MEN ALIVE: Jim Cunningham & Paul Estabrooks' Podcast
Programs to help men become transformed to the image (character) of Jesus Christ.
MEN ALIVE: Jim Cunningham & Paul Estabrooks' Podcast
MEN ALIVE 210 - LOVE -The Most Misunderstood Verb!
Have you ever wondered why the Greeks had not one, but more than five words for love? We unravel this mystery with the help of Dr. Jim Cunningham in a conversation that traverses the landscapes of passionate love, familial affection, and even obsession. We also delve into their teachings in the Bible, including the intriguing concept of Agape love, loving not just our kin, but even our enemies as well. Join us in this invigorating conversation, as we explore how love can truly change us to be more like Jesus Christ.
Welcome to Men Alive, a biblical journey to help us conform to the image of Jesus Christ. I'm your host, paul Estabrooks, our teacher. As my longtime friend, dr Jim Penningham, consultant in adult education, director of Go Teach Global and author of the book Men Alive.
Speaker 2:Pablo. Today's program is first in our series from Galatians 5,22. The apostle Paul said the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. I remember as kids you and I were told by our mothers not to judge others. But our mothers said we can be fruit inspectors to see what the quality of that fruit is like in our life and theirs. The good news is that you and I have traveled over 50 countries and have never found a country or a religious belief system that has a law forbidding someone for being loving. So let's talk about this fruit of the spirit called love.
Speaker 1:Love is perhaps the most misunderstood word in the English language today.
Speaker 2:Exactly, but one of the best feelings in the world is love. I can tell my wife that I love chocolate ice cream and I can tell her I love warm summer days, but when I tell her that I love her, that same English word has a very different meaning. Pablo, you studied Greek. Tell us the meanings in the Greek language.
Speaker 1:In Greek, the original language of the New Testament, there are several different words, all translated love in English. Eros is romantic, passionate, sexual love named after Eros, the Greek god of fertility. The ancient Greeks considered Eros to be dangerous as it involved a loss of control from the intense romantic and sexual passion it aroused. Filia love was more of a friendship love or brotherly love, without any physical or sexual attraction. The third was agape, or selfless, sacrificial love that one may have for God. This love is unconditional, bigger than us, like the love that makes a man rush towards a fire to help rescue a stranger who is about to perish. No sexual passion and not a family member, just pure agape, sacrificial love, love that goes out to even the unlovely and does not require reciprocal responses.
Speaker 2:Is there a word for my affection for family members like my grandchildren?
Speaker 1:Yes, the Greeks even had the word Storgae familial love, meaning a protective, kinship-based love between parents and children. It can also describe a sense of patriotism toward a country or a team.
Speaker 2:Is that the kind of love you have for the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team, storgae love waiting patiently since 1967 for the team you love to win another Stanley Cup?
Speaker 1:You got it. There's always next year. In Toronto they call that the blessed hope.
Speaker 2:This is a good time to ask about the Greek word mania. Is it connected?
Speaker 1:to love yes, it's when love turns to obsession.
Speaker 2:So is it correct to say that a maniac is someone whose love has turned into obsession that has shown extreme behaviors, jealousy and even violence.
Speaker 1:That's right. How many types of love, jim, have we now mentioned? I love it.
Speaker 2:You are making me review what I have learned. Okay, I think we have five meanings for the word love Arrows, sexual love, filio. Brotherly love, like Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. Agape, sacrificial love, like the death of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross to pay the price for our salvation. Storgae, patriotism. Or love for family members and menia, when love turns into an obsession.
Speaker 1:Well done, brother. Now tell us which word the New Testament uses the most.
Speaker 2:It's agape and the first character quality mentioned in the Fruit of the Spirit is love, agape love. I also found one verse about this love from the Old Testament that is referred to eight times in the New Testament. It says you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Let's consider how this is possible. First, matthew 5.43. You have heard that it was said you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, in order that you may be sons of your Father, who is in heaven, for he causes the Son to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. God loves everyone so much he sends rain and sunshine regardless of whether we deserve it. Being a follower of Jesus Christ and a citizen on earth means I must also love my neighbor and my enemies as much as God does. Some listening may be filled with hatred. Some hate others. This person plagues them. But when you forgive, god helps you love the person who caused the harm or the betrayal of trust. I know I've had to do it. It works.
Speaker 2:Then comes Matthew 19.19. A young lawyer who knew the law of the Torah asked Jesus what must be done to receive eternal life. Jesus repeated the Ten Commandments and then said you shall love your neighbor as yourself. The young man replied that he had done all these things from his youth. So Jesus added Go, sell all you have, give to the poor and come follow me. The Bible says he went away grieve, for he had much property.
Speaker 2:A new insight emerges from this teaching. The rich man claimed that he loved his neighbor and undoubtedly thought he was right. Jesus cut through his fuzzy thinking and gave him a clear marker to measure the index of his love his money. What does money have to do with loving my neighbor? Consider that Jesus taught no man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon or money. Jesus knew that a man's behavior towards money was one of the greatest aids in establishing a proper perspective of his values, attitudes and priorities. A man's monthly bank statement reveals more of his eternal priorities than what he writes in his daily journals.
Speaker 2:Number 3, matthew 22,39. Someone challenged Jesus, teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law, when Jesus said to them you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment, and the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets.
Speaker 1:Let me remind our listeners this is Men Alive, with Dr Jim Cunningham. Check out our website at goteachglobalcom for more programs and resources. Now back to the fruit of the Spirit. Jim, you've given us three references in Matthew's Gospel to loving your neighbor as yourself. One of the other references in the New Testament.
Speaker 2:Number 4, luke 10, 27-37. In this passage, a young lawyer, an expert in the law, approaches Jesus and asks what he must do to receive eternal life. The answer includes this verse 27 you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. But willing to justify himself, the young lawyer, sit to Jesus. And who is my neighbor? Jesus then tells the famous story of the Good Samaritan. Notice the sequence of compassion in Jesus' story.
Speaker 2:The Samaritan came to the man that was wounded. Involvement, bandaged his wounds, assisted him, poured oil and wine on him, utilized his own resources, put him on his donkey, inconveniencing himself to help others, brought him to an inn, helped the man find additional resources beyond his own and took care of him. Kindness and paid the innkeeper, putting his finances into action to help those in need. The neighbor or citizen, was the one who showed mercy at a time of need. A neighbor is anyone we meet in need and Jesus said this is my Cunningham paraphrase citizen, neighbor, follower of Jesus, go and do the same. 5. Mark 1231. This is a parallel passage. I once heard J Adams in a counseling seminar in Vancouver, canada, tell the story of a man who came for marriage counseling. The man said I hate my wife and that's that. J looked at him for a moment and said you do hate your wife, don't you?
Speaker 2:To which the man replied you bet. Well, j, continued. The Bible says you have to love your wife. Right here in Ephesians 5.24, it says husbands, love your wives. I don't care, said the man, I still hate her. Well, think of her as your neighbor. After all, she is the closest person to you. You sleep with her. Why not think of her as your neighbor? It says nine times in the Bible that you're to love your neighbor as yourself. So I guess you have to love her. Nope, said the man, if she were my neighbor I'd move. Boy, she really is an enemy to you, isn't she? Yes, that's it, said the man. She's my enemy. I hate her. Well, said J, I guess you're just going to have to love her regardless. For it says in the Bible love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. No matter how we cut it, the Bible says we have to love.
Speaker 1:Reminds me of the apostle John, who said if a man cannot love another person whom he can see made in the image of God, how can he claim to love God whom he has never seen?
Speaker 2:Number six Romans 13.9. Oh, nothing to anyone except to love one another. For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. And if there is another commandment, it is summed up in this saying you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Love, therefore, is the fulfillment of the law. Who is my neighbor, we ask. In our shrinking global village, neighbors are getting closer. How we respond to the neighbors in our area will determine how they respond to us. Where is our compassion for them?
Speaker 2:Number seven Galatians 5.14. For you recall, to freedom, brethren, only, do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love, serve one another For the whole laws fulfilled in one word in the statement you shall love your neighbor as yourself, but if you bite and devour one another, take care lest you be consumed by one another. The Bible focuses on our relationships either with God or with man, made in the image of God. The greatest freedom we can have is freedom to love one another and be at peace. The proverb says when a man's ways are pleasing to the Lord, he makes even his enemies be at peace with him. Number eight James 2.8. If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law. According to scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. You are doing well, but if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by law as transgressors.
Speaker 2:This is the royal law according to James. Rarely in the Bible does God say something is a sin. Texts like Romans 14-23 say whatever is not from faith is sin, and James 4-17 says to the one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it to him, that is sin. The word sin means missing the mark. My personal definition of sin is selfish individualism, now S-I-N. But here James identifies a new kind of sin, named and branded for identification. It's called showing partiality. Remember the Pharisees, who were called teachers. They used to love to walk around and be very visible in flowing robes, showing their status, to be greeted in the marketplace prestige and have the most important seats at meetings, power and the places of honor at banquets. Be aware of those around you, your neighbors, and love them as you would love yourself. It could change your actions, it could alter your beliefs and it will affect your character. It could make you and me more like our Lord Jesus.
Speaker 1:Christ. Hallelujah. There you have it, men, the first fruit of the Spirit love In our upside down, backwards world. May we, as men, be filled with the Holy Spirit and truly love our neighbor, as Christ taught us.
