It is impossible to fully grasp God's love because it is infinite! The
best we can do is humbly recognize our limitations in this way and give
ourselves over to the overwhelming love that God extends to us.
Focus Scripture – 1 John 4:8HIDESHOW
8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Extended SummaryHIDESHOW
It is impossible to fully grasp God's love because it is infinite! The best we can do is humbly recognize our limitations in this way and give ourselves over to the overwhelming love that God extends to us. The English language doesn’t have the same level of precision that Greek does when it comes to describing “love”. For this reason Greg reviewed the four Greek words that are often translated as love in English to help us sort out what “love” means. Storge has to do with affection—things we like and appreciate. We may “storge” chocolate more than vanilla. Philos has to do with friendship—those who’s interests we share. We may have friends we work with or who enjoy the same leisure activities we do. Eros has to do with romance/sexuality/passion—we get the word “erotic” from eros. A good marriage should have storge, philos and eros (in addition to agape.) Agape is distinct from the other three in that it is the only one based specifically on a conscious choice rather than feelings/affections/attraction. When the bible calls us to radical (self-sacrificial) forms of love like loving our neighbors, loving God, loving our enemies and so forth, it is agape that is meant here. Only agape can be chosen in this way! In fact, we don’t need to have any of the other forms of love for someone in order to be able to love them the way God calls us to. We simply obey God’s command to love by choosing to agree with God that they are worth loving! Greg spent some time helping us see that God’s love for us isn’t based on the first three types, but rather the self-sacrificial agape love that is evident in 1 John 3:16. Since God IS love (1 John 4:8), God always feels this self-sacrificial love toward us.
Practical Applications (homework)HIDESHOW
Everywhere we turn, we hear about love. But what does the word even mean? We say we love our spouse, but we also love pizza and God! A lot of confusion is caused because we use the same word to describe many different emotions. If we’re going to be overwhelmed by God’s love, we need to understand the unique kind of love that characterizes him. Choose one of these homework ideas this week:
- Meditate on something vast and seemingly infinite, like the number of blades of grass at a park, or how many drops of water are in a lake. Then, expand this farther – maybe to all the blades of grass in your town. Then, even farther to all the grass in the state... the country... the continent... the world. God’s love for YOU has the same kind of mind-boggling depth and breadth. Take a few minutes each day this week to rest in this fact and soak in God’s love.
- Try to keep track of all the times you hear the word “love” for a day or two and make a note of what the person was referring to when they said it. Then, add up the number of times they meant storge (affection), philos (friendship) or eros (romance). Are there any examples left of agape love? Recently have you witnessed any examples of agape love (other-oriented, self-sacrificial, choice-based)? Talk with someone you’re close to about how rare agape love is, and the last time you saw it in another person.
Reflection QuestionsHIDESHOW
- What stood out to you most from this message and the supporting text?
- Practice using the four Greek words for love by doing the following: starting with the first one, list some things that you “love” in this way. Have you used the English word “love” to describe how you feel about that person/place/thing? Does that contribute to the confusion we sometimes have about what “love” really means? Then move on to the other three Greek words and do the same thing.
- Given what we’ve learned about these four Greek words for “love” discuss how talking about God being love (agape) could be confusing in English.
- Read through the key scriptures for today’s message. Does today’s discussion change the way you hear these passages? If so, how?