All for Love

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 1st of March, 2026.  If all went well, a recording of the service may be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams for the older services or https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch3115/streams for later services.]

So, if you would, please think back a bit and remember that we had two successive Sundays of ice and snow, forcing us to cancel worship services.  Well, today’s message was originally intended for the Sunday after Valentine’s Day, two weeks ago.  I guess you could say I’m finally catching up from the snow days.

But I feel this topic is relevant every day of the year, not just on Valentine’s Day.  And I believe it to be the main theme of our New Testament.  Jesus is the primary subject, but love is the main theme.  Everything that Jesus did was ultimately all for love.

One of Jesus’ most prolific apostles, both in terms of church starts and letter writing, was originally a great enemy of the church.  The young Pharisee named Saul traveled far and wide to round up Christians and bring them to Jerusalem for trial, and often for execution.  But then one day Jesus blinded him to show him the truth.  From that day forward, Paul became the number one proponent for the early church, going on three long missionary journeys, starting churches along the way, suffering beatings, hatred, and imprisonment, and writing letters.  Among those letters was one to the Christians in Rome.

Now Paul had not yet visited the church in Rome, but he badly wanted to.  So he wrote this letter partly as an introduction, to let the folks there know a little about him before arriving.  The main theme of the letter, though, was a thorough discussion of our justification with God by His grace.  Sadly, when Paul did finally make it to Rome, it was under arrest and in chains.

Please listen and follow along as Paul speaks of our justification, in the first 11 verses of chapter 5 of his letter to the Romans, and I’ll be reading from the New Living Translation of our Holy Bible this morning…

1 Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. 2 Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.

3 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love.

6 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. 7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8 But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 9 And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, He will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. 10 For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of His Son while we were still His enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of His Son. 11 So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.

--Romans 5:1-11 (NLT)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, thank You for being so merciful toward us poor sinners and sending Your Son to redeem us.  By Your grace and His sacrifice, we are made right in Your eyes.  Father, we are a prideful people, and too often our pride is our downfall.  We even let it get in the way of loving others as we know we should.  Sometimes we have trouble just showing love to our fellow Christians.  And then there are some people we just can’t force ourselves to love.  Please forgive us, those times, Father, when we are unruly and rebellious children.  Please help us be more righteous in our daily walk.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand our message today.  This we humbly pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

Since today’s theme is “love”, I thought a little background on that word to be appropriate.  I probably mentioned this before, but the ancient Greeks had three words for love: eros, philia, and agape.  Eros refers to passionate, intimate, romantic love.  It is an intense love, often driven by desire.  Philia is what we would call brotherly love.  It is seen in deep, true friendships and shown in shared loyalty.  Think of the nickname for Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love.

And then there's agape.  Agape is often described as the highest form of love.  It is the unconditional, selfless, sacrificial love for others, often associated with God's love.  The thing is, the word "agape" seems to have virtually been coined for Christians - a new word for a new concept.  The word draws its meaning from the love of God for humankind revealed through His Son Jesus.  It is completely unlike eros and philia.  It is not a form of natural affection or attraction.  It is brought about by a force of will, not by feelings or emotion.  Christians are commanded to love others, even those they dislike.  This is not love as the world defines it or knows it.  This is love as God expects it and shows it.  This is agape.  And when we speak of love in the biblical context, it is agape we’re talking about.

Paul opens this chapter reminding us that our redemption, our now good-standing with God, is a gift from God.  Nothing we have ever done, nothing we could do, could bring this about; only God’s grace.  Then he makes a statement that, while true, many have trouble accepting: that troubles and trials ultimately benefit us.

And then Paul mentions love for the first time, God’s love for us.  He alluded to love at the start, the love of God through Jesus, through the gift of faith, through God’s grace.  But here he makes clear that God loves us because He gave us His Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love.

Of course, that’s not the greatest gift, for that comes next.  While we were utterly helpless, while we were lost in our sin, God sent His Christ at just the right time, and He died for us sinners.  By Jesus’ death, by His blood, we were restored in God’s sight.  And it was all because of love, agape love, God’s love for His creation.

As I said, Paul wrote many letters.  We know of two that were sent to the church in Corinth, the first to retore the holiness of the church, and then a later follow-up to correct some misconceptions that arose since his visit there, especially as regards his apostolic authority.  But scholars believe there may have been a third letter, written and delivered in between these two.  If so, it has long been lost to time.

But there is a passage in that first letter that is fairly well known, at least in paraphrase, and that is very pertinent to our discussion this morning.  Please listen as I read the first seven verses and verse 13 from chapter 13 of Paul’s 1st letter to the Corinthians…

1 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

13 Three things will last forever — faith, hope, and love — and the greatest of these is love.

--1 Corinthians 13:1-7, 13 (NLT)

Love is patient and kind, not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.  It does not demand its own way or keep a record of wrongs and hurts it suffers.  Love never gives up, never loses faith, never loses hope, and endures anything and everything it faces.

Does this sound like romantic love, that usually fades over time?  Or like familial love, that can be destroyed by a single harsh word?  No, this is agape, the love we Christians are called and commanded to give and to live.

You don’t have to like someone to show them love.  You don’t have to agree with their politics or theology.  You don’t have to approve of their lifestyle.  You just have to show them God’s love.  Affection and romance have nothing to do with it.  This is agape: intentional, maybe even forced, unconditional, selfless, sacrificial love.  The kind of love Jesus has for us.  The same love that led God to send His Son to save us.

The Roman poet Virgil penned the phrase "Love conquers all" around 37 BC, 30-some years before Jesus was born.  Did Virgil know that love would soon visit the world?  Virgil followed that phrase with "let us, too, yield to love".

Our challenge, family, is to do what Jesus commanded us to do: to love others and make disciples of them.  Let us then yield to Jesus, who came as love in the flesh.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord, the true God of Love.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for showing Your love by sending Your Son to redeem us.  And thank You for giving us faith.  We believers exercise that faith to acknowledge that Jesus is Your Son, and to accept Him as our Lord.  But Father, we know that many of our actions displease You.  Too often we fail to love others as we love ourselves.  Even agape love seems out of our reach.  Please forgive us these times, Father.  And forgive us when we hesitate to show the courage and strength to try and make more disciples for Your Son.  Please strengthen us to show the world the truth and share Your love with the lost.  And please help us do a better job of sharing our Lord Jesus with others so that they too may be saved by Your mercy and Jesus’ sacrifice.  

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your word, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, You loved Your Father God and carried out His will.  And You showed His love for us by giving of Yourself for us.  By Your sacrifice, we have been made right with God, reconciled back to Him.  You came to us when we had no hope, no chance of redemption, and You redeemed us.  It is this selfless, sacrificial love that You expect us to show others.  But Lord, You know how difficult this can be for us.  We struggle to show agape to all, even sometimes to our fellow believers.  Please forgive us our weaknesses, Lord Jesus.  Please strengthen us and encourage us to go out into the world telling others all about You.  Help us reach out to the non-believing world, sharing the Gospel message, showing Your love through our love.  Help us, guide us in our attempts to bring the lost to You.

Holy Spirit, please shield our minds and our hearts from Satan’s lies and the world’s empty promises.  Guide us around all the devil’s traps and snares.  Help us see though his temptations.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this world might offer.  All this we pray in the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.