Sermon #9 Striving For Agape Love
By Rev. Mark E. Vatcher
Agape love is the kind of love our Lord has for us. An unconditional love for us from before we are born
into this life, until we enter into everlasting life. We obtain this through the love established by our faith
in the Lord. The love that God desires for us to have comes through the wisdom and knowledge granted
to us by the word of God, that was given to us by the Holy Spirit, and by practicing our Lords two
greatest commandments with our thoughts and actions:
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first
and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37)
I think most of us think these two commandments are easy to obey and don’t take these commandments
seriously. Of course we love the Lord. Right? Well loving the Lord entails more than just words
professed from our mouth. To love the Lord with all your heart and soul is quite a task for a man and
women. It means to give your self over to Him and trust Him for all things. It means doing things in your
life according to His will and not yours. It means doing what is right and being like Christ. Loving like
Christ loves the church, unconditionally.
It is not only God we are to love this way, but He wants us to love our neighbor as ourselves. Well if we
love God truly unconditionally, than we must love ourselves, and if we love ourselves unconditionally,
than we must love our neighbors unconditionally. Right! Well I have never met or heard of a man or
women who could do this except for Jesus Himself. But our Lord has given us this commandment for a
reason. Our Lord expects us to try to obtain this and as we strive to obtain this goal we learn, and as
we learn we will grow. All of it for the glory of God, so as we strive for this agape love, we are humbled.
We can then realize just how powerful the love of God is.
Love can make or break us, when received by our children and spouses it gives us satisfaction and a
sense of accomplishment and fulfillment. When not received by them we feel empty, hungry, sad, weak,
and just plain miserable. The same goes for Gods love for us, when we have it we are full and secure, if
we don’t have it, we are empty and insecure.
How about the stranger you pass on the street, do you have this same love for him or her even though
you don’t know this person? God loves them because he loves us all, that’s what agape love is,
unconditional love for your neighbor. A neighbor is anyone and everyone else in the world. So let us
look again at Gods two highest commandments I spoke of earlier. Love God with all your heart and soul
and love your neighbor as yourself. Can we truly say that we can do this? Or should we say our desire
is to obtain this agape love and strive to be like Christ!
I feel that anyone who says they have obtained agape love, which is unconditional love for everyone, is
foolish and extremely prideful. They should restate that only Christ truly has agape love, and we as
Christians should be striving to obtain that kind of love for others, through our Lords example. This is
what God really wants from us. God wants us to trust Him and allow Him to use us as a vessel to
express His love to everyone. We must begin by trusting in the Lord for everything. It is our desire and
hope that we can obtain this kind of trust in the Lord, something we optimally strive for in our Christian
walk. (Psalm 25:1-2) “To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul; In You I trust, O my God.” and in (Hebrews 2:13)
“I will put my trust in Him.” We must let go and be led by God to do his will. Trust that through the
wisdom and knowledge gifted to us through the Holy Spirit, and by Gods word we my obtain that
freedom. I pray that we can all strive to obtain it, for through our precious and mighty God all things are
possible. Let’s look at the following statement about love and use it as a foundation we can build on. (1
Corinthians 13:4-8) “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is
not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not
delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and
perseveres.” And my beloved Love never fails.
Agape love is God and is perfect like God. The only way for us to attempt to obtain this, as a Christian,
is to let God work agape love through us and trusting in Him. God will express this love as you do His
will in your daily life. Be kind, merciful, and compassionate to one another. This would be a great
foundation to begin with as we strive for agape love. We first should pray that we will trust in the Lord
and then pray for Him to use us as a vessel. May God bless you all on your Christian journey, now let
us pray:
Heavenly Father, we praise You Lord! And give thanks to You for the great blessings You bless us with,
through Your love for us. We wish to please you Lord in return by first trusting You and through You we
will follow the example of your unconditional love for us. Use us Lord, that we may be a vessel for you
to express agape love to others, all for Your glory. We pray this in Jesus name whom be glory forever
and ever. Amen
By Rev. Mark E. Vatcher
Agape love is the kind of love our Lord has for us. An unconditional love for us from before we are born
into this life, until we enter into everlasting life. We obtain this through the love established by our faith
in the Lord. The love that God desires for us to have comes through the wisdom and knowledge granted
to us by the word of God, that was given to us by the Holy Spirit, and by practicing our Lords two
greatest commandments with our thoughts and actions:
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first
and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37)
I think most of us think these two commandments are easy to obey and don’t take these commandments
seriously. Of course we love the Lord. Right? Well loving the Lord entails more than just words
professed from our mouth. To love the Lord with all your heart and soul is quite a task for a man and
women. It means to give your self over to Him and trust Him for all things. It means doing things in your
life according to His will and not yours. It means doing what is right and being like Christ. Loving like
Christ loves the church, unconditionally.
It is not only God we are to love this way, but He wants us to love our neighbor as ourselves. Well if we
love God truly unconditionally, than we must love ourselves, and if we love ourselves unconditionally,
than we must love our neighbors unconditionally. Right! Well I have never met or heard of a man or
women who could do this except for Jesus Himself. But our Lord has given us this commandment for a
reason. Our Lord expects us to try to obtain this and as we strive to obtain this goal we learn, and as
we learn we will grow. All of it for the glory of God, so as we strive for this agape love, we are humbled.
We can then realize just how powerful the love of God is.
Love can make or break us, when received by our children and spouses it gives us satisfaction and a
sense of accomplishment and fulfillment. When not received by them we feel empty, hungry, sad, weak,
and just plain miserable. The same goes for Gods love for us, when we have it we are full and secure, if
we don’t have it, we are empty and insecure.
How about the stranger you pass on the street, do you have this same love for him or her even though
you don’t know this person? God loves them because he loves us all, that’s what agape love is,
unconditional love for your neighbor. A neighbor is anyone and everyone else in the world. So let us
look again at Gods two highest commandments I spoke of earlier. Love God with all your heart and soul
and love your neighbor as yourself. Can we truly say that we can do this? Or should we say our desire
is to obtain this agape love and strive to be like Christ!
I feel that anyone who says they have obtained agape love, which is unconditional love for everyone, is
foolish and extremely prideful. They should restate that only Christ truly has agape love, and we as
Christians should be striving to obtain that kind of love for others, through our Lords example. This is
what God really wants from us. God wants us to trust Him and allow Him to use us as a vessel to
express His love to everyone. We must begin by trusting in the Lord for everything. It is our desire and
hope that we can obtain this kind of trust in the Lord, something we optimally strive for in our Christian
walk. (Psalm 25:1-2) “To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul; In You I trust, O my God.” and in (Hebrews 2:13)
“I will put my trust in Him.” We must let go and be led by God to do his will. Trust that through the
wisdom and knowledge gifted to us through the Holy Spirit, and by Gods word we my obtain that
freedom. I pray that we can all strive to obtain it, for through our precious and mighty God all things are
possible. Let’s look at the following statement about love and use it as a foundation we can build on. (1
Corinthians 13:4-8) “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is
not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not
delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and
perseveres.” And my beloved Love never fails.
Agape love is God and is perfect like God. The only way for us to attempt to obtain this, as a Christian,
is to let God work agape love through us and trusting in Him. God will express this love as you do His
will in your daily life. Be kind, merciful, and compassionate to one another. This would be a great
foundation to begin with as we strive for agape love. We first should pray that we will trust in the Lord
and then pray for Him to use us as a vessel. May God bless you all on your Christian journey, now let
us pray:
Heavenly Father, we praise You Lord! And give thanks to You for the great blessings You bless us with,
through Your love for us. We wish to please you Lord in return by first trusting You and through You we
will follow the example of your unconditional love for us. Use us Lord, that we may be a vessel for you
to express agape love to others, all for Your glory. We pray this in Jesus name whom be glory forever
and ever. Amen
