says “through Him who loved us.” Nothing on earth or in the heavens or under the earth shall separate you from the love of God, from the God kind of love which is in Christ Jesus, meaning we get it when we accept Christ and abide in Him. Jesus will always love you, and not all the listed things will make Him stop loving you or make the power of His love be manifested in your life. You just have to have faith and know this.

God loves you! Believe it!!!

Blessings. 

-- Sam Gitonga. 

(24/2/13 Sunday Service Sermon, Africa Transformation Mission. Pramukh Plaza, 6th Floor.)

Sam Gitonga is a Youth Leader at Africa Transformation Mission, a ministry under Christ Harvesters Ministries.