Would you open your Bibles up to 2 Peter 1 (page 1204 of pew Bibles)? Its just an amazing thing to think about; we are on our last virtue. Were not on the last of the series. Next week we finish, and well be talking about the promise next week. Pastor Jerry Dean will be bringing that message, and that will wrap that series up. Were going to start reading with the fifth verse in 2 Peter 1 and read through to the end of the passage weve been studying. Lets begin reading with Verse 5, For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith, goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. Thats our focus this morning. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is near-sighted and blind and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins. Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is talking about love. Love is the greatest commandment, Love the Lord your God will all your heart, soul, mind and strength. To love our enemies is the most difficult commandment. Its the greatest virtue. We read from 1 Corinthians 13:13 (page 1137 of pew Bibles), And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. We are never more like God than when we love; 1 John says, God is love. Its not a quality He possesses; it is His essence. God is love. If love is so significant-and its no coincidence that Peter has it last; its no coincidence that he has faith first; its no coincidence his last virtue is love-its imperative for us to understand what it means. There are in the Greek many words for the word love. Each has a different nuance, a different significance. In our language, we have one word, and thats love; and we interchange it with everything we love. We say, I love my favorite team; I love the fall; I love the holidays; I love pizza; I love puppies; I love God; I love my country; I love my family. Love is used for all those kinds of loves. Those vary greatly in their degrees, dont they-from the trivial to the extremely significant? Yet, we use one word, love. The Bible uses many different words for love. Its a progressive thing. There is a human love, a soul love and a spirit love or divine love. Were going to talk a little bit about all three, but mostly the God kind-of-love. The first love in the Greek is eros. Eros is usually associated with sensuality or passion, but what it basically is about is your pleasure, your happiness. Anything you love because of what it does for you and gives you-thats eros. You can have eros for alcohol or drugs. You can have eros for pornography. You can have eros for a person. You can have eros for money. If it contributes to your happiness, and you love it for that reason, thats eros. Its a very human, very conditional love. Thats why people who get married for eros-those marriages dont last too long. If you marry for looks, and the looks go south-or marry because he has big muscles, and they become flabby as he gets old-your marriage is in trouble. If you get married because he or she has money, and they lose it in the stock market, that marriage is in trouble. If you marry them because of their fame, and their fame dissipates-thats why a lot of Hollywood marriages dont last very long… If you marry them because of their status, and they lose their job… Relationships based on eros are very shaky. Then there is another level up; that is phileo. We talked about a derivative of that, philadelphia-brotherly love-last week. Phileo is that: its brotherly love; its kindness; its friendship. Whereas eros says my happiness, phileo says our happiness, but its still conditional. If its strictly a phileo relationship, its kind of a give and take. Its like a 50/50. I reciprocate; I give, and then you reciprocate. Theres a mutual friendship there, but its still conditional. If friendship is solely phileo love, then its not as sturdy as a relationship thats based on the highest level of love. How many of you have somebody who was a close friend in your life at one time who is no longer a friend or no longer a close friend in your life? Its conditional, right? If we had a perfect world, we would have this third level of love every time; and thats agape love. Whereas eros is a human love; phileo is a soul love; agape is a spirit love. Agape is a God kind-of-love. Agape is the highest level of love, and it says, No matter what you do to me, whether you reciprocate my love or not-you might even be my enemy. When Jesus says, Love your enemies, He uses the word agape. It didnt say you have to be buddies with them, but you have to seek their highest and best. Thats agape love, unconditional love that seeks the highest and best for another regardless of how they treat you, what they say or what they dont do. Thats a God kind-of-love. Only God can enable a person to do that. I heard a story recently about a woman, and her son was a boxer. His name was Jimmy Garcia. He was climbing the ranks, and he was fighting the champion at that time in the flyweight division back in the 90s, and his name was Gabriel Ruelas. They fought in Las Vegas. It did not go well for Jimmy Garcia. He fought valiantly; but in the eleventh round, he went down and he did not get back up. He went into a coma. They rushed him to the hospital. His father and brother who were in his corner were also by his bedside. So came Gabriel Ruelas, the champion. He felt terrible about what happened. He prayed. He held the hand of his opponent. He didnt mean to put him in a coma. He didnt mean to hurt him like that, but the worst happened. Jimmy Garcia died as a young man in his 20s. His mother was a woman of faith who lived in Columbia. She arrived in America grief-stricken over the loss of her son. She said the greatest love in her life was God, and the second greatest love was her children. Now one of her children had been taken away from her, and she did not understand. She met Gabriel Ruelas, and he didnt know what to say. After all, he was the man responsible for her son losing his life. He went to reach out to her, and she turned away. She gained her composure, and she turned back and said, I cannot look at your hands, Gabriel. Your hands killed my son. She said, Your hands are like knives. Gabriel said, Im very sorry for what happened to your son. Through tears he said, If I could trade places with him, I would. I dont know what to say to you other than Im sorry. She turned back around, and Gabriel said she walked toward him, outstretched her arms, put them around him and hugged him like a son for a long time. She looked him in the eye, and she said, I am praying for you, and I forgive you. When I see you, I will see my son. Whats that called? Its agape love. Its not eros love; there is nothing in it for her. Its not phileo love. Thats a God kind-of-love. Thats a Spirit supernatural kind-of-love. Thats the kind of love that God calls us to, so we need His help. We need the help of the Spirit if were to love at that level. Now lets turn in our Bibles to an example of this. Lets go to John 21 (page 1075-76 of pew Bibles). Weve been in this verse. I dont remember what series we were talking about, but we looked at these passages not long ago. There are passages that are so rich that you can come to them time after time and preach on different topics from the same Scripture. This is certainly one of those. Jesus is making His third resurrection appearance. Peter has gone back to fishing-meaning not that hed gone back to it as a hobby, but as a way of life. This is going to be his livelihood. Jesus had been resurrected, which is wonderful, but life as theyd known it had ended. He had been a fisher of men, but now its time to be a fisher of fish. Hell always treasure what Jesus had done and said, but life must go on; so he and the Disciples cast their nets out, and they catch nothing. Reprising the miracle from Luke 5 when Jesus called him into the ministry, Jesus again appears on the shore. They dont know it is Him. Cast your nets on the other side. They do, and it fills with fish. The boat begins to sink, and Peter says, Its the Lord. They come to shore, and Jesus is cooking breakfast. They have breakfast together and then, remember, their relationship is estranged because Peter had denied Jesus three times in the courtyard several nights before. They have a moment-a private conversation-in which Jesus is going to confront Peter about his love. Verse 15 (page 1075) says, When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon son of John, do you truly love Me more than these? This did not mean James, John, Matthew and the others, but meaning the fish, the boats, the nets. Are you going to be a fisher of men or fish? Are you going to be engaged in spiritual matters or the things of this world, Peter, because My calling is still there? He said, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You. Jesus said, Feed my lambs. Again Jesus said, Simon son of John, do you truly love Me? He answered, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You. Jesus said, Take care of My sheep. The third time He said to him, Simon son of John, do you love Me? Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, Do you love Me? He said, Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You. Jesus said, Feed My sheep. Sometimes people trivialize this passage and teach that the only reason Jesus asked, Do you love Me three times was to affirm Peters denial three times. It may have had something to do with it, but I really dont think-and I dont think you will either-that thats the full reason why Jesus said that three times. Hes making an emphasis to be sure. That's definitely one of the things He is trying to do. Its like what we might say, Its location, location, location. Now we might even revise that to say, Economy, economy, economy, right? There is something more pointed thats taking place here. Were going to reread this, and were going to reread this with the knowledge that weve learned about Greek. In our vernacular-or our language-love is love. In the Greek, its not necessarily true. It describes a certain kind of love, so lets read it again: Simon son of John, do you truly agape Me more than these? Peter, do you love Me at the highest level of love? Do you love Me with the God kind-of-love, Peter? Listen to Peters response, Yes, Lord, You know that I phileo You. I love You as a brother. I love you as a friend. Were BFFs. Were buds. You know how much I think about You. That's not the question Jesus asked, so Jesus asked the same question a second time. Again Jesus said, Simon son of John, do you agape Me? Do you truly agape Me? Do you truly love Me at the highest form of love? Now, remember, you and I know that Peter cannot lie to Jesus because Jesus knows all. Peter has lived with Jesus long enough to know that Jesus knows his heart, so Peter cant lie. He has to tell the truth. We also know that phileo is conditional. There was a time when being Jesus friend and being a disciple was cool. Thousands of people are following you, so youre like a celebrity by association. You are seeing miracles that no eye has ever seen. The events that we only imagined: Peter saw them. Talk about the sermons he heard! We only read about the tip of the iceberg of what Peter experienced. So it was cool to be a Disciple of Christ, but now, Im not so cool. Now it could cost you your life. Now youre public enemy number one. The Disciples are scattered, and there was pressure on Peter. He was confronted, Do you know this man? Arent you a follower of Christ? In the courtyard, in the trial leading up to the crucifixion, Peter denies Him three times. We know that Peters love was not agape at that point because agape love says, Do what You want to me. Hes my Lord; Hes my Savior. Ill follow Him even onto death. Peter has to tell the truth. So he answers Jesus the second time in Verse 16. He says, Yes, Lord, You know that I phileo You. So twice, Do you agape Me? Lord, You know I phileo You, two times. The third time Jesus says in Verse 17, Do you phileo Me? Jesus says, Im going to come down now. Im going to condescend in the love youre talking about. Im going to ask you if you even phileo Me. Do you love Me as a brother even, Peter, because youre not acting the way a friend should? What you did to Me is not what a friend does. Youre bailing even right now on the mission. I called you to be a fisher of men, and youre going back to your old way of life; so I have to ask you, Peter, do you even love me as a brother and as a friend? Thats why Peter was so exasperated because Jesus is even questioning phileo love. He says, Lord, You know all things! You know I phileo You! You know I love You as my brother and friend. Phileo love is about us. Eros love is about me; phileo love is about us; agape love is about you-its about others. Peter cant say that. Before you and I judge people, you have to look in the mirror. You have to say, If Jesus somehow, someway right now, and it was you and Him in a room, and He was in a physical manifestation… You could really see Jesus, really touch Jesus and really hear Jesus, and He looked you in the eye, called you by name, and said, Do you agape Me? Do you love Me with the highest level of love, what would your answer be? Could you truthfully and honestly look Him in the eye and say, I love You with the highest form of love? Some Christians love God with an eros love, a human love. They read in a book or they listen to a preacher tell them that if they follow Christ, theyre going to be rich, never sick and never have any problems; and they say, Im in! Thats a conditional love. Im loving You, God, because of what You do for me, how You make me feel, what Youll provide for me; and when things dont work out the way they think they should-trials come, temptations come, heartache comes, trouble comes, See ya, God! Thats because their relationship is just eros; its just human love. There are some-and a lot of them-who love God with phileo love, like Peter. They say, Lord, its about us. Its about You and me. Were in this together. I bless You; You bless me, and then we reciprocate. Its a friendship here. I love You, Lord. Youre my best friend. We have a phileo love, but thats also conditional. The highest form of love is when we can say to God, I agape You. No matter what happens in my life-good or bad; it doesnt matter the heartaches or the victories; I love God. Im going to serve God, and its about You. Its not about me. Its about Your kingdom-not about my agenda. Then no matter what happens in life, nothing is going to shake my love for God. How many Christians function at that level? Thats the level of love that God has called us to. Hes called us to agape love. The good news is that Peter will get there. You ask, How do you know this? Well, first of all, we see progress. Look at Verse 18. Remember this is the same context. Jesus says, I tell you the truth, when you were younger, you dressed yourself and went where you wanted… What does that tell you about Peter? When you were a young man, Peter, that was about eros. You loved you. You were independent, free-spirited, did what you wanted to do, went where you wanted to go. Life was all about you, Peter. You graduated from eros. Thats very true. Right now, in the present, Peter was about phileo. He even admitted it, Lord, You know I phileo You. This is about us. Peter is going to get to the point of agape, where its about You, Lord, because Jesus says, When youre an old man, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go. When it talks about stretching out your hands and being led to someplace you dont want to go, the phraseology of that would seem to signify a crucifixion. John looks back on this event and tells us that its a reference to Peters death, the death in which he would glorify God. Peter dies in about 65 A.D. John writes, some say at the earliest 70 A.D. and even as late as 90 A.D.; so by the time John writes this letter, he knows how Peter died. The church tradition tells us that Peter was crucified upside down because he did not consider himself worthy to be crucified as Christ. He was sentenced to death under the reign of Emperor Nero in his great persecution of Christians in the mid-sixties. So Peter at this stage, at this juncture, denied Christ to a few strangers in a courtyard by a fire. This same Peter would reach a point in his spiritual walk-whereas before a maniacal emperor/director who threatened his very life would not deny Christ. If Jesus were to appear to Peter before he was crucified and say, Peter, do you agape Me? Peter could look at the cross that was awaiting him, look back in the eyes of Jesus and say, Lord, You know I agape You. You know its not about me; its about You and how I can glorify You. Peter reached that level. My prayers is that our eros friends would go from loving God-being it about you-to being about us, about phileo love; [and I pray that] those whove come to that level of phileo could come to the point of agape love-that divine love. Its beyond a soul love; its a God kind-of-love. Its my prayer that all of us would get there eventually. What does it look like? The highest expression of agape love, I think, is demonstrated in our Lord. If you could turn to the Book of Luke 23:33 (page 1046), [we will look at] the story of the crucifixion. Verse 33 says, When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified Him, along with the criminals-one on His right, the other on His left. Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. What kind of love is that? Thats agape love. He looks down at the people who had stripped Him of His robe; had beat His back; had beat Him about the head; had pulled out His beard; had put a crown of thorns on His head, on His brow; had punched Him; had spit upon Him; had mocked Him and cursed and ridiculed Him in front of His friends, His family, His mother; and hung Him up on a cross. Jesus looks down at those same men, and He prayed for their souls. That's interesting as we read this passage on Good Friday and at Easter time. We read it like its an event. We read it like Jesus just said these words one time, and then that was it. The one time He looked down and said, Father, forgive them. They know not what they do; but thats not how it happened. Thats not how it happened. Look at the word in Verse 34. Look at the word said-lego. Jesus said. The tense for that verb is the imperfect tense. What that means is it is a continuous action in the past. You could accurately translate this as Jesus was saying. In fact, the New American Standard version translates it exactly that way, Jesus was saying. Jesus continued to say, Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. Not just one time, but over and over and over. What does that tell you about the heart of the Savior? What does that tell you about God? God is agape. When you sin and you fail God, you think, Oh, man! Lightening from Heaven and here comes my punishment. Then something back happens, and you say, Oh, God is just punishing me! Hes so angry with me! The Bible says Jesus ever lives to make intersession for His saints. What if instead of when you fall and you fail, instead of imagining Him gritting His teach, going, I cant wait to get that guy! I cant wait to teach her a lesson? What if instead Jesus is broken-hearted? Hes praying a prayer of compassion. It changes everything, doesnt it? God is agape. Friends, I know youve done some bad things in your lives, but I dont think youve ever done anything as horrible as killed literally the Son of God. If Jesus could look down on those men from the cross and have agape from them, He has agape for you. Thats the Savior that we worship today. Im going to invite our communion team to come forward and distribute the communion elements right now. What a great message to receive communion for. What a perfect time as were reflecting on this to receive. As the ushers now turn around and come back by you and distribute the elements… The way we receive communion here is we ask you to all wait together. When the tray passes by you, grab on to the cup and the bread and hold on to it. Dont receive it yet because were going to do a couple things together. We also want to say that if youre a visitor or youre new to our church, and youre kind of wondering, Is it okay to receive communion? Will bells and whistles go off because Im a visitor or a guest? If you have made a profession of faith and Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior, you are our brother; you are our sister, and we welcome you to receive the communion with us this morning. If youre here today, and you honestly say, Im not. Im thinking about it, or Im not interested at this time, let this time be a time of reflection and meditation. I invite us all to do that. In a few moments, Ill stop talking. Then there will be some quietness and some nice music that will play. Were just going to reflect back on our week and our day. Were just going to ask the Lord to search our hearts. If the Lord brings anything to our mind, were going to confess it to Him. Then were going to pause and just say thank you. Were going to worship Him and say, Thank you, Lord, for what You did for me. Thank You for Your love and Your grace. It says in Ephesians 2, Because of His great love-because God is rich in mercy and because of His great love, He has extended grace to us in Christ Jesus. Its not because of our goodness, our greatness, or our righteousness. Its only because of His righteousness, His love and His grace that He has made a way for our sins to be forgiven; so for the next few minutes, reflection, prayer, pray privately in your heart to the Lord. Then I will read from the Book of Corinthians 11. Then well receive together, so lets search our hearts now before Him. Father, as we search our hearts this morning, we each ponder the question, What would we say if You were here and face-to-face You asked us the question-You called us by name and You said, Do you agape Me? Would our honest answer be that we eros-that we have a human love, a conditional love? Would it be that-like Peter-we phileo, we have a brotherly love and friendship, a kinship with You? Or, would it in fact be agape? There is nothing that can happen in this life that can stop us from loving You. Its not about us; its about You. If our answer is truly that, then we have to humbly thank You for Your grace is at work within us. Lord, as we have contemplated these virtues, we come to the greatest one of all. That's the virtue of love. To love with an agape, a God kind-of-love, is not a human effort; its not a soul love; its not a body love. Its a love that is from the Spirit, so we ask You to bring us to that level. Help us to love You as Peter loved You before his death. Lord, this morning we reflect upon the cross. We reflect upon the heart of a Savior who-even while You were dying, even as Your life-blood was spilling forth to the earth-it was not about You. Your agape love was there. It was being poured out. There is no way that You could have been a soldier at the foot of the cross or a spectator and not see that or hear that and not be impacted. When we experience agape love, agape love changes us from the inside out. As we have seen Your agape love this morning in Christ, it has changed us, so we worship You and give thanks to You this morning for Your love, Your grace and Your sacrifice through Christ. In Jesus name, we pray, Amen.