Marriage Encased In Agape Love - For You
The following sermon is posted/printed with the permission of the bride and groom, Jordan and Heather Swanson.
Text: 1 Corinthians 13
Grace
and peace to you, Jordan and Heather, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
The
scripture verses from 1 Corinthians, the ones that we just read, are some of
the most familiar passages in all of scripture.
The reason why they are so popular is that they are typically considered
the ‘wedding verses.’ Indeed, I am often
alarmed when these verses are ‘not’ read at weddings. The reason why? They are verses that speak on
the essence of love itself; a most fitting topic for a wedding indeed.
Now,
when we think about this idea of love, we need to acknowledge that in our
English language we only have one word for love. It is rather ridiculous when you think about
it. We can say, “I love this cheeseburger.”
We can also say, “I love my
spouse.” Notice that the word love
can be used to describe our feelings towards everything from a cheeseburger, to
a truck, to one of our hobbies, and even to a spouse.
It
is not this way in every society and every language though. For
example 2,000 years ago when the New Testament of the Bible was written down by
the Apostles, they wrote it down using the language of Greek. Yes, the New Testament portion of the Bible
was originally written in Greek. The
reason why I mention this is that within the Greek language, there is not just
one word for ‘love’ but actually ‘four’ different words for love.
The
first word that was used for love was the word ‘stargeh.’ This was a word that was used for familiar
things. For example: I ‘stargeh’ pizza,
or, I ‘stargeh’ my new pickup truck. It
is a word that we use when we take comfort and safety in things.
The
second word that was used in the Greek language was the word ‘philia.’ This
word communicated love between friends; brotherly love. For example: Two Bobcat workers working on
the same line would have ‘philia’ love for each other as they trusted each other
and served side by side in manufacturing.
It is a word that is used when we have trust and companionship with
another friend.
The
third word used in the Greek was the word, ‘eros.’ This was a word that meant romantic love,
that is, sexual love between a man and woman.
Now,
it has been properly stated that these types of love are based on our feelings, needs and desire. Yes, the first word focuses on loving
something when it grants us comfort or security. The second word focuses on love that comes
from mutual respect and common interests with a friend. The third word focuses on the idea of sexual
love that satisfies. In other words, even
though these words are used for love, they are not true love.
There
is a fourth word in the Greek language that can be translated as love, that
hasn’t been mentioned yet. That word is
the word, ‘agape.’ The reason why this
is important to note is that this word is the one that is used in our text from
1 Corinthians today. It is not like the
other three ‘loves.’ The reason why,
‘agape’ love is the kind of love that seeks no reward and only seeks what is
best for others. Indeed, it is a love
that is unconditional. It is not
resentful and it does not rejoice in wrongdoing.
Otherwise stated, this love that is spoken of in 1 Corinthians does
not act the way that we might think. It
does its works of love secretly, and hides them from others. This ‘agape’ love does not do acts of charity
to be seen or known by others. This ‘agape’
love is not boastful or arrogant. It
doesn’t seek to gain, but seeks to give.
It doesn’t insist on its own way, nor is it irritable or resentful. It doesn’t make a lot of noise in rejoicing
in the evil of others. But this ‘agape’
love rejoices in truth. It doesn’t hold
on to or recognize the works that it does.
This ‘agape’ love simply does works for others without saying, “Look at
what I can do!”
As we contemplate this amazing ‘agape’ love we must confess that
it is really out of this world and a bit difficult for us to wrap our minds
around. The reason why it is difficult
to handle is that we like to boast of our loving works and be recognized for
our compassionate deeds to others.
Truly, we want others to notice our loving deeds that we do and think
that we are special for doing them, but this is not ‘agape’ love.
Surely, we all want to love and serve our neighbors, especially
our spouses with this ‘agape’ love, but when we look at this supernatural love
in this text we realize that even the best of our good works of love fall short
of this ‘agape’ love. Frankly, our
attempts at love are spoiled by our pride, resentment, boasting, conditions,
and so forth.
The sober reality is that when we contemplate this ‘agape’ love we
arrive at two conclusions. 1) That this
form of ‘agape’ love is patient, quiet, non-boasting, looking out to others. It is phenomenal! 2) The second thing we realize is that we
don’t and can’t love this way. While
this ‘agape’ love is quiet, humble, and serves others, we are the very
opposite. We are turned inward on self
and when we love others we typically try to obtain some sort of kudos for it
either by boasting of our love, comparing our love with others, as well as a host
of other sinful problems. Truly, we do
not love with ‘agape’ love.
So, Heather and Jordan and the rest of us here today, we must
confess that we fall short of loving according to ‘agape’ love. We must confess that we love with conditions,
we love wanting to boast, we love without patience, and so forth. We must confess that we do not have this
‘agape’ love… but wait a minute, or do we?
Jordan and Heather, there is one place where this ‘agape’ love is found
though. Yes, there is one place and only
one place. There was a man who was the
essence of ‘agape’ love. He was
kind. He never envied. He did not parade His own love for other to
see. He did not behave rudely, although
He was sometimes accused of that. He did
not seek His own way, but the way of His Father. He was not provoked to senseless rage. He did not think evil of others unless the
evil was plain. Even then, He worked for
their restoration. He did not rejoice
over the sin of others but rejoiced in the truth. For He was the Truth, and He took upon
Himself your sins, your slander, your lack of love, and the insults placed upon
you. He endured all things to the end,
even a death on the cross—because He loved you with an ‘agape’ love. Yes, Jesus Christ is the quintessential
picture of this ‘agape’ love; He is the essence of this ‘agape’ love. We could say that because Jesus Himself
embodied this perfect ‘agape’ love, you Jordan and Heather are redeemed, as
well as the rest of us. Because of His
kindness, patience, love, and service to you, you have perfect love. For Christ, this ‘agape’ love is not some
abstract idea, but something that He embodied and it is what motivated Him to
shed His blood—for you, Jordan and Heather. In order to forgive you of your
lack of love and in order to redeem you, Christ died so that your sinful flesh,
which shall never learn to truly love, will be put to death and so that you
both be raised anew daily in Him—freed to love each other.
But what does this have
to do with your marriage today? Jordan
and Heather, today you are coming together as a bride and groom. You see, your coming together does not make a
marriage; rather, you are stepping into marriage as a bride and groom. This marriage estate is God’s gift to
you—because of His love to you.
Furthermore, marriage is God’s design for ‘agape’ love to flourish. Permit me to explain. Just as you were created due to God’s love
and just as you were redeemed by the Lord’s great love, today you are entering
into this blessed union called marriage; marriage that is encased with love and
given to you as a gift.
Yes, your marriage is
the perfect setup and the perfect gift to you.
You are received into it, and within this marriage union ordained by
God, you receive each other as the Lord teaches you to walk in the unforced
rhythms of ‘agape love.’ Within
marriage your love is enclosed in God’s greater love for you and for you as a
couple.
Jordan and Heather,
today a new life begins for both of you in marriage. You begin as two lives joined into one
life. Receive each other as gift and
receive the gift of the new life as husband and wife. Receive the gift of marriage, for it is
within this marriage that you are held.
Held within His love, you cannot fall apart. At the end of each day being enveloped in the
gift of marriage, you will lay it all out before the Lord, nothing kept back,
nothing held outside His forgiveness and His ‘agape’ love. Yes, confident of Christ’s ‘agape’ love and
forgiveness, today you are bold to make the staggering full-size promises of
marriage. In the days to come you may
fear that your love for each other may wear thin, but take comfort that
Christ’s love does not fail or weigh thin.
Yes, running with and through your love, with its ups and downs, is His
Love-for you. Yes, within His larger
love, your love for each other need have no fear but can grow and deepen.
Jordan
and Heather, the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts
and minds in Christ Jesus’s ‘agape’ love—for you. Amen.
(Note: portions of the sermon above are direct excerpts from two Norman Nagel Sermons in the book "Selected Sermons of Norman Nagel." Thus, the message above is heavily indebted to Dr. Norman Nagel.)
CLICK HERE to join in the conversation on Facebook.
CLICK HERE to follow on Twitter.
Comments