Advent Series: Love

OT Lesson: Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (NIV)

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.

NT Lesson: John 21:15-17 (NRSV)

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love Me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My lambs.” A second time He said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love Me?” Peter felt hurt because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know everything; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.”

Sermon

Introduction

Good morning. It is getting cold and according to the weather forecast, it is going to be single digit Friday and Christmas Eve. Snow fall is predicted on Thursday and Friday, so it is going to be a White Christmas. Do you like it? If you like the White Christmas, our neighbouring country guarantees it. 

One good thing of Canadian winter is that it gives you kind of unlimited space for beer storage. 

Today is the last Advent Sunday. And this week, we will have two more worship services. The Service of Comfort and Peace is Wednesday 21st, 7PM. Some people call it Longest Night Service or Blue Christmas. The Christmas Eve Service is Saturday 24th, 7PM. Today’s Advent theme is love. Love is very important. Speaking of love, I have an experience this week. It was Wednesday. I was with Samuel at home. He said, “I love Mommy.” OK. That’s great. And I was looking at him like, ‘OK. Go on.’ A few seconds later, Samuel realised that I was looking at him and, he also looked at me saying, “I like you, Dada.” Well… that’s good that he likes me. But I don’t know why he uses different words. Does he knows the difference or does he have no idea? I guess he kind of gets the difference of the two words, maybe not perfectly but somewhat. He reacts differently to me and to his mother. For example, when his mother sings, he dances. But when I sing, he covers his ears. Anyway, I should be glad that he likes me at least.

Loves in Greek

You may have heard that there are several different words for love in Greek. Let us begin with ἔρως (Eros). The literal meaning of this word is the desire, and in Greek mythology is one of Aphrodite’s sons with wings. It carries bow and arrows of love. Roman mythology has Cupid in its place. Therefore Cupid and Eros are the same thing. Many people think Cupid is cute little angel like being with toy arrow, but it is actually a god of sexual love. 

I heard some pastors saying that Bible never used the word Eros. It is yes and no. In the NT, that is right. But Greek OT used it twice in Proverbs. Proverbs 30:16 says, “There are three things that are never satisfied, four that never say, ‘Enough!’: the grave, the barren womb, land, which is never satisfied with water, and fire, which never says, ‘Enough!’” Here, the barren womb is actually Eros Woman or erotic woman in the Greek OT. Proverbs 7:18 is about an adulterous woman seducing a man, “Come, let’s drink deeply of love till morning; let’s enjoy ourselves with love!” And again, in Greek OT, it is “Let us do Eros.” So, this Greek word obviously means sexual love in the Bible as well.

The other Greek word for love is φιλέω. The dictionary says it is the affection for someone as friend, or affection for something of close association. It also means ‘to like’ which Samuel told me last Wednesday, ‘I like you, Dada.’ If you like harmony, it is philharmonic, and φιλαδελφία is a big city in Pennsylvania who meaning is a brotherly love because ἀδελφος is brother. And finally, you all know ἀγάπη. ἀγάπη is according to the dictionary, affection, love, human love, love of God or Christ, parental love. So it is not about sexual thing. We briefly learned three different types of love in Koine Greek language, in which the Bible is written. The reason I spent so much time explaining this is because it is the key to the understanding of today’s NT lesson.

Peter’s Love for Jesus

The English Bible gives us the impression that Peter loves Jesus so much that he says “You know I love you” three times. And Jesus was somewhat obsessive of love asking the same question over and over again. Peter eventually got annoyed by Jesus because he asked the same question multiple times. Think about how would you feel if your spouse asks you this question over and over again. You would be annoyed as well. Peter finally answers like “That’s enough. I said I love you!” Jesus is depicted like a weirdo here. But that is not true if you read it in Greek.

Jesus asks “Peter, do you ἀγάπη me more than them?” In other words, Jesus says, “Do you love me with the love of God? Do you have divine love in you? Are you saved?” And Peter answers, “yes, you know that I φιλέω you, not ἀγάπη.” In plain English, Peter answered “yeah right. You know I like you.” Peter confessed that it is not ἀγάπη but a friendship, and he was not yet saved. As you all know, Peter was saved at the time of Pentecost, receiving the Holy Spirit, and thus Jesus Christ the Saviour into his heart.

Let’s imagine a conversation with your spouse. You ask, “Honey, do you love me?” Then your spouse answers, “Well, I like you… a lot.” “What? Do you love me?” “Why? You know I like you.” This is what’s going on between Jesus and Peter. Jesus asks “Peter, do you ἀγάπη me?” And Peter answers, “you know I φιλέω you.” In the Greek NT, the three questions of Jesus are slightly different. First, Jesus asked if Peter loves him the most, and now Jesus dropped the “most” part. So the questions are getting weaker.

And Jesus asks once again but in the third time He says, “OK. Peter, do you even φιλέω me?” English Bible says Peter felt hurt, but Greek word ἐλυπήθη is sad, distressed and irritated. So Peter was irritated and concerned not because Jesus asked the same question three times, but because Jesus suddenly changed the word at the third time. “Oh, why you suddenly changed the word? What’s going on here? What does this mean?” If your spouse asks you like, “Hey, let alone love, do you even like me?”, then you know that you are in big trouble. That is what Peter felt—“O…K… I guess I am in trouble.”

But I think this is the divine love. Jesus asked Peter three times. Why? Because Peter previously denied Jesus three times before the cock crows. Every time we sin against God, God gives us a chance and opportunity to be forgiven. But for the first two opportunities, Peter did not meet the standards for the forgiveness. Instead of punishing Peter or abandoning the hopeless guy, Jesus lowered His standards asking φιλέω instead of ἀγάπη. When we fail God, what is waiting for us is not the punishment or condemnation but the lower standards so that God can accept us and forgive us. This is the divine love.

Love in Hebrew

Today’s OT lesson is very famous, and is called Shema in Judaism. All faithful Jewish people must recite it every morning. שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יהוה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יהוה אֶחָד (sh’ma Israel YHWH eloheynu YHVH ekhad)—Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And it continues, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” The verb to love here is אהב (ahav) in Hebrew.

While the Greek loves are very specific, the Hebrew love is broad and comprehensive. The BDB dictionary says אהב (ahav) is affection both pure and impure, divine and human. It can mean the parental love. In Genesis 22:2, God says to Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. God says, “take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you ahav.” Genesis 25:28 says that Isaac ahaved Esau his first son, and Rebecca ahaved Jacob her younger son. 2 Samuel 12:24 says that the Lord ahaved Solomon, and 1 Kings 3:3 says that Solomon ahaved the Lord. So this is like ἀγάπη. 1 Samuel 18:1 says that Jonathan ahaved David as he loved himself. So it has φιλέω in it. Genesis 24:67 says Isaac ahaved Rebecca a lot after they got married. So there is ἔρως as well. אהב (ahav) has all three—ἀγάπη, φιλέω, ἔρως— but it has more. People’s love, respect and reverence toward their leader is also אהב (ahav) as in 1 Samuel 18:16 saying all Israel and Judah ahaved David. אהב (ahav) also means the loyalty between the political allies. 1 Kings 5:1 says Hiram the king of Tyre always ahaved David. As you can see, Hebrew word אהב (ahav) has very broad range of love. 

אהב (ahav) of God

Let’s talk about two characteristics of God’s אהב (ahav). Among the ahavs, God’s ahav never changes. That is the first characteristics. God says in Jeremiah 31:3, “I have ahaved you with an everlasting ahav; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.” And that is why God didn’t stop loving David even when he sinned. And that is why God does not abandon us even though we are not perfect.

The second characteristics of God’s אהב (ahav) is that we don’t earn it. In Deuteronomy 7:7-8, God says “It was not because you were more numerous than any other people that the Lord set his heart on you and chose you—for you were the fewest of all peoples. It was because the Lord ahav’d you and kept the oath that he swore to your ancestors, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” We don’t deserve God’s love. We don’t deserve God’s grace. And God’s favour is not something we can earn it. God’s mercy, God’s grace, and this Christmas are just given to us, not because we are worthy or we deserve it, but because God ahaves us, that is God loves us with His divine love.

Ahav calling action

אהב (ahav), the Hebrew love, is not only a feeling. It is the love that calls for action. If there is no actions following, we may call it love in English but we cannot call it אהב (ahav) in Hebrew. If you love pizza, you’ve got to eat it, which we did yesterday at Live & Learn. For the next two Saturdays, we are not going to have the Live & Learn. But after that, we will reconvene to exercise, to eat, and to study Bible. For your information, we will watch the movie, Case for Christ. Anyway, If you love the Bible, you’ve got to read it. The action could be either good or bad according to whether the אהב (ahav) is good or bad. 2 Samuel 13 shows us that David’s son Amnon ahaved a girl, and because of that he later acted upon it by making love forcefully to her.

Moses says in Deuteronomy 4:37-38, “Because God ahaved your ancestors, He chose their descendants after them. He brought you out of Egypt with His own presence, by His great power, driving out before you nations greater and mightier than yourselves, to bring you in, giving you their land for a possession.” Because God ahav’d Israel, God acted upon it. If God didn’t act, that is not אהב (ahav). And love must be mutual. If you love your spouse but your spouse doesn’t, then that marriage could not last long. The bond, and the marriage between Jesus and us must last forever, which means we have to love Jesus and God in return. And that is why 1 John 4:19 says that we love because God first loved us. Love calls for actions. Today’s OT lesson says to love God. In other words, God is telling us, “Don’t just say it that you love me. Prove it by doing something.”

Actions are Central in love

I said that the love calls for actions. Maybe I didn’t say it well enough. Actually actions are central in love. Deuteronomy 10:12-13 says, “So now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? Only to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to ahav Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord your God and His decrees that I am commanding you today, for your own well-being.” To summarise, it is saying, “God loves you. And He wants you to love Him back by keeping His commandments.” That is what Jesus told us in John 14:15—He says, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” In other words, if we don’t keep His commandments, that means we don’t love Him.

How to Love God

Then, how can we love God? Again it is to keep God’s commandments. And Leviticus 19:17-18 says, “You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbour, or you will incur guilt yourself. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am the Lord.” We show our love for God by how we treat the people around us. That includes our family, our friends and neighbours. 1 John 4:20 says, “Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from Him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.”

Conclusion

Back to the today’s NT lesson, Jesus says to Peter to feed His sheep. We can take it literally if you like, but we should not be limited to the literal meaning. Feeding is caring and loving. Jesus says to Peter, “I don’t care for now if your love for me is ἀγάπη or φιλέω. Just take good care of your family, friends and love them.”

God loved us first and on Christmas day He sent His one and only Son to us to die in our place to save us. So let us love Him back in this coming Christmas. Friends, as Jesus told us through Peter, let us love and take good care of our earthly family as well as our church family who are our sisters and brothers in Christ. Through that we can prove that we actually love God and Christ. Amen.