- Agape love is the love God sheds abroad in the hearts of his children. It is the same love Jesus gives freely to us.
-Agape love is a love that gives even when rejected.
- "the many" Jesus refers to are Christians whose agape has grown cold.
- When you sow the love of God, you will reap the love of God. You need to develop faith in this spiritual law even though you may not harvest it from the field in which you sowed, or as quickly as you would like.
- For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:8-9 ESV)
- Jesus continued, "In my greatest hour of need, my closest friends deserted me. Judas betrayed me, Peter denied me, and the rest fled for their lives. Only John followed from afar. I had cared for them for over three years, feeding them and teaching them. Yet as I died for the sins of the world, I forgave. I released all of them---from my friends who had deserted me to the Roman guards who had crucified me. They didn't ask for forgiveness, yet I freely gave it. I had faith in My Father's love. I knew that because I had given love, I would reap love from many sons and daughters in the kingdom. Because of my sacrifice of love, they would love me. "
- But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? (Matthew 5:44-47 ESV)
- I realized that the love I was giving was being done to the Spirit, and eventually I would reap those seeds of love. I didn't know from where, but I knew the harvest would come. No longer did I see it as a failure when love wasn't returned from the person I was giving it to. It freed me to love that person even more. If more Christians recognized this, they wouldn't give up and become offended. Usually this is not the type of love we walk in. We walk in selfish love that is easily disappointed when our expectations are not met.
- If we don't risk being hurt, we cannot give unconditional love...agape love gives others the right to hurt us.
- Love does not seek its own, but hurt people become more and more self-seeking and self-contained. In this climate the love of God waxes cold.
- Life cannot be sustained if held on to. It must be given freely.
- An offended Christian is one who takes in life, but because of fear, cannot release life. As a result, even the life that does come in becomes stagnant within the wall or prison of offense. The New Testament describes these walls as strongholds. "For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:4-5 ESV) "
- The knowledge of God's Word without love is a destructive force because it puffs up with pride and legalism (1 Corinthians 8:1-3). This causes us to justify ourselves rather then repent of the unforgiveness.
- Knowledge without the love of God will lead to deception.
- A minister or a Christian is what he lives, not what he preaches.
- "But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people." (2 Timothy 3:1-5 ESV)
- "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths." (2 Timothy 4:3-4 ESV)
- Deceived men and women would have a zeal for knowledge but remain unchanged since they never apply it in truth. "They will be always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." 2 Timothy 3:7
-If we are offended and in unforgiveness and refuse to repent of this sin, we have not come to the knowledge of the truth. We are deceived, and will confuse others with our hypocritical lifestyle. No matter what the revelation, what we actually do will tell the real story. We'll become a spring spewing out bitter waters that will bring deception, not truth.
-"And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another." Matthew 24:10
- An offense leads to betrayal, and betrayal leads to hatred.
- When Jesus was wronged, He did not wrong in return but committed his soul to God the Father, who judges righteously. We are admonished to follow his steps: "For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. (1 Peter 2:21-23 ESV)"
- We must come to the place where we trust God and not the flesh.
- Now you see how serious the sin of offense is. If it is not dealt with, offense will eventually lead to death. But when you resist the temptation to be offended, God brings great victory.
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