and to brotherly kindness, love (2 Peter 1.7)
Love is a strange word. In the languages of Europe, it has many shades of meaning. ‘I love chocolate’. ‘I love you’. We can tell the difference between these expressions. Or so we think.
For the early Christians, to find a word that expresses what Christian discipleship is ultimately about was difficult. There were different words available in Greek. Storge described the love between members of a family. Philia was about friendship love, extending into the ‘brotherly love’ of philadelphia. And eros of the sexual intensity shared between lovers. But none of these sufficiently conveyed what Jesus was about. So they spun an old Greek word, using this to describe Jesus’ love. The word was agape.
In Jesus, we meet with a love where suffering is inevitable. Because loving the Jesus way means that we have to take down the barriers that protect us. It involves coming into close community. Vulnerability. Self giving to others. And because of that, they find out what we are really like. There is disappointment. Betrayal. Pain. The way that leads to crucifixion.
The Jesus way of love is nothing to do with enjoying chocolate or finding someone attractive. It is about a deep investment into people that is patient, looking to bless them in ways that will, ultimately, change them.
This is what God has done. This is the God the Bible witnesses to as the lover of Israel, the people through whom He chose to show Himself to the world. And this is the God we meet with in Jesus Christ. God’s full light to the world. Demonstrating the faithfulness and vulnerability that takes Him to the Cross of Calvary.
And this is the love we pursue as a baptistic community. Often we stumble, sometimes we fail. But the path and goal are clear. To model and express something deeper and profounder than anything else. Expressing the very heart of God. This is the heart of worship.
For the early Christians, to find a word that expresses what Christian discipleship is ultimately about was difficult. There were different words available in Greek. Storge described the love between members of a family. Philia was about friendship love, extending into the ‘brotherly love’ of philadelphia. And eros of the sexual intensity shared between lovers. But none of these sufficiently conveyed what Jesus was about. So they spun an old Greek word, using this to describe Jesus’ love. The word was agape.
In Jesus, we meet with a love where suffering is inevitable. Because loving the Jesus way means that we have to take down the barriers that protect us. It involves coming into close community. Vulnerability. Self giving to others. And because of that, they find out what we are really like. There is disappointment. Betrayal. Pain. The way that leads to crucifixion.
The Jesus way of love is nothing to do with enjoying chocolate or finding someone attractive. It is about a deep investment into people that is patient, looking to bless them in ways that will, ultimately, change them.
This is what God has done. This is the God the Bible witnesses to as the lover of Israel, the people through whom He chose to show Himself to the world. And this is the God we meet with in Jesus Christ. God’s full light to the world. Demonstrating the faithfulness and vulnerability that takes Him to the Cross of Calvary.
And this is the love we pursue as a baptistic community. Often we stumble, sometimes we fail. But the path and goal are clear. To model and express something deeper and profounder than anything else. Expressing the very heart of God. This is the heart of worship.
