This Sunday service Pastor (Mrs) Silvia Lia Leigh preached another sermon in the series titled ‘Love is The New Commandment’. Her main scriptures were taken from the books of Genesis 22:1-19; John 13:31-35; 15:9-17.  

THE AGAPE LOVE OF GOD

Love is the greatest word in the Bible. In Greek, there are three words for love. Eros refers to sexual love. Philio refers to friendly attachment. Agape means unconditional sacrificial love. In the New Testament, the word Love appears about 200 times, and it is always ‘agape’ love. This Love is not just a feeling. It is the highest, most pure form of love, born not out of natural attraction or obligation, but a willful choice and a command to be obeyed.  It is the unselfish, pure, powerful, and sacrificial love that desires the best in another person. This love is best expressed as the Fatherly Love of God for human beings. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (Jn 3:16). This is the Gospel: God the Father sent God the Son to become a Man and die on behalf of sinners. This agape Love of God ignites love in the heart of the believers. It also helps them to love their ‘neighbors’ as they love themselves. The unbelievers may be religious, but they do not know this agape love. It is a gift given only to the children of God, who are saved by grace and thru faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Agape love is a sacrificial love that saves, unites, and heals. It is the love of God that we see through the cross of Jesus Christ. This love saves and restores humanity in the face of sin and death. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (Jn 15:13). Because we are born sinners, agape love does not come naturally to us. But because God is Love, as His children, we learn how to love God and people. The description of love appears in 1 Corinthians 13. These are the basic attributes of agape love: It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs. Love is unconcerned with the self and concerned with the greatest good of another. Agape love requires faithfulness, commitment, courage, strength, wisdom, faith, and sacrifice. When we love others, we do it expecting nothing in return from them. Love trusts God alone to respond and reward the sacrifice. It is the Spirit filled lives of the Christians, their love for God and for one another that is the magnet God uses to attract the world to Jesus! It was like that in the early church, during the time of the Reformation and it is the same during all the revivals in the history of the Church! Selah!

PRAYER FOR DEEPER LOVE

“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, 5 for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; 7 just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace. 8 For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ. 9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, 10 that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, 11 being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God” (Phil 1:3-11).

Every religion has its own god and its own pattern of prayers. The followers offer sacrifices and pray to their god, hoping that they will be heard. But there is no love between the gods and those who trust in them. Also, there is no particular love between the followers. Christianity is the only ‘religion’ that has a God who loves His children. No other religion says that its ‘god is love’! Love is the major peculiarity of Christianity. “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” (1Jn 4:16). Prayer connects us with the greatest Love in the universe. Apostle Paul writes this letter to the believers in Philippi. He remembers them with love and joy from ‘the first day until now’. It was in Philippi that he met Lydia, whose heart God opened to believe the Gospel. Love started working immediately in her. She invited Paul and the brethren into her house. It was in Philippi that he delivered the slave girl possessed with a python seducing spirit. Because of that, he and Silas were sent to prison where a miracle happened. God saved the jailer and his household. It was the jailer that chained Paul and Silas. Once he was saved, love manifested. He washed their wounds in his house. These new believers gathered and started the church in Philippi. Paul remembers them with gladness. He is now in chains, in a prison in Rome, because of the Gospel, but he continues to pray for the church over there. He writes as a pastor and as father to his children. He describes the love between them as ‘fellowship in the Gospel’, as a good work that God has begun in them, and God will perfect it. This love makes them all to be ‘partakers of God’s grace’. You can feel his love. He says: “I have you in my heart… I greatly long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ”. Glory to God!

This is an apostolic prayer that applies to all believers. The first thing we observe is that Paul prays for spiritual things. He prays that they may grow spiritually and become fruitful. The reason is to become ready to meet the Lord ‘in the day of Christ’. The believers have received God’s Love as a seed. It has now become ‘your love’. The Holy Spirit gives them the power, but it is their responsibility to make the seed of love grow. Paul shows here that there is a greater and higher level of Christianity ahead. The center of action is the seed of Love growing inside. As Love grows, they will become ‘pure and blameless’ (Philip 1:10; NIV), ready to meet Jesus. Love both purifies and makes us blameless. Purity refers to the heart, to the motives of actions. To be blameless refers to the choices we make. Having a blameless character, we do not hurt others and are not a stumbling block to them. Other religions tell you to become what you can never be. But In Christ, we become ‘a new creation’. The Holy Spirit gives us all that we need to grow. But we need to cooperate with God. His work inside our heart must be manifested in godly character and kind deeds. Justification by faith is one event. Sanctification is a lifetime process. Paul said: “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12). This is a spiritual law: you sow seeds before harvest. Like a woman in labor, there is pain before progress in life. “Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. 6 He who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him” (Ps 126:5, 6). Paul prays that this love will increase to be a spiritual harvest to the glory of God.

Paul prays that their love ‘will abound still more and more in knowledge and discernment’. In Greek, the word ‘abound’ means to be excellent in quality and to overflow in quantity. Paul says that Love has knowledge. The word ‘knowledge’ always refers to knowing God and His Word. Love has knowledge and experience to go deep to the root of the matter. People sometimes say that ‘love is blind’. This is because when people ‘fall in love’ they don’t care about anybody, they only ‘love’ themselves. They do not listen to advice. But that describes sexual lust, not agape love. For Love is not stupid, stubborn, or ignorant. Love’s knowledge comes from intimacy with God and that gives love its experience. The word ‘discernment’ means profound insight, wisdom, and spiritual sensitivity. Love’s knowledge tells you who to love and its discernment tells you how to love. Like an oak tree, love starts with a seed and becomes mature, mighty in exploits. There is a danger to be quickly satisfied with the seed love we receive as baby Christians. For this seed to grow, we must pay the price to love the unlovely expecting nothing in return from men but trusting God alone to reward you. Love’s knowledge and discernment gets deeper thru the practical application of God’s Word and prayer.

Love is interested in quality service. Like Daniel, love has an excellent spirit (Dan 5:12). Love does not waste its time and effort on foolish pursuits. Love tests and approves of things that are noble and excellent. That is why love is a leader and a mentor. Love purifies the heart like fire. Love is fruitful. The fruits of love are righteousness, which is the tested and approved Christan character. Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches. The success of a branch is in fruit bearing. Jesus said that producing fruits gives glory to God. Fruitfulness means spiritual maturity which is always associated with the joy of Jesus. Fruitfulness means to be the friend of Jesus. A mature believer knows and loves God. He also knows and loves people. Jesus knew all about the weaknesses and sins of His disciples and still went to the Cross for them. He chose Judas who will betray him, but His love for people never failed. We love people as Jesus loves people. Even when people disappoint us, we continue to love them. This agape unfailing love is the engine of Christianity. Lack of love, lack of spiritual fruits, is a dangerous ground. Examine yourself!

Let us pray: Dear Heavenly Father, help us to grow deeper in Love with you and love people. Help us to love with Your love. Help us to abide in Christ, to abide in His love. Help us to pay the price to love excellent and noble things, to reject foolishness and gossip. Help our love to grow in wisdom and discernment. Help us to take risks in loving people. Help us to be spiritually fruitful to manifest Your glory on earth. Help us to learn daily how to love better, deeper, even to learn from mistakes. To Your glory alone! In Jesus’ name we pray, amen!

THE NEW COMMANDMENT – LOVE AS JESUS LOVES

“When he (Judas) had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him. 32 If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him immediately. 33 Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come,’ so now I say to you. 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” (Jn 13:31-35)

“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. 11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. 12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. 17 These things I command you, that you love one another” (Jn 15:9-17).

Our Lord is a few hours away from the Cross. He desires to have one more meal together with His disciples. Judas has just left to betray Him. For the first time since they were called by Jesus, Judas is missing. They are now eleven disciples. They do not know yet, but for the first time they are free from ‘this virus of destruction’. Jesus then says: “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him immediately”. What does He mean? He identifies the Cross with God’s glory. For us, the Cross is the most painful and shameful deed ever committed by men on earth. The horrors of the Cross cannot be described by mere words. Many see the Cross as a complete tragedy and failure. But according to Jesus, The Cross reveals His glory and the glory of God the Father. The Cross is the highest revelation of God’s Love and Glory. As Jesus died for sinners, the tragedy that happened in the Garden of Eden, was now reversed. Adam fell, and with Him, all humanity fell. This was the devil’s greatest victory. He became the god of this world. Nobody could change the hopeless story of men. After 4000 years of sin being king on earth, on that Cross, God the Son, who became man, died on behalf of men. He set them free from the guilt and power of sin. For the first time since Genesis, the devil is defeated, and the power of death is destroyed. For the first time, the prisoners of sin and death are free to leave their eternal prison. No more condemnation! No more guilt! No more shame! Glory!

*At the Cross we see God’s perfect justice. God is holy. God hates sin. His Law demands death for every sin. God could not make an exception, even for His own Son. Jesus did not die for His own sins. Once He drank from the cup of our sin, He became sin. He had to die. At the Cross, the greatest eternal exchange was made. “For He (God the Father) made Him (Jesus Christ) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor 5:21). Jesus took our sin upon Himself and died for us. He gave us His righteousness that we may live before God. It is Christ’s gift of Love to us. Covered with His ‘imputed righteousness’ we now become children of God!

*At the Cross we see God’s perfect faithfulness. God sent His Law thru Moses. But none could obey it. Since Adam fell, God has promised to send someone called the Savior, who will change the story, and turn the curse into a blessing. Over the years, there were many prophetic words and promises. The Jews expected the Messiah to come as a great royal soldier who will free them from the oppression of the Romans. When Jesus came, they rejected Him because He was different than what they had in mind. That is why they killed Him. They did not know that the first coming of the Messiah was to be like a lamb led to the slaughter. The second coming will be different. Jesus will come again as The King of kings to finally judge all evil and to complete the salvation of His people. This is God’s plan and purpose. None can defeat it! Jesus fulfilled it!

*At the Cross, we see God’s greatest Love. The Cross is the central point of history. The word ‘glorified’ means to display openly, and publicly. The Cross is like the theater stage of the universe. The Light of God eternally shines on it, and none can quench it. We see how God the Father loved the world and that He sent His only begotten Son to die for men’s salvation. We see God the Son agreeing with God the Father to pay the greatest price for men to be free. The Cross is the greatest picture of God’s love displayed! At the Cross we see weakness becoming power. But the greatest display is that of God’s Love. God’s Love is always connected with the death of His Son at the Cross. If you don’t understand the Cross, you don’t understand God’s Love.

Jesus commands His disciples: ‘Abide in My Love!’ “I have loved you just as the Father has loved Me; remain in My love (and do not doubt My love for you). If you keep My commandments and obey My teaching, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love” (Jn 15:9, 10). In Greek the word ‘abide’ means to remain, to stay, and wait in the same spot and without interruptions.

Jesus is preparing His disciples for the pain they will experience at the Cross. He is also telling them about the glories that will follow the pain. Up until now, each of the disciples have learned to love Jesus. But they did not love one another. Soon Jesus will die. Jesus does not want that their love for Him will be buried in the ground. He tells them that from now on, the love they have for Him, must be turned to love one another. Their Love indeed did not die. Love became the greatest force in the universe. Love is the glue that keeps the Body of Christ alive and strong! In the Old Testament, God spoke about loving others. “You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him. 18 You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord” (Lev 19:17, 18). “And if a stranger dwells with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him. 34 The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God” (Lev 19:33, 34). What the Jews understood by these scriptures was mainly to love their fellow Jews. They had serious issues with loving ‘the strangers.’ But now, Jesus brings Love for Almighty God and Love for all men at the center stage. He commands all who are in Christ to love all men, no matter their color, gender, social status, or nationality. From now on, Grace is King and Love is King! This is the New Commandment that fulfills the Ten Commandments! Praise the Lord!

JEHOVAH JIREH PROVIDES LOVE (Gen 22:1-19)

Abraham is the father of the faithful. God promised that he will have a son. He waited for many years before God gave him Isaac. Abraham had to pass many difficult tests of obedience. First, God told him to leave his country and family to go to a land that he has never been (Gen 12:1-3). Abraham obeyed. That is Love! Abraham went to battle to free his nephew Lot. Abraham refused to take the wealth from the king of Sodom (Gen 14:21-24). That is Love! Later, God told him to circumcise all the males in his household including himself and Ishamel. Abraham was 99 and Ishmael was 13 when they got circumcised in obedience to God’s command. This is Love! “Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him” (Gen 21:4). Abraham was told to send Hagar, the bondwoman, and her son, Ishmael away (Gen 21:9-14). That was painful for Abraham, but he obeyed. God. This is Love!

Few years later, God tests Abraham again. This was the greatest test of obedience. By obeying God now, Abraham passed the test to become ‘a friend of God’ (Jam 2:23). This is a wonderful story of Agape Love. Abraham stands for God the Father. Isaac stands for God the Son. This story is a prelude to the Cross of Calvary. God tells Abraham to offer his only son Isaac, the son he loves, as a sacrifice. At that time, his first son Ishamel was gone to Egypt with his mother. Isaac was the only son he had. Isaac’s name means ‘laughter’. He brought joy to his old parents. Ishmeal was born in the natural way. But Isaac was the son of promise. God gave them Isaac. Now, God wants Isaac back. It was a test of obedience for Abraham. Because obedience means love, this was the test of Love. Abraham obeyed God. He died to his pain of losing Isaac. He went to Mount Moriah where God wanted the sacrifice. Abraham called this obedience ‘worship’. This is the first place in the Bible where the word ‘worship’ appears. It is connected with Jehovah Jireh, God will Provide. God provides the power to love God, and to obey God. Jehovah Jireh is another name for God is Love.

Abraham had faith that God will raise Isaac from the dead. He tells his servants: “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you”. He uses the word ‘we’ will come back to you. “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” 19 concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense” (Heb 11:17-19). Abraham knew God’s promise that in Isaac, his descendants shall be like the stars in the sky. At that time, Isaac was not married and had no children. Abraham believed that even if Isaac dies, to be offered to God as a burnt offering, the same Isaac must rise from the dead to fulfill the promise of many descendants. Isaac too believed the same promise because he did not resist becoming ‘the lamb to be slaughtered’. Abraham was ready to slay his son in obedience to God’s command when God’s angel stopped him. Jehovah Jireh provided a ram to be offered. That ram is another symbol of Christ crucified. Abraham passed the test of faith and love. God blessed Abraham because he did not ‘withhold’ his beloved son Isaac. The word ‘withhold’ means to refuse, to keep for himself, or to spare his son. Because Abraham gave his greatest Love to God, God blessed him forever.  God confirmed that Abraham will be the father of many nations, that all people will be blessed thru him, and that God will protect and defend them forever. In Christ, God gives us all things. “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?” (Rom 8:32). Provision for our needs comes from Jehovah Jireh, God’s Love.

In this story Abraham is over 100 years old. God is asking for the greatest treasure Abraham has. God wants Abraham to break ‘his alabaster box’. Can he, do it? Immediately God calls him, Abraham responds: “here I am” (Gen 22:1). This is a proof that Abraham lives in the presence of God. He is ready to answer God’s call any time, day, or night. Lesson: It is hard to surrender your spouse, or children to God. But you must do it. Jesus said that we must love Him above all other loves (Matt 10:37). If not, we are not worthy of Him. Abraham, Isaac, and some servants went towards the place God told him about. Mount Moriah is located in the center of the Old city of Jerusalem. In it there are the ruins of Solomon’s temple and the Dome of the Rock, a Muslim shrine, and a mosque. This place was bought by King David from a man named Araunah. God’s angel directed David to buy this piece of land and build an altar to the Lord there (2 Sam 24:18-21). This was because of David’s sin when he numbered the people and a plague killed many. Abraham and Isaac trekked for two days. We do not know what was in Abraham’s mind as he was going to sacrifice Isaac. He could have changed his mind. He could have doubted God’s love towards him. After waiting for Isaac for all these years, the sacrifice of his son made no sense. Lesson: God leads us thru common sense but sometimes, nothing makes sense. What was the secret of Abraham’s obedience? It was worship! Abraham worshipped God above all else.

Isaac carries the wood on his back. This is a picture of Jesus who carried His Cross on His back. Isaac asked his father: “Look, the fire, and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So, the two of them went together” (Gen 22:7, 8). The fire represents God’s judgment on sin. On the Cross, The fire of God consumed Christ who became a sin on behalf of men. The knife is to kill the lamb. Jesus was puncture in His heart by the spear of a Roman soldier. Blood and water poured on the ground. When Isaac asked his father, where is the lamb for the burnt offering, the first word Abraham said was ‘my son’. Indirectly, he was telling Isaac that he is the lamb. Isaac submitted to the vision of the Cross. Jehovah Jireh provided a ram. This is a picture of the substitution that happened on the Cross. The ram is a picture of Christ on the Cross. The ram was ‘caught in a thicket by its horns’. The thicket is a low bush made of thorns. It is a symbol of God’s curse upon sin (Gen 3:18). The sinful men placed a crown of thorns upon the head of Jesus. The ram was caught by its horns. The horns are a symbol of strength. On the Cross, the strength of Christ became weakness so that He can die on behalf of sinners. After Abraham offered the ram, we read that only Abraham came down from the mountain. We assumed that Isaac was with him. But Isaac’s name is not mentioned (Gen 22:19). This is a picture that Isaac died as a burnt offering on that mountain. The next time Isaac’s name is mentioned is when he meets Rebecah, his bride, and He gets married. This is a picture of the pouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost or the second coming of Christ. The question Isaac asked: where is the Lamb?… is answered two thousand years later. John the Baptist answered the question. He saw Jesus coming to the River Jordan to be baptized. He said: “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (Jn 1:29). Hallelujah!

Abraham called the place on the mountain “Jehovah Jireh”. It was where God provided the ram instead of Isaac. The word Jireh means ‘to see’. The meaning is this: ‘In the mount of the Lord, things will become clear, and you shall see His provision’. Lesson: Before we surrender our all to God, before we truly worship God, things are not clear. We are confused. Once we break our alabaster box, the veil from our eyes and minds is removed and we see everything the way God sees it. That is when God will provide the breakthrough. God longs that we come to a place where we trust Him totally with our lives and the best gifts, He has given us. To have 100 % faith in God is to love God unconditionally. This is true worship. This is the price and the victory of Love! Worship the Lord!